Singing, Van Beuren Style

Aw, come on. You just love those conjoined mouths in Van Beuren cartoons when a trio or quartet sings. Like this one in the Tom and Jerry cartoon Pencil Mania.



Here are the tomato, potato and banana singing “Yes, We Have No Bananas” in harmony and a couple of frames as they get closer together.



Conjoined mouths and zooming heads are Van Beuren specialties, though we’re spared a zooming head in this cartoon.

You’ve got to love the meandering story in this 1932 cartoon. It starts with a dancing cow (does anyone know the name of song in the background?) and somehow morphs into drawings of fruit coming to life as humans and playing out an 1890s melodrama. But, it’s a Van Beuren cartoon, so does it matter? There are some nice morphing gags and an engaging score by Gene Rodemich.