The dog bashes the heckling parrot, whose feathers all fly off in a gag we’ve seen elsewhere. After Iwerks’ patented radiating lines and flashing question mark, the parrot ends the cartoon with “Wass you dere, Sharlie?”
The phrase belonged to Jack Pearl as Baron Munchausen, teller of tall tales, who would say it at least once every show to Cliff Hall as Sharlie, whenever his straight man would express scepticism about what he was hearing. They hit the airwaves in September 1932 (though both had been around for years in vaudeville) but hadn’t worn out their welcome yet when this cartoon was released in 1933. Flip was about to wear out his, though. Only two more cartoons were released later in the year before he was retired by the Iwerks studio.
Does anybody else find the Iwerks cartoons just plain old unfunny? It's a legit question. I'm not trying to be snide or obnoxious. I haven't seen everything his studio did, but I've seen quite a bit of his output and nothing in them ever hits my funny bone. Is it just me?
ReplyDeleteI love many of the Flips, "Room Runners" is quite funny and risque, as is "The Office Boy" and "Soda Squirt", which features a Lon Chaney style monster going crazy in Flip's Hollywood soda fountain. Of course, I'm really on the 1930s humor wavelength, guess it helps.
ReplyDeleteEric W. Schwartz did revive "Flip the Frog" in some Amiga animations in the early 1990s; however, Flip's leggy girlfriend, Clarisse Cat, winds up stealing the show... ;D
ReplyDeleteYeah we really loved drawing hot chicks. He could've gotten work at any animation studio around but it never happened for him.
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