Thursday, 28 June 2018

Iwerks' Bosko

Is there a pun I’m missing, or is this an inside gag?

In The Air Race (produced in 1933), Willie Whopper points to a list of entrants. Some of the puns are easy to pick out, but look at the name of one of the pilots—Bosko Turnover. Is there a play on words here, or is the Iwerks studio making a reference to a cartoon character made by Harman-Ising?



The irony is MGM dumped Iwerks and its Willie Whopper cartoons the following year and replaced them with Harman-Ising shorts, including Bosko. It really was a Bosko Turnover.

6 comments:

  1. Rosco Turner was a well-known aviator in the early 1930s. He flew air races and was sponsored by Gilmore Oil. He had a lion cub mascot named Gilmore due to Gilmore Oil having a lion in their logo. He was a colorful character of the time.

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    1. Thanks so much for commenting. I never would have known.

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  2. I suppose "Ernst Yoobet" is a spoof on director Ernst Lubitsch.

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  3. Frank Squawks is Frank Hawks.

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