Waffles at the Piano

“Devoid of logical continuity and with very few gags” is how Film Daily described the 1932 Van Beuren cartoon The Last Dance. But, realistically, isn’t that how you can describe a lot of Van Beuren cartoons?

Sure, it may not make a lot of sense, and it may not be funny, but it has dancing fish and a radiator being played like an accordion.



It has a dancing hat rack, one of those big-headed parrots that pops up in some early ‘30s Van Beurens and a bird cage played like a banjo. The fox looks like he’s wearing a party hat over his nose.



It has Waffles the cat (with lashes at the top and bottom of his eyes) singing the Roy Turk-Fred Ahlert song “Why Dance” to an unidentified girl cat.



And it has a bear character with one of those weird stares at the camera. If this were a better copy, you’d see the stars in his eyes. I like how his ears and tail look like little stubby cactus plants.



John Foster and Manny Davis are responsible for this short, with Gene Rodemich cobbling together the score.