Van Beuren Does Fleischer

There’s glorious fun in chickens singing, dancing and piano-playing the old song “Ida.” That’s how the Van Beuren cartoon Panicky Pup (1933) starts out.

The cartoon turns dark, though, when a cat (who has just finished dancing with a blow-up kitten doll) falls in a well. The dog is haunted with a minor key chorus imposing guilt. The Fleischer studio did a great job with this kind of plot in Swing You Sinners in 1930. This one is isn’t as imaginative but it’s full of skeletons, ghosts and weird morphing stuff.

Swaying haystacks become ghosts. Pumpkins become devil cat heads.



In the next scene, a tombstone becomes a xylophone player.



Sorry for the poor screen grabs; I hope this cartoon gets restored.

John Foster and Harry Bailey get the “by” credit on this short. Van Beuren was always a hit-and-miss studio, but this strikes me as one of their hits.