Willie or Won't He Have a Fish Gag?

Grim Natwick and a few others brought a bit of a Fleischer sensibility to the Ub Iwerks studio—unfortunately not enough of it to make its cartoons truly funny.

Dave Fleischer liked little unexpected throw-away gags with little characters. There are a couple of these in Robin Hood, Jr., a 1934 Willie Whopper cartoon.

Willie, as the title character, throws a mop in Prince John’s face. The prince spits out the water that in the mop. There’s something else—a fish that winks at him.



The prince calls for his guards. One moves to reveal a pair of mice kissing. They are shocked to be discovered.



Natwick gets an animation credit, with the original score by Carl Stalling.