Van Beuren loved quartets, so that’s what we see at the start of this short. What’s great is the singers are deadpan but the studio’s writers fit in some bits of business for them. First, the sun interrupts their song, then a tree grows eyes and a mouth and sings the second verse.
The quartet carries on their expressionless singing as the cat gives the tree a dirty look while dog kicks the pig and the pig kicks the duck, who does a mid-air somersault.
The dog loses his pants. But the quartet doesn’t stop singing. After a brief look, the pig silently signals with its bulk to the dog that his pants are down, and the dog pulls them back up.
And for a short period, we get the Van Beuren conjoined mouth gag.
John Foster and Manny Davis get the “by” credit, with Gene Rodemich providing a nice little score with a couple of solos; I especially like the jazz tune as Jack climbs the beanstalk. (It turns out the Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe is Jack’s mother. Who knew?).
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