“I’m comin’!” she yells. Suddenly, her run turns into a finger-wagging strut and she starts singing “I’m comin’ ‘cause my head is bendin’ low.” Then she resumes her run, desperately shouting “I’m comin’!” again.
This cartoon was shown over and over when I was a kid and I always liked this gag because I knew the song (“Old Black Joe”) and it somehow seemed right the parrot should turn buoyant and briefly sidetrack into its lyrics.
Tex Avery has another “interrupt” gag in the cartoon when the noisy, talkative parrot stops, pokes his head at the audience and says “Ain’t I the talkin’est little guy?”
I understand Petey is played by child actor Robert Winkler. It would appear (and none of this is confirmed) he was born February 18, 1931 in Los Angeles. It looks like he went to Santa Monica City College and gave up acting in the late ‘40s. If he’s still around and reading this, he’s more than welcome to post a comment.
The Robert Lee Winkler that was born 2/18/31 in Los Angeles died 6/24/2020 in Council, Idaho, according to ancestry.com
ReplyDeleteIt also could be this person, Robert Winckler (who was sometimes credited as Robert Winkler) and who died in 1980. https://apnews.com/article/f24c6b516c90d3fa1b1d3e21d861935e
ReplyDeleteHowever, you might try to get a hold of his son William Winckler, who apparently is very active. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Winckler
ReplyDeleteIn terms of non-sequitur put-ins, the Billy Bletcher vocal cameo in the cartoon where he corrects the story to let ma know he ran off to Catalina was also a fun moment. But it also was one of the cartoons where Warner's tried -- and mostly failed -- to create a character who was funny because he just couldn't shut up. I think between 1936 and '46, every unit except for McCabe and Tashlin gave it a shot, and none of them could make the various characters more endearing than annoying.
ReplyDeleteThe " I'm a comin' " bit was used in a few early " Merry Melodies " offerings.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Tommy "Butch" Bond of the Our Gang comedies did the little parrot's voice! I think he claims credit for it in his book, does he not?
ReplyDeleteMark, I've never read his book, so I don't know.
DeleteThis post, like everything else you'll read until year's end, was written months ago, so I don't know where on the internet the information came from. But I qualified it because I don't know.
"I'm coming" was also used as the ending gag for Hardaway and Dalton's Love and Curses (1938).
ReplyDelete