Palmer was a disaster. He got a supervision credit on two cartoons and was gone by the fall. The first was rejected by Warners until it was punched up. Palmer’s departure set up a bit of a revolving door on supervision credits before Schlesinger wised up and made Friz Freleng a director along with King.
Before that happened cartoons were “supervised” by Earl Duvall, a former Disneyite, and Bernard Brown. Friz Freleng told Jerry Beck in Animato! 18 published in Spring 1989 about Brown’s “supervision”: “That was just pure policy. He was a sound man. I don’t think Leon even knew what a director did.”
This brings us to Pettin’ in the Park, a 1934 release (copyrighted in 1933) that Brown is credited with overseeing. It’s maybe the most disjointed cartoon ever released by the studio.
The short starts off with a cop, a maid, a baby in a stroller and a guy in a car. We hear the title song. Then they all disappear. The story (if you want to call it that) switches to a penguin that had been running around in the first half of the short, and a race at an annual winter carnival that’s for birds only.
The penguin is in a bathtub that gets stuck in the mud, which is pumped all over some geese, along with some other items that must have been buried in the goo.
The geese chase the penguins.
The penguin gets caught in a turnstile for a bit, but is thrown clear. The geese get caught in it and their feathers fly off. They are thrown backward and land with their heads knotted together. Some climax, huh?
The cartoon ends with the penguin waving at the audience—twice. Once during the actual short and then again in front of the end title card. So long, folks! And not a moment too soon. Get Friz in here, quick!
Jack King and Bob Clampett get animation credits; Clampett’s first. I can’t help but think that Clampett suggested some gags, like the winged foot statue that reads “Athlete’s Foot.” Brown’s sound mix is atrocious on this; some of the dialogue is drowned out by Norman Spencer’s score.
Bernard Brown eventually became sound director at Universal Pictures from 1937-1947 (replaced by Leslie I. Carey) He won an Oscar in 1939 for his work on When Tomorrow Comes.
ReplyDeleteGuh. You'd have been better off reviewing a Buddy cartoon. Blecch!😝
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, Brown's other supervision credit THOSE WERE WONDERFUL DAYS is vastly superior to PETTIN' IN THE PARK. Faint praise I suppose, but still.
ReplyDelete