Friday 3 December 2021

Swirling Rooster Fight

Parental chickens? Look no further than Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising at MGM.

There was Barnyard Babies (1935) and One Mother’s Family (1939) . The latter cartoon has one of those little-chick-that-doesn’t-fit-in concepts that forms the basis of The Little Bantamweight (1938).

In this one, Papa Rooster immediately trains his newborns to be boxers; fighting roosters were apparently acceptable entertainment during the Depression. One son, though, is timid and wants to play and suck on a lolly pop. Papa’s not too impressed, especially when the others are shadowboxing while the wimpy one is making shadow pictures.

Though circumstance, the boy is forced to battle the champ and after accidentally swallowing some linament, he’s turned into a mighty He-Rooster and wins the match.

The best part of this cartoon are swirls, multiples and thrashing movement. Unfortunately, the version of the cartoon I can find is loaded with DVNR which erases all kinds of lines on characters.



The swirls and the little runt roster is on top of the champ.



No animators are credited here; Scott Bradley doesn’t warrant a mention for the score.

This cartoon was released on March 12, 1938, the last delivered to MGM by Harman and Ising before Metro decided to set up its own cartoon unit under Fred Quimby. Because Quimby couldn’t manage the studio politics, he was forced to bring back Hugh and Rudy, this time under individual contracts, for another go of it.

3 comments:

  1. Hello Trying to contact you about a previous post. How do I do this ? Its about a post from 2014.
    Thank You
    Paula

    ReplyDelete
  2. May 15, 1945
    * DECORATED *
    LT. GEORGE R. GIROUX, JR., AAF, B-17 pilot, the Air Medal, in England. Lt. Giroux is the son of Technicolor's field rep. and was a cartoonist for Screen Gems before donning uniform.
    Can you explain this entry from a post in 2014

    Cartoons of 1945 Part 1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm doing other things now. Posts have been written until next Sept. and will appear automatically.
      I don't know what explanation you're looking for. It's a self-explanatory.

      Delete