Want Some Candy, Little Fish?

A worm (or “woim” as the tin can it came from says) tries to entice a little fish with a stick of peppermint in Jolly Fish (1932).



The kid's father swims into the scene, turns his fins into hands with fingers, and grabs the worm. The fish-ling can now swim away with the candy.



Despite the subject, this is not a social guidance film from Sid Davis Productions. It’s a lesser effort in the Van Beuren studio’s Tom and Jerry series. There are some likeable bits but the gags aren’t all that strong.

The vocal over the opening titles is “By the Beautiful Sea,” a 1914 tune by Harry Carroll and Harold R. Atteridge. Musical director Gene Rodemich employs only two songs as mood music in the short: Bernice Petkere’s “By a Rippling Stream (Waiting For You)” and “There’s Oceans of Love By the Beautiful Sea” by Little Jack Little and J. Fred “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” Coots, both released the same year as this cartoon.