Monday 27 February 2023

Flea Bones

Skeletons abound in Ub Iwerks’ Spooks, a Flip the Frog short.

One gag features a skeleton dog who, quite logically, has a skeleton flea that he scratches from his bones. The flea scoots away in a cloud of dust.



This short is a perfect vehicle for Iwerks’ wonky backgrounds (note the picture of the fish on the wall). The background artist is uncredited, and so is everyone else but Iwerks.

The cartoon was copyrighted in May 1932 but it was playing at a theatre in David City, Nebraska on January 1st.
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6 comments:

  1. Dave Kirwan27 February 2023 at 07:18

    My vote for the best of the Flips.

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  2. John V. (The Spectre)27 February 2023 at 08:22

    Hey, those backgrounds are pretty Caligarian looking. :-) Was Iwerks the inspiration for all those other early 30s studios stuffing their cartoons full of gratuitous skeletons?

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  3. Derek S.27 February 2023 at 13:55

    I've always loved how the gag's set up as if the dog's about to...erm...relieve himself...but then he simply scratches his back. The fun thing about a lot of the Flips is how unapologetically dirty they are.

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  4. Ricardo Cantoral28 February 2023 at 11:51

    Iwerks was the best pure 30's cartoonist.

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  5. Pete Hale28 February 2023 at 16:49

    Iwerks was a lot better on Flip. The only Color Classic I flatout laugh at Don Quixote.

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