The Lion Has a Ball

A perky score and a string of gags pretty much describes Bosko at the Zoo, a 1932 effort by director Hugh Harman and his animators for Warner Bros.

The title pretty much describes the cartoon. There is no real plot. There is some reused animation and reused gags, including one to end the short.

Bosko is chased through the world's longest cage in perspective—twice—by a lion in what appears to be an 18-drawing cycle, animated on ones. The music in the background is Harry Ruby's “I’m Happy When You’re Jealous.” Here are a few drawings.



This lion animation scene is re-used from Bosko Shipwrecked! (1931) with a different background.

Since there’s no plot, there’s no need to bring the cartoon to a logical conclusion. Harman and the writers just settle for an old gag and end the short. It’s reused from Big Man of the North (1931) where three characters crash into each other and form a three-in-one ball. In this case it’s an ostrich Bosko was chasing, and the ape and the lion that were chasing him.



Perennially helpful Mark Kausler points out the gag was also used in the silent Disney cartoon Ozzie of the Mounted (1928), on which was employed one Hugh Harman.

The cartoon has atypical la-la-la-la singing at the outset, and Honey joyously exclaiming “Ain’t that cute?” as we hear in so many other Warners cartoons of the era.

Friz Freleng and Larry Martin are the credited animators.

Frank Marsales’ score includes “There’s a Blue Note in My Love Song” by Ted Shapiro and Maurice Beresford, when Bosko is trying to lasso the ostrich. It was a fairly new song at the time. Hear a slower version by Paul Whiteman below.