Friday 28 July 2023

Hot Dog! It's Bosko!

Oswald the rabbit sold living hot dogs at the beach in All Wet (1927). Mickey Mouse did it in The Karnival Kid (1929). And Bosko does the same in Bosko at the Beach (1932).

With Frank Marsales providing a jaunty number in the background, the wieners jump up and down, dance, and then two of them grab either end of a third hot dog while a fourth jumps over it like it’s skipping rope.



The hot dogs don’t play a role after this scene. The big gag in the whole picture seems to be Bruno bringing back a bigger piece of wood than Bosko throws away for him to fetch. This happens several times as the dog keeps interrupting Bosko and Honey singing “Ain’t We Got Fun” (with Honey strumming a ukulele).

There’s a fourth wall gag, too. Wilbur the cat (can someone explain to me its relationship to Honey?) tests out the water several times (the animation is reused) before getting caught in the ocean waves. “Is there a lifeguard in the audience?” squeaks Wilbur in a falsetto. (There isn’t).



The sequence is accompanied by Marsales’ orchestra which, as usual, doubles the tempo of the music during the big dramatic climax. The tune is “I’m Making Hay in the Moonlight.” You can hear a version by Phil Harris’ band below. My guess is Leah Ray is the vocalist.

The credited animators in this tame cartoon are Friz Freleng and Ham Hamilton.

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