Screen Gems' She-Wolf

Columbia cartoons may have had problems with stories (Tangled Television and Kongo-Roo anyone?) but the animation was generally pretty good.

Here’s a neat transformation scene from Simple Siren (released Oct. 25, 1945). Man-crazy Vera Vague of the Bob Hope radio show inspired this story by Ed Seward of a homely siren trying to snare a shipwrecked sailor. When the she spots the sailor, she turns into a female wolf.



Wonder whose animation this is? When the siren backs up, you can tell. The multiple eyes and snouts are Don Williams’ stock-in-trade. He gets screen credit on this short, as does Volus Jones.



She transforms back.



Consecutive drawings on twos.



Paul Sommer directed the short, rated “poor” by Film Daily: “The laugh content of this animated cartoon is very limited indeed.” The ending is an Avery-like iris gag which may be the best part of the short.

Sara Berner does her Vera Vague impression as the siren, and John Ployardt/McLeish shows up at the end as a cop. I can't tell if the sea bird is Harry Lang. (A late note. Keith Scott has confirmed it is).

P.S. Thanks to Craig Davison for posting this cartoon on YouTube. The version's been edited; there's an odd fade-out a little more than a third of the way through.