Hooch and a Camel

Van Beuren cartoons had unexplainable gags that came out of nowhere. And so did their predecessors, the silent shorts from the Amedee Van Beuren-owned Fables studio.

The start of Red Hot Sands, released on August 14, 1927, has Milton Mouse and Henry Cat (Movie Age of the day calls him "Tom Cat") riding a camel in the Egyptian desert. For absolutely no reason, the camel splits in half, Henry pulls a bottle of Prohibition-era hootch from inside the camel and starts drinking from it.



The camel is not impressed.



The camel’s head retreats through the front half of its body, grabs the bottle, and puts it back. Henry pulls the camel together again and the journey continues.



You may be thinking “Wait! What? Why?” Don’t bother. I figure one of the animators pulled a bottle out of a desk drawer during a story/drinking session and that inspired this gag.

As a bonus, this Fable has rolling-skating long-horned steers. Just like in Aesop's day.

Paul Terry was given screen credit, but one expert on-line says this is a Mannie Davis scene.

Thanks to Craig Davison for enabling screen grabs of this cartoon.