Let There Be Light

In the 1930s, the Leon Schlesinger studio had a story department and everyone would pitch gags for each cartoon. In some cases, it’s a wild guess who may have come up with a gag, though Tex Avery is an exception as certain comedic bits were tried out and refined over the years in his cartoons.

One gag in Buddy in Africa (1935) strikes me as it came from the mind of Bugs Hardaway, who directed the cartoon. Buddy stars as a travelling salesman, hawking stuff from his truck to the natives of Snake-Eyes

One of the villagers buys a battery kit. To me, only Hardaway would come up with a routine where someone plugs light bulbs into his ears, sits on a battery to create electricity, and then reads a newspaper.



Tom Armstrong was the story director for the studio at the time. He was never credited on a cartoon (he moved on to Disney); no writer got screen credit in 1935. Hardaway ended up back in the story department when Tex Avery was hired to direct.

Jack Carr and Don Williams are the credited animators. Good portions of the score were from musical director Norman Spencer, who also includes “Marchin’ Towards Ya Georgia” by Carmen Lombardo and Cliff Friend. Motion Picture Reviews wasn’t impressed. “Loud, unpleasant music accompanies Buddy through Africa, surrounded by wild animals. Poor,” was its declaration. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the weak story. “Poor” is almost a compliment.