An Appetite For Music

The Fleischer Screen Song Come Take a Trip in My Airship (1930) doesn’t start out with a trip or an airship. A piano is delivered to the apartment of a female cat. The two kiss when it arrives outside her window.

Later, during the song portion, the cat accompanies herself on the piano. A heckling mouse shows up.



The cat tries to grab the mouse, but only succeeds in collapsing the piano, with the keys flying off and the cat twirling backwards against a wall.



The mouse plays the keys like a xylophone. The cat kicks it out of the frame. Somehow, this causes the keys to fly backward, where they are swallowed by the piano.



The piano resumes its normal form and the cat resumes playing and singing.



If any cartoons need restoration, it’s the early Fleischer Talkartoons and Screen Songs. They’re full of imagination and odd gags.

Incidentally, the Motion Picture News of June 14, 1930 insists the cat is Krazy Kat. Well, the cat is female (falsetto) and wears a ribbon.

Billy Murray is heard introducing the song; another plus.