Junior Bear grabs Papa Bear and tumbles him in an airborne somersault. Pa is in a six-drawing cycle animated on ones, as Junior da-da-das to one of Carl Stalling’s musical favourites, “Frat” (he also employs J.F. Barth’s old chestnut over the opening titles).
But the best part is Mama Bear zips into the scene wearing a curly-haired girl wig and a dress, joining Junior in the da-da-da version of “Frat.”
The whole idea comes out of nowhere and is completely ridiculous, as only Mike Maltese could dream up.
The Jones unit, being at the top of its game, ensures the cycle isn’t static. Junior raises and lowers his legs a little so Papa Bear’s tumbling goes up and down a bit on the frame. And Mama Bear twists and turns and looks toward and away from the tumbling.
Stan Freberg is Junior and the opening narrator, Billy Bletcher is the father and Bea Benaderet the mother who switches from the ultimate in deadpan to various facial expressions as she watches Pa get abused through the whole cartoon.
Second favourite scene? Papa Bear has had enough of Junior’s screw-ups and wants his kid physically harmed for it. Here’s how Maltese’s mind works. He comes up with a creative form of punishment.
Junior is such a head-headed dope that baseball has no effect other than to bounce off him with a metallic sound. Jones’ timing is great. Just the right number of frames.
That’s it. What else do you need? On to the next scene.
Jones made one more Three Bears cartoon after this, the 1951 release A Bear For Punishment, and then the trio retired from the cartoon short business. Too bad.
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