A Sugar Coated Pill of Wisdom

The Aesop and Son cartoons on The Bullwinkle Show opened with a saying, followed by a fable based on it, followed by a bad pun on the saying.

The theatrical Aesop’s Fables produced by Van Beuren at the dawn of sound films did it differently. There was a fairly ordinary cartoon, followed by a tag at the end with a supposed saying by Aesop followed by a joke on it. The tag didn’t always have anything to do with the preceding cartoon.

Here’s the one from Tuning In (1929). It’s self-explanatory. Running into the distance was not unusual in Van Beuren (and silent Terry) cartoons. The poor image on the left is Aesop.



I believe the last Fables cartoon to have a tag was Good Old School Days (released March 7, 1930). Van Beuren changed its openings and closings in 1930, getting rid of this. . .



. . . and changing the opening from a title card like this . . .



. . . to the animated opening with animals making sounds in time to the music.



Speaking of Van Beuren’s sounds, this article is from the Exhibitors Daily Review of Feb. 28, 1930.

137 SOUND DEVICES USED IN AESOP FABLES
To date the Aesop Fable sound department of the Van Beuren Corporation has accumulated one hundred and thirty-seven sound devices, many of which have been manufactured especially for Fables. These gadgets are the queerest looking bunch of what-nots imaginable, made out of every conceivable material including, cowhide, tin, horn, steel, brass, horsehair, and even the hollowed skull of an ox has been util-ized to provide comedy sound effects in "Singing Saps," a current picture. In this collection are twenty-three varieties of wooden instruments, fourteen of which are used in one scene of "Sky Skippers" which is now in the making. Synchronized noise-making is now a specialized brand of American industry.

The sound editor of Tuning In, who I believe was responsible for adding the effects to the score, was Paul F. Maschke. Carl Edouarde provided the music. Pathé provided the rooster.