Sunday, August 12, 2012

Sunday Morning Special: The Woods are Full of Cuckoos, 1937





Yesterday, we talked about the song “I’m Wearin’ my Green Fedora” which debuted in 1935 in the Merrie Melodies Cartoon, “My Green Fedora.” The song appeared in other Merrie Melodies cartoons. Here’s another—this time from 1937.


“The Woods Are Full Of Cuckoos” was directed by Frank Tashlin, and released in December of 1937. Famed author and critic Alexander Woollcott (the inspiration for the play “The Man who Came to Dinner”) is parodied as Owl Kott. Tashlin resurrected this parody again the following year with “Have You Got Any Castles?” (1938). Other parodies are “Walter Finchell” (Walter Winchell), “Ben Birdie” (Ben Bernie) and Milton Squirrel (Milton Berle).

Also included are:

"Eddie Gander" (Eddie Cantor)
"Sophie Turkey" (Sophie Tucker)
"W.C. Fieldmouse" (W.C. Fields)
"Dick Fowl" (Dick Powell)
"Fats Swallow" (Waller)
"Deanna Terrapin" (Deanna Durbin)
"Irvin S. Frog" (Irvin S. Cobb)
"Fred McFurry" (Fred MacMurray)
"Bing Crowsby" (Crosby)
"Al Goatson" (Jolson)
"Ruby Squealer" (Ruby Keeler, Jolson's wife at the time)
"Lanny Hoss" (Lanny Ross)
"Grace Moose" (Grace Moore)
"Lily Swans" (Lily Pons)
“Louella Possums" (Louella Parsons)
“Joe Penguin” (Joe Penner)

Cartoon history buffs like to point out that this is the first Merrie Melodies cartoon which uses the orange and yellow rings for the opening sequence. 




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