The second Warners cartoon, following Sinkin' In
The Bathtub. Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising did these for independent Leon
Schlesinger, who released through WB. Bosko was yet another character set loose
to dethrone Mickey Mouse. At least he's human, if rubbery and
of unspecified racial origin (but shouldn't animated figures constitute a race
all their own?). Bosko walks through the jungle and encounters beasts both
hostile and friendly, that being about all there is to it. Simplicity was
enough so long as sounds matched movement, the miracle of synchronization still
impressing customers two years after Steamboat Willie showed it could be done.
Harmon and Ising had been with Disney long enough to learn how to get along without
him. Personality clash with animators cost Walt no small part of staff in days
when he needed talent like H&I's, but WD was under daily stress and easily
lost patience with staff not rowing quick enough. Congo Jazz doesn't get around
to that music form till a final few minutes, but showed what WB's team could do
in the eternal struggle for cartoon dominance.
Donald Benson talks about early Warner cartoons and the musical worlds of Bosko and Buddy:
I remember when those early Harmon-Isings were a goodly chunk of the local cartoon shows. The b&w musicals felt like a different world from the more comedy-oriented Warner toons that followed.
Buddy or a Buddy clone knocks out a catchy tune from a recent Warner feature. In a trick Disney's crew might have originated, two or more identical characters will do the same repetitious dance at least twice through -- actually the same animation for all, but early audiences may well have been amazed that they were moving in perfect unison. Some large crude villain or animal would get hold of Buddy's little girlfriend -- a bit creepy, looking back, but back then it was romantic Terrytoons and soppy Caspers that made us cringe. Buddy comes to the rescue, usually involving something sharp or hot being applied to his opponent's posterior. Gag, clinch or both to fast reprise of song.
Also remember being puzzled by the "Apache Dance" where a French street tough throws his supplicant girlfriend around, always to the same piece of music. It seemed to appear or at least be referenced in a lot of cartoons (Disney has a comic spider-and-fly version in "Woodland Cafe), and in "City Lights" a drunken Chaplin breaks up what he thinks is a real fight in the middle of the floor show. Yet I don't remember ever seeing a "real" version anywhere, except perhaps in "Charlie Chan in Paris." Was there some movie everybody would supposedly recognize it from, or what?
I believe audiences were familiar with the Apache Dance from vaudeville shows as early as 1904 -- by Bosco's time it would have been around for decades.
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Donald Benson talks about early Warner cartoons and the musical worlds of Bosko and Buddy:
I remember when those early Harmon-Isings were a goodly chunk of the local cartoon shows. The b&w musicals felt like a different world from the more comedy-oriented Warner toons that followed.
Buddy or a Buddy clone knocks out a catchy tune from a recent Warner feature. In a trick Disney's crew might have originated, two or more identical characters will do the same repetitious dance at least twice through -- actually the same animation for all, but early audiences may well have been amazed that they were moving in perfect unison. Some large crude villain or animal would get hold of Buddy's little girlfriend -- a bit creepy, looking back, but back then it was romantic Terrytoons and soppy Caspers that made us cringe. Buddy comes to the rescue, usually involving something sharp or hot being applied to his opponent's posterior. Gag, clinch or both to fast reprise of song.
Also remember being puzzled by the "Apache Dance" where a French street tough throws his supplicant girlfriend around, always to the same piece of music. It seemed to appear or at least be referenced in a lot of cartoons (Disney has a comic spider-and-fly version in "Woodland Cafe), and in "City Lights" a drunken Chaplin breaks up what he thinks is a real fight in the middle of the floor show. Yet I don't remember ever seeing a "real" version anywhere, except perhaps in "Charlie Chan in Paris." Was there some movie everybody would supposedly recognize it from, or what?
I believe audiences were familiar with the Apache Dance from vaudeville shows as early as 1904 -- by Bosco's time it would have been around for decades.
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