| She Was an Acrobat's Daughter | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | I. Freleng |
| Story by | Ben Harrison |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by | Bob McKimson Ken Harris Phil Monroe Cal Dalton Paul Smith Rod Scribner A.C. Gamer |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 8:36 |
She Was an Acrobat's Daughter is ananimatedshort in theMerrie Melodies series, produced by Vitaphone Productions and released byWarner Bros. Pictures, Inc. on April 10,1937. This animated short was directed byI. Freleng and produced by Leon Schlesinger.[1]The short is a part of theUltra HD Blu-ray,Blu-ray andiTunes releases ofGoodfellas as a part of aMerrie Melodies &Looney Tunes bonus features compilation.[2]
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The story is set at a localmovie theater, whose marquee is adouble-entendre advertising adouble feature of the films "36 Hours to Kill withHis Brother's Wife" (both 1936). The camera moves to another sign, advertising the midnight show. A total of 15 features for the price of 15cents. The features offered reportedly include "rejected shorts".[3] The camera next moves to the interior of the building, where an audience ofcartoon animals has taken seat. At first two viewers stand up and change seats, likely seeking a better viewing position. This introduces a scene where every other member of the audience decides to change seats, resulting in constant re-positioning.[3]
The film show begins with anewsreel called "Goofy-Tone News", produced by "Warmer Bros.". The production company of the newsreel is a pun onWarner Bros., while the newsreel itself parodiesMovietone News. The slogan of Movietone,Sees All, Hears All, Knows All is parodied asSees All - Knows Nothing. Presenter "Dole Promise" (Lowell Thomas) has trouble recalling his own name, and someone whispers it to him.[3] The first news item is that theUnited States are involved in ashipbuilding race and have just constructed the longestocean liner. The depicted ship is huge and actually covers part of theAtlantic Ocean. Its "journeys" betweenLondon andNew York City actually require only the slightest of movements.[3] The next news item features "Heddie Camphor" (Eddie Cantor) interviewing Little Oscar, a long-lost insect. Oscar rants in a high-pitched voice, and the interviewer translates for the audience: Oscar would rather stay lost.[3]
As the newsreel continues, the camera's attention shifts to the audience. Anusher points out an empty seat to a late-arriving gentleman. But the new viewer discovers that his seat only allows him to view the screen through a strange angle. He moves himself to a new seat, with no better results. Having nowhere else to go, the viewer keeps his seat and sulks in frustration.[3] Elsewhere, a hippo has to leave his seat for some reason. He passes through a row of seats on his way to the corridor, pressing on a lot of fellow viewers while asking them to pardon him.[3]
On screen, another newsreel begins:Nit-Wit News, featuring "Who Dehr" (Lew Lehr). His news story takes place in the town ofBoondoggle,Missouri, where thebite of a mad dog has had strange effects on the population. This segment depicts townspeople acting like dogs, the mayor fighting with an actual dog over a bone, and matronlysocialite Mrs. Ben Astorville acting as a pampered dog, albeit one still served by abutler. As Dehr concludes his report, he is himself bitten by one of the affected townspeople.[3] Back in the theater, the hippo returns to his seat, pressing on his fellow viewers again.[3]
Following the newsreels, the next part of the program is asing-along. Maestro "Stickoutski" (Leopold Stokowski) plays his "fertilizer" (Wurlitzerpipe organ), while lyrics appear on screen for the audience to follow in singing. The lyrics are accompanied by illustrations of what they describe. The song of the day is "She Was an Acrobat's Daughter".[3] In a gag, an irrelevant sign is depicted among the lyrics, and the audience sings its message: "please do not spit on the floor".[3]
Afterwards, the main feature is presented, with a parody of theLeo the Lion (MGM) logo who crows like a rooster instead of roaring at the start, a nod to the rooster logo ofBritish Pathé. A parody ofThe Petrified Forest (1936) entitledThe Petrified Florist is then shown featuring Bette Savis (Bette Davis) and Lester Coward (Leslie Howard), with rather long cast credits (the hero (Lester Coward), the shero (Bette Savis), rich man (John P Sockefeller), poor man (John Dough), beggar man (Kismet),thief (Oph Bagdad), doctor (Jekyll), lawyer (Ima Shyster), then repeats:poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer several times).[3] The film opens with "Coward" attempting to secure transportation viahitchhiking while reading a book. Meanwhile, in the theater, a donkey member of the audience chooses this moment to start acting as ahawker. He starts advertising various food items that he is selling in a loud voice, which results in the audience kicking him out of the building.[3]
On screen, Howard makes his way to a desert inn and introduces himself to the waitress, Davis. When she figures him for a poet, Howard attempts to recite something. He gives a mangled rendition ofMary Had a Little Lamb (1830).[3] In the theater, a baby goose is seated next to his father and keeps annoying the parent through constantly speaking. Either asking questions about the film they are viewing, asking for a drink of water, or asking to see acartoon. The constant speaking annoys other audience members, who try to silence the child by intimidation. When the father protests, he is punched in the face. When the baby goose tries whispering his annoying questions to his father, his father attempts to slap his annoying kid, who runs away.[3]
The unsupervised child makes its way to the projection room and starts toying with the movie projector. He accidentally speeds up the film (resulting in Howard and Davis speaking too fast for the audience to understand), then has it going backwards (resulting in Howard and Davis' meeting being reversed). Realizing the damage he has caused, the child attempts to fix the projector. But he gets caught within the machine. The film ends with the child getting covered infilm reels and struggling to break free, while cussing in the garbled fast-forwarded talk from the ruined movie.[3]
The film depicts the typical audience of amovie theater in the earlysound film era. The film-going audience of the era did participate insing-alongs and group activities within the theater. But this lively-participating audience then had to turn silent. Due to technical limitations, the theaters offered poor sound quality. Listening to the dialogue of a sound film required silence.[4] Sources of noise and distraction within a theater were annoying and disruptive to film viewers. Like other Warner Bros. animated shorts of the late 1930s, the film uses such typical nuisances and the reactions to them as a subject of comedy.[4] The hippo who keeps changing seats and the goose who keeps talking both annoy their fellow viewers. It is the reaction of said annoyed viewers which is played for laughs.[4]
Part of the film parodiesThe Petrified Forest (1936) and depictscaricatures of its leading actors,Leslie Howard andBette Davis. The film is turned "funnier" by having an interference in the projecting booth altering and reversing its sequence of events.[5] Donald Crafton suggests that the film also pokes fun at another figure familiar to its creators, though not necessarily the audience. A flea emerges from a purse marked with the initials "J.W.", and during the sing-along the attacking lion is called "Jack". Crafton sees both scenes as references toJack L. Warner, who was reputedly stingy and vindictive.[5]
There is a cameo ofAdolf Hitler on screen.[5] One of the segments of the film depicts anewsreel. It is called "Goofy-Tone News" and presented by "Dole Promise", parodying respectivelyMovietone News and its narratorLowell Thomas.[6] Inside the movie theater, a viewer has trouble viewing the newsreel. His seat only offers him a distorted view of the screen images, which are seen "at an extreme angle". The film image at this section of the newsreel is that of Hitler. Hitler is depicted marching ingoose step and giving theNazi salute. He is wearing anarmband depicting aswastika.[6]
Some gags seem to be recycled from the earlier filmsBosko's Picture Show (1933) andBuddy's Theatre (1935).[3]