Buddy's Show Boat
Encyclopedia
Buddy's Show Boat is an American
animated
short film released by Warner Bros.
on December 9, 1933. It is a Looney Tune featuring Buddy
, the second star of the series. It was directed (or "supervised") by Earl Duvall
, here credited as "Duval," and was one of only five Warner Bros. cartoons (three of which feature Buddy) that he directed. Musical direction was by Bernard Brown, and the short features several popular songs of the day.
minstrels shovel coal into the engine, &, as a gag, descend markedly in height, from the tallest, standing near the engine, to the smallest, to whom the shovel is passed, near the coal pile; two sleepy gentlemen hold on to fishing rods holding aloft sausages, which are slowly pursued by two dogs, which, in the process of locomotion, move the ship's rudder; Cookie peels potatoes; and the same bruiser from Buddy's Beer Garden
spits into the water, only to be spat back at by an annoyed fish. A ferry boat passes, and Buddy's vessel drops anchor at a dock near which a parade heralds the boat's coming. Buddy collects tickets as a band of minstrels sings "Sweet Georgia Brown." On board the ship, "Mlle. Cookie, Show Boat Star" readies herself for a performance & blows a kiss to a picture of Capt. Buddy; in the next room, the bruiser-villain perfumes himself & similarly blows a kiss, but to a picture of Cookie. Buddy picks up the receiver of a ship telephone and rings Cookie's room; she picks up, and they exchange kisses. Having spied the event, the bruiser picks up the phone, blows Cookie a kiss, but receives, instead, a punch in the face. Buddy and Cookie perform a rendition of "Under my Umbrella," after which Buddy introduces, to his pleased crowd, an Aboriginal performer called "Chief Saucer-lip", who, upon the captain's departure, immediately becomes a caricature of Maurice Chevalier
, who recites "So I Married the Girl," with a kangaroo at the piano. Cookie watches from behind the curtain, & the villain easily abducts her with a stage hook; dragging Cookie to the main deck, the bruiser is caught by Buddy and his injunction: "Unhand that woman!" The villain obliges, and punches Buddy that he flies backward into a device that spins him around and sends him flying into the bruiser, who then doubles back into an electrical device with catches his rear end & painfully shocks him. Back in pursuit, the villain is halted by Buddy, who cleverly knocks his adversary backwards, with a wooden life boat, into the cage of "Wally the Trained Walrus," who, now free, bites the rapscallion's behind & chases him into a lower deck. Buddy pulls the villain back up with the ship's wench, & positions him such that the ship's rudder continually bumps his posterior. Buddy & Cookie celebrate together, but part to allow some proper revelry to the true champion, Wally.
, cuts the scenes with the coal-shoveling minstrels & the introduction of "Chief Saucer-lip." The uncut version is somewhat harder to find.
Buddy's Show Boat on YouTube (the original, uncut version; Low Quality)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
short film released by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
on December 9, 1933. It is a Looney Tune featuring Buddy
Buddy (Looney Tunes)
Buddy is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons.-Looney Tunes:Buddy has his origins in the chaos that followed the severing of relations between animators Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising from producer Leon Schlesinger...
, the second star of the series. It was directed (or "supervised") by Earl Duvall
Earl Duvall
Earl Duvall was an artist best known for his work on Walt Disney comic strips in the early 1930s and for a handful of animated cartoon short subjects he directed at Leon Schlesinger Productions for Warner Bros.-Career:...
, here credited as "Duval," and was one of only five Warner Bros. cartoons (three of which feature Buddy) that he directed. Musical direction was by Bernard Brown, and the short features several popular songs of the day.
Summary
Buddy's show boat merrily rolls along a river as "Bam Bam Bammy Shore" plays & Capt. Buddy whistles in tune; to his brief dismay, one of the ship's whistles blows out of tune, which Our Hero corrects by holding an handkerchief up to the steamwhistle, such that it appears to "blow its nose." A new musical number, "Swanee Smiles," begins, & we see a series of scenes of those aboard the vessel: four blackfaceBlackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
minstrels shovel coal into the engine, &, as a gag, descend markedly in height, from the tallest, standing near the engine, to the smallest, to whom the shovel is passed, near the coal pile; two sleepy gentlemen hold on to fishing rods holding aloft sausages, which are slowly pursued by two dogs, which, in the process of locomotion, move the ship's rudder; Cookie peels potatoes; and the same bruiser from Buddy's Beer Garden
Buddy's Beer Garden
Buddy's Beer Garden is an American animated short film, released November 18, 1933 It is a Looney Tune cartoon, featuring Buddy, the second star of the series. It was supervised by Earl Duvall, here credited as "Duval," was one of only five Warner Bros. cartoons directed by him, and one of only...
spits into the water, only to be spat back at by an annoyed fish. A ferry boat passes, and Buddy's vessel drops anchor at a dock near which a parade heralds the boat's coming. Buddy collects tickets as a band of minstrels sings "Sweet Georgia Brown." On board the ship, "Mlle. Cookie, Show Boat Star" readies herself for a performance & blows a kiss to a picture of Capt. Buddy; in the next room, the bruiser-villain perfumes himself & similarly blows a kiss, but to a picture of Cookie. Buddy picks up the receiver of a ship telephone and rings Cookie's room; she picks up, and they exchange kisses. Having spied the event, the bruiser picks up the phone, blows Cookie a kiss, but receives, instead, a punch in the face. Buddy and Cookie perform a rendition of "Under my Umbrella," after which Buddy introduces, to his pleased crowd, an Aboriginal performer called "Chief Saucer-lip", who, upon the captain's departure, immediately becomes a caricature of Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
, who recites "So I Married the Girl," with a kangaroo at the piano. Cookie watches from behind the curtain, & the villain easily abducts her with a stage hook; dragging Cookie to the main deck, the bruiser is caught by Buddy and his injunction: "Unhand that woman!" The villain obliges, and punches Buddy that he flies backward into a device that spins him around and sends him flying into the bruiser, who then doubles back into an electrical device with catches his rear end & painfully shocks him. Back in pursuit, the villain is halted by Buddy, who cleverly knocks his adversary backwards, with a wooden life boat, into the cage of "Wally the Trained Walrus," who, now free, bites the rapscallion's behind & chases him into a lower deck. Buddy pulls the villain back up with the ship's wench, & positions him such that the ship's rudder continually bumps his posterior. Buddy & Cookie celebrate together, but part to allow some proper revelry to the true champion, Wally.
Edited version
At least two versions of this cartoon are known to exist: one, presumably aired on Nickelodeon during the 1990s1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
, cuts the scenes with the coal-shoveling minstrels & the introduction of "Chief Saucer-lip." The uncut version is somewhat harder to find.
External Links
Buddy's Show Boat on YouTube (the cut version; unrestored)Buddy's Show Boat on YouTube (the original, uncut version; Low Quality)