MERRIE MELODIES - HOLLYWOOD STEPS OUT [1941]

 IN THE FIRST OF (POSSIBLY) A SERIES, THIS POST ENDEAVORS TO BE A GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING ALL THE REFERENCES IN THIS CARTOON FOR THOSE "KNOW-NOTHING TOTS" WHO MIGHT HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON. 

But seriously, ladies and jellyspoons, if you're not familiar with 1930s and 1940's pop culture you'll have no idea who these cariacatured people are or any of the injokes surrounding them.  The concept of this Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Tex Avery is a to parody many Hollywood movie stars of 1941 (and before) during an evening out at a Hollywood nightclub.  The opening shot pans across Hollywood to the famous Hollywood nightclub Ciro's. 

This was a real nightclub on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood that opened on New Year's Eve 1935 and closed in 1957.  It is the current location of The Comedy Store since 1972.  A right-pan inside the nightclub shows several stars seated at tables.  In the screenshot below, we see (from left to right):  Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, Adolph Menjou (obscured in this shot), Norma Shearer and finally Cary Grant.

Next, Cary Grant enthuses about what a wonderful place Ciro's is by quoting the names of several of the movie he starred in:  MY FAVORITE WIFE, THE AWFUL TRUTH and THE FRONT PAGE (which is actually an incorrect reference to the remake HIS GIRL FRIDAY).  The cigarette seller who approaches his table is Greta Garbo.

Next we have Ann Sheridan (nicknamed 'The Oomph Girl' because she had 'oomph) being greeted by Edward G. Robinson.

Next is a pan across several tables peopled by Warner Bros. execs Henry Binder and Leon Schlesinger (we know this because the soundtrack plays the MERRIE MELODIES theme song "Merrily We Roll Along"), 

a table with a reserved sign for Bette Davis (in order to set up the next joke), a table reserved for Kate Smith (with a massively-wide chair because Ms. Smith was . . . er . . . Rubenesque), and a table reserved for the members of the Bumstead family in the BLONDIE Series of films (starring Penny Singleton as Blondie and Arthur Lake as Dagwood).  Next Johnny Weissmuller (the most famous cinematic Tarzan) hands his coat to the coat check girl.

Next the coat check girl is handed a small fur wrap by a woman's arm.  The coat check girl says "Good evening, Miss Rand" indicating Sally Rand the famous stripper.  However, later on in the cartoon, she is introduced as Sally 'Strand' for unknown reasons before doing her bubble dance.  We next see 3 actors known for gangster movies (at the time, anyway):  left to right James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and George Raft.  Raft is seen flipping his trademark coin.

Harpo Marx then gives Greta Garbo a hot foot.

A lady in red (meant to represent no one in particular and accompanied by the song "The Lady In Red" on the soundtrack) passes by Clark Gable's table and then M.C. Bing Crosby appears on stage accosted by a jockey on a horse.  This is an inside/running joke at the time because Crosby owned racehorses which were famous for coming in last.

Bing introduces famed orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowski.  Believe it or don't Stokowski was widely known at the time due to his long run presenting weekly symphony radio broadcasts

We next find Jimmy Stewart sitting at a table with Dorothy Lamour (shown in her trademark sarong).

As Lamour boogies off, the timidly-frightened James Stewart runs away leaving a sign saying "MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON"; the 1939 film in which he starred.  We see Clark Gable stalking the Lady in Red next.

We now see Tyrone Power dancing with the ice-skating movie star Sonja Henie,

The Frankenstein Monster, The Three Stooges, 

Oliver Hardy (of Laurel & Hardy) dancing with 2 blondes (who represent no one in particular but are just another fat joke), 

Cesar Romero dancing with Rita Hayworth; they look really elegant from the waist up by when we pan down we see their legs chaotically all over the place.  The joke here being both were really excellent dancers (Hayworth as a child actually danced with Fred Astaire who was a friend of her father's: famed dancer Eduardo Cansino).

Real life best buddies Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland are brought the bill by a waiter.  Mickey sees the total and panics; leaning over to Lewis Stone behind him.  

A cut and we see Stone and Rooney in the kitchen washing dishes because they can't pay the bill

Lewis Stone played Mickey Rooney's movie dad in the series of Andy Hardy films.  Clark Gable is still following the lady in read.  Bing Crosby introduces Sally 'Strand' and her famous bubble dance.  

Kay Kyster points and yells "Students!"; this is a reference to band leader Kay Kyser and his Kollege of Musical Knowledge radio show where a yelled "Students!" was his catchphrase.  We pan over to a group of Hollywood actors giving Sally the ole 'wolf whistle' (this is a Tex Avery cartoon, after all).  Pictured are William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Ronald Colman, Errol Flynn, Wallace Beery and C. Aubrey Smith.  

Sighing dreamily at his table is Peter Lorre.

At another table sits a mesmerized Henry Fonda.  Off camera a woman's voice yells "Henry!  Henry Fonda!" and Fonda replied with a cracked voice "Coming mother!".  This is a reference to the radio show THE ALDRICH FAMILY which began each week with Henry Aldrich's mother yelling "Henry!  Henry Aldrich" and the pubescently-cracking voice of Henry yelling back "Coming mother!"

Next we see J. Edgar Hoover, head of the F.B.I. so taken with Sally's bubble dance that he repeats "Gee!  Gee!  Gee".  He's the Chief 'G'-Man, get it?

We pan over to an assortment of actors known for their glowering stone-faces (on screen at least):  Boris Karloff, Arthur Treacher, Buster Keaton, Mischa Auer and (standing) Ned Sparks.

Comedian Jerry Colonna uses a pair of binoculars to get a better view.  Sitting next to him is the Invisible Man whom Colonna refers to as "Yahoodie!".  'Yahoodie' was a running joke Colonna used on the radio.

Harpo Marx emerges from underneath a table and bursts Sally Rand's bubble revealing her wearing a wooden barrel.  

Clark Gable finally catches up to the Lady in Red who is revealed as Groucho Marx in drag.  And you have now safely navigated through the looney world of HOLLYWOOD STEPS OUT.

As a huge fan of not only film but old time radio shows, this cartoon has always been a complete joy to watch for me!  I love when Warner Bros. did these kind of cartoons and, who knows, maybe I'll tackle another one in the near future.