LOONEY TUNES - SLAP HAPPY PAPPY [1940]

 RIGHT.  NO ONE ASKED FOR IT BUT YOU'RE GETTING IT ANYWAY! 

Here is the latest of those cartoon analyses which my doddy Cheeks got started -- only here's one he didn't request.  He has seed this cartoon, though.  This B&W Looney Tunes cartoon from 1940 is when Porky Pig still ruled the roost at Warner Bros. animation division.  But Bugs Bunny & Daffy Duck were right on the doorstep ready to semi-eclipse our porcine performer.  I chose to "analyze" this one because it also features a ton of old time radio/1930's movie stars  whose appearance may be confusing to know-nothing tots out there who get glassy-eyed at anything over 5 years old.  

The opening title cards proudly proclaim this cartoon is starring Porky but our hammy hero is barely in this one.  We open on Porky's Farm where Porky has for sale 'Miracle Eggs':  "If it's a good egg, it's a miracle!"  At dawn, Porky is seen plowing a furrow whistling "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee" for you Looney Tunes aficionados.  Porky says hello at a cow who responds "How dooooo you doooooooooooo!" 

Bert Gordon & Eddie Cantor

This, of course, is the catchphrase of Bert Gordon, The Mad Russian; a frequent member of the cast of Eddie Cantor's radio show.  In fact, there was even a movie starring Bert Gordon called HOW DOOOO YOU DO! 

For more of Eddie Cantor . . . . stay tuned.  Soon, we see a rather rotund chicken approach a box marked 'gravel'.  The chicken shovels up a bunch into it's mouth and waves off camera with a "Hiya, Butch!"  This is a parody of actor Andy Devine.

Andy Devine

The actual catchphrase parodied here is "Hiya, Buck!" which Devine would yell every time he met Jack Benny.  This is a reference to the film BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN in which Devine co-starred with Jack Benny. 

And speaking of Jack . . . the camera pans right to find a rabbit painting Easter eggs on a conveyor belt. 

He says "Hello again, this is Jack Bunny, folks."  This is a variation of Jack's usual greeting at the beginning of every one of his radio shows:  "Hello again, this is Jack Benny talking." 

When a black egg comes by on the conveyor belt, Jack Bunny thinks it's a bad egg and is about to smash it when a black baby chicken bursts out of the sheel and yells "Hold, it boss!" with the gravelly voice of Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, co-star of the Jack Benny programme. 

Jack Benny & Eddie "Rochester" Anderson

Next Porky reads a newspaper headline which says that Mr. & Mrs. Eddie Cackler are expecting a son.  A sign outside the Cackler residence says 'Boy Wanted'.  Now this refers, of course, to Eddie Cantor and his wife Ida (who is also name-checked in this cartoon) who famously had about 100 kids and they were all daughters.  A running joke on Cantor's radio show that he would like a son. 

The chicken Eddie Cackler is also depicted with large eyes; a reference to Cantor's nickname of "Ol' Banjo Eyes" due to his large orbs.  Of course, Ida's 5 eggs hatch into 5 girls.  A passing chicken walks by wheeling 5 boy chicks in a stroller and singing in the unmistakable voice of Bing Crosby. 

When Eddie asks Bing how he does it, Bing proceeds to sing to a hen who lays about 100 eggs containing all males.  By 1940, Bing wasn't really a sex symbol but in the early 1930s he sure was and this is a (admittedly a little late) allusion to that effect Bing had on women fans back about a decade. While Eddie Cackler goes to "ba ba ba booooo" his wife into having a son,

a crow outside grabs a microphone and reports "Flash!" that they will have a son at any moment.  This is a parody of gossip columnist/radio reported Walter Winchell. 

Eddie Cackler skips outside certain he's gonna have a boy and hands out cigars.  He encounters a chicken in a robe and pasteboard graduation hat saying "At last, I'm gonna have a boy!".  The professor chicken says "That's right, you're wrong!".  This is a parody of bandleader Kay Kyser and this is his catchphrase from his radio show KAY KYSER'S KOLLEGE OF MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE. 

Kay Kyser

Eddie next encounters a grumpy-looking chicken and tells him the news saying "Ned, aren't you happy about it".  Ned replied "I'm very happy about the whole thing!" in a monotone.  This is character actor Ned Sparks who populated many 1930's movies with his sourpuss expression and flat voice. 

Ned Sparks

Ida lays an egg which hatches out into a chubby little chick.  "Tell me,"shouts Eddie, "Is it really a boy?!?!?!"  The little chick shrugs it's shoulders and says the patented Looney Tunes button:  "Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, could be!" 

Oh and by the by, SLAP HAPPY PAPPY was also a 2 page strip by Gill Fox appearing in CRACK COMICS around this same time.  This comic book strip has nothing whatsoever to do with this Looney Tunes cartoon (other than the title) but I never pass up an opportunity to post some nice vintage comic book art!  Enjoy!