Release Date:

December 10, 1949

Main Character(s):

Three Bears

Summary:

While reading the newspaper, Pa notices a want ad for a trick bear act in the circus and decides to practice various stunts, but Junyer keeps sabotaging every stunt through either his stupidity or weight.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1113 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

The title is a pun for “bare feet”.

Oddly, a Bugs Bunny comic is in the newspaper which you would have to suspend disbelief at since the ending reveals the newspaper to be printed 12 years before Bugs made his debut.

The ending is a bit similar to that of “The Bee-Deviled Bruin” in that Pa finds out the hard way of what Ma was trying to tell him, Junyer ends up getting scared by Pa’s raging, and Pa cries, “What did I ever do to deserve such a family!?”

During the scene where Junyer juggles Pa with his feet, the former’s head is in the wrong place for a blink and you’ll miss it second, likely due to a cel error (specifically, at the 1 minute and 35 second mark).

What I Like About This One:

As the Bears are having breakfast, Pa is reading the paper as Junyer is looking at the Bugs Bunny comic on the back and laughing so much over it that he pushes his entire head into Pa’s personal space which causes Pa to punch Junyer’s head into his breakfast bowl: “Eat your oatmeal!”, he yells. “What did I do!? What did I do!?”, Junyer bawls (animated by Ken Harris).

Upon seeing the want ad for the trick bear act at “Mingling Bros. Circus” and that it provides good pay, Pa announces, “Here’s just what we’ve been looking for. All we need’s a little practice”. Ma starts to tell him, “But, Henry, that-”, but he interrupts her, “Shut up and let’s get goin’!” Junyer is excited about this: “Oh, boy! I am going to be a trick bear act! Come on, Pa!” He pulls him offscreen and starts juggling him with his feet while scatting to “Frat”. Ma again tries to tell Pa what she was going to say, but she just gives an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” smile and joins in with Junyer’s scatting while wearing a blonde wig and a sport outfit. This ends with Junyer tossing Pa up into the air, still with his feet, and Pa landing on his head atop Ma’s finger. Pa attempts to punch Ma but due to the way he’s balanced, he only ends up spinning around. He then kicks Junyer in the behind when the latter is taking his bows (animated by Harris).

With Strauss’ “Perpetual Motion” playing in the background, Ma again tries to explain as Pa is doing a high wire act on a unicycle, but he responds with, “Shut up! You’ll make me nervous!” He also has Junyer riding another unicycle in the opposite direction, but Junyer’s weight makes the wire go all the way down to the ground. Pa demands, “Get off that wire…. you over-sized freep-head!” The second Junyer does, Pa is flung high into the air. Junyer chases after Pa flying through the air and mistakes this for a stunt, shouting to him all the way that he wants to be in the act and “I will be a good trooper, Pa!” Pa eventually falls through the chimney and comes out on his unicycle, which he still has with him, completely covered in soot and attempts to punch Junyer, only to get dizzy from the attempt (animated by Ben Washam).

Attempting a trapeze stunt and using Junyer as his partner, Pa demands, “Grab me, stupid!” Junyer does, with his feet coming off of his trapeze, but he doesn't let go of Pa, and sends them all the way down to the ground (animated by Phil Monroe). “Let go of me, ya lackwit!”, Pa orders, which causes him to be flung up into the tree branch used for this act (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Ma is seen holding up a hoop for Pa to tear through while he runs on skates and off a ramp towards it. Junyer comes out of the house and tries to tear through the hoop himself at the exact same time resulting in him and Pa bashing heads. After this, Pa sets up a carnival-like game, “Hit My Baby Son. 3 Shots for 5 cents”, where Junyer’s head sticks out of the booth and Pa attempts to hit him with a baseball. However, the baseball only bounces off of Junyer’s head with a clang and hits Pa (animated by Vaughan).

The next stunt involves Ma holding an armchair over her and Pa having Junyer propel him on a teeter board for him to land on said armchair. This only causes Pa to flung up all the way up into space as Ma and Junyer go in for the night. They go out to finish the act the next day as Pa falls back down to the surface, but he ends up missing the armchair (animated by Vaughan).

As Ma is dressed up like a member in a marching band and doing a drum roll, Pa attempts a high dive into a small bucket of water, but Junyer, who has been eating salted crackers, drinks the water from the tank, causing Pa to land splat into the empty bucket. Hearing the crash, Junyer turns around and sees what he just caused. He yells to Ma, “Oh, Ma, uh, duh, what was Dr. Crennesaw’s number?” (animated by Monroe)

Pa next does a stunt that involves him going around and around the interior of a large barrel on a motorcycle, with Ma wearing a race car driver outfit and waving the checkered flag for him to go. Junyer walks by eating bananas, and throws one of his peels into the barrel, causing Pa to spin out offscreen (animated by Monroe).

Bandaged and bruised, Pa decides they’re ready to apply and asks for the paper for the circus’ address. He then realizes to his horror that the newspaper is 21 years out of date! “1928!?”, he yells, with Mel Blanc doing the yell rather than Billy Bletcher (animated by Monroe).

As a frightened Junyer clings to Ma crying, Ma sighs, “But, Henry, I tried to tell you…”. Upset that they went through all of that for nothing, Pa cries, “What did I ever do to deserve such a family!?” before realizing, “Well, there’s still one way out”. He runs out of the house and attempts suicide by jumping off a cliff and laughing in insanity, “I’m going to be free! Free at last!” However, Junyer saves him by placing another bucket of water under Pa, preventing his attempted death. Junyer is proud of himself and says to Pa, “I saved your life, Pa. I done a good thing. Yes, I did, Yes, I-” but an ungrateful Pa punches him for his interference. Junyer again bawls, “What did I do!? What did I do!?” (animated by Monroe)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕