Release Date:

November 25, 1950

Main Character(s):

Inki, Minah Bird

Summary:

In prehistoric times, Inki and a small lion cub pursue each other with Inki wanting him for a meal and the lion cub wanting the bone in Inki’s hair. Throughout the cartoon, the Minah Bird pops up every now and then, and they also accidentally ruin a leopard-skin wearing caveman’s attempts at making dinner several times.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1120 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This is the final appearance of Inki and the Minah Bird.

Like with all of their other cartoons, this one no longer airs on television due to racial stereotypes and is also the only 1950 cartoon to not be restored (although Thunderbean put a very nice-looking print of this cartoon on one of their special discs in 2021).

Strangely, the lion cub in this cartoon already has a mane.

Also like with all Inki and Minah Bird cartoons, there is no dialogue.

This is the first Jones cartoon where Philip DeGuard is officially his background artist.

This is the first cartoon to credit Milt Franklyn for orchestrations (although Carl Stalling is still credited for the music). Franklyn would be credited in several dialogue-less Warner cartoons before he started scoring cartoons in 1954 alongside Stalling. When Stalling retired in 1958, Franklyn scored all of the cartoons (barring six cartoons released in 1958 that use stock music due to a musicians’ strike) up until his death in 1962 where he was replaced by Bill Lava, who scored almost everything from late 1962 up until the very end in 1969.

The opening footage from this cartoon up until the pan down to Inki’s cave would be reused in McKimson’s “Pre Hysterical Hare” (1958), making it the closest we’ve seen to an Inki cartoon being shown on TV AND being restored.

What I Like About This One:

A spinosaurus is seen chasing another dinosaur that is an herbivore, a saber-toothed elephant’s trumpeting frightens a frilled dinosaur, a saber-toothed tiger jumps at a pterodactyl, and two other dinosaurs are seen fighting with each other before the camera pans down to Inki’s cave (animated by Phil Monroe).

Inki is revealed to have a small dinosaur as a pet, behaving like a dog. The dinosaur points at a mouse, which Inki throws his spear at. The mouse dodges it and hops away from it like a kangaroo (animated by Monroe). Inki next throws his spear at a bee getting nectar from a flower, but the spear misses and pins to the tree it was on, causing the bee to angrily chase both Inki and his dinosaur, where they retreat into the cave (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

After Inki frees his spear from the tree, a loud rumbling is then heard from a nearby mountain with rocks being shaken loose from the rumbling and with Wagner’s “Rienzi Overture” playing in the background. All of the dinosaurs and prehistoric animals as well as Inki all run away in fear but the mountain only splits open to reveal the Minah Bird walking out of it (animated by Ben Washam).

Upon seeing only the Minah Bird walk past his cave, Inki follows the Minah Bird while imitating the Minah Bird’s walk-hop in tune to Mendelssohn’s “Fingal’s Cave Overture”. They pass by a mother lion’s cave as her offspring are nursing on her. One of the lion cubs sees the bone in Inki’s hair pass by and goes out of the cave, attempting to bite it to no avail (animated by Washam).

The lion cub eventually bites down on Inki’s bone and attempts to carry the bone with him but due to it being tied in Inki’s hair, the bone flies away from him before he has a chance to eat it. He then sees that the bone is attached to Inki while Inki sees that it was a lion cub that grabbed his bone, to which they both run away from the other (animated by Washam).

The lion cub then chases Inki along the mountain trail bumping into the caveman attempting to cook his stew (animated by Vaughan). The chase stops when they see the Minah Bird walking in front of them. Inki again follows the Minah Bird in time to his hop-walk while the lion cub follows Inki for his bone in a hungry manner. The Minah Bird then hops into one of several craters on the ground with both Inki and the lion cub following. Every time they both appear out of separate craters, the Minah Bird hops from one crater on the other side into another. Eventually, the Minah Bird comes out with both the lion cub and Inki atop his head (animated by Ken Harris).

After they both fall off of the Minah Bird, Inki and the lion cub follow him to where there are three separate ledges in front of three separate branches, with everyone hopping to the next branch or ledge during the chase. This ends with Inki and the lion cub being upside down on the top right branch and falling (animated by Harris) onto the back of a large dinosaur (animated by Vaughan).

The dinosaur opens his large mouth so that Inki and the lion cub both run into it, down his long neck, and into his stomach where they again bump into the caveman bizarrely cooking his stew in there. The dinosaur then falls down from the impact of Inki and the lion cub bumping into the caveman in his stomach offscreen (animated by Vaughan) before they escape. He chases them while roaring in anger, but his attention soon diverts to the Minah Bird, who passes by once more. Following him in time to his hop-walk, the dinosaur leaps onto the Minah Bird when the latter disappears behind a cliff as an offscreen fight occurs. However, the Minah Bird comes out unscathed. It’s then revealed that he tied up the dinosaur’s limbs and tail together! (animated by Monroe)

Unaware that the Minah Bird has disposed of the dinosaur, Inki and the lion cub are still running away in fear. Having prepared his stew and about to eat it, the caveman sees both Inki and the lion cub running towards him, with him doing a take that causes his leopard skin and chef’s hat to come off of him. He sets up a trap with a tree acting like a snare to catch them so they won’t inadvertently ruin his stew again. The trap works, but upon returning to his pot, the caveman finds his stew has been eaten. The Minah Bird is revealed to be the one responsible as he leaves doing his hop-walk while hiccuping and is also wearing the caveman’s leopard skin and chef’s hat (animated by Monroe).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net! (also with recreated original opening rings since it’s the only place online where the Thunderbean print is available to view in full)

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕