Release Date:

September 2, 1944

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

An all-black parody of both Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Red Riding Hood where the Three Bears (who are interestingly all male and the same age albeit different sizes) are a hot jazz band and go for a walk when their instruments become too hot. Since Red is working as a riveter at Lockheed, the wolf decides to go after Goldilocks but regrets this when the bears mistake the two for jitterbugs and the wolf tries to escape being a dance partner but Goldilocks won’t let him leave.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 13-13, the 13th Merrie Melodie in the 13th release season.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. “Long Long Ago” played under the opening credits:

Direction: I. Freleng

Story: Tedd Pierce

Animation: Ken Champin

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling

This is the last cartoon in the Censored Eleven and the only one not to have Leon Schlesinger involved.

This is the first cartoon to be produced by the new boss, Eddie Selzer who would produce the cartoons up until his retirement in 1958. Rumored to have been born devoid of a sense of humor, Selzer turned out to be a very cranky boss who thought certain stuff wouldn’t be funny (we will get to all of those examples later) but would always be proven wrong. And despite Selzer being overbearing, he, like Schlesinger, wasn’t a meddling executive. While all the directors have been turning out consistently strong cartoons year after year since around the late 1930’s, the studio would unquestionably reach its peak in the late 1940’s and the early 1950’s, where practically every cartoon from those years was a gem. I would also argue that this peak continued far into the early 1960’s right until the original studio shut down long after Selzer’s retirement.

Since Selzer did not want to be credited, this and all remaining cartoons released in 1944 bear the credit, “Produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc.” From 1945 onwards, the cartoons would just have the simple byline, “A Warner Bros. Cartoon”.

“Twilight in Turkey” is the tune that the bears play at the start of the cartoon before their instruments get too hot. This is also one of two Censored Eleven cartoons to use Raymond Scott music with the other one being “Tin Pan Alley Cats”, which used “Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals”.

The cartoon is similar to “Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs” in that they are both black-faced parodies of existing fairy tales and are among the least offensive of the Censored Eleven. However, this one is slightly better because unlike “Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs”, this one is not overpraised, and therefore doesn’t make one question, “How is this one THAT great?”

What I Like About This One:

The small bear having a place to hang his coat- inside his bass (animated by Virgil Ross).

The small bear dancing with his bass in tune to the Middle Eastern sounding part of “Twilight in Turkey” (animated by Ross).

The middle-sized bear’s clarinet becomes red hot, the king-sized bear’s piano has a fireplace where the piano tape would be, and it is “burning up”, while the small bear’s bass is “running a temperature too!”- where its heat is represented with a thermometer underneath the strings (animated by Ross).

The king-sized bear then decides they should go for a walk while their instruments cool. The other two bears think this is an absurd idea until the king-sized bear pulls out the book of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and shows him this is where he got the idea from (animated by Ken Champin).

Meanwhile over at Grandma’s house, the impatient wolf is so disappointed that the mailman has arrived instead of Red, that he says, “Well, kill me dead!” The mailman takes this literally and actually shoots at the wolf! When the wolf hangs on to the chandelier and asks, “What’s the matter with you, puddin’-head?”, the mailman apologizes but says that was what he said (animated by Richard Bickenbach).

Returning from their walk, the bears mistake the wolf attempting to grab the screaming Goldilocks as a pair of jitterbugs and return to their instruments. Goldilocks gets into it, and attempts to use the wolf as a dance partner but he wants none of that, and attempts to escape but he is first pushed back into the room, and then when he attempts to jump out the window, Goldilocks catches him and brings him back inside (animated by Gerry Chiniquy).

Tired out from the forced dancing, the wolf has no enthusiasm by the time Red arrives and does the “what big eyes you have” routine in a slow, exhausted tone. A confused Red asks the wolf why he isn’t chasing her, to which he answers, “What, with THESE!?”, and shows her his red-hot feet. The bears show up again and continue the jam session (animated by Champin up to here) with Grandma coming out of the cupboard and forcing the wolf to dance with her (animated by Jack Bradbury). Exasperated, the wolf imitates Jimmy Durante and laments, “Umbriago! Everybody wants to get into the act!” (animated by Chiniquy)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕 ½