Release Date:

May 24, 1941

Main Character(s):

None

Summary:

Hollywood stars hang out at the Ciro’s nightclub.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. The Conga played under the opening credits and also continues into the start of the cartoon. The credits were:

Supervision: Fred Avery

Story: Melvin Millar

Animation: Rod Scribner

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling

The cartoon is rather infamous for having a few scenes excised from the reissue. These include a scene of Clark Gable seated with Carole Lombard (who was his wife at the time) before he notices a blonde woman and then uses an excuse to leave his seat and pursue her throughout the cartoon, Gary Cooper dancing with Shirley Temple (only a production cel of this survives), Ned Sparks dancing with Edna Mae Oliver and commenting, “Gee, this is silly!”, and after Gable discovers that the woman he was pursuing is actually Groucho Marx in disguise, there is a close-up shot of him saying “I’m a bad boy!”, which is a reference to Lou Costello. (the ending was found in 2016 and can be viewed here. Go to the 2:28 mark to view it. In addition, an old copy of the cartoon also has a bit of audio from the original ending). In the reissue print, the cartoon abruptly ends after Groucho says “Well, fancy meeting you here!” and Gable looks at the audience in embarrassment (Gable himself actually insisted that the scenes involving him and Carole as well as the ending of him saying “I’m a bad boy” be removed from the reissue). I highly recommend checking out Devon Baxter’s free Patreon posts on the deleted scenes from the cartoon to learn more about this. Hopefully, the cut footage will be found one day and once it is, I will do a post on them.

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

This is also a real tour de force for an actor named Kent Rogers who voices all of the male celebrity caricatures in this cartoon (except for Jerry Colonna, who is voiced by Mel Blanc; meanwhile Sara Berner voices all of the female celebrities). Rogers did great voice work for several other studios in the early 1940’s and could have become one of the greats, but sadly he was killed in an accident in 1944 (at the age of 21; which is way too young to die).

Caricatures of Henry Binder and Leon Schlesinger are seen sitting at a reserved table at one point.

Celebrity caricatures that were not cut from the cartoon include Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, Adolphe Menjou, Norma Shearer, Cary Grant, Greta Garbo, Edward G. Robinson, Ann Sheridan, Johnny Weismuller, Paulette Goddard, Sally Rand, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, George Raft, Harpo and Groucho Marx, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Leopold Stokowski, Jimmy Stewart, Dorothy Lamour, Tyrone Power, Sonja Henie, Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster, the Three Stooges, Oliver Hardy, Cesar Romero, Rita Hayworth, Mickey Rooney (as his character Andy Hardy), Judy Garland, Lewis Stone (as his character Judge Hardy), Kay Kyser, William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Ronald Colman, Errol Flynn, Wallace Beery, C. Aubrey Smith, Peter Lorre, Henry Fonda (who references the Aldrich Family), Boris Karloff (as one of the stone-faced caricatures watching Sally Rand’s bubble dance), Arthur Treacher, Buster Keaton, Mischa Auer, Ned Sparks, and Jerry Colonna.

Additionally, Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn were also supposed to be caricatured but were cut before the cartoon was completed (although there is a table shown to be reserved for Davis).

What I Like About This One:

The score for this cartoon is absolutely amazing (the Conga rendition that plays throughout the cartoon also gives me school dance vibes).

The opening shot of the birds-eye view of Hollywood spotlights swaying to the beat of the Conga along with the camera pan.

Cary Grant commenting: “What a place! What a place! Why it’s as pretty as a picture! But if I ever told My Favorite Wife the Awful Truth, I’d land right on The Front Page! Yessiree, bobby!” (these are all references to the various films Grant starred in, barring “The Front Page”).

Sara Berner’s line delivery of Greta Garbo offering “Cigars, cigarettes, butts” (cigar butts, that is).

Garbo lighting a match on her enormous shoes.

Edward G. Robinson asking “the Oomph Girl” Ann Sheridan how she is tonight. Sheridan’s reply is saying “Oomph” over and over again (animated by Rod Scribner).

Johnny Weismuller (Tarzan) having his coat hung up so he just goes around in his leopard skin.

James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and George Raft pitching pennies and then arguing over whose coin is whose.

Harpo Marx giving Greta Garbo a hot foot. Garbo just slowly reacts to the pain with a simple “Ouch”.

The entire Conga sequence. Gags include Jimmy Stewart being too shy to dance with Dorothy Lamour (animated by Scribner) and then leaving a sign “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (referencing the film of the same name), Frankenstein’s monster dancing, the Three Stooges physically abusing each other in rhythm to the music, Oliver Hardy being revealed to dance with two girls, and Mickey Rooney and Lewis Stone washing several dishes to the tune of the music to pay Rooney’s dinner bill for $50.

During Sally Rand’s bubble dance, Peter Lorre comments that he hasn’t seen such a “beautiful bubble” since he was a child, Henry Fonda hears his mother call to him to which he blatantly lies “Coming, mother” so he can continue watching Rand’s performance only for his offscreen mother to pull him offscreen by the ear, “G” man J. Edgar Hoover says “Gee” over and over again, and stone-faced actors Boris Karloff, Arthur Treacher, Buster Keaton, Mischa Auer, and Ned Sparks have no reaction. After Rand’s performance, Harpo shoots her bubble with a slingshot, revealing Rand to be wearing a bubble.

Despite it being cut, the ending is funny anyway. Clark Gable catching the woman he’s been chasing all night only for “her” to be Groucho Marx in disguise, who remarks, “Well, fancy meeting you here!” (animated by Scribner).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕