Release Date:

September 6, 1947

Main Character(s):

Hubie and Bertie

Summary:

Hubie and Bertie inspect a modern “House of Tomorrow” and run afoul of the automatic sweeper who sweeps up anything that falls on the floor and assumes that Bertie is a troublesome piece of garbage.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1049 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. In 2015, the original titles were found via Thunderbean’s special “All Sorts of Cartoon Shorts” disc but were inexplicably not shown to the public until early 2024 (I actually got that disc for Christmas in 2023 just to view the original titles).

This is the first of several Warner cartoons from the late 1940’s to be filmed in a cheaper color process called “Cinecolor”. However, you can hardly tell that nowadays as these cartoons were still timed for Technicolor, as evidenced by the restorations for these late 1940’s Cinecolor releases. Due to Cinecolor being a cheaper process, the cartoons filmed that way were finished early as evidenced by their production numbers, crew members that arrived later on in production history (most notably animator Emery Hawkins in Davis’ unit), and using opening and closing rings from the next release season. While this one still uses the red rings with the blue background in the intro, the outro uses the green rings with the red background used in the late 1948-early 1949 release season.

The cartoon is a remake of Jones’ second cartoon, “Dog Gone Modern”, with this cartoon basically showing how much Jones improved as a director in less than 10 years.

This is the only Hubie and Bertie cartoon where they don’t go up against a cat.

Starting from this cartoon onwards, Hubie has gray fur while Bertie has brown fur and Hubie is now voiced by Mel Blanc.

“Powerhouse” plays throughout the cartoon as the sweeper’s theme and also during the ending where Bertie stupidly releases an army of spring-cleaning robots.

What I Like About This One:

The rendition of “Three Blind Mice” in the original titles (Carl Stalling certainly knew how to make that tune sound catchy).

The designer of the “House of Tomorrow"‘s name is “F. Lloyd Wrong”.

After looking at the sign advertising the modern house, Hubie calls for Bertie down into the ground, but Bertie pops up from under a flower. “Well! Now, ain’t you cute?”, Hubie asks in a sarcastic, irritated tone before slapping him (animated by Ken Harris).

As they enter the house, Bertie is scared by the welcome intercom and tries to run away before Hubie shows him it’s mechanical (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Deciding to test the automatic phonograph, Hubie turns it on by sitting on it (animated by Phil Monroe). The phonograph rises from the floor while a robot throws a record like a frisbee, before a catcher’s mitt appears out of the phonograph and catches it (animated by Vaughan).

Waltz-like music plays so Hubie asks in a feminine tone, “May I to have the next dance?” and waltzes with Bertie for a few seconds (animated by Harris) before they go over to test the sweeper. How the sweeper is demonstrated is a cigar being lit and ashes being dumped onto the floor. Alerted of the mess, the sweeper rolls in and sweeps it up (animated by Monroe).

Bertie excitedly chants, “Hey, Hubie! I get to push the next button! I get to push the next button!” but Hubie slaps him, “No ya don’t! No ya don’t! Nobody’s gonna punch no buttons around here but ME, see! You gotta be SMART to push buttons, see! And you ain’t smart… see!” When Bertie pleads to push just one on the master control panel, Hubie gives in but tells Bertie to wait just a minute after Bertie expresses his excitement: “Yahoo! Oh, boy! Oh, joy! I get to push a button!” (animated by Ben Washam)

In order for something to not happen to him at the master control panel, Hubie stands on the opposite side of the kitchen before giving Bertie the greenlight. The button Bertie pushes turns out to be the laundry where all of the clothes in the dirty wash basket are sucked up by some sort of vacuum. Since Hubie happened to be standing next to the basket, he is sucked up as well. Bertie looks on in horror during the “Mangle” process, does a nervous take during the “Iron” process, hides his head during the “Fold” process, and does a horrified body-shaking take during the “Stack” process. As all the clothes come out in neat folded stacks, Hubie also comes out as one (animated by Washam).

The next scene irises in on Hubie slapping Bertie for his error before running off with Bertie’s head still moving as if he were being slapped. They are ecstatic about the cheese dispenser, which just tosses a wedge of cheese onto the floor. The sweeper sweeps up the chunks and deposits them in the “Refuse” trash can (animated by Monroe).

They try it again, but with Bertie attempting to catch it with a plate as he says, “I got it! I got it!” The impact of the cheese hitting the plate shatters it to which Hubie tells us, “He got it”. The sweeper sweeps up Bertie along with the plate and cheese. Bertie runs out of the trash can but the sweeper mistakes him for a piece of garbage trying to run away and brings him back. Every time Bertie lifts the trash can lid to escape, the sweeper peeks out the door as if it’s glaring at him (animated by Monroe)

Hubie drops a vase out the first story window to which the sweeper goes after it out the first story window and crashes offscreen. Bertie’s thankfulness for Hubie saving his life is short-lived as the unscathed sweeper reappears at the door, sweeps Bertie back up, and puts him back in the trash (animated by Vaughan).

Next, Hubie pushes a box of firecrackers on the floor. Once the sweeper is distracted in sweeping them up, Bertie escapes. A candle is then dropped onto the floor, where the firecrackers immediately explode once the candle’s remains are deposited. The explosion leaves the sweeper in ruins. After collapsing, it pushes the button for “Repair Service”. The repair service robot, which bobbles up and down in a hilarious way as it moves, fixes the sweeper offscreen and both soon return in to the sweeper’s door (animated by Vaughan).

Deciding to get rid of the sweeper once and for all, it’s revealed that Hubie and Bertie have nailed boards over the phonograph to prevent it from rising, allowing them to smash records against the wall (animated by Monroe). Hubie changes the record-throwing speed from “Slow” to “Top Speed”, forcing the sweeper to sweep up smashed records from every which way. Carrying off a pile of smashed records almost as tall as it, the sweeper deposits them on top of the trash can before putting on its hat and coat and resigning with a handwritten sign, “I quit” (animated by Washam).

Thinking they’ve won, Hubie declares, “Well, we took care of ‘em that time, eh Bert?” but Bertie is not next to him and looks over to see Bertie pushing the button for “Spring Cleaning”. Out come several robots each carrying cleaning objects with them. Hubie and Bertie get chased by the cleaning robots and are rolled up in a rug (animated by Monroe).

The cleaning robots are beating the rugs outside with Hubie and Bertie held by clothespins and being beat like rugs. For getting them into this predicament, Hubie tells Bertie in an annoyed tone, “Hey, Bert. Come here!” and slaps Bertie as they continue to be beaten like rugs (animated by Monroe).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕