Release Date:

September 28, 1940

Main Character(s):

Two Curious Dogs

Summary:

The Two Curious Dogs chase each other over a bone into a theater where they run afoul of a magician’s equipment, a trained seal, and a magic hat where the bird who lives inside angrily punishes the dogs whenever they do something bad to the hat.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. An unknown original tune played over the opening credits:

Supervision: Charles M. Jones

Story: Rich Hogan

Animation: Ken Harris

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling

The cartoon has no dialogue.

The tough little bird would appear again in Jones’ first cartoon of 1942, “The Bird Came COD”, where a short-lived character named Conrad Cat would go up against him. His character design also resembles that of Henery Hawk.

This is the first cartoon to use the late 1940-early 1941 Merrie Melodies opening theme.

The cartoon’s soundtrack was released on “The Carl Stalling Project Volume 2”. Unfortunately, though, the music that played over the original titles is not part of it.

This is the 300th Warner Bros. cartoon overall.

What I Like About This One:

The tough bird’s theme tune.

The bone landing on a teeter board and the dogs unwittingly propelling it upward on to a tightrope when they jump on the other end.

Both dogs climb up on opposite sides. The brown dog timidly tries to go across while the white dog goes across in a happy carefree manner.

The brown dog falling off the tightrope where both he and the bone land on the teeter board again. This time, the bone flies into the tank where the seal resides. Then, the white dog falls on to the teeter board causing the brown dog to fly back up to the tightrope.

The white dog going into the tank and accidentally retrieving a fish which he slowly drops out of his mouth in disgust (his expression is really funny).

When the brown dog comes down from the tightrope, he accidentally trips over the hat, which of course ticks the bird off. The bird comes out pushing his way into the brown dog’s muzzle.

The brown dog’s reaction to seeing the white dog underwater. He then goes back to check and sees the seal with the bone in his mouth. He walks away again nodding his head as if to say, “That’s that”, before realizing what the seal had.

The seal spitting water in the brown dog’s face. When the brown dog barks at him in anger, the seal responds by playfully throwing the fish in his mouth. The brown dog’s next bark of anger is interrupted by the seal giving him the bone back. The brown dog spits it out absentmindendly before making a realization at what he just spat out.

The brown dog goes to pick up the bone which has landed in the hat. The bird is seen sitting on the other end giving him an annoyed look and then socking him in the nose.

The bird is so ticked off at this point that he shoots the brown dog an angry glare whenever he tries to pick up the bone. The brown dog tries to back away from him and ends up landing in the tank.

The white dog becoming very dizzy after being tossed out by the seal, rendering him unable to pick up the bone which is right in front of him.

Just as the white dog slowly tries to creep up on the bone, the seal shoots the brown dog out of the tank by spitting water at his behind, sending him tumbling into the white dog at the exact moment he has gotten hold of the bone.

The bone landing in the hat a final time. Fed up with the constant disturbances, the bird walks up to them with the bone, splits it in half and shoves each half into the dogs’ mouths.

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕