"Lady, Play Your Mandolin!" (1931) Merrie Melodies

[DaVince21]

I love how stuff just happens in these old cartoons.

[ITSBEEN1OFTHOSEDAYS]

those cartoons where everything dances :)

[DarkCharmeleon1994]

hahaha the horse for president!!!

[5196Tpffan]

Is Mickey and Minnie supposed to be in this?

[NYmosVids]

when cartoons were actually watchable



[classicsguy626]

It's been exactly 80 years since the first merrie melodie

[mtvtv1]

foxyis just a spoof to the early mickey mouse

[commodore64fan]

@mtvtv1 well duh -_-

[pauletteking]

i think the problem with the 30s wasn't people wanted their characters be like mickey mouse but they made their characters too much like mickey. instead of giving a few traits of mickey to their characters they damn near gave all of his traits to them. luckily today when we give traits to our characters from others its only a few which is what they should have done back then but obviously we have different mind sets and we learned from their mistakes. but they still had great cartoons though.

[poohebar83]

I love the horse. 5:16-5:35

[SuperNuela]

this was the first "merrie melodies" cartoon that came out...just bizarrely fantastic, true genius

[BazookaBuhnull]

TiCar85's explanation regarding Foxy's legitimacy is quite plausible, considering a source is included. As for the phone call between Harman-Ising and Disney, someone probably just made that up.

[TiCar85]

According to John Kenworthy in a book called The Hand Behind the Mouse, Hugh Harman drew images of mice on a photo of Disney in 1925. This in turn inspired Ub Iwerks to conceive Mickey Mouse. This is mentioned in Wikipedia.

So there you have it, folks. Foxy is NOT by any means a Mickey rip-off.

[pauletteking]

@TiCar85 i like you. not that way. i mean like you, i believe foxy was like you said "a legitimate character" cuz he was. he barely looks like mickey. the one on tiny toon adventure, which was him redesigned, was even more cool looking and do you think wb would get sued by disney if they used modern foxy? cuz some other person said they would cuz foxy and roxy were mickey and minnie ripoffs. i mean they were made by the same man who drew mickey sketches for disney anyway.

[TiCar85]

@pauletteking It's unlikely that WB would get sued if they use the new version of Foxy as seen in that Tiny Toons episode. This is because that character looks a lot different from his 1930s counterpart.

[pauletteking]

@TiCar85 cool i just wish they would use these guys in more toons. i mean you think they'd be great don't you? i like bugs and his crew but they should take some time off though you know?

[pauletteking]

@TiCar85 have you seen loonatics unleashed and the new looney tunes show? if so what do you think of them? i think they're cool. i like how each character looks in both shows. but some fans killed it for those who liked loonatics. cuz in the wb studio they have a poster of them showing what they want to avoid doing again. and bugs looks better in the new looney tunes show he looks more cleaned up

[TiCar85]

@pauletteking Yes, I did saw Loonatics Unleashed. It features "extreme" versions of the popular Looney Tunes characters. As for for the new Looney Tunes show, that series has yet to show in my region. My apologies for the delay, I been having lousy transmission lately.

[pauletteking]

@TiCar85 no worries. but can you tell me if you know if disney or wb or any other studio has copyrighted trademarked or patented the black and white 1930s drawing style? if not can you tell me someone who does? cuz i'm drawing character and i just want to be positive i can use him. so i don't find out like 2 years later he can't be used you know?

[TiCar85]

@pauletteking That sounds a little complicated to answer. For Mickey Mouse, what's trademarked in him is the way his ears always remain perfect circles regardless from what angle you look at his head.

As for the 1930s black and white style, I'm not sure if it's patented or trademarked, considering a number of cartoonists made characters based on the styles of Pat Sullivan and Bill Nolan.

Just to be on the safe side, you might want to e-mall Disney or WB.

[pauletteking]

@TiCar85 i don't know how. can you tell me?

[TiCar85]

@pauletteking Try logging in to their official websites. Their e-mail addresses should be mentioned.

[pauletteking]

@TiCar85 do you know the carton character named piggy. he replaced foxy after disney said wb coudn't use him

[TiCar85]

@pauletteking How sad. You mean some legal action was considered which led to Foxy's retirement?

[pauletteking]

@TiCar85 yeah but piggy's cool though

[TiCar85]

@pauletteking One possible reason why Disney said that is because Foxy is character from WB which is a rival studio. When Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny made their appearances in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, both characters were given the exact amount of screen time in the film due to the intense rivalry between the two studios (see Wikipedia). Therefore, if you were to ask WB about Foxy, they'll probably give you a very different story.

[BazookaBuhnull]

I read about that phone call from Walt on the web. However, that info doesn't seem to be coming from a reliable source.

[RetroRabFan]

Rumors shmumors.

[BazookaBuhnull]

Foxy has more personality than Mickey

[RetroRabFan]

All that stuff some people say about Foxy is just fan opinion, the fact that Mickey is more popular. Well, if you look at Foxy's article in Wikipedia, there's a pretty different story.

[CrustyClown11]

I heard that Foxy was a rip off of Mickey Mouse. I like him personally

[RetroRabFan]

Warner Bros. should put Foxy back in the limelight.

[pauletteking]

@RetroRabFan you right

[RetroRabFan]

I know this cartoon comes in a restored version. As for the one here, the ticks in the sound track are noticeable. Anyway, that's okay.

[TiCar85]

Foxy is indeed a legitimate character. It's just that someone who owns a sewer rat was being backed by a big time mafia to dictate what other cartoonists should and should not do.

[SparkyMK3]

@TiCar85 Foxy was a shameless ripoff of Mickey Mouse, and Walt personally put a stop to the characters career with one phonecall to Rudy Ising.

[TiCar85]

After only three shorts of this character, Warner Bros. replaced Foxy with a character that probably wasn't cute. What a disappointment.

[pauletteking]

@TiCar85 they replaced him with piggy and piggy is pretty cool just like foxy.

[TiCar85]

Foxy is such a cute character. I can't understand why he retired after appearing in only three shorts.

[Joemamma69000]

Man, if The Looney Tunes Show was drawn this way, I'd watch it every single day.

[elqueenero]

It isn't Mickey!!! it´s a cartoon of Merrie Melodies!!!

[lisardorico]

@elqueenero is foxy the fox, no is a mouse.

[jhonnydrama]

i have this on the looney tunes golden collection

[TheEscapedBalloon]

They're partying with psuedo-class. Look how happy they are too; they must be real drunk.

I've never got why Foxy had round ears. He's a FOX.

[rolex452]

The beginning of the great "Merrie Melodies" series, produced 80 years ago. Considering that the main characters in this Warner Bros. cartoon look almost exactly like existing Disney characters, I may assume that the two studios have been at each others throats for the past eight decades, at least in the animation aspect.

[HomeoftheGoodGuys]

This was the very first short in the "Merrie Melodies" series. It was from 1931, a year after the very first WB cartoon in the "Looney Tunes" series "Sinkin' In the Bathtub" with Bosco.

[viagemixtlan]

ok, its a piece of history, but it`s crap. i mean, why aren`t these characters all smoking pot, for instance? i would have so much more respect eheheh

[jhonnydrama]

@viagemixtlan you a fucking idiot you really are a fucking idiot words can't describe how much of a fucking idiot you are please just shut up it would do the world a great deal of good if you did

[viagemixtlan]

@jhonnydrama why? because you think pot is bad? and cigarettes are good, i suppose? you are a fucking demented moron or what? pot can save us all, if we let it. but dumbasses like you think they are in control.... fucking slave

[jhonnydrama]

@viagemixtlan u suppose wrong u you camel raping cocksucker go eat pig shit and die u fucking twat

[viagemixtlan]

@jhonnydrama wow ...do you have tourette syndrome? there`s something wrong with your brain. try smoking some pot.

[parrotkabbarrot]

type "gift" before youtube at the url

[jovanc91]

that horse was WASTED lol

[MDthornton83]

Gotta love old school.

[KosaiAvonej]

Well hell if I got fed my drink like that vaquero duck at 0:48 I'd be singing a merry melody too!

[InvaderZim897]

You know what? I think I saw a cartoon of this character a long time ago and someone told me it was the original Bugs Bunny, so later on I assumed it was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

[eljosemanuellopez]

mmmm...Its like "The cactus kid" Mickey mouse cartoon (1930)

[jamesstar1234]

The horse is great. :D

[jpongsin2002]

SUCKER!!! :D

[SparkyMK3]

This is in the public domain, right?

[JeterSwisherFan88]

@SparkyMK3 Actually, it's on one of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD sets.

[BadBooking]

@JeterSwisherFan88 It was on the first LTGC, but only as part of the Toonheads supplement. I believe this cartoon was also on the "Little Caesar" DVD as well.

[pokemanmaster03]

@BadBooking It's also on the DVD "Attack of the 30's Characters."

[SparkyMK3]

Fun cartoon, but what is up with the bizarre lipsynch? I understand sound film was still very new at this time, but did they have to draw the mouths so wide?!

[J3r3m0]

"I'm a Sinner too...!"

[AeolianHall1]

Lady Play Your Mandolin was written around 1930-1. The music is by Oscar Levant and the lyrics are by Irving Caesar.

[belzondium]

2:27 that's really terrifying when he wraps the donkey's neck around the cactus... lol.

[VinylShellacLover]

Wow! I've only ever read about this cartoon. God, I love the Internet!

[13obod]

they added a lot of stuff in this version =/

Look at mine

[Brundaty]

3:53 - How real men drink beer.

[Conkerfan364]

Ah... I remember watching this on my old Looney Tunes collection... To be honest, this cartoon was so addicting, I ended up watching it more than Bugs. ^^

[ftsjr]

I would've loved to have been in the studio when they recorded the soundtrack, just to see the singers involved. Great cartoon. A terrific example of early sound animation.

[embletini]

the creators must have been taking something

[SwimFellow]

This was one of the oddest of the Merrie Melodies..... It was also the first

[78timothy]

1931, what a great year for Music. Abe Lyman's Band (west coast band, based in Los Angeles, featured in many Paramount Movies). Lyman recorded for Brunswick. Warner Brothers puchased the Brunswick record Co.and retained the pressing plants they sold the label to American Record company in 1932. WB kept the pressing plants for their Vitaphone disc production. He had composeer credit on a number of songs including "You Made Me Love You." made famous by Harry James in 1942, written in 1924.

[ToddCMorgan]

If it was written in 1924, then why do i have a recording of Al Jolson singing it from 1913!?! And going by things I've read about it, it was a big hit!  But you're right about 1931 being a great year for music!!!

[HomeoftheGoodGuys]

@78timothy You're right! WB purchased the Brunswick label back in 1931 and stayed until 1932. Warner Bros. hasn't started making records on its own record label until 1958 long after the Vitaphone discs phased out.

[senorohnoes]

Grin at 2:40 ruins his mojo.....

[jetfishboat]

This is how everyday of my life is, let me tell you it gets old pretty quick.

[frankiwuds]

they tried to copy "The Gallopin Gaucho" of Mickey Mouse?

[murielsartre]

Hey, *I'M* a sinner, too! So gimme a beer already.

[kawaiiluv2]

i can't remember the sing title?! what is it please?

[murielsartre]

Do you mean the music at the beginning of the cartoon?

That's 'Get Happy'(1930) by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. It was the Merrie Melodies theme tune for a short time.

[Noveltooner]

This track of "Get Happy" was also used as the both the latter radio theme of "Truth or Consequenses" with Ralph Edwards, and as the first TV theme of "Truth or Consequenses" with Edwards, Jack Bailey, and Bob Barker on NBC. (Ironically, Barker's "T or C" followed the daytime version of "Thr Price is Right" until 1963, when "TPIR" moved to ABC.)

[fonchothehottie]

So why are Mickey and Minnie Mouse disguised as foxes? lol

[nakospliter]

BETTER THAN THE FUCKING DISNEY CartOOns!!!

[FirstClassHeel]

That's really not fair to say, considering that the really early WB cartoons were basically ripping off Disney, kind of like how people accuse Family Guy of being a Simpsons ripoff (when everyone knows that FG is a mix between Wait Till Your Father Gets Home and MAD Magazine [back when it was funny])

[nakospliter]

Yeah They're Rip-off

But in Disney i Never see

Drunk Horses o Pluto Get Drunk

Dancing Hot Jazz Music

[FirstClassHeel]

Good point.

[InfamousShad]

Actually, in some of the earliest Mickey cartoons he (and a few of the other characters I think) drank booze, smoked and chewed tobacco. These were cut whenever they were shown on the Disney Channel years later, but they have been released uncut on the Walt Disney Treasures DVDs.

[MWolfL]

@InfamousShad

Yeah, amazing how things change over the decades huh?

Though since "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" revealed that toons react wildly to alcohol I'll bet that the booze was really soda in the old cartoons.

[KosaiAvonej]

@InfamousShad It's because back then that stuff was just normal stuff most people did so they didn't care if they're kids saw it, it wasn't ment to give kids bad impressions or anything.

[martinezmarcio1]

yea you right, it is better then the fuckin disney cartoons

[polkadotpie]

I love these! hmm...looks like minnie and mickey were foxes in their past life!

[CartoonGuy13]

Thats not Mickey & Minnie. Thats Foxy and Roxy. One of the first Warner Bros Looney Tunes.

[bluerabbit44]

they cameoed in animaniacs, i believe

[PatrickRsGhost]

They were actually featured in an episode of "Tiny Toons" where Babs hears a strange voice a la Kevin Costner in "Field of Dreams" where she finds her idol. The characters are Foxy and Roxy, but they were given the names of two other early Merrie Melodies/Looney Toons characters, Bosko and Honey.

[TherealRNO]

Patrick: No. The characters are not Foxy & Roxy in 'Fields of Honey'. They are modified Bosko & Honey, in keeping with both politically correct standards for the times and in keeping with show chronologically that has The Warners (frpm Animaniacs, the show following Tiny Toons) being "related" to Bosko & Honey.

[malikscifi92]

THE very first Merrie Melodies short, and look what's followed this after all these years. a cultural phenomenon that's become a part of our lives.

[raynegron]

I remember this cartoon...it's like an acid trip with out the colours!

[dulimar]

It's a true classic!

[GoBlue208]

Different world back then. Right before 9/11 and WWII

[zizumia]

i wonder if thats the first merry melodies?

[gagbonkers]

i think it is. from what i heard

[zizumia]

cool

 ill look it up and see

[gagbonkers]

i got the info from a book that tells EVERYTHING TO looney tunes, MGM, terrytoons, And i can't rember if Bakshi studios were in it

[Invisib0]

what book is that?

[Pikachubrown]

It is

[headphone355]

Yep, this was the cartoon that started it all for Merrie Melodies.

[zizumia]

cool

[cha5]

Really interesting, I'm probably more into the Fleischer Brothers cartoons from this era than these early Merrie Melodies but this is a really important cartoon being as it was the catalyst for everything that would follow these Merrie Melodies.

[CartoonGuy13]

it is

[nichmars]

It's all about 3:57 when he says "Ahhhh!!"

[Mandopete]

Where is the mandolin?

[videolover326]

Look for Roxy and you'll see. She performs the title song in the middle of this cartoon.

[tackyjulie]

But...it's not a mandolin. I think that was his point.

[GoulashFor10]

The arrangement of the song "Come On, Get Happy" (the Merrie Melodies title music in the Harman-Ising series) became identified as the theme of the NBC game show "Truth of Consequenses" on radio and on television during the Fifties and early Sixties.

[texaveryjr]

That music is so fucking great!!

[tortieboa92]

hey, you people should watch "i love to singa" a merrie melodies cartoon from 1932. its my favorite

[nicholasm79]

That was from 1936, not 1932. Get it right.

[tortieboa92]

no, i was talking about the original one, duh

[nicholasm79]

There is only one cartoon called "I Love to Singa", from 1936. If it's another one that the song appears in, what is the title of it?

[tortieboa92]

i think it has the same title or whatever, but the characters aren't owls..i dunno, but ive seen it and it says it was created in '32

[jtjjbannie]

wow!that is realy oldschool

[gagbonkers]

hey zootsmcgurn did Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising get sued by walt disney? i m just asking cuz they made foxy that looked alot like mickey mouse and Roxy alot like minnie mouse.

[overture83]

Hi! You should check one of my videos, it's a color cartoon from 1936 and it will blow your head! It's the first any-production-ever directed by hanna barbera, and harman-ising are there too! hug!

[gagbonkers]

The gorrila waitor reminds me of the gorrila in who framed roger rabbit.

[DavidTroopa]

Eddy Valiant: Nice monkey-suit.

Gorilla: Wise ass!

[gagbonkers]

Hey nice voice talent man. U r AWESOME!!! Hehehe like my red guy voice talent?

[grumpytosnowwhite]

The first merrie melody, with the old "So long, Folks!" Even though Warner Bros. hadn't developed their very distinctive style yet, it already is different than anything Disney would be.

[sultanamonkey]

I like how everybody around that time kept ripping Mickey Mouse off! ;)

[nikikuriton]

Research some more, it's a bit more complicated than a simple rip off.

[Oliver30]

It ain't a ripoff. Harman & Ising made Mickey. So this is an inspiration from mickey

[TherealRNO]

Olive30: Bull. Walt created Mick first, but then handed the character over to lead animators Harmen and Ising whilst he supplied the voice.

[LoveTHYconan]

wow, merrie melodies sure did change a lot. this toon looks like the disney and fleischer studios came together and had a baby.

[Flarth241897]

The VERY FIRST Merrie Melody

[SgtAndrewC]

I think the orchestra on the recording is Abe Lyman's Orchestra.

[Myrriad]

This copy is from "Attack of the 30's Characters" DVD from Thunderbean Animation.

[jawman1962]

A bona-fide rarity among the Looney Tunes. This was the very first film in the "Merrie Melodies" series. For reasons unknown this particular short didn't make it in the TV packages of pre-1949 WB cartoons that Warner Brothers sold to TV syndicators in the 1950s. It was never shown on TV until the Cartoon Network's Toon Heads "The Lost Cartoons" special a few years back.

The Mickey Mouse rip-off featured here was called "Foxy".

[videolover326]

Yoru right. Just like the lady said on that special. It was released 2 years before the repeal of prohibition, and yet the entire cartoon revolves around drinking.

[Spam2712]

I just realized something else! After watching the Toonheads special first, and then this version, Cartoon Network basically chopped it up! If you watch the one on Toonheads, they cut a lot of stuff, probably for time. By the way, I'm not a huge fan of these very early Warner Bros. cartoons, but I do prefer Foxy to Bosco.

[Spam2712]

Oops! That should be "Bosko", not "Bosco".

[4a8p9x]

Sure makes getting sloshed look like fun. Must have made audiences everywhere slap their foreheads and say, "What were we thinking passing the 18th amendment?"

Who is the star of this toon? He looks like a certain mouse (can't recall his name). Was he an early WB regular?

[TurboSwami]

I reckon that's Bosco.

[zootsmcgurn]

It's Foxy actually, the girl is Roxy.

[Martiangrl86]

Well technically, Foxy's girlfriend wasn't given a name until her guest appearance on Tiny Toons.

[DavidTroopa]

For the record, I thought Foxy and Roxy were completely made up solely for the "Two-Tone Town" episode of Tiny Toons. Seeing this made me think otherwise.