The Walt Disney Studio led the charge away from rubber hose in the mid-1930s, as they developed more believable movement, but the early Mickey Mouse cartoons are loaded with cheerfully impossible gags, like this all-timer from The Plowboy (1929). The Fleischer cartoon Silly Scandals (1931) closes on complete psychedelic pandemonium (and no, there’s no context that explains this).Įvery American studio was putting out fun cartoons in the rubber hose era I don’t think you could write off any of them. The stories in these cartoons follow stream-of-consciousness dream logic, and end with nothing resolved and no lesson learned. I was floored when I first saw this cartoon on a public domain dvd as a kid, and I had to watch it over a million times. Gene Rodemich’s foot-stomping arrangement of “Mean Music” from the underrated Van Beuren short Pots and Pans (1932) is an incredible recording. The lively animation in these cartoons is inseparable from the swinging soundtracks. That wild-eyed chicken scatting against a warping background is an unforgettable image. The brilliant and genuinely unsettling Fleischer short Swing You Sinners! (1930) is like a nightmare captured on film. Rubber hose cartoons are famous for their macabre imagination. There are some doozies in this print (owned by Mark Kausler) of the spooky Van Beuren cartoon The Wild Goose Chase (1933). You can also find lots of unusual character designs, particularly in cartoons involving monsters, aliens, and/or unidentifiable mutant creatures. The titular figure in Fleischer Studios’ Mysterious Mose (1930) repeatedly morphs into different characters up until the final “reveal” that makes no sense and explains nothing (which is, of course, why I love it). Inanimate objects frequently come alive and get involved in the action, as seen in the Max Fleischer short Barnacle Bill (1930), starring Bimbo.Ĭharacters can also detach their limbs or heads for the sake of a sight gag, as demonstrated by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in Broadway Folly (1930).Ĭrazy transformations show up all over the place in these shorts. These cartoons aren’t hindered by dull concepts like realism and internal consistency. For instance, when original Looney Tunes star Bosko gets cornered by a gang of dangerous jungle animals in Congo Jazz (1930), he leads them in a peppy arrangement of “Giving It This and That.” Characters are constantly bobbing up and down to the beat and any prop or body part can be turned into a musical instrument at a moment’s notice. The world of these cartoons is infectiously charming. Look at how beautifully Nolan distorts the characters’ bodies in the Walter Lantz short Henpecked (1930). The man credited with inventing the rubber hose approach is Bill Nolan, who gave rounded flexibility to his animation in the silent Felix the Cat and Krazy Kat shorts. Certain visual motifs, like pie-cut eyes, white gloves, and two-button pants, are associated with these cartoons, but their primary characteristic is bouncy elasticity, which is on overdrive in Betty Boop’s May Party (1933). It’s overflowing with weird ideas and deliciously off-kilter visual fireworks.įor those who aren’t aware, rubber hose animation is the style seen in early sound cartoons where the characters’ bodies squash and stretch like they have no bones and their limbs flop around like noodles. To whet your appetite, we’ll begin with a prime example: the Betty Boop classic Snow White (1933), which was animated from beginning to end by Roland Crandall and features a killer soundtrack by jazz legend Cab Calloway.
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