question re: Bacall To Arms

[MF TOON]

I've been curious about this for a while...

Could anyone explain the gag at the end of the film where, following the cigarette explosion, Bogey in blackface looks at the camera and comments "I can go work for Mr. Benny now" (or something to that extent)?

Who is this Mr. Benny (Jack?) that is being referred to and what's the context?

Thanks.

[Cartman]

It's a reference to Jack Benny's butler Rochester from the Jack Benny Show.

[Treadwell]

Here's another: was anything edited from this cartoon back in the day? It's very choppy. Granted, Clampett could be a little sloppy when it came to sequence-to-sequence continuity.

[Sogturtle]

Here's another: was anything edited from this cartoon back in the day? It's very choppy. Granted, Clampett could be a little sloppy when it came to sequence-to-sequence continuity.

Treadwell~

Simple reason really... It is one of the two cartoons Clampett left uncompleted, it was completed by Art Davis. In private interview Art revealed that he was FORCED by Warners to complete the two cartoons! As such the missing directorial credit should read "Directed by Robert Clampett and Arthur Davis".

[Studio Toledo]

Here's another: was anything edited from this cartoon back in the day? It's very choppy. Granted, Clampett could be a little sloppy when it came to sequence-to-sequence continuity.
Can't really tell myself besides the end gag I had remember seeing cut out in the 90's. Some scenes in the piece also used footage from a 1937 Merrie Melodie, "She Was An Acrobat's Daughter" as. That part rather gets to me at times how clever they were (albeit cheap) to insert a quick shot or two from a 9 year old cartoon just for stock padding.

[lonesome-lenny]

Some scenes in the piece also used footage from a 1937 Merrie Melodie, "She Was An Acrobat's Daughter" as. That part rather gets to me at times how clever they were (albeit cheap) to insert a quick shot or two from a 9 year old cartoon just for stock padding.

There's also one new shot that tries to emulate the lumpy, clunky 1937-style drawing. It's an add-on to the scene where the big hippo is going to his seat...just a brief shot, but it's one of those weird things I always love in GACs!

[Studio Toledo]

There's also one new shot that tries to emulate the lumpy, clunky 1937-style drawing. It's an add-on to the scene where the big hippo is going to his seat...just a brief shot, but it's one of those weird things I always love in GACs!
Thinking about it more often, I often wonder how well could such a thing work these days. I kinda like to see them do a whole episode of The Simpsons or South Park that was nothing but stringing together clips from previous episodes to make a "new episode" (and nothing like a flashback/clip shop thing either). I dare 'em! :D

[Matthew Hunter]

Treadwell~

Simple reason really... It is one of the two cartoons Clampett left uncompleted, it was completed by Art Davis. In private interview Art revealed that he was FORCED by Warners to complete the two cartoons! As such the missing directorial credit should read "Directed by Robert Clampett and Arthur Davis".

The other "orphaned" Clampett cartoon that Davis finished...I'm assuming that was "The Goofy Gophers"?

[Javeman]

The other "orphaned" Clampett cartoon that Davis finished...I'm assuming that was "The Goofy Gophers"?I'm pretty sure it was "The Big Snooze". Even though Clampett claimed to have fully written and directed that short, it's not all that strange that someone (in this case, Davis) had to make sure the short got finished.

"The Goofy Gophers" looks like a 100% Art Davis cartoon to me.

Thinking about it more often, I often wonder how well could such a thing work these days. I kinda like to see them do a whole episode of The Simpsons or South Park that was nothing but stringing together clips from previous episodes to make a "new episode" (and nothing like a flashback/clip shop thing either). I dare 'em! :DSouth Park did something like that with the episode "The Return of Chef", where all of Chef's dialogue is spliced from previous episodes. ("And I wanna, MAKE LOVE... up your a****les!")

[Sogturtle]

The other "orphaned" Clampett cartoon that Davis finished...I'm assuming that was "The Goofy Gophers"?

Matthew~

Davis was quite adamant that "The Goofy Gophers" short was his work... Mike Barrier told me that the short could NOT have been any more than a faint gleam in Clampett's eye (this despite Bob's wild claims). Take a good long look at "The Big Snooze" for the similar choppiness found in "Bacall To Arms", and that pretty much answers the question of the second "Clampett-Davis" cartoon. [Twas "The Big Snooze" it was:)].

[Thad]

No it was The Big Snooze. Davis didn't have much input on either of those cartoons so he was more of a clean-up-type artist on them like Clampett was on a few of Avery's last cartoons like Wabbit Twouble.

The Goofy Gophers is the last Warner cartoon with any Clampett involvement. There is some Manny Gould and Cal Dalton animation, who were never part of the Davis regulars. Don Williams dominates most of the best looking gopher scenes, who wasn't part of Clampett's unit, so Davis had a lot of input into it as well.

THAD

[Sogturtle]

No it was The Big Snooze. Davis didn't have much input on either of those cartoons so he was more of a clean-up-type artist on them like Clampett was on a few of Avery's last cartoons like Wabbit Twouble.

The Goofy Gophers is the last Warner cartoon with any Clampett involvement. There is some Manny Gould and Cal Dalton animation, who were never part of the Davis regulars. Don Williams dominates most of the best looking gopher scenes, who wasn't part of Clampett's unit, so Davis had a lot of input into it as well.

THAD

Thad~

Well actually, Manny Gould was indeed one of the Davis unit regulars during its earliest months. Buuuuuut what happened is that Manny was then transferred (I believe at his own request) over to the McKimson outfit. With "Mouse Menace" being Art's first completed Warner cartoon, then the idea that his second ("The Goofy Gophers") was really done by Clampett becomes utterly preposterous.

As I said earlier, Artie said that Warners literally forced him to finish the last two bonafide Clampett toons. And that IMPLIES that he was NOT just doing caretaker work but really had to take unfinished pieces and make coherent cartoons out of them.:cool::cool: Ifffff the directing was done then an assistant-animator could have just shepherded toons through the production line.
[And not forgetting that Clampett's attempted Sylvester and Tweety pairing was totally abandoned].

[Thad]

But a lot of sources confirm Clampett had the soundtrack for the cartoon finished before he left Warners. The animation on Manny Gould's scenes (the pumpkin gag, the first half of the dance with the puppet) look more like they belong in the Clampett unit than the Davis unit.

Similarily, a lot of the earliest shorts McKimson has his name on have a lot of the stylized timing Tashlin was famous for, Daffy Doodles in particular, so is it preposterous he had some sort of input?

[Javeman]

Similarily, a lot of the earliest shorts McKimson has his name on have a lot of the stylized timing Tashlin was famous for, Daffy Doodles in particular, so is it preposterous he had some sort of input?Funny thing, "Daffy Doodles" always looked like an Art Davis toon to me, mainly because of the constant fades between scenes, which seem to be a trademark from Davis.

Who were the animators for that cartoon, btw? Art Davis was definitely one, but I can't point any others (although it probably includes Dick Bickenbach and Cal Dalton).

[Thad]

Davis animated a lot of gem scenes, like the end in the courtroom, which seems Tashlin influenced to me, especially the Colonna gag. I'm not sure about the rest of the animators on that cartoon.

[fan4life]

I've been curious about this for a while...

Could anyone explain the gag at the end of the film where, following the cigarette explosion, Bogey in blackface looks at the camera and comments "I can go work for Mr. Benny now" (or something to that extent)?

Who is this Mr. Benny (Jack?) that is being referred to and what's the context?

Thanks.

My problem with that scene is the fact that it just did not fit with the rest of the feature. It was a total non-sequitr tacked onto the feature for no apparent reason. What does it have to do with the rest of the story?

[J Lee]

My problem with that scene is the fact that it just did not fit with the rest of the feature. It was a total non-sequitr tacked onto the feature for no apparent reason. What does it have to do with the rest of the story?

Clampett loved the blackface/Rochester gag -- he already had used the same basic idea to close out "Jeepers Creepers" and "Goofy Groceries", so the idea of Bogey turning into Eddie Anderson after the explosion was pretty natural, and also played to the fact that the Jack Benny Program was one of the top rated shows in radio and Rochester would be immediately recognizable to the audience (Benny's show also featured Mel Blanc as one of Benny's ensamble of players, along with Anderson, which further cemented the bond, and even Freleng would use the same gag in "I Taw A Putty Tat").

[Fibber Fox]

The Goofy Gophers is the last Warner cartoon with any Clampett involvement. There is some Manny Gould and Cal Dalton animation, who were never part of the Davis regulars.

Thad, sorry to go off thread here, but do you know when Cal Dalton left Warners and why?

FF

[gdX]

My problem with that scene is the fact that it just did not fit with the rest of the feature. It was a total non-sequitr tacked onto the feature for no apparent reason. What does it have to do with the rest of the story?
That's the whole idea of a Golden Age Warner toon – unexpected turns... anything for a laugh... any and all non-sequiturs are welcome.

[Thad]

Thad, sorry to go off thread here, but do you know when Cal Dalton left Warners and why?

FF

I think he wanted a chance to direct again, but Freleng and Jones pushed for McKimson and then Davis to be directors, as they were unconfrontational and would go back to animating (without raising Hell) should their units be disbanded. Dalton got pissed and left. I believe it was the same with Bobe Cannon.

[Studio Toledo]

South Park did something like that with the episode "The Return of Chef", where all of Chef's dialogue is spliced from previous episodes. ("And I wanna, MAKE LOVE... up your a****les!")
Yeah, they could do whatever they want with the amount of material they had Issac Hayes do during the show's run (seems like the best way to do it in case someone also died on you in production and you'd have enough material to last the way through).

[J. J. Hunsecker]

But a lot of sources confirm Clampett had the soundtrack for the cartoon finished before he left Warners. The animation on Manny Gould's scenes (the pumpkin gag, the first half of the dance with the puppet) look more like they belong in the Clampett unit than the Davis unit.

Similarily, a lot of the earliest shorts McKimson has his name on have a lot of the stylized timing Tashlin was famous for, Daffy Doodles in particular, so is it preposterous he had some sort of input?
I've heard about the soundtrack, too. I've also heard that Clampett did some layouts for the cartoon but Davis couldn't make heads or tails out of them and so discarded them and started from scratch.

Thad, thaat's an astute observation about the animators' and directors' styles showing up in other directors' cartoons. In the Avery cartoon with the cat and canary (I forget the title. Is it "The Cagey Canary"?) the animation looks similar to the color Avery cartoons of that period, with McKimson's style of animation dominate. But one scene in particular stands out as something out of a Clampett cartoon. Near the end of the cartoon the cat does a big cartoony "take" and runs out the door. The animation looks like it was done by Scribner. It's definitely looser and funnier than the more traditional and literal animation that preceded it.

Likewise, the animation of the wolf in "Bacall to Arms" seems like it was directed by Clampett and animated by Scribner. The rest of the cartoon I'm not so sure about, and could be the result of Davis's direction. I don't know if Davis would have directed Scribner in the same way as Clampett did, but it's possible given that Davis liked cartoony animation, too.

I'm sure that both McKimson and Davis had to complete cartoons started by their predecessors, whether they were just in the story board stage or further along in production.

[Thad]

In the Avery cartoon with the cat and canary (I forget the title. Is it "The Cagey Canary"?) the animation looks similar to the color Avery cartoons of that period, with McKimson's style of animation dominate. But one scene in particular stands out as something out of a Clampett cartoon. Near the end of the cartoon the cat does a big cartoony "take" and runs out the door. The animation looks like it was done by Scribner. It's definitely looser and funnier than the more traditional and literal animation that preceded it.

Yeah, that's Cagey Canary and that is Scribner's animation. That short was actually started by Avery and finished by Clampett... The other shorts being Aloha Hooey and Crazy Cruise. The latter is fun to watch because you can tell which spotgags Clampett did (the tobacco bug, the cannibals, and the Bugs cameo).

Re: Bacall to Arms - I think the sloppy cutting might just be Davis not wanting to finish the other guy's work well. The reuse from She Was an Acrobat's Daughter is typical of Clampett because he would often reuse animation whereas the other directors would not, regardless if it worked or not.

[Fibber Fox]

I think he wanted a chance to direct again, but Freleng and Jones pushed for McKimson and then Davis to be directors, as they were unconfrontational and would go back to animating (without raising Hell) should their units be disbanded.

Hmm. Seems like kind of a corporate reason to push for them and Jones was anything but corporate at that stage of his career. But, yeah, it makes sense Dalton would want to direct again. I've always thought Hardaway left for Lantz because his nose got bent out of joint from being dropped as a director twice.

Dalton got pissed and left. I believe it was the same with Bobe Cannon.

I could see that happening. But if you're talking unconfrontational, Barrier's book leaves me with the impression that Cannon fits that description more than the other two. Still, both McKimson and Davis had longer experience as animators and the quality of McKimson's work seems to have respected by everyone at Warners, as it is today.

FF

[Thad]

But if you're talking unconfrontational, Barrier's book leaves me with the impression that Cannon fits that description more than the other two.

Hmm, according to Freleng, Cannon was one of the ones raising hell over directing. Gerry Chiniquy too. I know Freleng lauded Chiniquy, but his animation is seriously badly drawn (great timing though).