Billboard Frolics (1935)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Friz Freleng

Release Date:

9 November 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Family | Short | Comedy

Plot:

Billboards come to life. Eddie Camphor and his "wioleen" player Rub-Him-Off do a song and dance to "Merrily We Roll Along" with new lyrics...

Plot Keywords:

Billboard | Celebrity Caricature | X Rayed Skeleton | Cartoon | Advertising

Cast

Billy Bletcher

...

Rub-Em-Off (voice) (uncredited)

Runtime:

7 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Leon Schlesinger Studios

Movie Connections:

Edited from The Girl at the Ironing Board (1934)

Soundtrack:

Merrily We Roll Along

inanimate objects come to life, and even look at world events

"Billboard Frolics" was one of the many Warner Bros. cartoons in which inanimate objects come to life; others included "Have You Got Any Castles?", "You're an Education" and "Book Revue". The title identifies what comes to life here. There's Eddie Camphor and his why-oh-lean (violin) player Rub-Him-Off playing "Merrily We Roll Along", which of course became the theme song for the Merrie Melodies cartoons. Another poster advertises Cuba (I wonder whether or not they were allowed to show this cartoon after the Cuban Revolution). Yet another poster shows Russian rye dancing to a different version of "MWRA", while also mentioning the Five Year Plan.

If you've never studied Soviet history, you probably won't catch that reference. The Five Year Plan was Joseph Stalin's goal of turning the USSR's economy into one of the world powerhouses; not surprisingly, it didn't work out quite like he proposed.

But I digress. There are some pretty neat tricks in this cartoon. The last section has a bird chasing a worm, then a cat chases the bird, then a dog chases the cat. There's even an appearance by Ham & Armor baking soda. Pretty cool.