"Now that Summer Is Gone" is a delightful Warner Bros cartoon, which kids and adults will both enjoy. It has a good story, a catchy title song, and proficient animation ... climaxing in a truly impressive montage sequence and a very funny fade-out gag. On top of everything else, it has a cameo appearance by Frank McHugh, providing the laugh for a squirrel.
Beloved character actor McHugh spent most of his career as a Warners contract player, with just occasional loan-outs to other studios ... such as "I Love You Again" at MGM. He usually played befuddled simpletons or uncouth wise guys, and in the latter mode his trademark was a unique sarcastic laugh, descending in three stages: "HAAA-haa-haa!"
Like many of those great character actors from Hollywood's studio era, McHugh's presence onscreen was taken for granted, and his brilliant work was not truly recognised until after his death. Consequently, McHugh was interviewed only very occasionally.
In one of his rare interviews, McHugh recalled that the Warners production schedule kept him so busy that he was often working on two or three movies concurrently, and if there was a break in his production schedule he was supposed to report to Leon Schlesinger's animation unit on the Warners lot to provide voice-overs for cartoons! This comment intrigued me, as I've watched many Warners cartoons, yet I'd never noticed McHugh's distinctive voice on any of their soundtracks.
I've finally found one. "Now that Summer Is Gone" is a very funny Warners toon about a wiseguy little-boy squirrel who prefers to collect nuts by gambling with other squirrels, rather than working to earn them. The squirrel's voice is provided by one of Schlesinger's child actors (slightly less annoying than usual). But, at one point in the cartoon, the boy squirrel fades another squirrel in a crap game, with nuts for the stake. As the boy squirrel collects his winnings, he taunts the loser with Frank McHugh's distinctive laugh: "HAAA-haa-haa!"
The splendid montage sequence occurs at the climax of the cartoon, when the boy squirrel encounters a mysterious stranger who invites him to participate in a "little game of chance". One game leads to another, until the boy squirrel gambles away his entire year's supply of nuts. Credit animator Robert McKimson (the most underrated figure in American animation) for a rapid montage of gambling images, with a frenzied roulette wheel at the centre of the frame. Brilliant! After the little-boy squirrel loses all his acorns, the stranger departs with the swag just as the first winds of winter begin to blow ... and there won't be any nuts for the squirrel and his father this year. Has the kid learnt his lesson? This is a Warner Brothers cartoon! I shan't tell you the ending, but it's quite funny. There are some clever gags all through the toon, including one Jewish joke that isn't the least bit vicious (involving Kosher acorns).
"Now that Summer Is Gone" rates 9 out of 10. You'll enjoy it ... I'll bet you double or nothing.