A Day at the Zoo

A nice little set of jokes concerning various animals at the zoo. For example a Rocky Mountain wildcat that is upset for missing a prize on "bank night" (hence his behavior). Or a pair of well behaved elks (who are two gentlemen - obviously members of the "Elks" Lodge - who are greeting each other (and both are named Bill). A monkey is surprised at his resemblance to a man at the zoo, and convinces the zoo keeper that there must be a mistake here. And another monkey gets angry about a woman who disobeys a simple zoo regulation on a sign. There is also a running joke, with overtones of Lou Costello's running tag line on radio "I'm a baaad boy!" dealing with "Egghead" (the predecessor of "Elmer Fudd") and a Lion. An easy to take cartoon. One problem about using the "You Tube" versions (which, for all I know, is true about the quality of the actual cartoons) is that the sound track is not in sync with the cartoon images. Hopefully someone can fix that.

I'm always amazed and happy to see the corny puns Tex Avery and others like to present in classic-era cartoons. This cartoon is full of them. The scene is a zoo: "Kalama Zoo," where the "blue plate special" is on at feeding time, etc.

The puns keep comin' as we get a tour of the zoo, complete with a ton of "corn" and wisecracks. Some of it, of course, is really stupid but a good number of the puns are funny. We see camels (smoking), greyhounds (a bus), two bucks (deer) and five scents (skunks)." You get the picture. Very corny.

We see birds, too, such as the "Jail Bird" in a cage with a "Stool Pigeon" in the adjacent one. I'm telling you, it's non-stop cornball material ....and a lot of fun. The ending, with the lion and the idiot that was teasing him, was predictable but still humorous and clever.

If Tex Avery ever made a standard cookiecutter cartoon at Warner Brothers, this was it by a wide margin. The gags are all standards, seen often and it isn't original by any means. But it's delightful and still quite funny even in its familiarity (perhaps because it's so familiar, in fact) and it's well worth watching. Recommended.

A Day at the Zoo (1939)

*** (out of 4)

Tex Avery directed short gives us exactly as the title says. The narrator introduces us to various animals at a local zoo but there's often a twist in the story.

A DAY AT THE ZOO is a rather clever short from Avery who, as you'd expect, gives us the high quality animation but he mixes it with a certainly smart aleck attitude that is rather funny. There's a running gag throughout the running time dealing with a man who keeps picking on a lion. The narrator warns him to leave the lion alone several times but the pay off is rather funny. There are also a few nice gags aimed around people feeding the monkeys including one poor woman who should have listened to the sign. Fans of Avery's humor will certainly get a kick out of this one.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best cartoons ever made. While the ending is an easily foreseeable one, 'A Day at the Zoo' is one of Avery's best early cartoons to me. Sometimes there was the sense that he was still finding his style at this point, but the visual and verbal humour were in classic Avery style in 'A Day at the Zoo' and there was evidence of the wild wackiness he was famous for (if not done as imaginatively as later).

It is no surprise that the animation is superb, being rich in colour and detail, the meticulousness is also noticeable. The character designs are fluid and well drawn, if not quite the creative ones of his very best cartoons. Carl Stalling's music is lush and characterful, with clever orchestration and a mastery of not just adding to the action but enhancing it as well (Stalling was a near-unequalled master at this, though Scott Bradley gave him a run for his money).

'A Day at the Zoo' is great fun and never less than amusing, the running gag never outstays its welcome and is executed with enough variety to stop it from becoming predictable and repetitive. The characters carry the cartoon beautifully and the pace is always lively without being so relentless that it feels rushed.

Mel Blanc shows once again his unrivalled ability to voice multiple characters and give each of them an individuality rather than giving them all the same personality and voice.

In summation, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox