Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid

Last updated

Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid
Bosko-the-talk-ink-kid.jpg
Directed by Hugh Harman
Rudolf Ising
Story byHugh Harman [1]
Produced byHugh Harman
Rudolf Ising
Leon Schlesinger
Starring Carman Maxwell
Music byIrene Hamilton [2]
Animation by Friz Freleng
Rollin Hamilton
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.
Release date
  • May 29, 1929 (1929-05-29)
Running time
5 min (1 reel)

Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid is a 1929 live-action/animated short film produced to sell a series of Bosko cartoons. [3] The film was never released to theaters, [4] and therefore was not seen by a wide audience until the year 2000 (71 years later) when it was aired on Cartoon Network's television special ToonHeads: The Lost Cartoons. The film was produced on May 29, 1929, and directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising.

Contents

Plot

Rudolf Ising is thinking of ideas for a new character and draws a blackfaced person with an ink pen, who comes to life. When asked his name, the drawing introduces himself as Bosko. Ising tells Bosko to show him what he can do, and Bosko starts to tap dance, whistle, and sing. Afterwards, Bosko looks directly to the screen and asks, "Who's all them folks out there in the dark?" Ising tells Bosko that they are the audience and asks him if he can make them laugh, and Bosko agrees to try. At Bosko's request, Ising draws a piano and Bosko begins to press the keys. When one of the keys near the upper end of the keyboard produces a low note, Bosko removes the key and puts it in its proper place near the lower end of the keyboard. Bosko experiments some more, then plays a glissando. He laughs, starts singing "Sonny Boy", his tongue accidentally slipping out. He opens the top of his hat and pulls his hair, lifting his tongue back into his mouth. He continues to sing and play the song, which causes his head to pop off his shoulders like a slinky. After that, Bosko sings once again. Ising says that is enough. He then sucks Bosko back into his fountain pen and Bosko drags the piano along, and then Ising puts both back into the ink bottle. Bosko then pops out of the ink bottle and promises to return.

Production

In 1928, when Walt Disney lost control of his Oswald The Lucky Rabbit cartoon series, producer Charles Mintz hired away several of Disney's animators to continue producing the Oswald cartoons for Universal Studios. These animators included Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, Isadore "Friz" Freleng, Carman "Max" Maxwell, Norm Blackburn, Paul Smith, and Rollin "Ham" Hamilton. The Mintz Oswald shorts were not as successful and in 1929, Universal chose to directly produce the series, establishing its own in-house cartoon studio headed by Walter Lantz, leaving Mintz's animators out of work.

The unemployed animators, led by Harman and Ising, decided to produce their own cartoons and made Bosko, The Talk-Ink Kid as a demonstration to show to distributors, using a character the two cartoonists had created and copyrighted in 1927–28, while still working with Disney.

Rudolf Ising appeared on-screen as himself in the short and Carman Maxwell performed the voice of Bosko. Harman and Ising shopped for a distributor, but were turned down by both Paramount Pictures and Universal. Leon Schlesinger, head of Pacific Title & Art Studio took an interest in Bosko and used his connections with Warner Bros. Pictures to get a distribution deal for a cartoon series that Harman and Ising later named Looney Tunes , a play on the name of Walt Disney's Silly Symphony series. [5]

The cartoon pioneered the pre-synch technique, now standard in American animation, as Harman and Ising understood the shortcomings of recording the sound after the animation in relation to dialogue. Apparently, the entire soundtrack was filmed on the spot, with Maxwell being off-camera. According to cartoon historian Mark Kausler, a camera pointed at Maxwell's mouth to provide reference for the animation, but it was finally determined that it was not necessary and that it looked "too forced".

Availability

Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid is available on disc 4 of the DVD set Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 , disc 3 of the Blu-ray set Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2 , and the Thunderbean Blu-ray Technicolor Dreams and Black and White Nightmares.

Preservation

The short was considered lost for many decades, with only the film's Vitaphone soundtrack still in existence. Turner Entertainment Co. had a 35mm copy, but did not acknowledge its existence until 1999. The short was later released on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 DVD and the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2 Blu-ray.

References

  1. ↑ Bosko, the talk ink kid
  2. ↑ Scott, Keith (2022). Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-70. BearManor Media. p. 4. ISBN   979-8-88771-010-5.
  3. ↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 379. ISBN   0-8050-0894-2.
  4. ↑ Schneider, Steve (1988). That's All, Folks! : The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. Henry Holt and Co. p. 34. ISBN   0-8050-0889-6.
  5. ↑ Maltin, Leonard (1987). Of Mice And Magic: A History Of American Animated Cartoons (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Plume. pp. 223–224. ISBN   0-452-25993-2.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.