Red-Headed Baby

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Red-Headed Baby
The title card of Red-Headed Baby, circa 1931.png
The title card of this short.
Directed by Rudolf Ising
Produced by Hugh Harman
Rudolf Ising
Leon Schlesinger
Music by Frank Marsales
Animation by Rollin Hamilton
Carman Maxwell
Color process Black-and-white
Color Systems, Inc. (1973 Korean redrawn three-strip color edition)
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • December 26, 1931 (1931-12-26)
Running time
7 min.
Language English

Red-Headed Baby is a 1931 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Rudolf Ising. [1] The short was released on December 26, 1931. [2]

Contents

The short is the first in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series to not feature a recurring character; all previous cartoons had featured Bosko, Foxy or Piggy. [2]

Plot

Around Christmas Eve, a toymaker creates a red-haired doll, who, after he (the toymaker) departs, comes to life along with the other toys; she subsequently breaks into singing the titular song, in the process meeting a toy soldier (given the name 'Napoleon') who instantly falls for her.

However, a massive and thuggish spider also has fallen for the doll. He kidnaps her and beats the sawdust out of Napoleon. Napoleon fills his body up again and defeats the spider using a toy train. All the toys rejoice and the doll and Napoleon reunite as the titular song reprises, ending the cartoon.

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References

  1. Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 8. ISBN   0-8050-0894-2.
  2. 1 2 Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved June 6, 2020.