The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos

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The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos
The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos title card.png
Directed by Frank Tashlin
Story byMelvin Millar
Produced by Leon Schlesinger
Starring Mel Blanc
Danny Webb
Cliff Nazarro
Tedd Pierce
Eloise Spann [1]
Music by Carl W. Stalling
Animation by Robert Bentley
Backgrounds byArt Loomer
Color process Technicolor
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
  • December 4, 1937 (1937-12-04)
Running time
7 minutes
LanguageEnglish

The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos is a 1937 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin. [2] The short was released on December 4, 1937. [3]

Contents

Plot

The cartoon starts with an owl named "Owl Kott" (satirizing Alexander Woollcott's Town Crier radio program) giving an introduction to the festivities. This is followed by a Ben Bernie caricature called "Ben Birdie", feuding with "Walter Finchell". The same spoof was used in the cartoon The CooCoo Nut Grove (1936). Walter Winchell had a well-publicized feud with Bernie at the time, which, like Jack Benny's famous "feud" with Fred Allen, was faked for publicity purposes – Bernie and Winchell were actually good friends.

Next is "Milton Squirrel" (a parody of Milton Berle, Master of Ceremony, M.C. of Gillette Community Sing) introducing "Wendell Howl" ( a parody of Wendell Hall) and an audience trying to figure out which page to go to in their songbooks, which results in Wendell getting pelted by the audience's songbooks. Then, "Billy Goat" and "Ernie Bear" (a parody of Billy Jones and Ernie Hare) and everyone else sings a song with the lyrics:

The Woods are full of cuckoos,
Cuckoos, cuckoos,
The Woods are full of cuckoos
and my heart is full of love.

During the song, a fox (a caricature of Fred Allen) called "Mr. Allen" is told that he's singing "Swanee River" instead of the actual song. Then the song is sung by "Eddie Gander" (a parody of Eddie Cantor), "Sophie Turkey" (a parody of Sophie Tucker), "W.C. Fieldmouse" (a parody of W. C. Fields), "Dick Fowl" (a parody of Dick Powell), "Fats Swallow" (a parody of Fats Waller), "Deanna Terrapin" (a parody of Deanna Durbin), "Irvin S. Frog" (a parody of Irvin S. Cobb), "Fred McFurry" (a parody of Fred MacMurray), "Bing Crowsby" (a parody of Bing Crosby), "Al Goatson" (a parody of Al Jolson), "Ruby Squealer" (a parody of Ruby Keeler, Jolson's wife at the time), and "Lanny Hoss" (a parody of Lanny Ross). Opera singers "Grace Moose" (a parody of Grace Moore) and "Lily Swans" (a parody of Lily Pons) sing notes, each note higher than the other. Comedian and jazz singer Martha Raye (caricatured here as a mule named "Moutha Bray") makes an appearance in a scatting jazz take. More caricatures appear, including movie critic and gossip columnist "Louella Possums" (a parody of Louella Parsons), Raven McQuandry (a parody of Haven McQuarrie, emcee of Do You Want To Be An Actor?), Joe Penguin (a parody of Joe Penner), Tizzie Fish ("Tizzie Lish", a character on Al Pearce's radio show), Jack Bunny (a parody of Jack Benny), Canary Livingstone ( a parody of Mary Livingstone) and Andy Bovine (a parody of Andy Devine). Finally Owl Kott finishes the cartoon by bidding the audience goodnight, and saying "All is well, all is well..."

Home media

Notes

References

  1. ↑ Scott, Keith (2022). Cartoon Voices from the Golden Age, 1930-70. BearManor Media. p. 26. ISBN   979-8-88771-010-5.
  2. ↑ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 65. ISBN   0-8050-0894-2.
  3. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 104–106. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7.
  4. ↑ Abraham (May 16, 2019), LT 1995 Dubbed Version Episode #103 The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos 1937 , retrieved June 16, 2019
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