ThePeterNetwork
03-05-2004, 10:23 PM
According to the Unwritten History of the Cartoon Universe, two former Disney animators, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, collaborated on a short animated film in the hopes that a major motion picture studio would pick them up to create a theatrical cartoon series. It was here at a meeting with Leon Schlesinger, who collaborated with the Warner Bros. Studio in the late 1920's and early 30's, where Harman and Ising screened "Bosko the Talkink Kid".
The whole purpose of this particular cartoon was to promote the use of synchronized sound, a technique procured by Walt Disney and finalized by Harman and Ising through the use of synchronized lip motion. When Bosko's voice spoke, his mouth moved in sync to the talking. Having won over Schlesinger with this technological marvel of the time, Harman and Ising were comissioned to produce the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons under the Warner Bros. banner with Schlesinger as producer. The rest is history.
Most classic cartoon fans and historians have probably seen this unscreened test film through alternate means. I have not. In fact, I was totally unaware that this reel was included in the Looney Tunes Gold Collection, and it actually appears twice (one time as an edited version on the Toonheads episode "Lost Cartoons" which is also included on the 4-disc DVD set). To see where Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang got their start was unique, and it's all thanks to Bosko.
When I first watched this on Toonheads with my father, he noticed that Bosko's mannerisms and speech were similar to black entertainment of the early 30's. Watching the full cartoon made that even more evident as he verbally sparred with his animator. I don't know if this was intentional under Harman and Ising's direction. I expected Bosko to speak in a falsetto a la Mickey Mouse. Then again, I didn't watch alot of Bosko cartoons. The only other times I saw Bosko was during that Bugs Bunny music video special, and whenever I was over my sister's house in Oceanside to watch LT on Nickelodeon. When I saw these, Bosko didn't behave like a racial stereotype, so I guess that's what made it okay. But I digress.
Since this was a demonstration of synchronized sound to animation, there really wasn't any story. Bosko does his best to entertain the audience by dancing, playing a piano, singing (rather badly, according to his animator), and loosing his head over it (well, not completely, as it's attached to a spring). By the end, he winds up sucked up in a pen and back in his inkwell, but doesn't surrender completely as he blows a raspberry back at his artist. I think that drawing pen is the coolest art tool I've ever seen, and I want to own one.
In conclusion, Warner Home Video's inclusion of this sacred gem on the LTGC proves that even the early toons deserve a justified break. This gets me to thinking that WHV doesn't have to market its animated product to a mass audience. They can create special collections to be sold directly to collectors, historians, students, or anyone who wish to learn about the history of animation, just like Disney does with the "Disney Treasures" or whatever they call them. I haven't seen those DVDs in stores anywhere.
Final word: Bosko the Talkink Kid does not smell like monkeys!
The whole purpose of this particular cartoon was to promote the use of synchronized sound, a technique procured by Walt Disney and finalized by Harman and Ising through the use of synchronized lip motion. When Bosko's voice spoke, his mouth moved in sync to the talking. Having won over Schlesinger with this technological marvel of the time, Harman and Ising were comissioned to produce the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons under the Warner Bros. banner with Schlesinger as producer. The rest is history.
Most classic cartoon fans and historians have probably seen this unscreened test film through alternate means. I have not. In fact, I was totally unaware that this reel was included in the Looney Tunes Gold Collection, and it actually appears twice (one time as an edited version on the Toonheads episode "Lost Cartoons" which is also included on the 4-disc DVD set). To see where Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang got their start was unique, and it's all thanks to Bosko.
When I first watched this on Toonheads with my father, he noticed that Bosko's mannerisms and speech were similar to black entertainment of the early 30's. Watching the full cartoon made that even more evident as he verbally sparred with his animator. I don't know if this was intentional under Harman and Ising's direction. I expected Bosko to speak in a falsetto a la Mickey Mouse. Then again, I didn't watch alot of Bosko cartoons. The only other times I saw Bosko was during that Bugs Bunny music video special, and whenever I was over my sister's house in Oceanside to watch LT on Nickelodeon. When I saw these, Bosko didn't behave like a racial stereotype, so I guess that's what made it okay. But I digress.
Since this was a demonstration of synchronized sound to animation, there really wasn't any story. Bosko does his best to entertain the audience by dancing, playing a piano, singing (rather badly, according to his animator), and loosing his head over it (well, not completely, as it's attached to a spring). By the end, he winds up sucked up in a pen and back in his inkwell, but doesn't surrender completely as he blows a raspberry back at his artist. I think that drawing pen is the coolest art tool I've ever seen, and I want to own one.
In conclusion, Warner Home Video's inclusion of this sacred gem on the LTGC proves that even the early toons deserve a justified break. This gets me to thinking that WHV doesn't have to market its animated product to a mass audience. They can create special collections to be sold directly to collectors, historians, students, or anyone who wish to learn about the history of animation, just like Disney does with the "Disney Treasures" or whatever they call them. I haven't seen those DVDs in stores anywhere.
Final word: Bosko the Talkink Kid does not smell like monkeys!