077 Barnyard Babies

 

Title: Barnyard Babies

Studio: MGM
Date: 05/25/35
Credits: Harman/Ising
Series: Happy Harmonies
Running time (of viewed version): 9:17
Commercial DVD Availability: -

Synopsis: Anthropomorphic talent show and horrible stage parents.

Comments: Open on plucked chickens in a (wrestling?) match. Which is pretty jarring, really. Can't help but thinking the hot towel is going to cook the eggs (then there's the oven later). Music feels like Avery-era MGM music (so I guess it's Raymond Scott (edit:Scott Bradley) at this point; or did Scott just have that much o a house style imposed on him later?). Something unpleasant about talent show cartoons. It makes sense as a way to have essentially unrelated gags so you don't have to have a real story. But the gags always seem to be lackluster. Another naked plucked chicken doing a fan dance, which is way less disturbing than wrestling. Shooting of Dan McGoo bit. I think maybe there was a time machine in the MGM studios and Tex went back in time to ghost this cartoon. Mae West caricature. The chickens end up just unwarrantedly claiming the cup at the end. One of the background chickens is totally checking out the buffalo patch of one of the wrestlers. "Better Babies Contest" is a pretty sonofabitch thing to name your contest. Drunk duckling (gosling?).

There's a four month gap in MGM cartoons following this one. And 100 more cartoons overall left in the year.