Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

The greatest movie ever!

Disappointment for a huge fan!

Absolutely brilliant

Disney wasn't known for doing cartoons with Hollywood caricature nor satirizing fables or fairy tales. These were more staples in the Warner Bros. cartoons. However, based on surviving story notes, the Disney artists may have thought of the genre first, but the staff at the Schlesinger studio did it first. Artist T. Hee, designed stylized caricatures of popular celebrities that were featured in the Warner Bros. cartoons The Coo Coo Nut Grove (1936) and The Woods Are Full Of Cuckoos (1937). After those shorts were produced, he went to Disney's and designed the caricatures.The premise is a series of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes acted out by popular Hollywood celebrities of the 1930's. Again something that seems more like the premise for a WB cartoon.This is a very unusual cartoon for Disney at this time, but they pulled off this caricature short well. Being used to seeing so many caricature shorts done at WB, I found it strange to see the same celebrities in a Disney cartoon. This was the best cartoon of this genre that Disney did.A few scenes, deemed politically incorrect by today's standards, made this short difficult to find uncensored for many years. Until it was released on the Walt Disney Treasures series.If you're familiar with the films and celebrities of this era, you will enjoy this short.

AND YET WE have another example of the Disney Production crew bringing us an example of creating a cartoon around the caricaturing of popular Hollywood figures. Due to the successes achieved by the Studio with the titles such as MICKEY"S GALA PREMIER (1934), MICKEY"S POLO TEAM (1936)and the Donald Duck vehicle, THE AUTOGRAPH HOUND (1938), the subject had grown into a favourite; being repeated often.IN MANY RESPECTS, this entry belongs at the top of the list. With its multitude of episodic gags, each and every one being tailored to both the Mother Goose Story and to the Star(s) being fitted to the mannerisms and physicality of that subject, it has a unity of purpose and theme. That it is both diverse and concise at once.ONE OF THE main differences that separates this from the other is that there is no Disney character that is cast in the main, starring role. Other than the very brief appearance of Donald Duck, in what can only be described as the quintessence of the Cameo, no other regular cartoon characters appear.THE CARTOON LIKNESSES of the Elite of Film-land, on the other hand, are legion in their numbers. Going chapter by chapter, the all so familiar stories of the Mother Goose are lampooned by the infusion of the stars persona. For example, we have Katherine Hepburn as LITTLE BO PEEP, Charles Laughton (as Captain Bligh from MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY), and both Spencer Tracy & Freddie Bartholomew (from CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS) as the THREE MEN IN A TUB.THE MANY OTHER appearances we find are: Hugh Herbert, Ned Sparks, the Marx Brothers, Eddie Anderson, Laurel & Hardy, Edward G. Robinson, Greta Garbo, Eddie Cantor, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Lincoln Perry (Stepin Fetchit), Fred Astair and many others.BEING THAT THIS Cartoon was a part of the SILLY SYMPHONY Series, one could infer and assume that the Musical Score would be both important and elaborate. Well, you'd be right. All the way from the opening Theme to the various musical quotations that appear in the incidental music, it is outstanding and indeed a great listening experience.ANOTHER REMARKABLE ASPECT of this short is its seeming freshness. Although it is now over 75 years old, it couldn't be better if it were made yesterday. This is due to a couple of factors.FIRST OF ALL, the films and actors being lampooned are all classic and well remembered today. Most all of those characters are instantly recognizable due to the near immortal status achieved by those performers in their lifetime.SECONDLY AND PERHAPS the most obvious reason for the almost legendary reputation associated with films such as this is that it is a Walt Disney Production.WE BELIEVE THAT this factor needs no further proof or validation.

I just recently (as of today) discovered a blog devoted to Cab Calloway called The Hi-De-Ho Blog. One section showcases caricatures of the legendary entertainer in various cartoons from Max Fleischer (whose shorts Cab actually was involved in), Warner Bros., M-G-M, and this one from Walt Disney in which Mother Goose characters are depicted as Hollywood celebrities. Mr. Calloway is one of the "four blackbirds in a pie sequence" and while that may have an unfortunate stereotypical connotation (which may be true of some of the white celebrities too), seeing "Cab", "Fats", and "Louis" do their musical stuff was enjoyable. The only real negative portrayal of an African-American here was that of the lazy, shiftless, Stepin Fetchit character. Other depictions of celebrities I liked were that of W.C. Fields with Charlie McCarthy with Fields as Humpty Dumpty, The Marx Brothers sans Zeppo as the Fidlers Three (Harpo appears here as a redhead and not a blonde), and Laurel and Hardy as Simple Simon and the Pieman with welcome use of Marvin Hatley's L & H musical theme "The Cukoo Song (Dance of the Cukoos)". If there's one celebrity that may be obscure even to old movie buffs, it might be that of Joe Penner whose catchphrase "Wanna buy a duck?" anticipates a very familiar Disney character. So despite some negative stereotypical characterizations, I recommend Mother Goose Goes Hollywood for any animation buff especially those of old-time movie star caricatures.

Aside from a curious double edged piece of racism, this "Silly Symphony" Cartoon is pegged on the film stars of the 1930s. I suspect more people than we can think of actually can remember most of these stars. They include, Katherine Hepburn (as "Little Bo Peep" - rallee she is); Charles Laughton, Spencer Tracy, and Freddie Bartholemew as the Three Men in a boat (Laughton is Captain Bligh, Tracy is Manuel from CAPTAIN'S COURAGEOUS, and Freddie is David Copperfield); Hugh Herbert as Old King Cole, Ned Sparks as his "merry" Jester, Groucho, Chico, and Harpo Marx as his fiddler three, Joe (UGH!!) Penner as the servant bringing him a bowl (actually a kettle) and asking if he wants a "Duck" (Donald Duck); Stan Laurel as Simple Simon and Oliver Hardy as the pie-man; Eddie Cantor as Little Jack Horner, and his four and twenty blackbirds include Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, and Lincoln Perry (Stepin' Fetchit); Wallace Beery as Little Boy Blue; Greta Garbo as Marjorie Daw, taught a lesson by Edward G. Robinson; and at the conclusion they have Fred Astaire (unfortunately dancing alone), Zazu Pitts, Edna Mae Oliver and Mae West playing horns (Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel and the Marx Brothers also return playing instruments, and we see George Arliss playing a saxophone and Clark Gable on another instrument), and Martha Raye and Joe E. Brown dancing and kissing.Most of these figures are still pretty easy to remember (Penner and Arliss I think are the most obscure - the former quite understandably). The reason is the films of most of these people (or the recordings of Calloway and Waller) are accessible by DVD or video.The interesting thing is how the Disney people were watching the movies of the day or the culture. As pointed out in another review of this cartoon only three Marx Brothers pop up - Zeppo had left the act in 1933. W.C. Fields is Humpty Dumpty, and he is pestered by Charlie McCarthy (this was the same year as their film together, YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN). When they do the three men in a tub, Laughton is Bligh, Tracy is Manuel, and Bartholemew is young David Copperfield (oddly enough, not Harvey Cheyne - the role he played opposite Tracy's Manuel in CAPTAIN'S COURAGEOUS). Garbo had said "I want to be alone" in GRAND HOTEL in 1933, but the line was still her best known one - it would be spoofed by Sig Ruman in NINOTCHKA, opposite Garbo. The Laurel and Hardy jokes show careful study of how Stan always does something that Ollie can't and when Ollie figures he can do it he comes a cropper. But Ollie later changes the range of Stan's clarinet playing from tenor to base by hitting Stan on the head with a mallet. That is similar to a joke done by Ollie to a singing Stan in WAY OUT WEST in 1937. Oddly enough Raye and Brown would be in a comedy together (ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS A TOUCHDOWN) in 1939, so possibly rumors about such a teaming were in the air. Somebody was doing his homework here.The racist jokes dealing with the four and twenty "blackbirds" is as I said a two - edged sword. On the one hand the caricatures are definitely racist, in particular Perry. But the fact that all three were included strikes me as showing they are considered celebrities. Why have them otherwise if they weren't be recognized by the audience watching the cartoon (the Fleischer cartoons at Paramount frequently used Cab Callaway too). The only inexcusable racist joke (aside from exaggerating Perry's shtick) was that a blackberry pie hits Hepburn in the face, turning her into an African-American "Bo - Peep" for a moment, and she starts talking with a southern drawl. Hepburn knew of the cartoon - she mentioned it on a program she did in the 1990s about her life for PBS, and said the cartoon's sequence of her "Bo - Peep" riding an outboard motor passed the three men in the tub, was the first time on screen her persona and Tracy's shared a scene or sequence. Odd to think it happened here.