This is the beginning. Well, a little before the beginning, I might say, of Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes.
Let's begin with a story. Bosko was first drawn and copyrighted by Hugh Harman at the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in January 1927, a few months before the first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short was released. This short is Bosko's first animated appearance.
Description
Now to the actual short. It begins with a frustrated cartoonist (played by Rudolf Ising) drawing things on an easel while smoking, then getting rid of them. Soon, the camera zooms into the easel, and the cartoonist draws what looks to be a monkey-like boy with a hat.
The illustration becomes sentient and introduces himself as "Bosko." The cartoonist does not seem shocked at all. The cartoonist asks Bosko what he can do, and Bosko proceeds to sing and dance. Bosko halts his to ask the cartoonist who the audience is. The cartoonist then asks Bosko if he could make the audience laugh.
After some thinking, Bosko requests a piano. He tests it, then sees that one of the notes is low when it's supposed to be high. He then puts it in an other spot in the low section and tries to play "Sonny Boy." When his tongue gets too long, he takes off his hat and pulls a single string of hair. However, he stays on "Boy" for too long and his head comes off like a slinky. He attempts to put it back on using his hands, but it bounces off again. Bosko gets an idea and gets on his seat, and turns it so he can get back his head.
He sings "Sonny Boy" again for too long, and the cartoonist gets angry and puts Bosko back in the inkwell. Bosko comes out of the inkwell and says "so long folks" to the viewer, then razzes at the cartoonist, followed by him getting back in the inkwell and the short ending.
Conclusion
This short was not specifically for Leon Schlesinger. Harman and Ising created it with the intent to show their ability to synchronize audible speech to animated film, and Schlesinger wanted to get some money in the business of sound film as he owned a company that made cards for film that was dying by the late 1920s.
Ratings
- Animation: 75/100 (While it is sometimes choppy due to the quality of the film.)
- Voice Acting: 60/100 (There's nothing bad about the voice acting other than the fact that Bosko has a Negro dialect.)
- Gags: 10/100 (The short didn't have any funny gags other than the one where Bosko's head bounces off like a slinky.)
- Mood: 0/100 (The short didn't have any time to establish a mood as it was a 3-minute pilot-type short; see the Overall section below.)
- Music: 5/100 (If you count Bosko's bad piano playing.)
- Overall: 30/100
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