GarboForever - Garbo Cartoons

Garbo Cartoons
Part I

Mickey's Gala Premiere (USA 1931)

"I think i kiss you now!"

In 1931, Walt Disney hired a young newspaper cartoonist named Joe Grant to design caricatures of Hollywood movie stars for a Mickey Mouse cartoon, Mickey's Gala Premiere.

Joe Grant designed caricatures of Wallace Beery, Charlie Chaplin, and Greta Garbo and liked the work so much he stayed on at Disneys for the next seventeen years.

Colorized Lobby card of Mickey's Gala Premiere

Early sketch

I've Got to Sing a Torch Song (USA 1933)

Garbo appears in I've Got to Sing a Torch Song from 1933 and also had the honor of being the first one to use the "That's all, Folks!" sign-off on a Merrie Melodie at the close of that cartoon.

In this group of very early Merrie Melodies, we find the cartoon staff hard at work promoting the Warner Bros. music catalogue, perhaps in hopes that moviegoers will buy the related sheet music at the music store on the way home from the theater.

I've Got to Sing a Torch Song is a plotless cartoon showing people the world over tuning in to their radios for all-day entertainment. This conceit allows for a wildly eclectic assortment of movie star, radio star, and even political caricatures.

We see both George Bernard Shaw and Benito Mussolini doing their morning exercises by radio; there is a running gag with radio's fire chief, Ed Wynn; movie comics Wheeler & Woolsey are seen cooking in a African cannibal's flame-boiled pot; James Cagney and Joan Blondell are also on view, doing their tough-guy and gal routines.

The title song is from the studio's musical Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933); the rendition of that song in this cartoon is sung by no less than Mae West, ZaSu Pitts, and Greta Garbo!

Scrappy's Party (USA 1933)

Scrappy is a cartoon character created by Dick Huemer for Charles Mintz's Krazy Kat Studio.

On Scrappy's birthday, he and Oopy invite countless giants of movies, theatre, sports, science and politics to a gala party. Guests include Laurel and Hardy, Greta Garbo, Will Rogers, Joe E. Brown, Babe Ruth, various royalty, Albert Einstein, Frankenstein, Ben Turpin and Roscoe Ates, etc. John D. Rockefeller tosses coins.

The Four Marx Brothers dance with Marie Dressler. Mahatma Ghandi, in diapers, speeds in on roller skates. Jimmy Durante and George Bernard Shaw blissfully exchange noses and beards. Al Capone, who phones to make his apologies from prison, is the only celebrity who does not attend.

The Looney Toons: The CooCoo Nut Grove (USA 1936)

The CooCoo Nut Grove episode parodies the popular celebrity nightclub 'The Coconut Grove' and some of Hollywood's biggest stars at the time. I was pleased to see a toon John Barrymore strut into the room, before eventually sitting at his table with a Greta Garbo toon! Clark Gable, another Garbo co-star, sits nearby with absurdly overgrown ears.

Thanks to Quote Unquote sir

Thru the Mirror (USA 1936)

Thru the Mirror is a Mickey Mouse cartoon short film produced by Walt Disney Productions, released by United Artists in 1936. In this cartoon short, Mickey has a Through the Looking-Glass-type dream that he travels through his mirror and enter a topsy-turvy world where everything is alive.

Garbo appears in a pair of cards, naturally the Queen of Hearts card.

Mickey's Polo Team (USA 1936)

Mickey's Polo Team is a short animated film, directed by David Hand and first released on January 4, 1936. The short featured a game of polo between four of Disney's animated characters and four animated caricatures of noted film actors.

Greta Garbo, waving a pompon

Spectators included regular characters of the Mickey Mouse series, notable characters of the Silly Symphonies series and several film actor caricatures. The short is considered notable for featuring a large number of 1930s entertainment figures.

Porky's Road Race (USA 1937)

There is a Garbo spoof in this Warner Brothers cartoon (WB Seven Arts release) from 1937.

It's race day, and first prize is $2 million (less $1,999,998.37 in taxes). Porky's little car is matched against cars driven by stars of yesteryear, including Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin. When the black #13 driven by "Borax Karoff" makes a bid for the finish line, can Porky fend him off?

"At last I am alone!"

The caricatured celebrities are, in order of appearance: Men on seesaw: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy; Little Tramp: Charles Chaplin; Man with big nose: W.C. Fields; Old lady: Edna May Oliver; Woman with big feet: Greta Garbo; Floating Power: Charles Laughton; Borax Karoff: Boris Karloff; Knee Action Special: Stepin Fetchit; Cheerio Special: George Arliss, Leslie Howard, Freddie Bartholomew; Caliban and Ariel: John Barrymore and Elaine Barrie; Hitchhiker: Clark Gable.

I want to be an actress (USA 1937)

Scrappy is a cartoon character created by Dick Huemer for Charles Mintz's Krazy Kat Studio. Huemer created the character in 1931, and he remained aboard Mintz's studio until 1933. With Huemer's departure, his colleagues Sid Marcus and Art Davis assumed control of the series. The final Scrappy cartoon, The Little Theatre was released in 1941.

Scrappy

Scrappy's girlfriend, Heidi, sneaks into his makeshift movie studio, where she tries to convince him to make her a star by making love to him, then doing imitations of Greta Garbo and Katherine Hepburn. Then, Scrappy, Heidi and Oopy go into a tap dance number based on two tunes associated with Alice Faye , "The Balboa Song" and "Sing, Baby, Sing."

"I vant to be an actress!"

Speaking of the Weather (USA 1937)

Speaking of the Weather is an animated short film that premiered in theaters in 1937. Garbo appears rocking on her feet as if in a rocking chair.

The plot is: It's midnight at the bookstore and all the book and magazine characters are coming to life. When a bulldog from an adventure book uses an Andrews Sisters-like performance by girls in a travel magazine as a distraction to rob a bank, he is chased, caught, and sentenced to, of course "Life" (the magazine). But there's also a conveniently placed "Escape" magazine

Early sketch of Garbo

A Star is Hatched (USA 1937)

Emily the chicken, lives in Hickville but dreams of Hollywood. Her chance comes when director J. Megga-Phone happens to drive past and gives her his card. She makes her way to Hollywood, and Megga-Phone's office, where she discovers a whole flock of hens with the same card and a completely uncaring Megga-Phone. She returns home to faithful Clem, and a chick with foolish notions.

Emily doing "Garbo"

Emily (the foolish chicken who plays opposite slick Romeo types) speaks Garbo's famous: “I want to be alone”.

Porky's Five and Ten (USA 1938)

Porky sets sail for the Boola-Boola islands in the South Seas with a ship full of general merchandise and plans to open a 5 & 10 cent store. But a swordfish cuts a hole in the ship and Porky's goods fall into the ocean, where the fish make creative uses of them, ultimately opening a Hollywood nightclub, complete with fish impersonating various stars. Porky is saved when a waterspout comes along, re-stocking his ship.

Garbo appears as a fish.

Have you got any Castles? (USA 1938)

Have You Got Any Castles? is a seven minute animated short film that premiered in theaters in June 1938. It was a part of the Merry Melodies series produced by Leon Schlesinger, and distributed by Vitaphone.

Garbo tap dancing.

The story takes place in a library, with all the characters coming to life from well known works of fiction, both classical and modern. Rip Van Winkle is the center of interest, as he cannot continue sleeping with the noise. Produced by Leon Schlesinger. Story by Jack Miller. Animation by Ken Harris. In Technicolor.

Mother Goose goes Hollywood (USA 1938)

Edward G. Robinsonand Garbo as See Saw Margery Daw

This Disney animated short puts Hollywood stars of the 1930's into roles from Mother Goose stories. For example W.C. Fields is Humpty Dumpty and the Marx Brothers are the fidlers three. Donald Duck does make a cameo appearance. The version Disney shows on TV has obviously had pieces edited.

See Saw Margery Daw, black&white sketch

From the opening scene where Mother Goose takes the place of the MGM lion, it's a trip through her famous rhymes with Hollywood stars taking the place of the storybook characters.

Early sketch of Garbo in Mother Goose goes Hollywood



	Garbo Cartoons - Introduction	Garbo Cartoons - Part II