Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid

The first Looney Tunes short ever features a blank ink spot that talks in an uneducated way and this is very fortunately NOT a barometer of how that rest of the animated shorts would be. This is painful to watch at times and lacks the humor or wit of later cartoon shorts by the studio, but this is where it all started and I guess one has to give it props for that if nothing else. I don't really recommend this on anything but prosperity's sake. This animated short can be found as an extra in the "From the Vaults" section on disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1.

My Grade: D

Aside from the fact that "Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid" has little plot - other than cartoonist Rudolf Ising creating the title character - it should make us cringe in the 21st century, as Bosko looks and sounds like a black-face character. This cartoon is worth watching as a reference point (and I guess that it gets justified by the fact that it indirectly led to the creation of Bugs, Daffy, Porky, etc.), but it's not worth much otherwise. There's a reason that Bosko didn't become as prominent as the most famous Looney Tunes; producer Leon Schlesinger knew the better ideas when he saw them later. Available on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1.

Everything the previous commenter said was correct with the exception that Harman-Ising did not produce this specifically for Leon Schlesinger. They created it to showcase their ability to synchronize speech on their own dime and shopped it around--- Leon was the guy that took the bait. You have to understand that Leon Schlesinger saw his title card business going down the drain in 1929 thanks to talkies. And it must be remembered that while the cartoon contains bad acting, racial stereotypes (not exactly a rare occurrence in pre-1949 cartoons from any studio, not just WB), you have to look at this from the context of both the time and purpose: the damn thing was never meant to be released at all! It's simply a plot-less 3 minute demo reel made to show off synchronized speech. Disney didn't accomplish this with Steamboat Willie! Leon Schlesinger was a hard-nosed businessman without an ounce of artistic creativity... which he made up for by arrogance. The cheap SOB fought continually with the guys over production costs, color, etc.--- all Leon cared about was the net profit, and not one whit about art. To his credit, he seldom interfered with the creative process--- unless it cost him money. It should also be pointed out that Leon was overjoyed when Harman & Ising finally left him--- artists were cheap and he had learned the business end of the cartoon business. Like it or not, this is a monumentally important cartoon from a purely technical perspective--- but you were never meant to see it! As a result, I would argue this is one of those rare instances where ratings shouldn't apply.

As long as we remember that this cartoon is racist (because Bosko is a black man) and that when the makers made it they would not have realized that it would be as insulting as it is, we can enjoy this cartoon as much as we can. I personally found this a bit boring, but then of course I remembered that the jokes and the portrayal of cartoon and human man were amazing in 1929. I preferred Bosko in his next appearance, "Sinkin' in the Bathtub", because it is more funny and has a storyline to it. As he is, I find Bosko a sweet character and I cannot help disliking him slightly when I remember he is actually a black man. I thought the way they combined animation and the human hand back then amazing - this was when my grandparents were babies or not yet born! I watched this cartoon because it was the first thing that lead up to Looney Tunes - so we must be grateful for it.

In this cartoon, we first see a man (who is Rudolph Ising) drawing something. We watch his pen movements and find he has created a character called Bosko. Bosko comes to life on the pad and goes up to all sorts of antics...

I recommend this cartoon to people who are interested in Looney Tunes history and to people who do not mind rasiscm in cartoons too much. Enjoy "Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid"! :-)

7 and a half out of ten.

How the mighty are fallen, Harman / Ising did not last long at Mintz Studio after he talked them into leaving Disney when he took Oswald away.

This was their demo reel and it owes more to the Out of the Inkwell Koko shorts then it does to Disney. Racial stereo types, awful sound, and very bad acting by Rudy Ising, the human cartoonist trying to play the Max Fleischer part.

It is very hard to believe that they got a job on the weight of this reel. But Schlesinger must have seen something in it or more likely knew their work at Disney.