The Plumber

Just watched this Paramount Go Go Toon on YouTube as linked from the comments section of Cartoon Brew under the heading of Think or Sink, the Paramount cartoon also on YouTube that was showcased on the site I just mentioned. Directed by Shamus Culhane, this was a fine animated short about the title character turning his pipes into a musical instrument with a performance that gets such a positive response from some passersby that he gets a contract offer. Then, when his first public performance also goes well, he gets even more offers. Then, he gets an even bigger offer: The front of the Empire State Building...I'll just stop there and just say that the music played from those "pipes" are very good. Longtime studio music scorer Winston Sharples certainly reached a creative peak in many of these late '60s efforts for Paramount. If you're familiar with the way these shorts beginning with an unknown who suddenly becomes popular goes, you could probably predict how The Plumber will end. Still, this is one of the most entertaining animated shorts I've seen from both this studio and the era it came from.

A plumber is cleaning out the pipes in the building, when he discovers doing so produces a lively tune. Everyone in the street hears it, and soon offers come in for him to perform for the public in increasingly important venues.

This was a late Paramount theatrical release in the era when they were being supervised and directed by Seamus Culhane and Ralph Bakshi. Considering the collapse of the theatrical market and inflation, there wasn't much money, and these two men responded by cutting production design to the bone, making 1950s UPA cartoons look like candybox productions. While this is a clever little cartoon, alas, I see the poverty rather than the imagination.