The Goofy Gardener

While a ritzy garden party is taking place, a gardener in overalls goes imperturbably about his work of water flowers and spreading havoc in this Walter Lantz cartoon.

It's the second of two cartoons that Alex Lovy directed for his boss featuring Hercules, a tiny, bald, big-nosed fellow pursuing his job while rich and important people were trying to do something high-toned. I think the reason there were no more is that it lacked the essential point of cartoons: it was nothing that could not -- theoretically, at least -- be done with real actors in a studio. The fact that costs had increased to such an extent that even Columbia was shutting down its comedy shorts division did not matter. There was a perception that people do not appear in theatrical cartoons, at least not as the primary characters.

That said, it's very funny and takes advantage of cartoon logic.