In My Merry Oldsmobile

The only problem with this delightful little cartoon is that it's not more widely available. Betty Boop was still in embryonic form when this was made, but if she'd been the leading lady then this title would surely be included in the various Boop collections on the market; instead, it's in limbo along with dozens of the Fleischer Studios' other "Song Car-Tunes," the series that gave us that immortal Bouncing Ball to sing along with, and lots of infectious music.

From the opening frames of In My Merry Oldsmobile you know you're in Fleischer Land: the characters seem to be made of rubber, they mumble strangely, and, unlike Disney's cutesy animals, they appear to be highly sexed. Phallic gags, double entendres, and cleavage shots are submitted for your approval. Inanimate objects sprout faces. Mice pop out of the woodwork, deliver mysterious quips, and vanish. And then, just when things couldn't get any weirder, it's time for a song and a cute wrap-up gag.

The plot? Well, a young lady is menaced by a bad guy, then rescued by a good guy who happens to own a goofy but convenient automobile. He is said to be Young Johnny Steele, if the song lyrics are anything to go by. As usual for this studio, the voice work contributes enormously to the film's impact. The one actor I can identify for sure is Gus Wickie, the guy whose distinctive basso is heard so memorably as the singing Bluto in Fleischer's terrific Technicolor Popeye specials of the late '30s. The leading man might be Jack Mercer, later Popeye, but the leading lady's voice was definitely not supplied by Mae Questel (i.e. Betty Boop/Olive Oyl); in fact, she sounds like a man unconvincingly faking a "girly" voice, which only enhances the bizarre atmosphere.

At any rate, cartoon connoisseurs should seek this one out, it's a gem! And here's hoping that whoever holds the rights to the Fleischer backlog nowadays will consider a Bouncing Ball collection DVD; if this title is anything to go by, there must be a lot of great stuff just sitting in the vaults.

P.S. Summer 2009: Since I wrote this little piece the rise of YouTube and other internet viewing sites has made these cartoons far more accessible than they used to be. It's now easy to view In My Merry Oldsmobile and lots of other goodies online. So, happy hunting!

A window peeping villainous guy watches a young woman through her window while she changes clothes. He burst in on her with demands of her going with him. Hmmm! She handles herself but the whole thing is pretty strange for 1932. Anyway, some little guy, hr boyfriend shows up to save the day. They escape through the window and ride away in his Oldsmobile. This turns out to be one of the "follow the bouncing ball" cartoons that were popular with movie goers at the time. It is quite cleverly done, using not just the little white ball but a whole series of methods to do the sing along. What I'm most interested in is a modern reaction to the end of this thing. All I can say, it's not the most enlightened way of looking at things. See for yourself.

In My Merry Oldsmobile (1931)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Animated film from Dave Fleischer has a woman undressing in her room as a villain, dressed in black of course, starts to spy on her. The villain eventually breaks in on the woman but a man comes to her rescue. After the animated part we then get a bouncing ball sing-a-long. IN MY MERRY OLDSMOBILE is without question a must-see movie for a number of reasons but the biggest is that it's just a great, dirty and something perverted animated tale. No, this here isn't one of the underground porn pictures that were released back during this period but there's a lot of sexual innuendo going on here. This includes the woman undressing but there's also a joke about the woman making her butt look better. The most shocking scene might have been an innocent thing and I'm not going to sit here and say I know what Fleischer was trying to do. It's a scene where the villain gives the woman a piece of candy to lick on but look how he's holding it and it certainly seems something very XXX. Overall this here is a lot of fun because of the pre-code elements and it's certainly worth seeing.