Sinkin' in the Bathtub

As an animation nut, the truly significant moments in animation history always make my heart swell and my pulse race. 'Gertie the Dinosaur' genuinely makes me tear up. So it was perhaps inevitable that I would enjoy Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising's 'Sinkin' in the Bathtub' since it is the first ever Looney Tune(not counting the short pilot film 'Bosko The Talk Ink Kid'). Animated by the great Friz Freleng, 'Sinkin' in the Bathtub' is surprisingly enjoyable on its own merits. It quickly establishes a bawdier atmosphere than previous cartoons (completely naked characters, a dance involving toilet paper, a shot of a bra and a cow with an enormous, pendulous udder) which would come to characterise Warner Bros. animation. It also establishes a sense of enormous inventiveness instantly when lead character Bosko plays his shower like a harp. The subsequent story is thin on plot (Bosko visits his girlfriend Honey and they go for a drive encountering some very mild danger) but there are plenty of funny moments, my favourite being Bosko's anthropomorphic car unexpectedly emerging for a distant shed instead of the garage. If the short ever tends towards the dull, there's always the sense of "I'm watching the first ever Looney Tune" to get you through the weak patches, Surprisingly, these are few and far between (Bosko crying after a goat eats his flowers is a little saccharine but otherwise there's little that comes to mine) and while there was still a long way to go before the recognised Warner style was achieved, 'Sinkin' in the Bathtub' is a charming start to a truly great story. Bosko's climactic intonation of the soon to be iconic phrase 'That's All Folks' will surely floor any animation fanatic.

As others have pointed out, this is the first official Looney Tunes cartoon to be released, so it certainly has historical merit. I like it because it has the odd, early '30s cartoon humor. It's hard to explain but because it's so dated, it has its own flavor to it, as Betty Boop did around this time. Is it almost primitive-looking in spots? Of course, but it was made at the beginning of sound being heard on screen and, well, it's over 75 years old so that's what you get. Frankly, in an innocent basic way, the cartoons of this period offer something different.

It's still innovative in that you see some great sights that only animation can give you, like Bosco switching the shower to aim out the window, then surfing on the spray out the window, then pulling out a giant harmonica - that's bigger than he is - out of his pants! Outrageous!

I don't believe I laughed out loud once during the eight-minute cartoon, but I enjoyed every minute of watching "Bosco" and his girlfriend and thought there were a lot of "cute" things in here. It got a little repetitive near the end but overall had enough sight gags to still call the whole thing "entertaining." That's not a bad way to start off the famous "Looney Tunes."

Saw Sinkin' in the Bathtub; the first ever Looney Tune!

Truly delightful! Music pales in comparison to the amazing work of Carl Stalling, but still innovative and very enjoyable throughout! I do really like the magical world of classic animated cartoons that they live in, which I most associate with Otto Messmer's Felix the Cat. Really cute and loveable characters I think! (I don't know who can beat Mickey and Minnie Mouse, though to be fair, Mickey and Minnie's first appearance in Plane Crazy wasn't nearly as cute or charming as this! Some people said that this was crude or plotless, but I thought it was relatively action packed (though I'll acknowledge a few spots that could have been cut tighter). I think that to fully appreciate this, you must get into the mindspace that this is a Looney Tune! Just like the contemporary Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons it is inspired by - it's silly! The humour is very silly, and you won't like it if you don't appreciate that. I also thought that some of the background art was really beautiful work (and much better than the background art done at the Disney studio at the time!

It seems like most aren't highly recommending this one, but I have to!

Like Bosko's debut/pilot cartoon 'Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid', 'Sinkin' in the Bathtub' is interesting historically, with it being the first official Looney Tunes cartoon. It is also fascinating to see Loone Tunes in their early days before the creation of more compelling characters and funnier and more creative cartoons.

Again like 'Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid', 'Sinkin' in the Bathtub' is an decent cartoon on its own, not bad but not much to get excited about. The story is paper thin and has its slow stretches, including an overly-sentimental moment with Bosko grieving over flowers, also getting a little repetitive towards the end. Bosko and Honey while cute do lack personality somewhat outside of being stereotypes.

However, the animation is not bad at all, not exactly refined but fluid and crisp enough with some nice detail. The music is suitably bubbly and lush, with clever use of pre-existing material.

There are some amusing moments, especially with the car, the sound is not as static as before, the cartoon is very cute without being too much and it is hard not to feel cheerful or smile at least while watching.

In summary, decent but not great, worth seeing for historical interest. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Sinkin' in the Bathtub (1930) was the first of the Looney Tunes series. It stars Bosko, a relatively unknown cartoon character later to be eclipsed by characters such as Porky, Daffy Duck, and Bugs Bunny.

This short is derivative of the contemporary Mickey Mouse series, which was at the height of its popularity in the early 1930s. Gags such as the cow shaking its utter in disgust or the goat which accompanies Bosko to his girlfriend's home are directly taken from Disney works going as far back as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in the late silent era.

That being said, Sinkin' in the Bathtub is a cute but not essential short. A better introduction to Bosko would be Bosko's Picture Show (1933), which is funnier and very pre-code in its sensibilities.