King for a Day

The little wise guy is a mailman in this one. The king, a coward, gets word that he will be shot today and he turns over the throne to Gabby for a day. All sorts of things make Gabby think he is under assault. It is a colorful, fast paced offering. Gabby was a character in "Gulliver's Travels." It will be interesting to see some of the other features.

If you read the synopsis provided elsewhere here, you know what happens. Mostly amusing with Gabby running frantically everywhere trying to avoid getting shot even though those banging noises come from other objects like the suitcase that quickly closes on the back of his shirt that gets stuck on him when he runs. There's also some gags about being chocked and getting hanged that probably wouldn't ever pass muster on Saturday morning cartoons even today. Made when the Fleischer Studio was in financial decline, only eight Gabby cartoons were made before Paramount fired Max and Dave and changed the name to Famous Studios. Worth a look for any Fleischer completists out there.

King for a Day is Gabby's lead character debut, after seeing him as a support character in 1939's Gulliver's Travels, and to me it is his best and most enjoyable cartoon. Narratively it is very slight and a little rushed at times, the king is a bland and rather obnoxious character and while it was appropriate for how Gabby was feeling Pinto Colvig overdoes it just a tad with the voice work.

On the other hand, Gabby here is much closer to the cuter, funnier and more sympathetic-towards Gabby in Gulliver's Travels than the annoying, unapologetic and rude Gabby he became in the seven cartoons proceeding this one, which is a good thing. His lack of likability as a character most of the time is the main reason why his cartoons generally aren't my cup of tea(though they're not terrible either) as well as the overly-silly and predictably contrived plots and for a fair few of them bland humour. The good news though is that while the story is slight and rushed it's also not too silly or contrived, it doesn't insult the intelligence and it's much more eventful than most Gabby cartoons. It's also the closest the series gets in maintaining the spirit of that of Gulliver's Travels which is saying a lot. Also while the cartoon isn't laugh-a-minute hilarious it does tie with All's Well as the most amusing.

The animation is really beautiful with Fleischer's visual style all over it, everything looks incredibly smooth, there is so much detail in the picturesque backgrounds and the colours are warmly mellow and appropriately ominous when needed. Along with the music, it is the component that is the most consistently good in the Gabby cartoons. Speaking of the music, it really excels at being rousing, lively, sumptuous and atmospheric, also really enhancing what's going on. The use of the catchy It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day in the opening credits is effective and puts a smile on one's face. All's Well while not here is used a lot in the Gabby cartoons(with Gabby singing it) and is even catchier melodically and in terms of lyrics but I have a slight preference for the very upbeat It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day personally.

Overall, Gabby's lead character debut was the one this viewer enjoyed the most and King for a Day showed Gabby at his most tolerable in his solo series. 7/10 Bethany Cox