Tom Turkey and His Harmonica Humdingers

Tom Turkey plays his harmonica and struts into the country general store. Everybody brings out their own harmonicas. An old military bird pulls out his flute and starts playing Dixie. Mayhem ensues and the store is wrecked. This is an MGM cartoon in Technicolor from Hugh Harman. Mel Blanc does the voice although it's not one of his best. It's blubbering and cartoonish without any southern flair. These are cartoon characters of southern country hicks. The most compelling aspect is the animation timed with the music. It's not any of my favorite and Tom Turkey is not the most appealing. It gets close to being caricature without being fun. The character doesn't seem to have gained much traction over time.

Just watched this M-G-M Hugh Harmon cartoon on Uncle John's Crazy Town site. In this one, the title character sings and plays the harmonica with some friends at the local general store. In between are some gags about the store getting some "shaking up" (if you know what I mean) as the quartet play their numbers. That sequence with the store shelf falling down was quite exciting. I also loved seeing Tom-voiced by Mel Blanc-rolling some words when introducing another number. And the harmonica playing provided by Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals is entertaining from beginning to end. I wasn't too crazy about the end sequence but despite that, I highly recommend Tom Turkey and His Harmonica Humdingers.

This is an extremely odd cartoon to describe. The premise is that a harmonica playing quartet essentially destroys a general store by virtue of rather energetic playing of their instruments. The sight of the poor shopkeeper as he watches his livelihood disintegrate (despite his best efforts at damage control) before his very eyes is both comic and a bit sad at the same time. The running gag features a rather wizened old bird in Confederate gray popping up and trying to choose the next song on the program by force of his own fife-playing. He's clearly single-minded and carries a grudge a long time (no doubt against Yankees). Hilarious, particularly the running gag. Well worth tracking down. Recommended.

This was a great cartoon extra on my 'I Love You Again' DVD that was Disc 4 of my 5-film 'TCM Spotlight: Myrna Loy and William Powell Collection'. In it, four harmonica-playing birds play so intensely that they end up destroying a general store, despite the owner trying his best at damage control. A Yankee-hating rebel from the South, still carrying a grudge, keeps trying with his flute to play 'Dixie' but is subsequently either ignored or suppressed by the rest of the troupe. One of the best of this sort of thing (and I love this era of classic animation), not concentrating on a proved character, that I have seen in a long while.

Back ground music by Borrah Minevitch and his Harmonica Rascals.

The animals portraying the Harmonica Rascals are fantastic.

Borrah is at his best and so is Johnny Puleo.

I have it on video, a little grainy but love to watch it and enjoy it every

time I do.

Art M. Daane