Mamma Oca va a Hollywood

I wasn't really sure what this had to do with "Mother Goose" but once it got going it was quite an entertaining little series of characterisations of Hollywood stars doing things from nursery rhymes or just having a darned good time. I'm sure I saw Katharine Hepburn, Edward G. Robinson, Laurel & Hardy, the Marx Brothers and Charles Laughton in this sing-along and some of the animation hits the nail on the head - especially Laughton and Hepburn as as very adaptable "Little Bow Beep". It's essentially a celebration of animated caricatures and though entirely forgettable, passes ten minutes with a lively score easily enough.

Back in the 1930s and 1940s, various animation departments (chief among them being Warner Brothers) made cartoons that used caricatures of well-known celebrities (movies stars, principally) as characters. This is the best of Disney's efforts and was nominated for an Oscar. The main problem with this cartoon is that, unless you not only remember your nursey rhymes, but are reasonaby up on movie stars and movies of the 1930s, you miss quite a bit of the humor. Still holds up reasonably well after more than 60 years. Recommended to any movie buffs and/or someone reading Mother Goose for whatever reason.

This was a wonderful idea for a Disney (or non-Disney)cartoon. It was very creative to portray the latest Hollywood stars as characters from the classic nursery rhymes. I was reading someone else's comments and they mentioned that understanding this short's humor would take a lot of knowledge of the Hollywood stars of the 30's. I do agree with them. Many of those stars were unknown to me, but I could identify quite a few of them. Let's see! There was Katherine Hepburn portrayed as Little Bo Peep. W.C. Fields is portrayed as Humptey Dumpty with the puppet Charlie McCarthey making clever jokes about him. In the nursery rhyme about the seesaw, there was Edward G. Robinson and Greta Garbo going up and down. Simple Simon was portrayed by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy was the pieman. The scene at the beginning is humorous where Mother Goose takes the place of the MGM lion. Then, there is a disclaimer that reads: ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ACTUAL PERSONALITIES PORTRAYED IN THIS PICTURE, LIVING OR DEAD, IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.

This was a rather boring cartoon where we see caricatures of famous Hollywood actors during the Golden Era. No plot and not much laughter - just appearances of a bunch of actors.

Donald Duck makes a cameo appearance, which I thought I was the highlight of the cartoon, along with the pie-in-the-face of the Bo-Peep character.

Grade D+

I just recently (as of today) discovered a blog devoted to Cab Calloway called The Hi-De-Ho Blog. One section showcases caricatures of the legendary entertainer in various cartoons from Max Fleischer (whose shorts Cab actually was involved in), Warner Bros., M-G-M, and this one from Walt Disney in which Mother Goose characters are depicted as Hollywood celebrities. Mr. Calloway is one of the "four blackbirds in a pie sequence" and while that may have an unfortunate stereotypical connotation (which may be true of some of the white celebrities too), seeing "Cab", "Fats", and "Louis" do their musical stuff was enjoyable. The only real negative portrayal of an African-American here was that of the lazy, shiftless, Stepin Fetchit character. Other depictions of celebrities I liked were that of W.C. Fields with Charlie McCarthy with Fields as Humpty Dumpty, The Marx Brothers sans Zeppo as the Fidlers Three (Harpo appears here as a redhead and not a blonde), and Laurel and Hardy as Simple Simon and the Pieman with welcome use of Marvin Hatley's L & H musical theme "The Cukoo Song (Dance of the Cukoos)". If there's one celebrity that may be obscure even to old movie buffs, it might be that of Joe Penner whose catchphrase "Wanna buy a duck?" anticipates a very familiar Disney character. So despite some negative stereotypical characterizations, I recommend Mother Goose Goes Hollywood for any animation buff especially those of old-time movie star caricatures.