A Cartoonist's Nightmare

Just found this rare Warner Bros.-Looney Tunes cartoon on YouTube. "Supervised" by ex-Disney animator Jack King (though he'd later return there as the new resident Donald Duck helmer), A Cartoonist's Nightmare is one of the few that starred a now-forgotten character named Beans the Cat who was first seen in Friz Freleng's color Merrie Melodies short, I Haven't Got a Hat, which also introduced Porky Pig. In this one, with all the other animators having gone home, one particular cartoonist stays on trying to finish his drawings on time. As he draws bars on Beans to protect him from a monster, the animator goes to sleep and dreams of getting attacked by other villains he created. It's up to Beans to rescue him...Lots of clever creative ways of drawing and erasing escapes abound here and while nothing hilarious happens, I was constantly amused at this early version of Duck Amuck that Chuck Jones made with Daffy Duck 18 years later! On that note, I recommend this for any Warner cartoon completists out there.

Sort of a forerunner to Chuck Jones's more famous "Duck Amuck", "A Cartoonist's Nightmare" portrays an animator working on a Beans cartoon. He falls asleep and ends up in the cartoon, where the monster threatening Beans proceeds to menace the cartoonist. It's up to Beans to save the day!

This short, directed by Jack King (previously a Disney animator, he soon returned to Disney, after which Frank Tashlin took over his unit), came out right after Friz Freleng's "I Haven't Got a Hat", which debuted not only Beans but also Porky. If I remember right, Porky and Beans were officially a team (pork and beans, get it?). Needless to say, Beans quickly dropped off the radar, while Porky gained fame as WB's first bona fide cartoon superstar, although he soon got overtaken by a certain stuttering duck, and later by a wise-guy rabbit.

Anyway, this one's OK as a historical reference.

As has been said by me a fair few times already, it is always interesting seeing early Looney Tunes characters that are not the iconic more well known characters that we all know and love, with more interesting and fleshed out personalities.

Beans the Cat, the third Looney Tunes star after Bosko and Buddy, never made it big, starring in 10 or 11 cartoons and then retired after a year when Looney Tunes/Warner Brothers/Merrie Melodies started to evolve and become more imaginative and wittier. This is a shame, because he was a funnier and more compelling character than either Bosko or Buddy (both of which lasted longer), though there are admittedly funnier and more interesting Looney Tunes character around, being neither an annoying stereotype or bland.

The cartoonist has a fun role that is done quite inventively here, the frustration and such is done very nicely. The caricatures of particularly Bob Clampett were funny and will be for anybody familiar with them, a potential problem with caricatures is not knowing who they're caricaturing so it goes over the viewer's head but that is far from the case here.

One of the earliest cartoonist/characters on page coming to life cartoons (something done a lot in animation), 'A Cartoonist's Nightmare' is not among the best of them (1953's 'Duck Amuck' is the king of them all) but it's a good one still. It's not hilarious, the best of it is still very amusing but not much more than that, and not hugely imaginative and fairly slight in terms of story with the conflict obvious.

However, the way the drawings come to life are handled in an inventive and lively way and look great. Everything looks very fluid and detailed and the setting of the animation studio is used to full advantage. The energy is constant.

Not just in the very amusing gags and the characterisation. But particularly in the cleverly orchestrated, beautifully scored and characterful music score, with songs that are catchy and with remarkably witty lyrics (particularly the song of the villains, who are suitably dastardly).

In conclusion, pretty good and interesting. 7/10 Bethany Cox