Stoopnocracy

A poor but watchable version of this cartoon is currently available on YouTube. There is not much in this curiosity to recommend it- some bad gags, a couple of them rendered awkwardly racist by the passing of the decades, commingled with the comedy of the now-forgotten Col. Stoopnagle and Budd. This little loop offers few clues for any cultural anthropologist to understand why the Colonel and Budd were such stars in the 1930s. I am an Old Time Radio fan; sadly, almost none of their shows survived. But The Colonel (F. Chase Taylor) did leave a book or two, written in a typically breezy New Yorker style. I have been fascinated by seeing the Colonel and Budd in their best surviving bit in W.C. Fields' "International House," also released in 1933. I recommend that film for a clearer picture of the duo.

Since I actually know something about the history of animation-- as well as old-time radio-- I can definitely tell you this 1933 "Screen Songs" cartoon is worth discovering. "Stoopnocracy" reflects the wacky, surrealism of the best Fleischer animation, and it also spotlights one of the icons of the early Golden Age of old-time radio: Colonel Stoopnagle. Together with his straight man partner Budd, the two have some fun with the movie audience: showing off some of the Colonel's Rube Goldberg-like inventions as well as singing a couple popular songs of the time, with sidekick Budd imitating Bing Crosby at one point. Since they broke up as a team in the later 1930s-- and because most of their broadcasts have been lost to time-- they are not nearly as well-known today as other popular radio acts. Nevertheless, they were hugely popular at the time, and the discerning reviewer will see why. It's a shame they did not appear in more motion pictures, but at least here we have them doing their material in a "nut house." Highly recommended. Stoopnocracy is STILL peachy.