Now That Summer Is Gone

I think of this as a beautifully animated and informative short about the evils of gambling, without being "in your face," if you know what I mean. I don't like people gambling either. Also, I can't believe that kid is gambling and at his age too! This is also one of my favorite Merrie Melodies cartoons by Frank Tashlin, along with "The Woods are Full of Cuckoos", with woodland critters doing celebrity caricatures, which were common in cartoons back then. "Have you got any Castles?" where book characters come to life. And last, "Puss n' Booty," which was the last black and white Looney Tunes/Warner Bros cartoon.

And thus, I would like to point out, since this short has squirrels in it and I'm a squirrel lover, that they are so cute! So my overall opinion is that I love this cartoon.

"Now that Summer Is Gone" is a delightful Warner Bros cartoon, which kids and adults will both enjoy. It has a good story, a catchy title song, and proficient animation ... climaxing in a truly impressive montage sequence and a very funny fade-out gag. On top of everything else, it has a cameo appearance by Frank McHugh, providing the laugh for a squirrel.

Beloved character actor McHugh spent most of his career as a Warners contract player, with just occasional loan-outs to other studios ... such as "I Love You Again" at MGM. He usually played befuddled simpletons or uncouth wise guys, and in the latter mode his trademark was a unique sarcastic laugh, descending in three stages: "HAAA-haa-haa!"

Like many of those great character actors from Hollywood's studio era, McHugh's presence onscreen was taken for granted, and his brilliant work was not truly recognised until after his death. Consequently, McHugh was interviewed only very occasionally.

In one of his rare interviews, McHugh recalled that the Warners production schedule kept him so busy that he was often working on two or three movies concurrently, and if there was a break in his production schedule he was supposed to report to Leon Schlesinger's animation unit on the Warners lot to provide voice-overs for cartoons! This comment intrigued me, as I've watched many Warners cartoons, yet I'd never noticed McHugh's distinctive voice on any of their soundtracks.

I've finally found one. "Now that Summer Is Gone" is a very funny Warners toon about a wiseguy little-boy squirrel who prefers to collect nuts by gambling with other squirrels, rather than working to earn them. The squirrel's voice is provided by one of Schlesinger's child actors (slightly less annoying than usual). But, at one point in the cartoon, the boy squirrel fades another squirrel in a crap game, with nuts for the stake. As the boy squirrel collects his winnings, he taunts the loser with Frank McHugh's distinctive laugh: "HAAA-haa-haa!"

The splendid montage sequence occurs at the climax of the cartoon, when the boy squirrel encounters a mysterious stranger who invites him to participate in a "little game of chance". One game leads to another, until the boy squirrel gambles away his entire year's supply of nuts. Credit animator Robert McKimson (the most underrated figure in American animation) for a rapid montage of gambling images, with a frenzied roulette wheel at the centre of the frame. Brilliant! After the little-boy squirrel loses all his acorns, the stranger departs with the swag just as the first winds of winter begin to blow ... and there won't be any nuts for the squirrel and his father this year. Has the kid learnt his lesson? This is a Warner Brothers cartoon! I shan't tell you the ending, but it's quite funny. There are some clever gags all through the toon, including one Jewish joke that isn't the least bit vicious (involving Kosher acorns).

"Now that Summer Is Gone" rates 9 out of 10. You'll enjoy it ... I'll bet you double or nothing.

At first glance, this is a funny cartoon about the evils of gambling. It succeeds there entirely.

But in Frank Tashlin's hands, it becomes a lesson in cinematic techniques. He excelled at using animation the way a live action director would. Pick any cartoon he directed and you will find at least one shot that you would not expect in a cartoon. This cartoon is full of them.

Everything is there, from zooms, pans and trucks to double exposure, montage and POV shots. Even the use of light and shadow is very sophisticated for a six-minute `gag cartoon'

Some would say that animation is an unlimited medium that doesn't need to be tied down by the methods of another medium. And later animators would leave reality behind entirely. But, at a time when most animation was laid out as if their characters were on a theater stage, Tashlin broke through the imaginary proscenium arch and his colleges were both quick to learn his lessons and acknowledge the source.

Frank Tashlin's 'Now That Summer is Gone' begins as a Disney-esquire (but with better gags) depiction of a large group of squirrels gathering nuts for the winter. These early sequences are the best of the cartoon and are often truly gorgeous to look at. However, a black out signifies the cartoon segueing into a truly weird anti-gambling short as we meet a young squirrel who chooses to gamble with nuts as the stakes rather than working to gather them himself. This storyline has vague echoes of Disney's terrific 'The Grasshopper and the Ants' but is nowhere near as successful. Despite an effective twist in the tale, 'Now That Summer is Gone' fails to reconcile its sweeter side with the incongruous gambling plot. Unusually, this is a case of a Warner cartoon that is at its best when imitating Disney and which would have been well advised to stick to its early direction. Nevertheless, 'Now That Summer is Gone' is a fairly nice cartoon which just about overcomes its odd shapelessness and emerges as sufficiently entertaining.

OK, so "Now That Summer Is Gone" might look hokey to people at first glance, given that it looks like a cute story functioning as an anti-gambling warning (especially since gambling has become an integral part of our economy). But it contains some very unusual scenes for a cartoon, namely the overlap during the climax.

Previous reviews said that director Frank Tashlin frequently used pans and montages in his cartoons, and that a character actor named Frank McHugh lent his voice to this cartoon. I have to admit that I don't know much about either of those. So, I mostly focus on the events portrayed. Probably the two funniest scenes were the Hebrew writing stamped on nuts, and the First Nutional Bank. One might interpret that it would have been particularly miserable to lose one's food during the Depression.

Either way, I recommend this cartoon as a look at Warner Bros. animation from the '30s. It'll most likely elicit at least a few laughs.