No Eyes Today

One of the weirder Ko-Kos, as he ogles a life model that Max is drawing a picture of, so Max erases his eyes. As he wanders around the cartoon landscape, indulging in some fairly risqué gags -- one involving a mannequin would not get a G rating these days -- Bimbo charms a couple of snakes and goes in pursuit of Ko-Ko, also indulging in some fairly orgiastic symbolism.

This is one of the rarer of the Ko-Kos; I have not even heard of it and certainly never saw it until Tom Stathes ran his copy at an old burlesque theater on the Lower East Side today, but it surely maintains the high standards of this series.

1928 creepy

While 6 might seem like a decent score, for a Koko the Clown animated short, it's not an especially good score. This is because during the 1920s, the Koko cartoons by the Fleischer Brothers were among the very best cartoons you could find. Seeing Koko leave the inkwell and interact with the real world is something you just have to see to appreciate.

So why is this one rated a bit low by me? Well, the plot is incredibly creepy and not as charming as you'd expect. It seems that Koko has been staring at a pretty model that Max is drawing and the model complains...so Max erases Koko's eyes!!! For the rest of the story, Koko gropes about until he finds replacement eyes!

Overall, the usual charm is lacking and the cartoon, while interesting, is a bit flat. Worth seeing if you are already a Koko fan...but for others, it's best to try another Koko film first.