Congo Jazz

Congo Jazz
Congo Jazz
Directed by	Hugh Harman; Rudolf Ising
Produced by	Hugh Harman; Rudolf Ising; Leon Schlesinger (associate producer)
Starring	Bernard B. Brown (unc.)
Music by	Frank Marsales
Animation by	Carman Maxwell; Paul Smith
Color process	Black and White
Production; company	Harman-Ising Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures; The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date	August 9, 1930;
Running time	6:22
Language	English

Congo Jazz is a Looney Tunes cartoon starring Warner Bros.' first cartoon star, Bosko.^[1] The cartoon was released on August 9, 1930.^[2] It was distributed by Warner Bros. and The Vitaphone Corporation. Congo Jazz was the first cartoon to feature Bosko's falsetto voice that he would use for the bulk of the series' run (the previous Bosko short, Sinkin' in the Bathtub, had used a derisive African-American dialect). It has the earliest instance of a "trombone gobble" in animation.

Plot

As Bosko is hunting in the jungle, a tiger creeps up behind him and gives him a lick. Finding his gun useless, Bosko tries to flee. After being chased and having his body stretched and his head slapped off, Bosko pulls out a flute and begins playing music, which greatly entertains the tiger. Bosko and the tiger play patty cake, dance, and Bosko plays the tiger's whiskers and tail like guitar strings. Now that the tiger has been rendered thoroughly harmless, Bosko kicks it off a cliff. Bosko then spots two little monkeys playing leap frog. He picks one of them up, but the monkey spits in his eye. Bosko begins spanking the monkey's behind, until he notices the monkey's father looming above him. Acting nonchalant, Bosko offers the ape some chewing gum. The ape accepts, and seems to enjoy the gum very much. They both stretch the gum out of their mouths and begin plucking a tune. The rest of the jungle animals join in: monkeys, ostriches, kangaroos, and more. They play music on themselves, on each other, or with the jungle scenery. A kangaroo plays a tree, monkeys play a giraffe, and an elephant plays its trunk. A tree does a provocative fanny-slapping dance, gyrating its coconut bosoms, until one flies off and hits Bosko in the head. Bosko and three hyenas laugh.

Credits

Supervision by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising
Musical Score by Frank Marsales
Animated by Max Maxwell and Paul Smith

Cast

Carman Maxwell: Bosko

Song

"When the Little Red Roses Get the Blues for You" arr. Frank Marsales.

References

^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 1. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
^ Simmons, LaKisha Michelle (May 4, 2015), "Introduction", Crescent City Girls, University of North Carolina Press, pp. 1–24, doi:10.5149/northcarolina/9781469622804.003.0001, ISBN 978-1-4696-2280-4, retrieved August 9, 2023

Schneider, Steve (1990). That's All Folks!: The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. Henry Holt & Co.

External links

Congo Jazz at IMDb
Congo Jazz on YouTube

This Looney Tunes–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[Beck-1] Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 1. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.

[2] Simmons, LaKisha Michelle (May 4, 2015), "Introduction", Crescent City Girls, University of North Carolina Press, pp. 1–24, doi:10.5149/northcarolina/9781469622804.003.0001, ISBN 978-1-4696-2280-4, retrieved August 9, 2023

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