Érase la Hija de un Acrobata

It's a night at the movies and the first thing we see is a game of "musical chairs" in the packed movie theater. (Did people move seats a lot back in the '30s?)

Then, the "Warmer Brothers Presents Goofy-Tune News" begins the evening's entertainment on screen. It starts with a takeoff on Lowell Thomas with "Dole Promise" giving the latest news of the day. Eddie Cantor is then parodied. Also, the filmmakers make light of the problem of sitting in the front row, of heavy people getting out of their seats and squeezing in front of people as they head to the aisle.

Returning to the news, the feature story is about a town (Boondoggle) that is literally going to the dogs. Mostly we hears puns regarding the word "dogs" and expressions of the day that used the word "dog." By now, 70 years later, they aren't funny, just very corny.

The second half of this 8.4-minute cartoon is pre-feature movie provided by "Stickoutski At The Fertilizer" another cornball play-on-words for a famous conductor at the Wurlizter organ. Finally, the film begins: "The Petrified Florist," another takeoff, of course, but we only see a little bit of that because a little duck goes up in the projection room (there is no projectionist?) and ruins things.

Almost all this cartoon is lame, sad to say. There is nothing funny in here. The only positive thing about it is the tremendous restoration job done on it. The colors and sharpness are amazing, as are most of the 'toons on these Golden Collection DVDs.

Even though not all of the humour worked, 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' was still mostly very entertaining. A relatively early Looney Tunes/ Merrie Melodies effort for Fritz Freleng, this is not him at his best with his masterpieces coming much better, but there is no mistaking his style and it's hard not to like.

What made some of the humour not come off as well as they should is that any caricatures, puns or gags unfamiliar to anybody will no doubt go over their heads. This is particularly true of the Lew Lehr (quite amusingly re-named as Who Dehr) caricature, prior knowledge for me was next to zero so the caricature, on top of being quite stereotypical and not particularly funny, was lost on me. Some of the puns are a bit corny and because they are so of the time they don't hold up as well as they should.

In terms of animation quality, the cartoon is quite beautifully done, with lovingly detailed backgrounds and vibrant colours. The music brims with lively energy and luscious orchestration, not only being dynamic to the action and adding to it but enhancing it as well.

Other parts of 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' are very funny indeed, especially the musical number, which was hilariously inspired, and the baby duckling interjections, that could have easily been annoying but was a lot of fun. The Leopold Stokowski caricature is very much recognisable and funny, mainly for being known as one of the greatest conducting figures of the 20th century and ever but also because he has been caricatured in animation so often.

'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' is light on plot, to the point of being described as virtually plot less, but this is compensated by (apart from the odd laboured bit where the humour doesn't quite work) very energetic, sometimes wild, pacing. The characters are mostly good fun, and the voice work is terrific, especially Mel Blanc.

Summing up, an interesting and fun cartoon if variable in the execution of the humour (thankfully hitting more than it misses). 8/10 Bethany Cox

Watching "She Was an Acrobat's Daughter", I quickly figured out that it was going to spoof a famous movie of its era (in this case, "The Petrified Forest", which I've never seen). In a movie theater, the audience plays an over-the-top version of musical chairs, a fat hippo irks some people by getting out of and into his seat, and some other silly things abound before the newsreel replete with puns tells of events in the world. Maestro Stickoutski (they loved playing with people's names, didn't they?) has the audience sing the title song along with some slides, even when the wrong slide gets entered. But when a baby duck starts pissing some people off, that's when the action really gets going! True, we in the 21st century will probably have few if any clues what they're talking about. But if we can imagine ourselves watching the cartoon when it first debuted in 1937, getting every one of the jokes, it's very easy to enjoy the cartoon. Of course, it's a hoot even if you don't know what it spoofs. One can see how the guys behind these cartoons liked to come up with the most twisted things possible. Worth seeing.

"Bacall to Arms" portrayed a similar series of events.

Friz Freleng's 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' is one of several cartoons set in a cinema, which would directly reflect the experience of those viewing the cartoon at the time of its release. Although the gags are hit and miss, mostly due to dated references that are now beyond the comprehension of most audiences, 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' beautifully captures the experience of a 1930s cinema goer and offers many great gags which ring true today. The hippo who keeps getting out of his seat and the guy who can't find a decent view of the screen hilariously reflect problems that continue to dog cinema goers to this day. The best skit of the whole cartoon is the titular musical number in which the audience sing along prompted by slides. At one point, the wrong slide is flashed up and the audience duly sing the instruction "Please do not spit on the floor"! The cartoon culminates in an inspired segment in which a baby duck bothers his father and then proceeds to destroy the film projector. In between these great bits, the cartoon is laboured a little by the action that occurs on the cinema screen which is by turns dated and unfunny but what remains in the viewer's head at the end of the short is the excellent action involving the cinema patrons and the great sense of actually being in a 30s cinema that Freleng expertly evokes. 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' comes highly recommended as both a fascinating historical representation of the old-time cinema experience and as a very funny cartoon.

Just ugly Betty Davies and elephant ears (so-caricatured) Leslie Howard. What a missed opportunity to omit the star of the film, Humphrey Bogart in one of his very best roles, Duke Mantee. Huge letdown. A generous 2 stars because I liked the very first image, with the wide eyes of the audience dogs.