The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos

This is one of the earliest full color cartoons turned out by the Termite Terrace crew and I wouldn't expect you to be interested unless you are fairly familiar with popular culture seventy years ago and able to figure out, for example, that Lilly Swans is supposed to be Lily Pons -- there were three or four that escaped me (I have no idea who Tizzie Fish is supposed to be -- a radio cooking show host, apparently).

The cartoon is a just a series of "can you identify this one?" gags. You might be interested in looking at the Art Deco style of cartooning that Tash used in this one -- it showed up in a couple of other early color Loony Tunes like PAGE MISS GLORY and then vanished into the standard house style.

"Woods are Full of Cuckoos" was amusing, using animals (mostly birds) to parody celebrities, like Walther Finchell (Walter Winchell),the Master of Ceremonies for the Woodland Community Swing, Bing Crrowsby (Bing Crosby), Dick Fowl (Dick Powell), Sophie Turkey(Sophie Tucker), Eddie Gander (Eddie Cantor), and many others, whom I readily identified. There was the dispute over which page in the song books they should turn to(22, no, 44, no, 36, no, 18, etc.). The fox sang "Swanee River" instead. which was embarrassing. Then came the song, "The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos", the title song, which I believe HAS a message about Christian faith and living. The message is acceptance of the fact that there are all kinds of people in the world. Many act, look, speak, and think in ways that do not make sense. But the song ends "but my heart is full of love". THAT is Christian, as it shows that one can take people as they come, even if they ARE cuckoo! It shows lack of judgementality about others, basic to being a real Christian

Frank Tashlin's 'The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos' is another of the then-popular Hollywood caricature cartoons of the 30s and early 40s. Once enormous crowd-pleasers, these cartoons have obviously aged significantly and are largely notable for being fun star-spotting exercises for modern day film buffs. I consider myself a huge cinema fan and was able to identify many of the caricatures in cartoons such as 'Hollywood Steps Out' and 'The Coo Coo Nut Grove' but 'The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos' is mostly made up of far more obscure reference points which will go over the head of most modern day audience members (myself included). It's a shame because 'The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos' looks great and seems as if it would have been particularly funny in its day. However, it relies so strongly on the viewer being in on the joke that it quickly becomes boring for anyone who is missing the point of gag after gag. As such, I feel it's practically impossible for me to properly rate 'The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos' fairly. I may have been bored but that was more my fault than Frank Tashlin's.

I first encountered this short while re-watching many of the classic Warner Brothers cartoons on DVD. The Looney Tunes shorts in particular have been some of my favorite cartoons since childhood and I enjoy many of Warner's other early efforts as well. While many of these classic cartoons make pop cultural references that have become obscure or mostly forgotten in the modern day, most of them maintain a timeless quality that children and adults of all generations still enjoy. The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos however is one of the most outdated Warner Brothers cartoons that I have seen, to the point where it's one of the only classic cartoons I have ever felt the urge to write about.

This cartoon is simply a parody of 1930s radio culture, parodying famous celebrities of the time as birds and woodland critters. I imagine this short film must have been hilarious upon release and would have succeeded at its intentions, but 77 years later it comes off as mostly outdated and incredibly boring as a result of the now obscure cultural references. The celebrity references to Bing Crosby, Al Jolson and WC Fields, which I recognized, weren't enough to save this cartoon for me. This could be because in the current age of brutal and scathing celebrity caricatures as done by South Park and Family Guy, simply seeing cartoon versions of 1930s celebrities as animals with puns based around their names is anemic by comparison. Which is another reason this cartoon aged so poorly, its approach to caricatures and parodies is simply, "hey look who it is, your favorite star in cartoon form with a pun for a name." The jokes run on a "can you guess who this is?" basis and do little else with the caricatures. Today this cartoon plays out like watching a late night show 10 or 20 years after its first airing, many of the jokes become forgotten, and the ones that are possibly remembered are often too far removed from cultural context to remain funny. This style of humor ages poorly, but has a place in culture as it can be very funny before its expiration date.

While I've bashed the cartoon's comedic content and long expired cultural relevance, this isn't a terrible cartoon by any means. The animation is great, especially considering the amount of characters present and the beautiful hand drawn efforts of animators from the pre-computer time. There is also a high level of energy to the cartoon that makes it somewhat watchable for anyone who is curious to see how a parody of then-fresh cultural references from the 1930s would play out. And I understand that parodying celebrities in this fashion was popular at the time, considering that many other cartoons from this era do the same, though admittedly the references to classic film stars age significantly better than references to radio culture of the time. The classic cartoon "Goofy Groceries," in which food mascots come to life in a grocery store after closing, takes a similar approach and not only references brands that are still regularly sold in the 2010s, but also uses the caricatures in a much more creative way than the rather shallow approach seen here.

When all is said and done, I don't regret watching this as it gave me one of the most unusual reactions I have ever had to a classic cartoon, but unless you were alive and following 1930s radio culture during its time, or have researched it enough to understand the ins and outs of it, the humor and cultural references are going to fall flat for most modern viewers.

Cartoons with lots of caricatures can be lots of fun, but there are examples where some of the material can get lost on the viewer. 'The Woods are Full of Cuckoos' fits both extremes, it is an interesting curio but it is a case of some of the material working and other parts that do not.

The animation is great, with gorgeously vibrant colours, backgrounds that are rich in detail and the characters are smoothly drawn. The music consists of a lot of character, lush orchestration, clever instrumentation, bucket loads of energy and an ability to not just be dynamic to the material but elevate it. The voice work from Mel Blanc and Tedd Pierce is peerless as ever.

A good deal of the animal caricatures, based on celebrities of the day, are very funny and they clearly had a ball thinking of the animal names which are quite inventive.

However, there is always the danger of being unfamiliar with some of the people caricature cartoons caricature. There was unfamiliarity with quite a lot of the stars mentioned (had no idea for example who Tizzie Fish was meant to be), so some of the cartoon did go over my head as a result and are likely to be lost on present-day viewers (even fans of classic-era celebrities at that time).

Not working all the time also are the jokes, some are amusing but never hilarious but others feel very out of date, corny and forced in placement. The talent show is particularly true to this, excepting the loudmouths. The references can be obscure and the concept of can you guess who the star is does wear thin when you are constantly switching between who you recognise and where you draw a blank.

So all in all, a curio and both an interesting and inconsistent one. Worth seeing once or twice, but not a must-see or with watching over and over replay value. 6/10 Bethany Cox