In 1954, Tex Avery was past his prime and the heart wasn't in it, anymore. Not to say that his final cartoons were not enjoyable (I still have a good time watching "Cellbound" or "Deputy Droopy") but the last cartoon to capture the zany magic of the director was undoubtedly "Magical Maestro", a masterpiece that owed a lot to its use of music.
In a way, "Dixieland Droopy" manages to emerge from the relative averageness of the last Averyan offerings thanks to its continuous use of the same jazzy sound and even the beginning of the cartoon has that uses of drums that accompanies Leo's roaring, announcing something great to come... I can at least say that it's one of my favorite Tex Avery's openings... but then the animation shows its limitations and when Droopy, more diminutive than ever, shows his cute little nose, we know a long time has passed since "Dumbhounded".
But then starts the short's catchphrase "All right boys, a-one, a-two" and strangely enough, the magic operates all through the first part where Droopy keeps using the music in the most inadequate place... and as a kid, I remember anticipating with thrills the moments where the people in the calm tea-room started bouncing in the air, when that monkey went all free-style with a face that makes me laugh just thinking about it... and then the carrousel moment had me in tears.
It's rather simplistic but it works... then comes the part with the fleas, nothing new after "The Flea Circus" and the short tries to sustain the last three minutes with a Roadrunner-type pursuit, punctuated with "a-one, a-two" but it's truly the music that saves the day, so much that the last part where the narrator reveals that he was Pee-Wee Runt all the way is so delightful you'd forget Avery just recycled the same images that introduced the band. Never mind...
I have a little fondness for this cartoon because of its use of jazz music, perhaps my first immersion, and maybe because hazard made it the first ever image I saw from a Tex Avery short (the butcher part with the tail moving back to Droopy's bottom)... my father put the 'Play' button at the wrong moment and that was the first image I saw, funny the things you remember as a kid...
Not the best cartoon from the master but it contains at least two or three laughing-out-loud moments and that's enough (the monkey part being the most hilarious one).
