Busybody Bear

Just watched this M-G-M Barney Bear cartoon on YouTube as linked from the Saturday Morning Blog. It's Good Neighbor Week and Barney wants to do good by helping Buck Beaver build the Beaver Dam. But his good intentions do no good for the beaver and things quickly take a disastrous turn...Directed by Dick Lundy who previously worked for Walt Disney and Walter Lantz, this was quite a hilarious cartoon that fits quite well with the Tex Avery and Hanna-Barbera Tom and Jerry cartoons the studio was also making at the time. Certainly I didn't get tired of the way a tree kept falling on Barney! And everything just falls into place logically so on that note, I highly recommend Busybody Bear.

Barney Bear reads a homily urging people to help out in the neighborhood. He puts this into action by helping a beaver build a dam.... when the beaver doesn't need it.

This was directed by Dick Lundy, and how Barney has changed! He's no longer the voiceless grouch who wants to be left alone to sleep the winter away. Now he's a mild, drawling fellow voiced by Paul Frees, who thinks he knows more about dam-building than a beaver. who's also voiced by Frees.

The gags are mostly of a type, and decently executed. If this wasn't a Barney Bear cartoon, it would be pretty good.

While not one of my favourite cartoon characters, Barney Bear was a very funny and likable character where his sluggishness was a huge part of his charm. He was also interesting for being modelled on both his creator Rudolf Ising (who also was his first voice actor until 1941) and the mannerisms of Wallace Beery.

After the Preston Blair and Michael Lah unit stopped after just three (and pretty good too) cartoons, 'The Bear and the Bean', 'The Bear and the Hare' and 'Goggle Fishing Bear', Dick Lundy was the fourth director to take over the Barney series after Ising (10 cartoons), George Gordon (3) and Blair/Lah, and turned out to be the joint-longest-serving director after Ising with 10 contributions to the series. His second Barney cartoon 'Busybody Bear' is even better than his very good first one 'The Wise Little Quacker' and is not just one of his better contributions to the series but also one of the better Barney cartoons in general. Even with a slower pace than the usual frenetic energy one and Barney's simplified design and nicer and less gruff character than those in the Ising and Gordon cartoons.

Have to say that it was lovely to see this side to Barney. It's not his original personality, which there is a preference for, but as always he is a lot of fun, adorable and very easy to like and he always has been. Buck the beaver works well with him, although the less likable character.

Animation is nicely drawn and colourful, if slightly lacking the finesse and meticulousness of the earlier entries of the Barney Bear series. The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed, even enhancing the impact of actions and gestures.

'Busybody Bear' is a very funny cartoon throughout, and the timing, even with the not as frenetic and more laconic pace, is still spot on. Really liked the characteristic silly charm that makes the series so likable.

In summation, great cartoon and even better than Lundy's first Barney effort. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Barney Bear lives comfortably in a cabin in the woods. The newspaper suggests helping your neighbor. Buck Beaver is building a dam. Barney decides to help even if Buck doesn't want his help.

This is fine. I remember the ice block gag. Maybe I've seen this before. I don't really love busybody Barney here although I don't hate him. He's fine. It's all fine.