Gold Diggers of '49

'Beans' is a golddigger in '49 and to many surprise he actually finds something, just as the sleepy town he's living in had no high hopes anymore (as we see in the introduction).

Beans instead of keeping the gold (that comes in coins, very handy indeed) for himself is telling everybody in town, including Porky Pig whose daughter he wants to marry. I love it when they find a book called 'how to find gold', it says 'Start to Dig!'.

Then enter a villain who steals what appears to be a sack of gold (but really was only Porky's lunch) but Beans gets it back in his supercar.

Not a lot going on in this cartoon, a bit racist at times but nothing to get too excited about on all accounts. 5/10.

At the time this cartoon was made, Porky Pig (of course to be one of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies biggest stars) and Beans (the Boston cat who sadly didn't catch on), had been introduced to viewers as schoolkids in 'I Haven't Got a Hat'. That was a charming cartoon with strong characterisations.

'Gold Diggers ...' makes both characters into adults, and not only that, Beans wants to marry Porky's daughter (who appears to be another cat, and not a pig ...). To do this he needs to get into Porky's good books by finding and guarding gold.

Some fun gags (Beans driving a car so fast he turns into a blur of lines) and the interest factor of seeing another embryonic version of Porky Pig - still not quite the classic version we know and love - makes this film more important that it perhaps would have been without those associations.

It's 1849 and prospectors are searching for gold in Red Gulch. Our hero Beans finds it by way of a slot machine and inspires a small town to join the gold rush. There are lots of captions to move the story along, although they never explain what kind of animal Beans is. I suppose he look a bit like Felix the cat, but then most of the characters in the thirties did. Still the Warner brothers must have had high hopes for Beans, as he gets the honour of saying "That's all folks" at the end. Lots of silly animals appear, including an unnecessary barbershop quartet and a big fat pig who seems to be in charge of things. Could this slob really be Porky? He has the stutter, but that is the only recognizable feature.

Enter the villain employing an impressive lasso gun to steal Porky's most prized possession. If beans gets it back Porky tells him he can literally have his daughter. Luckily for Beans the girl does not look like her father but seems to be of the same unidentified black and white species as our hero. The chase scene features some early examples of the kind of lunacy that would make Supervisor Fred (Tex) Avery famous in later years, but the pace is much slower. The art of animation was so new at this time, that just seeing funny animals riding mules and horses, driving cars and playing racial stereotypes was good enough for a laugh.

4 out of 10

This is not another of those Warner Brothers cartoons kind of promoting their "Gold Digger" musicals of the 1930s, but a story about the real gold diggers of 1849. It stars "Beans," and takes place in "Goldville." Beans, trying to woo Porky Pig's daughter (who is not a pig), is out on the mountain when he strikes gold (via pulling a slot-machine-like arm!). He goes back into town and tells everyone.

From that point, we mainly see Beans and Porky out digging for gold. A bad guys is nearby and he snags a bag full of gold. Porky tells Beans that if gets the bag back, he can marry his daughter. Beans hops into his jalopy and races up the hill, firing with a shotgun! Beans isn't really a funny guy but the cartoon has some good moments and the car is a real hoot. In the end, the bag of gold is only Porky's lunch, but that's gold to him!

It certainly looks dated, but that's the case with most 1930s black-and-white cartoons, and sometimes that's just fine with me. This was a fast-paced, inventive cartoon.

Gold Diggers of '49 (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Beans is out digging for gold and hits the big one. He rushes into town and soon everyone is out there digging. Porky Pig is helping Beans when their bag of gold is stolen so Beans must go after it.

GOLD DIGGERS OF '49 is a fairly entertaining short from Tex Avery and it features that wonderful animation that he is known for. There are a lot of good gags scattered throughout the running time but for me the highlight is simply the animation. This is especially true during a sequence where Beans feeds his car some extra fast gas. Just look at the detail as they go zipping by various things including picking up Porky. Speaking of Porky, this here was his second short and he's bigger than he's ever been, weight wise, and makes for an interesting father.