Bingo Crosbyana

This is mostly like those typical 1930s cartoons in which the featured 'characters' consisted of ensembles of (usually dancing) flies, bugs or other insects, with the villain being an over-sized, black, and evil-cackling basso profundo spider.

The title tells you that this is clearly intented to be about Bing Crosby, although the character doesn't have Bing's face, as you would see in later Warner Brothers cartoons. The high point is the comic song "Bingo Crosbyana" that pokes fun at Bing's effect on women as a crooner.

Bing sued Warner Brothers over his portrayal in the cartoon as a coward. As others have noted, without his actual face being shown, Bing didn't have a case against them, despite his character singing a couple of bubba ba boos.

What makes the cartoon interesting is the comic spin that the 'hero' turns out to be a coward, and that the other male flies, emasculated by the crooner fly, become the heroes that defeat the spider. Contrast this with the countless other insect or spider and fly cartoons such as "The Cobweb Hotel" (1936) by Max Fleisher.

I'd give it a 5 for the song and the spin. Note: You can find this cartoon on the DVD of the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film "Swing Time" (1936).

Back when Warner Bros. animation was still in its relative infancy - and Mel Blanc wasn't yet providing the voices - they made this quirky short in which an insect caricature of Bing Crosby gets all the female bugs to swoon, but proves to be a wimp once a spider shows up. These guys often turn out to be worthless, don't they? I see that Bing Crosby filed a lawsuit against WB for portraying him as a coward. Well, as it turns out, BC was worse than that. He was very strict with his family (almost to the point of cruelty), and apparently an anti-Semite. I would have easily sided with WB in BC's lawsuit against them, just because he was such a creep.

So, if nothing else, "Bingo Crosbyana" is worth seeing as a historical reference.

In fact, there were a lot of black actors back then who also should have sued Warner Brothers too for defamation of character. Unfortunately, they didn't have Bing's clout. There's a difference between using a famous face as a caricature and using it as a means to debase someone. In this Family Guy era, we see celebrities and politicians trashed all of the time, and there's not much the victims can do about it (for instance, Carol Burnett tried to stop Family Guy from using her Charwoman character in an R-rated parody, and lost her case. I think she had a point. That character is part of her legacy and she has a right to try to protect it, in my opinion). But back in the early 20th century, standards were different, and it's not surprising Warner Bros. backed off of caricaturing Crosby...for a while.

As to whether or not Crosby himself was a good or bad person, it depends on who is talking about him. A couple of his sons described him as a cold disciplinarian. One of his sons, however, denied that and said that Bing was a great father. And his second family of children (those he fathered with second wife Kathryn Crosby) were devoted to him. There was a story in the newspaper many years ago in which Bing said he hoped to not repeat the mistakes he made with his first family. So clearly there were some issues, issues that Bing came to regret.

To my mind, Bing had some justification to be protective of his image, but Warners had the right to freedom of expression. It's a paradox that plagues show business to this day, and likely will never be fully resolved in any instance in which such a situation arises. As usual, the only clear winners will probably be the lawyers.

The eight minute cartoon short was often seen on the big screens in cinemas during the great depression. This short may have irritated Bing Crosby but it was entertaining if not too short. Too bad, they're not shown often enough on television anymore.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate it even more through young adults eyes, due to having more knowledge of it, various animation styles, studios, directors and how it all works.

'Bingo Crosbyana' is not one of Friz Freleng's, a director who did many great cartoons and a director held in high admiration by me, best, not being one of his funniest, wittiest or freshest. For relatively early Freleng, 'Bingo Crosbyana' is decent though he would do much better later. It is never what one would call properly hilarious (but is never unfunny), Freleng's later efforts show more evenness and confidence in directing and the story.

It is quite thin in terms of story, despite a clever and unusual spin the basic premise is predictable and melodramatic and not executed with enough freshness, and the structure is basically an excuse to string events along.

The content is similarly thin on the ground, lacking freshness and feels more tired than witty. Laughs are lacking. Some of the insects are bland and more melodramatic archetypes, the most memorable they get is the Bing Crosby-inspired crooning.

However, the spider is interesting and has a fun presence.

'Bingo Crosbyana' has a few amusing and charming moments in the second half, the ending lifting it to a better level when things got more involving. Liked 'Bingo Crosbyana's' clever spin on the typical 'The Spider and the Fly' formula.

Animation is very good, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading, vibrant in colour and very meticulous in detail. The music is outstanding, being lovely on the ears, lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it. The title song is very catchy.

Overall, very watchable but other than the animation, music and its spin on the typical 'Spider and the Fly' formula there is not an awful lot exceptional. 5/10 Bethany Cox