The Fable of the Jolly Rounders

Two hippos enjoy a night on the town. When they head home in the wee hours, the married one's wife is furious and beans him. The other comes up with a plan to dress as a lady and make the other's wife jealous.

That's quite a lot of what are -- today at any rates -- some fairly adult themes for what looks like a kiddie matinee cartoon from Paul Terry's Aesop's Fables. It's a sign of how times and morality have changed, not only for the era, which was during Prohibition, when drinking was illegal, but today, when punching out one's spouse, even one's husband, is not considered humorous. Sometimes, I think nothing is.

The title, the big hippo, the crossdressing and other things in the cartoon refer to THE ROUNDERS, a Keystone short starring Charles Chaplin and Roscoe Arbuckle. Arbuckle was off the screen, having been found innocent of killing a woman, and banned. Chaplin's banishment from the US would not occur for another quarter of a century.

Harry Hippo gets kicked out of his home after another night of drinking at the pub. His friend pushes him home, but his wife is waiting for him with a rolling pin. His friend has a crazy idea to make her jealous enough to take him back. This closes with the Aesop phrase, "The hand that rocks the cradle is the foot that rules the world."

I guess that this is progressive enough to have a male on male kiss. It's really stupid and not at all charming. I don't like any of these three characters. They are all terrible people with terrible issues. It seems to be making the point that the wife is right. I guess.