Cartoon a Day: She was an Acrobat's Daughter

She was an Acrobat's Daughter
1939
Directed by Friz Freleng (as I. Freleng)
Available on: Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 3

A few weeks ago "Bacall to Arms" was featured on "Cartoon a Day." Some gags from today's cartoon, "She was an Acrobat's Daughter," were used again in that film. Like "Bacall," this film is about the movie going experience. There are gags about the lousy view you get of the screen in the front row, people who are always walking past you during the show, and noisy kids in the audience.



Several gags poke fun at old newsreels and one section is devoted to a parody of the movie "The Petrified Forest." These gags don't really stand the test of time, but the animated caricatures used in the "Petrified Florist" scenes are great.



My favorite sequence of the film involves a noisy little duck, asking questions and chattering on during the film. He ends up wandering up to the projection booth and getting tangled in the gears of the projector in a scene reminiscent of Chaplin's "Modern Times."




I'm sure that in 1939 audiences were rolling on the floors for this one, but today it's kind of a mixed bag. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the title of the film comes from a sequence where the theater audience sings along with a song called "She was an Acrobat's Daughter." This sequence actually features one of the best gags in the film, when a slide with a picture of a spittune that states "Please do not spit on the floor" is accidentally mixed in with the lyrics of the song. The audience just sings that line as if it were part of the song.