Studio: Harman-Ising Productions / Warner Bros.
Short Synopsis
Bosko is in the bath, whistling "Singin' in the Bathtub". He plays the shower spray like a harp, dries off, and pulls his trousers up by tugging on his own hair. The bathtub then takes over the act, rising on its hind legs and dancing. Bosko sends the shower stream out of the window and rides it down to the street, climbs into his car, and drives off to see his girlfriend, Honey. The car has a mind of its own, squeezing and stretching along the road. Bosko collects Honey, and the two set off on a ride that turns into a runaway plunge and a crash, before the title song returns to close the film.
Why It Matters
- Everything in Bosko's world is elastic and musical, including the bath, the car and the shower water, and the gags arrive at the pace of the songs. It is a near-perfect example of the early-1930s "rubber hose" musical cartoon, with no plot to speak of and constant motion.
- It was the first Looney Tunes cartoon and the first cartoon released by Warner Bros. The series name was an obvious echo of Disney's Silly Symphonies, and every song came from Warner's own music catalogue, an early piece of cross-promotion. The series it started became one of the most important in animation history.
Notes and Trivia
- The title puns on the 1929 song "Singin' in the Bathtub". The film was mistakenly copyrighted under the song's title; its copyright was not renewed and it is in the U.S. public domain.
- This is the only released Bosko short in which he speaks in the original minstrel-style dialect voiced by animator Carman "Max" Maxwell; later films gave him a falsetto voice.
- The songs were played by Abe Lyman's orchestra; the title card also credited the Western Electric sound system.
- See also: Bosko's Parlor Pranks (1934).