There’s a moral to this simple little tale,
And it is plain to see
Sometimes you’re better as you are
Than as you’d like to be!
I’m taking a break from chatting about Thunderbean at all this week… Other than showing a Dinky cartoon we scanned a little while back.
While children of course were thought of in making cartoons, most studios still made films to be enjoyed by the overall audience. Sometimes though, in quite a few early 50s Terrytoons, there seems to be very little interest in entertaining adults. That isn’t to say they are not enjoyable to animation fans, but I can’t imagine an adult really enjoying this particular film very much. It’s sort of the film version of a Peter Pan records 45 from the 50s into the 70s.
This particular short, Wise Quacks, sort of combines ideas from Donald’s Dream Voice (1947) Disney’s Pinocchio (1940) and The Flying Mouse (1934). The tale starts out as the Terrytoon chorus informs us: “Once there was a silly little duck who wanted to learn to sing. He practiced every chance he got but it didn’t mean a thing”. This poor duck even has the sung narration against him.
His mother comes along during his attempted performance to the woodland creatures and tries to take away his song book. Dinky goes and pouts by the river, and a very white, tiny (human?) fairy comes out of a Lilly pad flower and grants Dinky a voice. Why wouldn’t it be a duck fairy? He doesn’t need to prove himself brave and truthful or anything, or take magic pills or sell any brushes at least.
Dinky runs around proclaiming “I have a voice!” And starts to sing. I wish it was animated by Emery Hawkins like in the Disney short. A fox comes along and tells Dinky he’ll make him famous. “Ya got a great fuit-chur” the fox says in his tough New Yorky way, and comes out and does a little spin dance that’s beautifully animated for no real reason at all, then swipes Dinky off. They dance into the background as flute music plays. The only thing that’s missing is Jiminy chasing them. I dearly wish Terrytoons had done a feature.
The Fox locks Dinky up in a little bird cage ala Stromboli. Lots of people clap for his singing in a montage. Sadly, the Blue Fairy, er, I mean the tiny little fairy is no where to be found, until Dinky is booked in Kornygee Hall. Then, while crying in his cage, the little fairy grants his wish and takes away his beautiful voice, just before the concert. Craziness ensues, with the fox taking tomatoes to the face while running with Dinky’s cage. It breaks open, freeing Dinky, who seems to run all night into the next day back home to the woods, where his mother’s happily waiting to welcome him back after his failures. The narration suggests that any extra effort can only lead to downfall. Maybe Terrytoons attitude here isn’t too far from the way Terry thought.
The production of this Dinky is pleasant enough- and I can’t help but wonder why they so rarely tired to get much better than cartoons like this with so many talented artists working for them.
This nice old 16mm IB Technicolor print has its original titles and end titles, and the Dinky ‘The End’ card has Dinky showing us his butt. (It’s the “end”… get it?).
Despite my cynical review of this short, I do find them pretty enjoyable with expectations kept where they should be. I hope you enjoy this one as well— but don’t take the film’s advice about being mediocre. There’s lots of reward in pursuing creative things- even if Dinky or the Terrytoons studio tell you otherwise.
