Ride Him, Bosko! (1932)

1932-ride-him-bosko-title “Ride Him, Bosko!”
Looney Tunes (Bosko title #2)
Released: September 17, 1932
Length: 7:20
Starring: Bosko and Honey

Credits:

Supervision by – Hugh Harman
Drawn by – Isadore FrelengNorm Blackburn
Musical Score by – Frank Marsales


Summary:

Bosko tries to save Honey from a stagecoach robbery.

Description:

A howling coyote opens this tale of the old west, where our friend Bosko is riding along on his horse while singing “While the Bloom Is on the Sage”. Bosko has to stop singing momentarily, getting off of his lazy horse to push it over the rock it stopped at. A title card appears that reads: “Red Gulch: Where Men Are Men, Nine Times Out Of Ten”. In the middle of the town we see someone being chased by a bandit, someone’s head get smashed with a beer bottle, and a tall dachshund who is shortened by gunfire. Bosko rides into town, gets off his deflating horse and goes into the saloon. “Howdy, fellers!” shouts Bosko, to which the saloon patrons reply by riddling Bosko’s hat with gunfire and shouting “Howdy, Bosko!” in return. Bosko walks in and starts dancing to “Comin’ ‘Roun’ the Mountain”. The saloon’s piano-playing dog (who bears a striking resemblance to Goopy Geer) is set ablaze by some very potent beer, leaving him in his underwear and turning him very effeminate. Bosko takes the dog’s place at the piano and begins playing. His infectious playing causes his stool to tap its “feet”, and also inspires a hand of playing cards to come to life and sing. The fellow holding the cards doesn’t seem to appreciate it much; he shoots the joker (another Goopy Geer look-like) through the stomach. The two square dancers from Moonlight for Two reappear momentarily after which another title card appears that reads “The Deadwood Stage — Free Wheeling”. We see the stage (whose wheels don’t appear to be attached to anything) and its sole passenger, Honey. “Please be careful!” she shouts to the driver as she’s tossed about in the rough-riding stage. We watch as a trio of bandits make an attempt to stop the stagecoach, but it rides by them so quickly that one of their horses gets twisted up. Undaunted, the bandits continue their pursuit, firing their guns all the way. A crate of clothing is jarred off of the stage, and the clothes inside get out and run as the bullets fly past them. The stage starts racing down a narrow pass, and Honey is tossed about like a rag doll. The stage hits a rock that sends the driver flying into the air. He lands on a patch of cactus, and then ends up riding on the skeleton of a cow. He manages to get into the saloon, where he alerts Bosko of Honey’s peril in the runaway stage. The poor driver is so exhausted that he collapses into his pants, but he has enough life left in him to grab a nearby beer. Bosko runs out of the saloon and tries to hop onto his horse, but he lands on the hitching post instead. The post comes to life and starts acting like a bucking bronco at a rodeo. Bosko is tossed off, but his faithful horse picks him up and goes after the stagecoach. “Help Bosko! Save me!” shouts Honey, as both Bosko and the bandits pursue her. Suddenly the camera pulls back, and we see Rudy Ising and two animators watching the scene on a small screen. Rudy, who was slapping his legs to create the sound of Bosko’s galloping horse, stops and asks “Say, how’s Bosko going to save the girl?”. “I don’t know” replies one of the animators. “Well, we’ve got to do something!”. “Let’s go home!”. “Good idea!”. The three men get up and leave, as Bosko looks on in bewilderment.


Notes:

  • The smoking animator on the left is probably Walker Harman (Hugh Harman’s brother); the one on the right behind Rudy Ising may be Norm Blackburn. [OM&MJB]
  • Although this cartoon uses the second set of Bosko titles, the theme song is still “A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight”, which was used on the first set of Bosko titles.

Memorable Scenes:

Note: Due to the limited resolution of my source copy, these images are smaller than usual.


Video Availability:

None