Title: Silly Superstition ("The Silly Superstition" on the tv version)
Studio: Lantz
Date: 8/28/39
Credits: None listed on print, and apparently not in the original
Series: Lil' Eightball
Running time (of viewed version): 7:07
Synopsis: Lil' Eightball tries to disprove superstition, but comes into conflict with a lion, which is defeated by his tiny dog.
Comments: Background: Hotel Bathless. Mel Blanc seems to be Eightball's mom too. The sound is too poor on the viewed print for me to tell much of anything else about the audio; something about Friday the 13th, and follow the superstitions. The dog seems to have a slight case of blackface, too (light lips, dark muzzle). I'm not sure what part of the dog pulls down the knot holes. The cat struts like bad luck blackie. The dog stammers breathlessly like Lou Costello. There's a building that kinda looks like the Guggenheim, but that wouldn't be built for 20 years. It's also more realistically proportioned. The lion ends up playing snowspeeder to the firehydrant's AT-AT, but it doesn't go down. I think this may be attempting to be an indictment against reason and for superstition. Teach the controversy, '39 style. The dog ascending the construction site is reminscent of Donkey Kong... This was the last black and white Lantz theatrical (tho I think they eventually made more black and white content, just for television ads and maybe bumpers; it is possible some black and white material I've seen is just a black and white print of material that was made in color tho).
Against reason and for superstition? That's right. "Superstition is just a bunch of hooey," Li'l Eightball tells his dog at the start, but everything goes wrong despite his best efforts. "Are you chasing me because it's Friday the 13th, or is it just because you're a lion?"
ReplyDeleteBoth here and in A-HAUNTING WE WILL GO, the point seems to be that Eightball is a smart little guy defiant of stereotypical behavior (that he should be superstitious or scared of ghosts), but prevailing conditions force him to accept the stereotype in the end. Wow.