022 The Magic Beans

Title: The Magic Beans
Studio: Walter Lantz
Date: 2/13/39
Credits:
DIRECTOR
Lester Kline
STORY ... Vic McLeod
MUSIC ... Frank Marsales
ANIMATORS
George Dane ... Fred Kopietz
Series: Nertsery Rhyme
Running time (of viewed version): 7:27

Synopsis: Beany (a mouse) gets beans for a cow, which sprout into a climbable beanstalk, where there's a giant cat Beany proceeds to steal from. He escapes by telling his director he's not going to fight the cat.



















Comments: Mom might be Bea Benaderet. I think the giant cat is Mel Blanc. The voice performances are pretty tepid tho. While a huge improvement over the two previous Lantz shorts, this is still barely better than a Sniffles cartoon. There's a gag where Beans detours to a different beanstalk that's chuckleable. Beans has an unusual shadow on the door that's just a wavy blob. He whistles a tune that I think is familiar to me from WB cartoons. Beans is a thieving little blighter who deserves to be destroyed. There's a great book setup near the end where it appears the cats legs and tail zone are a foreground background element (Beans is in a lighting effect, so it seems likely it's a book setup).