Buddy the Detective
Encyclopedia
Buddy the Detective is an American
animated
short film. It is a Looney Tune cartoon, featuring Buddy
, the second star of the series. The short was released on 15 September 1934, though the date would seem to be in dispute, as one source gives as a date October 17. The short was supervised by Jack King
. Musical direction was by Bernard Brown.
, playing Rachmaninoff's
Prelude, Op. 3, No. 2 in C sharp minor. A tree branch climbs through the window, and, at the Musician's magical behest, plays the keys. But the branch's playing of "Shake your Powder Puff" visibly disappoints the Musician, who then plays some more, disappoints himself, and cries out for inspiration, laughing madly: he walks over to a table, taps the bottom of a bottle, and out pops a frog
, which the Musician bewitches, as the branch before, into playing. But the frog disappoints his master with a rendition of "Amaryllis", and so happily leaps off of the keys & away into a picture of a pond. The Musician makes a portrait of a man in uniform to play a violin, which the painted figure breaks, to the Mad Musician's further aggravation. The cackling madman stalks about in contemplation.
We come then to a newspaper headline: "Extra! Mad Musician Escapes!" And who should be reading the paper but Cookie? We come back to the Musician, who opens a telephone directory and chooses, at random, a name: who but Cookie at 00 1/2 Cornbread Avenue? The musician calls Cookie, and, over the phone, magically entices her (a tough customer, he admits!) to come to him: Cookie stalks out the door, but Bozo the Dog remains. Bozo sniffs about for a trail and then rushes off to find Buddy. Our Hero sits at home, in a chair, admiring a picture
of Cookie. Bozo knocks over Buddy's chair & breaks the frame of the photograph & yelps wildly at Buddy, who, at first, can not decipher what Cookie's pet wants him to know, until Bozo picks up the picture of Cookie: Buddy dons an outfit resembling that of Sherlock Holmes
& rushes out the door with Bozo.
Meanwhile, the Musician commands Cookie to play, at the piano, the same prelude that he attempted before, to flawed success: Cookie devolves, to her master's consternation, into a rendition of the jazzy "Hey, Sailor!" Buddy the sleuth finds the house, & burns a rectangular hole in the locked door by shining a flashlight through his magnifying glass. We see that this house is haunted: a gremlin creeps into Buddy's flashlight & spooks Bozo; skeletons creep about, getting themselves water, which passes directly through them, from a water cooler, & opening umbrellas that are, as they, mere skeletons. The dog chases a skeleton into a wall, where it breaks apart. A curtain flies off of an open window
as a result of the gust outside & Bozo slips on it into the next room, taking Buddy with him: the dog rushes through a threshold, but Buddy is knocked upwards onto a balcony, from which he can clearly see Cookie when she briefly emerges from a doorway to scream for help. Buddy finds his way over the balcony and knocks on the very door, but the Musician peeks out of a little hole in the top & taunts Our Hero. The door is locked, so Buddy simply picks up a nearby door & drops it next to the one through which he wishes to enter the room. Easily attaining access in this clever fashion, Buddy spies the Musician still standing at the door, unaware of his enemy's entrance: Buddy kicks the Mad Musician in the back side, and a fight ensues! Buddy kicks the villain through the door, which spins about as if on an axis, & flips the Musician back into the room, Buddy, unbeknownst to the evildoer, between his legs. The Musician finds Buddy, but Buddy quickly grabs his opponent's hair and spins him around, freeing him only that he knocks into a wall. Buddy puts a small playing stool on the stunned villain's back and spins the top part that the stool's midsection extends from the Musician's back to the ceiling, thus trapping him on the floor. Cookie, saved, thanks her sweetheart, and begins to play the Rachmaninoff piece, but swiftly changes to the same jazzy piece that she played before & that the villain clearly cannot stand!
, Ben Clopton
, & Manny Corral, a cameraman.
, the date here given for the release of this cartoon is September 15; this conflicts with the information given in the appendix of Leonard Maltin's Of Mice and Magic (see references below.) For more on this discrepancy and others, see the Release date discrepancy section of the article Buddy's Circus
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
short film. It is a Looney Tune cartoon, featuring Buddy
Buddy (Looney Tunes)
Buddy is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons.-Looney Tunes:Buddy has his origins in the chaos that followed the severing of relations between animators Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising from producer Leon Schlesinger...
, the second star of the series. The short was released on 15 September 1934, though the date would seem to be in dispute, as one source gives as a date October 17. The short was supervised by Jack King
Jack King
Jack King may refer to:*Jack King , pseudonym for an author of spy thrillers*Jack King , cartoon director and animator for Warner Bros and Disney*Jack Lester King, American population geneticist...
. Musical direction was by Bernard Brown.
Summary
We come to an old house on a barren hill; within sits the Mad Musician at his pianoPiano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, playing Rachmaninoff's
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
Prelude, Op. 3, No. 2 in C sharp minor. A tree branch climbs through the window, and, at the Musician's magical behest, plays the keys. But the branch's playing of "Shake your Powder Puff" visibly disappoints the Musician, who then plays some more, disappoints himself, and cries out for inspiration, laughing madly: he walks over to a table, taps the bottom of a bottle, and out pops a frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
, which the Musician bewitches, as the branch before, into playing. But the frog disappoints his master with a rendition of "Amaryllis", and so happily leaps off of the keys & away into a picture of a pond. The Musician makes a portrait of a man in uniform to play a violin, which the painted figure breaks, to the Mad Musician's further aggravation. The cackling madman stalks about in contemplation.
We come then to a newspaper headline: "Extra! Mad Musician Escapes!" And who should be reading the paper but Cookie? We come back to the Musician, who opens a telephone directory and chooses, at random, a name: who but Cookie at 00 1/2 Cornbread Avenue? The musician calls Cookie, and, over the phone, magically entices her (a tough customer, he admits!) to come to him: Cookie stalks out the door, but Bozo the Dog remains. Bozo sniffs about for a trail and then rushes off to find Buddy. Our Hero sits at home, in a chair, admiring a picture
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
of Cookie. Bozo knocks over Buddy's chair & breaks the frame of the photograph & yelps wildly at Buddy, who, at first, can not decipher what Cookie's pet wants him to know, until Bozo picks up the picture of Cookie: Buddy dons an outfit resembling that of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
& rushes out the door with Bozo.
Meanwhile, the Musician commands Cookie to play, at the piano, the same prelude that he attempted before, to flawed success: Cookie devolves, to her master's consternation, into a rendition of the jazzy "Hey, Sailor!" Buddy the sleuth finds the house, & burns a rectangular hole in the locked door by shining a flashlight through his magnifying glass. We see that this house is haunted: a gremlin creeps into Buddy's flashlight & spooks Bozo; skeletons creep about, getting themselves water, which passes directly through them, from a water cooler, & opening umbrellas that are, as they, mere skeletons. The dog chases a skeleton into a wall, where it breaks apart. A curtain flies off of an open window
Window
A window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall or door that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material like float glass. Windows are held in place by frames, which...
as a result of the gust outside & Bozo slips on it into the next room, taking Buddy with him: the dog rushes through a threshold, but Buddy is knocked upwards onto a balcony, from which he can clearly see Cookie when she briefly emerges from a doorway to scream for help. Buddy finds his way over the balcony and knocks on the very door, but the Musician peeks out of a little hole in the top & taunts Our Hero. The door is locked, so Buddy simply picks up a nearby door & drops it next to the one through which he wishes to enter the room. Easily attaining access in this clever fashion, Buddy spies the Musician still standing at the door, unaware of his enemy's entrance: Buddy kicks the Mad Musician in the back side, and a fight ensues! Buddy kicks the villain through the door, which spins about as if on an axis, & flips the Musician back into the room, Buddy, unbeknownst to the evildoer, between his legs. The Musician finds Buddy, but Buddy quickly grabs his opponent's hair and spins him around, freeing him only that he knocks into a wall. Buddy puts a small playing stool on the stunned villain's back and spins the top part that the stool's midsection extends from the Musician's back to the ceiling, thus trapping him on the floor. Cookie, saved, thanks her sweetheart, and begins to play the Rachmaninoff piece, but swiftly changes to the same jazzy piece that she played before & that the villain clearly cannot stand!
The Musician's phone book
In addition to Cookie's name, the names of three Schlesinger employees appear in the Musician's phone directory: R. ClampettBob Clampett
Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett was an American animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil...
, Ben Clopton
Ben Clopton
Benjamin Ashby Clopton, Junior was an artist best-known for his work on Walt Disney and Harman-Ising animated cartoons.Clopton was the fourth child of Benjamin Ashby and Hannah Olivia Clopton...
, & Manny Corral, a cameraman.
Cookie
As is characteristic only of those Buddy cartoons directed by Jack King (though not all of them), Cookie has braided blond hair rather than her typical black.Dating discrepancy
In keeping with the article Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1929-1939)Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1929-1939)
This is a listing of all the animated shorts released by Warner Bros. under the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies banners between 1930 and 1939, plus the 1929 pilot film which was used to sell the Looney Tunes series to Leon Schlesinger and Warner Bros....
, the date here given for the release of this cartoon is September 15; this conflicts with the information given in the appendix of Leonard Maltin's Of Mice and Magic (see references below.) For more on this discrepancy and others, see the Release date discrepancy section of the article Buddy's Circus
Buddy's Circus
Buddy's Circus is an American animated short film. It is a Looney Tune cartoon, featuring Buddy, the second star of the series. It was released on 25 August 1934, although one source suggests as a date November 8 of the same year.-Summary:...
.