Holiday for Shoestrings
Encyclopedia
Holiday for Shoestrings is a 1946 Merrie Melodies
cartoon short directed by Friz Freleng
. The plot concerns a pack of elves who help a shoemaker
, Jake, who has advertised for help. The cartoon is set to a number of classical music pieces, some of which are used as running gags, especially from "The Nutcracker Suite
". The title is a play on the David Rose
number, "Holiday for Strings". However, that tune is not played in the score.
The cartoon is done largely in pantomime
, with the occasional (unintelligble) bickering of elves, many of which look like miniature versions of Elmer Fudd
with elf-like ears (anticipating a similar role
played by Elmer 10 years later). The twist on the usual story is that the bedridden shoemaker, suddenly feeling much better upon seeing the elves working feverishly, tries to sneak out to play golf. The elves drag Jake back to bed, tie him down a la Gulliver
, and are seen dragging the golf clubs out of the house for themselves to play a round with, at iris-out.
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
cartoon short directed by Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
. The plot concerns a pack of elves who help a shoemaker
The Elves and the Shoemaker
The Elves and the Cobbler or The Shoemaker and the Elves is an often copied and re-made story about a poor shoemaker who receives much-needed help from elves....
, Jake, who has advertised for help. The cartoon is set to a number of classical music pieces, some of which are used as running gags, especially from "The Nutcracker Suite
The Nutcracker Suite
The Nutcracker Suite is a recording by American guitarist Tim Sparks, released in 1993. It consists of both an adaptation for acoustic guitar of Tchaikovsky's suite from his ballet The Nutcracker and the Balkan Dreams Suite, a suite of songs based on melodies and ideas of Bela Bartok...
". The title is a play on the David Rose
David Rose
David Rose was a British-born American songwriter, composer, arranger, pianist, and orchestra leader. His most famous compositions were "The Stripper", "Holiday for Strings", and "Calypso Melody"...
number, "Holiday for Strings". However, that tune is not played in the score.
The cartoon is done largely in pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
, with the occasional (unintelligble) bickering of elves, many of which look like miniature versions of Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
with elf-like ears (anticipating a similar role
Yankee Dood It
Yankee Dood It is a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1956 and directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster. The title is a pun on Red Skelton's famous "I Dood It" line from the Mean Widdle Kid routine....
played by Elmer 10 years later). The twist on the usual story is that the bedridden shoemaker, suddenly feeling much better upon seeing the elves working feverishly, tries to sneak out to play golf. The elves drag Jake back to bed, tie him down a la Gulliver
Lemuel Gulliver
Lemuel Gulliver is the protagonist and narrator of Gulliver's Travels, a novel written by Jonathan Swift, first published in 1726.-In Gulliver's Travels:...
, and are seen dragging the golf clubs out of the house for themselves to play a round with, at iris-out.
Censorship
After one of the elves fell into a bucket of water, the other two elves look like snakecharmers, and one of the two is playing the flute to tie the boot's shoelace neatly. When it aired on Cartoon Network, it was cut out.External links
- Big Cartoon DatabaseBig Cartoon DataBaseThe Big Cartoon DataBase is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows and cartoon shorts....
article at http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/524-Holiday_For_Shoestrings.html - Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
article at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038605/