''Big-Hearted Bosko'' is a 1932

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'' cartoon, featuring

Bosko Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series and was the star of 39 ''Looney Tunes'' shorts released by Warner Bros. He ...

, the original star of the series. It was released on March 5, 1932, although one source offers for it (and other contemporary Bosko shorts) only an ambiguous release date of 1931–1932. It was, like most ''Looney Tunes'' of its time, directed by

Hugh Harman Hugh Harman (August 31, 1903 – November 25, 1982) was an American animator. He was known for creating the Warner Bros. Cartoons and MGM Cartoons and his collaboration with Rudolf Ising during the golden age of American animation. Career He ...

; its musical direction was by Frank Marsales.

Summary

A skate-clad Bosko leaps and prances upon the ice, his dog Bruno barking rhythmically, here and there narrowly avoiding sliding into patches of yet-unfrozen water; the poor canine cannot keep up with his master forever and eventually slides into the frigid pond. The dog's howling catches Bosko's attention and, as Bruno sinks, our hero wonders aloud desperately what he should do. But the lost creature pops mockingly out of a nearby hollow log, taunting Bosko, who breaks a branch from a nearby tree and tosses it to the wind for Bruno to fetch with great enthusiasm. Coming upon the stick, Bruno is spooked by the sound and movement coming from a covered basket: running back to alert his master, the dog bumps into a young tree and is forthwith buried in snow. Undeterred, the animal continues back to the basket, now accompanied by Bosko, who warns his friend to stay back. But, finding the contents of the basket to be harmless, Bosko invites Bruno to check under its cover: a baby in a bonnet pops out, squeezing Bruno's nose when the animal comes too close. Repelled, Bruno's plight is lovingly laughed at by Bosko, who merrily orders Bruno to carry the basket home. Off skates Bosko, Bruno and baby behind; the infant cries as Bosko scats a lullaby. Back home and by a roaring

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

, Bruno rocks the baby in his cradle as Bosko plays a gentle theme on a

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

. Still, the baby cries; for all Bosko's plucking and Bruno's grinning, still, the baby cries. Frustrated, the dog storms off, taking an unlucky seat upon the hot stove. Behind aflame, Bruno leaps about in anguish, quenching the fire at last with a bucket of

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

. At this, the whiny infant

laughs Laughter is a Pleasure, pleasant physical reaction and emotion consisting usually of rhythmical, often audible contractions of the Thoracic diaphragm, diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system. It is a response to certain external or ...

! But this mirth is short-lived: the hollering springs afresh and Bosko, abandoning his fiddle, takes up a

fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, intoning "The

Waxies' Dargle "The Waxies' Dargle" is a traditional Irish folk song about two Dublin "aul' wans" (older ladies/mothers) discussing how to find money to go on an excursion. It is named after an annual outing to Ringsend, near Dublin city, by Dublin cobblers (w ...

" to Bruno's

percussive A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excl ...

accompaniment Accompaniment is the musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in different genres and styles ...

. When this avails naught, Bosko tries verbally to comfort the foundling, who complains in song. Bruno again storms off, this time to the bathroom; he slams the door, jostling a lintel-mounted cuckoo clock, which falls from its perch, hits the dog on his head, and mocks the creature's resultant daze with a timely "cuckoo! cuckoo!" The baby cries. Bosko tickles his charge and then leaps for the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

; he intersperses his performance with

shadow puppetry Shadow play, also known as shadow puppetry, is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment which uses flat articulated cut-out figures (shadow puppets) which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen or scrim. The cut-out ...

. Bruno reenters, happily joining the musical act by donning a

lampshade A lampshade is a fixture that envelops the lightbulb on a lamp to diffuse the light it emits. Lampshades can be made out of a large variety of materials like paper, glass, fabric or stone. Often times conical or cylindrical in shape, lampshade ...

as though it were a

hoop skirt A hoop skirt or hoopskirt is a women's undergarment worn in various periods to hold the skirt extended into a fashionable shape. It originated as a modest-sized mechanism for holding long skirts away from one's legs, to stay cooler in hot climat ...

. Finally, the baby seems happy. Bosko dances off, skating upon a rug up to his stove, popping open the

oven upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool which is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been us ...

-door briefly to reveal a live

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in a

roasting pan A roasting pan is a piece of cookware used for roasting meat in an oven, either with or without vegetables or other ingredients. A roasting pan may be used with a rack that sits inside the pan and lets the meat sit above the fat and juice dripping ...

. Our hero skips back, finally sliding into a decorative column, knocking over a small

fish bowl An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aqu ...

, which flips over upon his head to the giggles of his audience.

References

External links

''Big-Hearted Bosko'' on YouTube (unrestored; low quality)
{{Harman and Ising Looney Tunes shorts Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films 1932 films 1932 animated films Films scored by Frank Marsales Films directed by Hugh Harman Bosko films Animated films about dogs Animated films about cats 1930s Warner Bros. animated short films