''Little Annie Rooney'' is a short animated film that is part of the

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...

Screen Songs ''Screen Songs'', formerly known as KoKo Song Car-Tunes, are a series of animated cartoons produced at the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. Paramount brought back the sing-along cartoons in 1945, n ...

series. It is based on the popular song Little Annie Rooney and uses it in the soundtrack. The chorus: : She's my sweetheart, I'm her beau; : She's my Annie, I'm her Joe, : Soon we'll marry, never to part, : Little Annie Rooney is my sweetheart! Other tunes used in the soundtrack (as instrumentals) include "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" and "Baby's Birthday Party".

Synopsis

The Screen Song starts with the theme of Little Annie Rooney. She returns home to a surprise birthday party. She replies "I'm so Happy", which is similar to Betty Boop's Birthday Party. Annie has a sweetheart,

Bimbo Bimbo is slang for a conventionally attractive, sexualized, naive, and unintelligent woman. The term was originally used in the United States as early as 1919 for an unintelligent or brutish man. As of the early 21st century, the "stereotypic ...

, and they both perform the title song. After the cartoon story, the

bouncing ball The physics of a bouncing ball concerns the physical behaviour of bouncing balls, particularly its motion before, during, and after impact against the surface of another body. Several aspects of a bouncing ball's behaviour serve as an introd ...

sing-along segment begins. The background image for the first part of the sing-along is a design of shamrocks and smoking pipes, to indicate an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

theme. In the second segment, the background image is a statuette of

Betty Boop Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick.Pointer (2017) She originally appeared in the ''Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer ...

. The third segment returns to cartoon animation interacting with the lyrics in the Fleischer Studios style of the time. At the end, Bimbo and Little Annie Rooney are married in a church, then the final part of the chorus is sung by the faces of babies who quickly age to adult men then old men, with the lyrics "Little Annie Rooney, is our grand-ma", an indication that the pop-song which debuted over 40 years earlier was an old standard familiar to generations.

External links

Little Annie Rooney (1931) at IMDBLittle Annie Rooney at the Archives
at pleasant living 1930 songs 1931 animated films Fleischer Studios short films Betty Boop American black-and-white films Short films directed by Dave Fleischer Paramount Pictures short films 1931 short films 1930s English-language films 1930s American animated films American animated short films Animated films about dogs {{short-animation-film-stub