''Moonlight for Two'' 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 ...

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

'' cartoon directed by

Rudolf Ising Rudolf Carl Ising (August 7, 1903 – July 18, 1992) was an American animator best known for collaborating with Hugh Harman to establish the Warner Bros. and MGM Cartoon studios during the early years of the golden age of American animation. In ...

. The short was released on June 11, 1932, and stars

Goopy Geer Goopy Geer is an animated cartoon character created in 1932 for the '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. He's a singing, dancing, piano-playing dog who is considered to be "the first ''Merrie Melodies'' star", although he onl ...

, one of the few recurring characters in the early ''Merrie Melodies'' series.

Summary

The iris opens to a night-time scene, perhaps in the Ozarks or

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

, and the music of " She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain." Goopy Geer's nameless sweetheart comes out of a cabin scatting the music. Goopy himself stands by a tree unknowingly accompanying her on his

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

before they meet. A songbird and her children trill a tune, "Moonlight for Two," which the happy couple pick up together, dancing about as the birds continue their accompaniment. The dancing ends when Goopy and the young lady hop onto a precarious wooden cart which, boarded, rolls down the hill at whose top it had been placed and through a cabin whose formation is confounded by the impact and whose logs, sent into the air, fall to earth again in a neat pile. The ungoverned cart crashes into a tree but reassembles into a perfect

wheelbarrow A wheelbarrow is a small hand-propelled vehicle, usually with just one wheel, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles at the rear, or by a sail to push the ancient wheelbarrow by wind. The term "wheelbarrow" is mad ...

, now bearing only the girl and pushed along by Goopy; across a plank bridge merrily they roll along, the bridge yielding to their weight not to the point of breaking but only bending enough that the happy couple are wetted by the shallow water beneath. We cut to a large cabin, where a

square dance A square dance is a dance for four couples, or eight dancers in total, arranged in a square, with one couple on each side, facing the middle of the square. Square dances contain elements from numerous traditional dances and were first documente ...

is taking place: amongst other partners, two donkeys dance, their tails joining to form a makeshift jump-rope for a kitten; a

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

-like

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

r continually

resins In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...

his bow between his toes. Outside, our two darlings arrive; gentleman Goopy helps his lady out of the wagon and onto the porch of the cabin and he, ascending the steps, miraculously shrinks from his lofty height to a shape squat and round; this he amends by doffing his hat and pulling his long ears skyward. "Howdy, folks!" cries Goopy as he and his lady enter. The couple dance as the band play the title piece. The cabin's stove enters the number, dancing for a bit, then refreshing itself by quaffing coals. A canine couple caper excitedly; as they reach a table in the corner of the room, the boy takes a barrel of

moonshine Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...

therefrom and, partaking thereof, finds his lanky body burnt, as a cigar, to a butt. Goopy Geer snaps his fingers madly, and produces a

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

by pulling a lever on and thereby releasing the ash from his new dance-partner, the stove. A dishevelled villain enters with a shotgun; he lowers at Goopy's sweetheart, whereupon Goopy orders him to stand back. This challenge is met with shotgun bursts and our hero staggers back from the scene, stepping in a pair of spittoons and falling back on the table. He frees the spittoons from his feet, flinging them at the cackling cad. Goopy runs to his stunned foe and they rumble! Goopy at a disadvantage, the stove challenges the villain: it burns the brute's behind and breathes fire to the villain's slight retreat. The beast lowers at his adversaries; Goopy cleverly takes the lever of the stove and with it fires hot coals at the invader who, yelping with pain, retreats. Our hero and his helper shake hands. Victory!

Falsetto

Goopy Geer's speaking-voice in this cartoon is a

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

, characteristic of

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 ...

(as played by

Carman Maxwell Carman Griffin Maxwell (December 27, 1902 – September 22, 1987) was an American animator and voice actor. Maxwell was born in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, and later moved to Kansas City, Missouri. He began his career at Walt Disney, where Maxwel ...

), the star of the main star of the contemporary

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.

series. This is interesting as, in the earlier ''

'' film, the voice of the character was deep and raspy. This is reminiscent of Bosko's own change from the speech exemplified in '' Sinkin' in the Bathtub'' (the first Looney Tune) and ''

Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid ''Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid'' is a 1929 live-action/animated short film produced to sell a series of Bosko cartoons. The film was never released to theaters, and therefore not seen by a wide audience until 2000 (71 years later) on Cartoon Network' ...

'' to the better-known falsetto that he uses from '' Congo Jazz'' onward. Goopy's singing voice remains much as it was in the earlier short.

References

External links

* * {{Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies 1932 films 1932 animated films Films scored by Frank Marsales Films about music and musicians Films directed by Rudolf Ising Animated films about dogs Films set in the United States Merrie Melodies short films American black-and-white films 1930s Warner Bros. animated short films