''Dixieland Droopy'' is a 1954

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

short subject in the ''

Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face; hence his name. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro- ...

'' series, directed by

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His mo ...

and produced by

Fred Quimby Frederick Clinton Quimby (July 31, 1886 – September 16, 1965) was an American animation producer and journalist best known for producing the ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoon series, for which he won seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Films ...

for

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

. The soundtrack version of this cartoon without dialogue as part of '' Tom and Jerry and Tex Avery Too!: Volume 1: The 1950s'' soundtrack album by Scott Bradley Disc 1, 9th track in 2006.

Plot summary

An unseen narrator (John Brown) tells the story of a

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...

-music-loving dog named John Pettybone (Droopy, voice of Bill Thompson). Pettybone's one love is listening to a record of Dixieland jazz, specifically "

Tiger Rag "Tiger Rag" is a jazz standard that was recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions. In 2003, the 1918 recording of "Tiger Rag" was entered into the U.S. Library of Cong ...

", and pretending to conduct the music. Unfortunately, the manager of the dump where Pettybone lives is not a fan of Dixieland, and he evicts the hapless dog from the dump. Pettybone travels to several locations (a cafe, an

organ grinder A street organ (french: orgue de rue or ''orgue de barbarie''; german: Straßenorgel) played by an organ grinder is a French-German automatic mechanical pneumatic organ designed to be mobile enough to play its music in the street. The two most com ...

, an

ice cream truck An ice cream van ( British) or ice cream truck (North American) is a commercial vehicle that serves as a mobile retail outlet for ice cream, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or ne ...

and a merry-go-round) in an attempt to play his music, but is thrown out each time. Pettybone is heartbroken when his record is accidentally smashed, but his luck changes when he discovers a

flea circus A flea circus is a circus sideshow attraction in which fleas are attached (or appear to be attached) to miniature carts and other items, and encouraged to perform circus acts within a small housing. History The first records of flea perform ...

with a group of

flea Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...

s called "Pee Wee Runt and his All-Flea Dixieland Band". He goes in the circus tent with its sign saying that dogs aren't allowed inside. As Pettybone hoped, the fleas choose to go with him and for him to be their conductor, but the flea circus owner is not pleased by Pettybone taking his fleas and demands them returned. Pettybone refuses to comply, and so is pursued by him throughout the city, with the fleas playing all the time (putting the fur of Pettybone's rear back on him after a meat market owner cuts it off, stopping when Pettybone slows and creeps quickly to go through a hospital zone and restarting by his command after doing so, slowing down as he is slowed by tar and even taking a smoke break). The pursuit continues with the owner chasing Pettybone inside Jazza Plaza, where Pettybone ultimately escapes the owner by hiding inside a theatrical agent's office. The agent does not approve of dog acts, and demands for Pettybone to leave, but upon inadvertently starting up the flea band's music once again and hearing it, he mistakenly believes that Pettybone is making the music himself. Pettybone becomes famous as "John Pettybone, Dog of Mystery", and realizes his dream of playing the Hollywood Bowl. As the cartoon concludes with a close-up of the flea circus band, the narrator states no one ever discovered the secret to Pettybone's music and never will. Because only Pee Wee Runt knew and would never tell as he, the trumpeter, Pee Wee Runt, reveals, "For you see, he - that flea, Pee Wee - is me! See?"

References

External links

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''Dixieland Droopy''
at the

Big Cartoon DataBase The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, Feature film, animated feature films, Animated television series, animated television shows, and cartoon Short film, shorts. The BCDB proj ...

1954 animated films 1954 short films 1954 films 1950s American animated films 1950s animated short films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films directed by Tex Avery Droopy American animated short films Films scored by Scott Bradley Films with screenplays by Henry Wilson Allen Dixieland Jazz films Films set in Los Angeles Animated films about insects Films produced by Fred Quimby Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio short films Animated films about music and musicians 1950s English-language films {{1950s-short-animation-film-stub

Plot summary

See also

References

External links