Hold Anything
{{short description|1930 film}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox film
| image = Hold Anything (1930).webm
| caption = A similar looking mouse using a goat to lift up a steel beam for Bosko (not pictured).
| director = Hugh Harman
Rudolf Ising
| producer = Hugh Harman
Rudolf Ising
Associate Producer:
Leon Schlesinger
| starring = Bernard B. Brown
Rochelle Hudson
(both uncredited)
| music = Frank Marsales
| animator = Isadore Freleng
Norm Blackburn
| studio = Harman-Ising Productions
| distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
| released = {{Film date|1930|08|09}} (earliest known date)
| color_process = Black and White
| runtime = 6:22
| language = English
}}
Hold Anything is the third title in the Looney Tunes series featuring Bosko.{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |accessdate=June 6, 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/56/mode/2up |pages=57–58}} It was released as early as August 9, 1930.{{cite web |title=Hold Anything - Earliest Known Date |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-of-atlantic-city-hold-anything-e/162419086/ |website=Press of Atlantic City |access-date=6 January 2025 |pages=9 |date=15 August 1930}}{{efn|Archived from a August 15 article, this is based on the fact that new cartoon shorts would premiere in theaters on Saturdays.}} It is loosely based on the lost film Hold Everything, one of whose songs, "Don't Hold Everything," features prominently in the cartoon. It was directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, and animated by Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Norman Blackburn.
Plot summary
The film features Bosko working on a construction site with a goat and several small mice (all of which bear a strong resemblance to Mickey Mouse; Harman and Ising had worked with Walt Disney for several years before joining Warner Bros.). After several minutes of relatively uneventful working (marked mainly by a song and dance sequence in which one of the mice is temporarily decapitated), Bosko spots his girlfriend, Honey, working in a nearby office building. After some brief flirtation, Bosko jumps down into Honey's office, pulls out a piece of sheet music, places it in Honey's typewriter, and begins playing the typewriter like a piano (Bosko types the words "Don't Hold Everything" before launching into the song). Meanwhile, back at the construction site, the goat eats a piece of a steam-powered machine and begins to float upward. Bosko reaches out the window and begins playing the goat like a calliope. The goat begins to float away, and as Bosko hangs on for his life, he accidentally grabs onto a set of udders and gets sprayed with milk, distracting him enough to lose his grip and fall onto a set of bricks. Bosko inexplicably divides into six miniature Boskos and begins playing the bricks as a xylophone before he reforms to his usual self and the cartoon irises out.
Later releases
The scene with the marching mice was later re-used in the Merrie Melodies cartoon It's Got Me Again!, albeit with minor changes to the animation. Many decades later, a clip of Hold Anything was shown in the 2003 TV documentary Animated Century, which showcased over 100 animated films from 26 countries.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020983/|title = Hold Anything| website=IMDb }}
References
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Notes
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0020983}}
- {{YouTube|e-ghTd-n6Fs|Watch Hold Anything}}
{{Harman and Ising}}
Category:Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films
Category:Films about music and musicians
Category:Films directed by Hugh Harman
Category:Films directed by Rudolf Ising
Category:Films scored by Frank Marsales
Category:1930s Warner Bros. animated short films
Category:American animated black-and-white films
Category:1930 animated short films
{{LooneyTunes-stub}}