Lady, Play Your Mandolin!
{{short description|1931 film}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| image = Lady, Play Your Mandolin!.jpg
| caption = Foxy makes his grand entrance
| director =
| story =
| producer = Hugh Harman
Rudolf Ising
| animator = Animated and Drawn by:
Rollin "Ham" Hamilton
Norm Blackburn
Uncredited Animators:
Isadore Freleng
Robert Clampett
Carman Maxwell
| starring = Rudolf Ising
Rochelle Hudson
Abe Lyman
(all uncredited)
| music = Frank Marsales
| studio = Harman-Ising Productions
| distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
| released = {{Film date|1931|6|13}} (earliest known date)
| color_process = Black and white
| runtime = 7:14
| language = English
}}
Lady, Play Your Mandolin! is the first Merrie Melodies cartoon, and stars Foxy, a character who appeared in three 1931 shorts.{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |access-date=June 6, 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/83/mode/2up |pages=83}} It was released as early as June 13, 1931.{{cite web |title=Lady, Play Your Mandolin! - Earliest Known Date |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tribune-lady-play-your-mandolin/163189694/ |website=The Tribune |access-date=16 January 2025 |pages=2 |date=16 June 1931}}{{efn|Archived from a June 16 article, this is based on the fact that new cartoon shorts would premiere in theaters on Saturdays.}} It is directed by Rudolf Ising of Harman and Ising.{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Jerry |last2=Friedwald |first2=Will |date=1989 |title=Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons |publisher=Henry Holt and Company }}
Overview
File:Lady, Play Your Mandolin 1931 Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising.ogg
The cartoon features Foxy as a gaucho. He visits a local saloon which is disguised as a café, reflecting that when this cartoon was made, Prohibition was law of the land in the United States. Also, as a reflection of Prohibition, liquor bottles have skull and crossbones labels. His horse soon finds himself drunk and begins to hallucinate wildly. Similarly to Foxy, the cartoon features a female fox character that is very reminiscent of Minnie Mouse.
Production
As was typically the case with the early entries in the Merrie Melodies series, one purpose of the cartoon was to promote a Warner-owned popular song. The title theme, written by Oscar Levant with lyrics by Irving Caesar, was a 1930 #5 pop hit sung by Nick Lucas and released by Brunswick Records, which had been purchased by Warner Bros. the previous year (Another recording, by the Havana Novelty Orchestra was released the same year on RCA's Victor Records). In the short, it is sung by a female fox character who would later become Foxy's girlfriend, Roxy.
The credited animators were Rollin "Ham" Hamilton and Norm Blackburn (plus uncredited animation by Isadore Freleng, Robert Clampett (his first cartoon at WB according to some sources) and Carman Maxwell) with a musical score and direction of the Abe Lyman (Brunswick Recording) Orchestra by Frank Marsales. Rudolf Ising provides the voice of Foxy, while Harman-Ising regular Rochelle Hudson as well as Abe Lyman (and probably members of his band) provide the other voices.
Home media
The cartoon is available as an extra on the Little Caesar DVD and Blu-ray. It is also available on the DVD 'Attack of the '30's Characters', albeit in an unrestored form. In 2003, it was included within bonus features on Disc 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1.
References
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= Notes =
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External links
{{wikiquote}}
- {{IMDb title|tt0022045}}
- [https://archive.today/20130717231202/http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/458-Lady_Play_Your_Mandolin.html Lady, Play Your Mandolin!] at the Big Cartoon Database
- [http://digital.library.msstate.edu/cdm/ref/collection/SheetMusic/id/31632 Lady, Play Your Mandolin! Sheet Music] at the Mississippi State University Digital Library
- {{YouTube|id=WM5etBmo0Kk|title=Lady, Play Your Mandolin!}}
{{Harman and Ising}}
Category:1931 Western (genre) films
Category:Merrie Melodies short films
Category:Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films
Category:Films scored by Frank Marsales
Category:Films directed by Rudolf Ising
Category:Foxy (Merrie Melodies) films
Category:Animated films set in Mexico
Category:American Western (genre) films
Category:1930s Warner Bros. animated short films
Category:1930s English-language films
Category:English-language Western (genre) short films
Category:American animated black-and-white films
Category:1931 animated short films
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