Merrie Melodies Short: The CooCoo Nut Grove (1936)

Directed by Friz Freleng
Music by Carl Stalling
Original Release Date: November 28, 1936
Voices by Verna Deane, Bernice Hansen, Peter Lind Hayes, Tedd Pierce, The Rhythmettes, Wini Shaw, Danny Webb



Before the Merrie Melodies short, Hollywood Steps Out, there was the CooCoo Nut Grove, which featured caricatures of celebrities of the 1930s and was based on the famed Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel in Hollywood. It is a delight to classic movie fans, but likely a mystery to everyone else. I saw this short as an extra on The Petrified Forest DVD from TCM Greatest Gangster Films Collection, but it can also be found on the single disc release or on The Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3. It opens with a view of the club, and a close up of the sign reveals that it is illuminated by fireflies.

Merrie Melodies Short: Hollywood Steps Out (1941)

Directed by Tex Avery
Music by Carl Stalling
Original Release Date: May 24, 1941
Voices by Kent Rogers, Dave Barry, Mel Blanc, Sara Berner




There is nothing quite so nostalgic for me as watching Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoon shorts and fondly remembering Saturday mornings with the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner show.

 

I recently acquired the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection DVDs and found that these were not the cartoons I remembered watching 30+ years ago. These cartoons had beautiful, vibrant color and far more gun suicides, drinking, smoking and racial and ethnic caricatures than I recalled. I discovered that what I had always thought of as my Saturday morning childhood routine had once been the added attraction at the movie theater in the 1930s through 1960s, and were initially intended for adult viewing.

"Hollywood Steps Out" is an amusing cartoon that pokes fun at the celebrities of the day, and is entertaining for the classic movie fan to try to identify the stars and understand the subtle jokes.