I'm of two minds about this cartoon. It is nearly perfect (a bit long, that's all) by itself, but should it have been the first of a series or just been a single example? Hard for me to really say.
Reminding me of another great single cartoon (ONE FROGGY DAY) wherein Michigan J. Frog sings all these turn of the century vaudeville tunes, it is set in 1890. The spoof is about "the Rover Boys" who were popular fictional heroes from college (like "Frank Merriwell") in that period. Every action they do in the cartoon is an exaggeration of what the clean cut heroes of that period were supposed to do.
The Dover Boys attend good old "Pimento University", "Good old Pimento U." "Good old P.U." We even see some of the "Gay '90s" students singing the university song, before they introduce the three brothers, Tom, Dick, and Harry. They are all courting Dora Sweetpipe, who is a very surprising demure woman of that period too. They are taking her to a picnic, and in the process they have a weird game of hide and seek. In their idiotic search for perfect hiding spots they end up in the local saloon/pool hall that their evil foe Dan Backslide is usually frequenting. Backslide loves Dora too - for her father's money. He decides to take advantage of Dora not being in the company of the Dover Boys to kidnap her, using a stolen runabout (hence the best line in the cartoon - in the Summary line above).
However, Dan finds that to kidnap Dora is not such a wonderful idea after awhile - she throws people about like a wrestler! The conventions of 1890s good v. evil are maintained in the entire cartoon, puncturing it constantly by exaggeration. Also of assistance is a silent, fat man with sailor's hat and sideburns who keeps popping up walking through the scenes to the tune "While strolling through the park one day." In the end, this anonymous figure turns out to be far luckier than one would imagine.
Reminding me of another great single cartoon (ONE FROGGY DAY) wherein Michigan J. Frog sings all these turn of the century vaudeville tunes, it is set in 1890. The spoof is about "the Rover Boys" who were popular fictional heroes from college (like "Frank Merriwell") in that period. Every action they do in the cartoon is an exaggeration of what the clean cut heroes of that period were supposed to do.
The Dover Boys attend good old "Pimento University", "Good old Pimento U." "Good old P.U." We even see some of the "Gay '90s" students singing the university song, before they introduce the three brothers, Tom, Dick, and Harry. They are all courting Dora Sweetpipe, who is a very surprising demure woman of that period too. They are taking her to a picnic, and in the process they have a weird game of hide and seek. In their idiotic search for perfect hiding spots they end up in the local saloon/pool hall that their evil foe Dan Backslide is usually frequenting. Backslide loves Dora too - for her father's money. He decides to take advantage of Dora not being in the company of the Dover Boys to kidnap her, using a stolen runabout (hence the best line in the cartoon - in the Summary line above).
However, Dan finds that to kidnap Dora is not such a wonderful idea after awhile - she throws people about like a wrestler! The conventions of 1890s good v. evil are maintained in the entire cartoon, puncturing it constantly by exaggeration. Also of assistance is a silent, fat man with sailor's hat and sideburns who keeps popping up walking through the scenes to the tune "While strolling through the park one day." In the end, this anonymous figure turns out to be far luckier than one would imagine.