This is one of the cartoons from the Screen Song series produced by Fleischer. There will be spoilers ahead:
The Screen Songs series of animated shorts followed a particular format-an animated segment opens the cartoon, followed by a live action part often featuring a musical performance and then showing the lyrics on screen with a "bouncing ball" to act as a cue for the audience so that they could sing along in the theater. Typically, there was a brief bit of animation at the tail end to close out the short, which lasted a minute or less.
The Screen Songs varied in quality, generally depending on the song used as the focus. The animated sequence is usually strong (which is scarcely surprising, because animation was the Fleischer studio's bread and butter) and the overall success of a short is dependent on the song. This one is an oddment, because the animation is almost strong enough to withstand a particularly lackluster pop tune which most wouldn't recall at this point. I just now watched this again and I'm having trouble remembering the lyrics.
The cartoon consists of two billboard hangers traveling around pasting up billboard posters and the stuff on the posters is the funniest part of the short. The two guys themselves do a few things worth a few laughs, like how they drive their vehicle, how they stop the truck and a few physical collisions with billboards and poles. There's a cute bit with two sleeping hobos leaning against a billboard which ties in with the poster, but the posters themselves are worth the price of admission, especially the first one and the one they hang in the short bit after the song. Be sure to read the side of the van in that lat bit, by the way. It's a bit subtle but funny. The transition to the live action is even done with a poster, come to think of it.
The cartoon makes this worth seeing and you may like the song better than I do.
The Screen Songs series of animated shorts followed a particular format-an animated segment opens the cartoon, followed by a live action part often featuring a musical performance and then showing the lyrics on screen with a "bouncing ball" to act as a cue for the audience so that they could sing along in the theater. Typically, there was a brief bit of animation at the tail end to close out the short, which lasted a minute or less.
The Screen Songs varied in quality, generally depending on the song used as the focus. The animated sequence is usually strong (which is scarcely surprising, because animation was the Fleischer studio's bread and butter) and the overall success of a short is dependent on the song. This one is an oddment, because the animation is almost strong enough to withstand a particularly lackluster pop tune which most wouldn't recall at this point. I just now watched this again and I'm having trouble remembering the lyrics.
The cartoon consists of two billboard hangers traveling around pasting up billboard posters and the stuff on the posters is the funniest part of the short. The two guys themselves do a few things worth a few laughs, like how they drive their vehicle, how they stop the truck and a few physical collisions with billboards and poles. There's a cute bit with two sleeping hobos leaning against a billboard which ties in with the poster, but the posters themselves are worth the price of admission, especially the first one and the one they hang in the short bit after the song. Be sure to read the side of the van in that lat bit, by the way. It's a bit subtle but funny. The transition to the live action is even done with a poster, come to think of it.
The cartoon makes this worth seeing and you may like the song better than I do.
