User Reviews

Now here is a resolution - exactly as shown in this cartoon - we should all sign as good citizens of our towns - as 'Gabby" thinks of himself:

"I solemnly resolve to give aid, help, assistance and advice to anybody that is in trouble, uphold the law of gravity and all kinds of this and stuff. Therefore, as first party of the second part, I, Gabby, appoint myself as a committee of one to make this community a better place to live in. Signed, Gabby."

With that as his goal, Gabby goes over to the Lilliput Fire Department but they don't seem interested in his good will. Soon, they rush out to a fire and Gabby runs behind them, finally grabbing onto the back of the truck. We then see he and the firemen trying to put out a big blaze.

Unfortunately, the only funny spots in the cartoon, after that opening "resolution" is the ending where the only thing left in the burning building is a guy in the bathtub! Then the rest of the firemen give Gabby his "reward" for his efforts, which weren't too effective.

Gabby decides he's going to do a good deed and be very helpful to others--much like he did in "Swing Cleaning". However, knowing absolutely nothing about fires, he decides to help the fire department--and takes over putting out a fire. In the process, he only makes things worse and is a total pest.

Following the full-length film, "Gulliver's Travels", Fleischer Brothers Studio decided to make some spin-off cartoons featuring Gabby--the Lilliputian who was prominently featured in the movie. I've seen a few of these shorts and can now understand why they only made a few. It's because Gabby is an extremely obnoxious and annoying character--and that cannot sustain a series of films! Had he been just a little bit likable and less of a know-it-all jerk, it could have resulted in many more films--especially since the animation, like all Fleischer productions, was very, very nice. As it was, I can't see watching more than one or two of these films until you are ready to throttle the character--if that were only possible!

As a non-fan of the Gabby cartoons or the character that is saying a fair bit. The reason why Fire Cheese and King for a Day rank at the top of the 8 Gabby cartoons(with Two for the Zoo for me being the worst of the 8) is because King for a Day saw Gabby at his most tolerable and came the closest the series gets to maintaining the spirit of 1939's Gulliver's Travels while Fire Cheese was actually legitimately funny, the funniest most of the Gabby cartoons get is mildly amusing.

Fire Cheese isn't a brilliant cartoon, it has very bland supporting characters that don't do an awful lot, the dialogue is not very memorable and the story is very slight and a tad rushed at times, though noticeably one of the least contrived of the Gabby cartoons(Two for the Zoo is the most contrived from personal opinion). If you are familiar with a Gabby cartoons, what happens and how it ends won't be too much of a surprise. Gabby is certainly more tolerable than he is in Gabby Goes Fishing and especially Two for the Zoo(where he actually resorted to abuse on one of the characters), here he actually has good intentions and is not quite as unapologetic(apart from at the end), but my opinion that he is often annoying for the audience and for the characters and an arrogant know-it-all jerk who thinks he knows all but is one of animation's most inept characters has not changed all that much.

But it's a good one, with great animation and even better music. The animation looks so smooth with picturesque story-book-like backgrounds and beautiful, mellow colours. The music is lively and richly and vibrantly orchestrated, the It's a Hap-Hap-Happy title theme is as catchy and rousing as ever and you do have to love the use of Suppe's Light and Cavalry and Nicolai's Merry Wives of Windsor overtures, it's always fun to spot pre-existing tunes. As aforementioned, Fire Cheese is also the funniest Gabby cartoon, the standouts being Gabby breaking into the house and watering the plant and putting the log on the fire, a brief gag but one of the funniest gags of any Gabby cartoon, and the ending. The rest of the gags are not quite as funny but again they're funnier and better-timed than most of the Gabby cartoons. Most of the pacing apart the odd rushed part is solid and what there is of the voice acting is good.

All in all, Gabby's funniest and one of his best too along with King for a Day. 7/10 Bethany Cox