User Reviews

This is a cartoon in the Puddy the Pup series produced by Terrytoons. There will be spoilers ahead:

Terrytoons was basically the creator of the animated equivalent of yard goods. They produced the set number of cartoons for which they were contractually obligated and profitability, not quality, was Paul Terry's chief aim. They produced black and white cartoons longer than most other studios did and Paul Terry was reluctant to do sound cartoons.

Every so often, against this backdrop, the animators managed to turn out something fairly good. This is one of those cartoons. Even using some of the cost-saving methods Terrytoons was legendary for, such as reusing footage and doing a gag multiple times, this one is quite good.

When this starts, it looks like it's going to be a standard variation of the "books/characters come to life" cartoons every studio did. But right out of the gate, two novelties take place. One, Puddy the Pup is reading in the book shop and, two, the clock on the wall is center stage (or, more specifically, the clock hands are and I truly can't recall if a similar gag is or was used in another short).

Puddy realizes how late it is and gets ready for bed. The location of his bed and the difficulty which first presents itself are both nice touches. Puddy's bed actually goes into flight and he steers it to a storybook land, where another interesting twist is added, when the first book he encounters isn't from literature and the characters are generic Indians.

Uncle Tom's Cabin is the first title, followed by Jack the Giant Killer, setting the stage for the latter part of the cartoon. There are a few other titles, but the short concerns itself with the cat and the fiddle and the cow and then the giant from Jack takes over the short. There's almost a throwaway bit with Paul Revere, as the giant chases Puddy for the rest of the cartoon. There are some really good gags and a funny ending, which I won't spoil. Not a perfect cartoon, by any means, but pretty good for a Terrytoons.

This cartoon deserves to be more widely seen. Recommended.