"Hello, Bosko!" (giggles)
"Guess what I g-g-g-got for you, Honey!" (holds out flowers, goat eats them and Bosko starts sobbing)
"Don't cry, Bosko! I still love you."
"Guess what I g-g-g-got for you, Honey!" (holds out flowers, goat eats them and Bosko starts sobbing)
"Don't cry, Bosko! I still love you."
—The first (and handful) of lines in the cartoon.
"Sinkin' in the Bathtub" is the very first short in the Looney Tunes series, released in 1930, starring Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid and made by Hugh Harman And Rudolph Ising for Warner Bros. However, this was not the first appearance of Bosko — he first popped up in an unreleased 1929 pilot film.
The plot, if it can be called that, starts with Bosko taking a shower, approriately whistling to the tune of "Singing in the Bathtub". After some antics in the tub, along with the tub coming to life and ripping apart toilet paper, Bosko goes for a ride in his car to visit his sweetheart Honey. After a bit of serenading, they go off for an afternoon ride and Hilarity Ensues.
This short is in the Public Domain and can be viewed here
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Tropin' in the Bathtub:
- Alternate Company Equivalent: In addition to everything else, "Singin' in the Bathtub" was Warner Bros' response to MGM's "Singin' in the Rain" (which was originally written in 1929, approximately 23 years before the movie starring Gene Kelly).
- Animation Bump: The climactic scene where Bosko is being chased by his own car down the hill is animated with the background moving in perspective.
- Bowdlerization: Yes, even the very first Warner Bros. cartoon was censored when aired on American television. Nickelodeon (back when they aired Bosko cartoons on their Nick at Nite version of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon) edited Bosko yelling "Mammy!" as the car chases him down the hill.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- None of the trademarks of Warner Brothers' animation are present here. It's a typical and almost unnotable 1930s cartoon. Also, Bosko speaks in an almost Stepin Fetchit-esque voice, which was swapped out for a Mickey Mouse-esque falsetto voice after a few cartoons.
- The series title features various cartoon sound effects that are timed in with the theme tune, something which was dropped after this cartoon; though it appeared again towards the end of Harman-Ising's tenure with Warner Bros., oddly enough.
- Eat the Camera: Bosko and Honey fall off the edge of a cliff. Both of them wrap their mouths around the camera as they do so.
- Mickey Mousing: Being an early sound cartoon, this is to be expected. Everything is timed very precisely to the musical beat.
- Public Domain Animation: The entire cartoon is in the public domain.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: The copyright of the songs has long been expired.
- Pun-Based Title: On "Singin' in the Bathtub".
- The Quiet One: Despite being the first publicly released sound cartoon from Warner Bros., Bosko and Honey are given very little dialogue. The only lines of dialogue include the top quotes, Bosko yelling "Hey!" and "Mammy!", and the ending title where Bosko says "That's All, Folks!"
- Random Events Plot: Bosko takes a bath and drives his car to Honey's house, invites her for a date and drive. Hilarity Ensues soon after.
- Sentient Vehicle: Bosko's car, at least when it first appears.
- Shout-Out: When Bosko is running away from his car down the hill, he looks towards the screen and yells "MAMMY!", an obvious reference to the most famous scene of The Jazz Singer.
- Standard Snippet: The original purpose of Looney Tunes was to help sell songs from Warner Bros.' immense music library. Right off the bat, we begin with Bosko whistling "Singing in the Bathtub", and throughout we hear "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" and "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles".
- That's All, Folks!: In the ending titles, Bosko says these words for the very first time in the franchise.
- Toilet Humour: Bosko's car coming out of the outhouse with its fanny flap down, revealing its bare butt.
- Visual Pun:
- When Bosko and his own car are tiptoeing amongst the flowers, the song playing is "Tiptoe Through the Tulips".
- "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" plays when Honey dumps her bathwater into Bosko's saxophone, which turns it into a bubble making instrument.
