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The Organ Grinder
In this Merrie Melodies animated short, an organ grinder and his monkey make their way down a city street.
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Why so much hype?
Simply A Masterpiece
A different way of telling a story
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
. . . according to Warner Bros.' "Merrie Melodies" animators in the early 1930s. In a clear case of "Monkey see, Monkey do," THE ORGAN GRINDER's small primate "Tony" makes a cat hiss and howl in terrible torment by "grinding" the feline's tail. (Tony later gives kitty a second round of rough-housing, strumming its tail like a bass fiddle.) In addition to abusing neighborhood pets, this monkey miscreant steals a banana, then a motor vehicle. Tony drives the latter purloined item through a fruit cart, and later plows into and out of a music store. Along the way, he runs over a huge stack of laundry, adorning the grill of his hot jalopy with a brassiere and a size seven-X pair of panties. (Earlier, Tony had slipped into an Xtra-small size of girls' briefs hanging from a clothesline to cross high above a tenement alley as he hit up the skirts for coin.) With Tony impersonating Harpo Marx, Stan Laurel, and Oliver Hardy here, one wonders why this cartoon wasn't titled THE ORGAN GRINDER'S MONKEY!
This cartoon builds and builds and builds, and when it's over you're almost worn out. It features an immensely-talented monkey. He's the chimp part of the organ grinder's act. The while grinder sings, the little monkey climbs the tenement street windows to collect a coin here and there from an appreciative female audience. Some of the ways he gets to the windows are clever.However, the animated short really clicks into high gear about halfway through when the chimp begins to perform for a bunch of little kids in the street. The little animal turns out to be a great one-man band, amazing dancer, and celebrity impersonator (Harpo Mark, Laure & Hardy).Outside of a little cat-abuse, the film has harmless slapstick gags as the monkey's shenanigans cause havoc in the streets while the band blasts out "42nd Street" at a faster-and-faster pace as the cartoon accelerates to a frenetic pace by the end.This was a bonus feature from the "Warner Night At The Movies" from the DVD feature film, "The Mayor Of Hell." It's definitely worth checking out.
