10 OF THE BEST BOSKO

Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series, and was the star of 39 Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros. He was voiced by Carman Maxwell, Johnny Murray, and Billie Thomas during the 1920s and 1930s, and once by Don Messick during the 1990s.

In 1927, Harman and Ising were still working for the Walt Disney Studios on a series of live-action/animated short subjects known as the Alice Comedies. The two animators created Bosko in 1927 to capitalize on the new "talkie" craze that was sweeping the motion picture industry. They began thinking about making a sound cartoon with Bosko in 1927, before even leaving Walt Disney. Hugh Harman made drawings of the new character and registered it with the copyright office on 3 January 1928. The character was registered as a "Negro boy" under the name of Bosko.

After leaving Walt Disney in the spring of 1928, Harman and Ising went to work for Charles Mintz on Universal's second-season Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons. April 1929 found them moving on again, leaving Universal to market their new cartoon character. In May 1929, they produced a short pilot cartoon, similar to Max Fleischer's Out of the Inkwell cartoons, Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid that showcased their ability to animate soundtrack-synchronized speech and dancing. The short, plotless cartoon opens with live action footage of Ising at a drafting table. After he draws Bosko on the page, the character springs to life, talks, sings, and dances. Ising returns Bosko to the inkwell, and the short ends. This short is a landmark in animation history as being the first cartoon to predominantly feature synchronized speech, though Fleischer Studios' Song Car-Tune "My Old Kentucky Home" was the first cartoon to contain animated dialogue a few years earlier. This cartoon set Harman and Ising "apart from early Disney sound cartoons because it emphasized not music but dialogue." The short was marketed to various people by Harman and Ising until Leon Schlesinger offered them a contract to produce a series of cartoons for the Warner Bros. It would not be seen by a wide audience until 71 years later, in 2000, as part of Cartoon Network's special Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons, a compilation special of rare material from the WB/Turner archives. .

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1. Shipwrecked (1931)

Bosko Shipwrecked is a 1931 one-reel short subject featuring Bosko; part of the Looney Tunes series. It was released on September 19, 1931 and is directed by Hugh Harman, the first Looney Tunes short to only have one director (as well as the first short to not be directed or co-directed by Rudolf Ising). The film score was composed by Frank Marsales.

Bosko, the captain of a ship, is shipwrecked on a desolate island, where he is awoken by the monkeys and birds inhabiting the island. Once gaining consciousness, he is pursued by a lion and wanders into a native village, which subsequently leads to him being cornered by the inhabitants of the village.

2. Ain't Nature Grand! (1922)

Ain't Nature Grand! is a February 1931 Looney Tunes cartoon featuring Bosko. It was directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising.

Bosko goes fishing but is distracted by a butterfly, who leads him into a song-and-dance routine with the nature around him. Eventually, two ladybugs drive him away, using a dragonfly as a fighter plane.

3. Congo Jazz (1930)

Congo Jazz is a Looney Tunes cartoon starring Warner Bros.' first cartoon star, Bosko. The cartoon was released in September 1930. It was distributed by Warner Bros. and The Vitaphone Corporation. Congo Jazz was the first cartoon to feature Bosko's falsetto voice that he would use for the bulk of the series' run (the previous Bosko short, Sinkin' in the Bathtub, had used a derisive African-American dialect). It has the earliest instance of a "trombone gobble" in animation.

As Bosko is hunting in the jungle, a tiger creeps up behind him and gives him a lick. Finding his gun useless, Bosko tries to flee. After being chased and having his body stretched and his head slapped off, Bosko pulls out a flute and begins playing music, which greatly entertains the tiger. Bosko and the tiger play patty cake, dance, and Bosko plays the tiger's whiskers and tail like guitar strings. Now that the tiger has been rendered thoroughly harmless, Bosko kicks it off a cliff. Bosko then spots two little monkeys playing leap frog. He picks one of them up, but the monkey spits in his eye. Bosko begins spanking the monkey's behind, until he notices the monkey's father looming above him. Acting nonchalant, Bosko offers the ape some chewing gum. The ape accepts, and seems to enjoy the gum very much. They both stretch the gum out of their mouths and begin plucking a tune. The rest of the jungle animals join in: monkeys, ostriches, kangaroos, and more. They play music on themselves, on each other, or with the jungle scenery. A kangaroo plays a tree, monkeys play a giraffe, and an elephant plays its trunk. A tree does a provocative fanny-slapping dance, gyrating its coconut bosoms, until one flies off and hits Bosko in the head. Bosko and three hyenas laugh.

4. Bosko's Holiday (1931)

Bosko's Holiday is a one-reel 1931 short subject animated cartoon, part of the Bosko series. It was directed by Hugh Harman, and first released on July 18, 1931 as part of the Looney Tunes series from the Leon Schlesinger animation studio and distributed by Warner Brothers. The film score was composed by Frank Marsales.

The cartoon opens with the phone ringing loudly, while Bosko is sleeping. The anthropomorphic telephone can't get its owner to wake up no matter how insistently it rings, since he is a heavy sleeper. It then turns its attention to an anthropomorphic alarm clock sleeping nearby, snoring with a "tick tock" sound. So the phone wakes up the alarm clock, so it can wake Bosko up. The alarm clock also has trouble waking up Bosko. He does not respond to its own ringing with bell-like sounds, nor to it hitting a brush against the bedpan. The alarm clock finally pokes him in the bottom with one of its pointy hands, waking him up. He wakes up screaming.

Bosko goes to the phone, and answers a call from Honey. She invites Bosko to a picnic, and Bosko seems pleased with the idea. She asks him to hurry up, says goodbye and then hangs up the phone. Bosko quickly gets ready for the excursion. The phone says "Scram, Bosko, scram!"

Bosko goes to get his car. The garage looks like a big doghouse, and Bosko summons the resident. Out comes not a dog but a car with a personality of its own. He gets into the car and leaves. Several little cars, presumably children of the big one, follow them. He stops to tell them to go home. He then remarks "Ain't that cute"?

The car is driving itself, leaving Bosko with nothing to do during the ride. Then, Bosko gets a banjo and sings, until a string breaks. So Bosko takes a mouse's tail to use as a replacement. The mouse seems to serve as an ornament in the car. The mouse is pretty mad at Bosko for taking his tail. As soon as Bosko arrives at Honey's house, the banjo strings come off. He then tries again to pull the mouse's tail off, but the mouse pulls its tail away and sticks his tongue out at Bosko. It then leaves. Bosko again responds "Ain't that cute", and sticks his own tongue out.

Bosko arrives at Honey's house to get her for the picnic, and calls her from the house's front yard. She comes out to her balcony and says "Hello, Bosko". Honey's dog follows the car. The car tries to drive up a very steep hill and path, and consequently goes stuck. Bosko gets out and tries to push the car. The dog pulls Bosko's pants, which makes him let go of the car. The car consequently goes backwards and knocks Bosko out. The dog licks Bosko, he regains consciousness and replies with "Hey!". He is about to kick the dog, when the dog escapes

Bosko gets the car moving, and the dog comes back and bites a tire. This act causes the air from the tire to be sucked out, into the dog. It inflates like a balloon. Bosko gets mad and sucks the air back to the tire. The unhappy dog leaves, but soon comes back. When the trio walk to the picnic location, they find a log. They put the picnic basket there and start conversing. Bosko whispers an ungentlemanly suggestion to Honey's ear, which causes her to stand up in a huff. Bosko resorts to tempting her with food. He eats a sandwich, chewing noisily with his mouth open, and says it tasted sure fine. She seems tempted. The dog licks Honey's bottom, but she thinks Bosko did it. She slaps him and leaves in anger. Bosko says "Aw, nuts" and the film ends

5. Soda Fountain (1931)

Bosko's Soda Fountain is a 1931 one-reel short subject featuring Bosko; part of the Looney Tunes series. It was released on November 14, 1931 and is directed by Hugh Harman. The film score was composed by Frank Marsales.

Bosko, depicted as the owner/runner of a soda shop or ice cream parlor, serves sodas to a mouse and his old teacher (a hippo). His teacher's soda is sprayed in her face by a fan, causing her to leave the shop in anger. Then a dog enters the building and eats a pile of ice cream, causing the dog's body to become square-shaped. Bosko discovers what has happened to the dog and used its body as an accordion.

Meanwhile, Honey's bratty and spoiled cat Wilbur demands an ice-cream cone after rehearsing singing and the piano against his will. Bosko sends the dog away, and then delivers an ice cream to Wilbur. Wilbur dislikes the flavor Bosko delivered to him and rudely retaliates, which ends in Bosko sitting, surprised, in the washing basket with a pair of underwear on his head.

6. Bosko At The Zoo (1932)

Bosko at the Zoo is an American animated short film featuring Bosko. It is a Looney Tunes cartoon, released on January 9, 1932. Like most Looney Tunes of the time, it was directed by Hugh Harman. Frank Marsales was its musical director.

Bosko and Honey go to the zoo. Honey is frightened by the lion, but Bosko is the one who ends up in danger.

7. Bosko And Bruno (1932)

Bosko and Bruno escape from a speeding train via a handcar; make a failed attempt to steal a chicken; and end up on a runaway boxcar.

8. Bosko's Party (1932)

Bosko and Bruno escape from a speeding train via a handcar; make a failed attempt to steal a chicken; and end up on a runaway boxcar.

9. Bosko And Honey (1932)

Honey is having some trouble with Wilber when he is trying to play a simple tune. Bruno answers the phone and wakes Bosko up for him to call Honey. He comes to her house (although he gets flipped about on some pipes) and croons her with a saxophone playing the simple melody that Honey taught Wilber. When they decide to go on a picnic, the rain stops their fun for good and an electric bolt zaps Bruno in his rear end. When they find shelter Bosko tries to sing "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More" but a wave of water crashes down on top of him and Honey just laughs.

10. Big-Hearted Bosko (1932)

Honey tries to teach the violin to an unwilling kitten. Later, she and Bosko go off on a bicycle ride.