Monday, March 10, 2008

Vulcan Entertains Pt.3


Continuing with my series filling in the gaps of the 1934 Iwerks' Studio Willie Whopper cartoon 'Hell's Fire' from two of the existing 16mm versions: 'Masquerade Holiday' and 'Vulcan Entertains'. 



After Mr. Hyde there is a terrible cut that used to drive me crazy. What is it? What's supposed to happen here?

Aha - a prohibition gag! Seems like 'Masquerade Holiday' may have been edited for references to drinking and smoking which doesn't leave much in a cartoon like this!

 The little devils dump 'Old Man Prohibition'  in front of The Devil and Co. They laugh.


The song now makes sense in relation to prohibition.
The Devil: "So you're the guy who's always dry. You think you're awfully hot?"
A chorus made up of: Mr. Hyde, Nero, Napoleon and Willie. Also a little devil.
Chorus: "He thinks he's awfully hot!"
Little Devil: "He thinks he's awfully hot!" 

Can't decipher a couple of words from the next line. Can anyone tell me?  
The Devil: "I'm glad we met for your (two words unintelligible). I've got you on the spot!" 

Note - Thad has graciously provided the answer. It's: "
I'm glad we met for you're all wet"

Chorus: "He's got him on the spot!"
Little Devil: "He's got him on the spot"
I was surprised that an entire verse was missing - again relating to alcohol
The Devil (rubbing hands): "This guy is dry. We'll make him cry on good ol' bootleg rye!"


He finishes by stifling a burp.   

Chorus: "Good ol' bootleg rye!"
Little Devil "Good ol' bootleg rye!"

Everybody (in unison): "Good ol' boot-leg ryyye!"

Next up: a strange cut from "Vulcan Entertains"!

6 comments:

mister sandwich said...

Say John, did the little devil eat Part Three of your fascinating "Hell's Fire" series?

Great blog, by the way. Keep up the great work!

J.V. (AKA "White Pongo") said...

Oops, I changed it. Guess I was rushing a bit. Thanks for stopping by.

Thad said...

Boy, this and The Beer Parade are total proof that those animators were nothing but a bunch of alkies.

Great posts!!!

bardhol said...

i haven't seen the cartoon, but from what you've got here it looks as though the guy with the prohibition banner is a teetotaler, just the opposite of a drunk. the devil is mocking him for being "always dry" - as in, not drinking - and promising to bust his cherry on "good ol' bootleg rye". am i missing something?

J.V. (AKA "White Pongo") said...

No, you're not missing anything. In the years before I saw 'Vulcan Entertained' I thought the character was a drunk (mainly due to his disheveled appearance) and I must have defaulted to that word when I posted. Watch a mangled print long enough and you start thinking that's the way it was intended ... I was sure glad to finally nab a copy of VE!

bardhol said...

i see. excellent blog you've got here, in case i didn't say so before.