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Big-Hearted Bosko
Cartoon
A skate-clad Bosko leaps and prances upon the ice, his dog Bruno barking rhythmically, here and there narrowly avoiding sliding into patches of yet-unfrozen water; the poor canine cannot keep up with his master forever and eventually slides into the frigid pond.
The dog's howling catches Bosko's attention and, as Bruno sinks, our hero wonders aloud desperately what he should do. But the lost creature pops mockingly out of a nearby hollow log, taunting Bosko, who breaks a branch from a nearby tree and tosses it to the wind for Bruno to fetch with great enthusiasm.
Coming upon the stick, Bruno is spooked by the sound and movement coming from a covered basket: running back to alert his master, the dog bumps into a young tree and is forthwith buried in snow. Undeterred, the animal continues back to the basket, now accompanied by Bosko, who warns his friend to stay back.
But, finding the contents of the basket to be harmless, Bosko invites Bruno to check under its cover: a baby in a bonnet pops out, squeezing Bruno's nose when the animal comes too close. Repelled, Bruno's plight is lovingly laughed at by Bosko, who merrily orders Bruno to carry the basket home. Off skates Bosko, Bruno and baby behind; the infant cries as Bosko scats a lullaby.
Back home and by a roaring fire, Bruno rocks the baby in his cradle as Bosko plays a gentle theme on a violin. Still, the baby cries; for all Bosko's plucking and Bruno's grinning, still, the baby cries. Frustrated, the dog storms off, taking an unlucky seat upon the hot stove. Behind aflame, Bruno leaps about in anguish, quenching the fire at last with a bucket of water.
At this, the whiny infant laughs! But this mirth is short-lived: the hollering springs afresh and Bosko, abandoning his fiddle, takes up a fife, intoning "The Waxies' Dargle" to Bruno's percussive accompaniment. When this avails naught, Bosko tries verbally to comfort the foundling, who complains in song.
Bruno again storms off, this time to the bathroom; he slams the door, jostling a lintel-mounted cuckoo clock, which falls from its perch, hits the dog on his head, and mocks the creature's resultant daze with a timely "cuckoo! cuckoo!"
The baby cries. Bosko tickles his charge and then leaps for the piano; he intersperses his performance with shadow puppetry. Bruno reenters, happily joining the musical act by donning a lampshade as though it were a hoop skirt.
Finally, the baby seems happy. Bosko dances off, skating upon a rug up to his stove, popping open the oven-door briefly to reveal a live bird in a roasting pan. Our hero skips back, finally sliding into a decorative column, knocking over a small fish bowl, which flips over upon his head to the giggles of his audience. (Wikipedia)
Movie Info
Directed by: Hugh Harman
Produced by: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, Leon Schlesinger
Starring: Bosko
Music by: Frank Marsales
Animation by: Isadore Freleng, Rollin Hamilton (as "Drawn by")
Color process: Black-and-white
Production company: Harman-Ising Productions
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures, The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date: March 5, 1932
Running time: 7 minutes
Language: English
Country of origin: United States