Flip the Frog

            Oh joy! Oh rapture! The long-awaited restoration of the complete cartoons of Ub Iwerks’ Flip the Frog (1930-1933) is finally available on Blu-ray from Thunderbean. There’s even an introduction by Ub Iwerks’ granddaughter Leslie Iwerks. Talk about a perfect Christmas gift.

            Ub Iwerks grew up in Kansas and his childhood friend was fellow animator Walt Disney. They partnered for 10 years during which they come up with the co-creation of Mickey Mouse. But then Iwerks went his own way creating Flip the Frog cartoons which were picked up by MGM. The series was popular but never took off the way Mickey Mouse did. But the cartoons themselves were high-energy, loony wonders- filled with racy, offbeat nuttiness. Even Judy Garland compared her singing to Flip’s.

            These 38 cartoons have all been lovingly restored and they begin with the “all sound” “all color” Fiddlesticks, which introduces Flip who looks frog-like (except for the red bow tie). The character would evolve into a more boy-like creation in other cartoons. But this color cartoon is set in a woodland setting transformed into an animal nightclub. Flip does a short dance and then plays the piano, accompanied by a mouse on violin. 

            All the rest of the cartoons are in black & white. Flip becomes an office boy, a fireman, a boxer in the ring, a football player and a kid in school whose dog sneaks in to be with him. Eventually a skunk shows up and the class, teacher and even the desks and chairs run from the schoolhouse holding their noses. 

            One I’ve always loved is the last Flip the Frog cartoon called The Soda Squirt. Movie stars flock to the “Grand Opening” of Flip’s new drug store. Laurel & Hardy. The Marx Brothers. Buster Keaton. Even Mae West sashays in catching Flip’s eyes as he makes milkshakes for the crowd. A wildly effeminate man comes in and asks for a “chocolate soda please” and Flip accidentally gives him a crazy concoction which transforms him into a Mr. Hyde-like monster who starts to destroy the place. Only a few squirts from a perfume bottle “Eau de Pansy” turns him back into a big queen again. What I did not know, and the audio commentary filled me in, was that this was based on a character in the film Our Betters (1933), where actor Tyrell Davis shows up playing the wildly effeminate dandy- Ernest, who teaches dowagers how to dance properly. The whole thing is too outrageous to be offensive.

            So, this holiday season do you really want to stand in airport waiting lines for hours only to hear your flight is cancelled. Or sit across the dinner table simmering with fury, trying to refrain from leaping across the table and throttling an Uncle or Aunt loudly expounding violently different political views.  I say you just call your family and say you have Covid, then settle back on the couch with a few “gummies” and bask in the animated insanity and good cheer of Flip the Frog.