Bad Luck Blackie

Bad Luck Blackie is a 1949 American animated comedy short film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[1][2]

Bad Luck Blackie
The bulldog, about to get even more bad luck
Directed byTex Avery
Produced byFred Quimby
Story byRich Hogan
StarringTex Avery
William Hanna
Patrick McGeehan
Harry E. Lang (all uncredited)
Music byScott Bradley
Animation byGrant Simmons
Walter Clinton
Preston Blair
Louie Schmitt
Color processTechnicolor
Perspecta (reissue)
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • January 22, 1949 (1949-01-22)
Running time
7:06
LanguageEnglish

The Tex Avery-directed short was voted the 15th-best cartoon of all-time in a 1994 poll of 1,000 animation industry professionals, as referenced in the book The 50 Greatest Cartoons.[3]

The title is a play on Boston Blackie, a popular radio show at the time. The cartoon marks the first appearance of Tex Avery's version of Spike the Bulldog (later renamed as Butch the Irish Dog as of 2001), who would later appear in Droopy cartoons in the late-1940s into the 1950s.

Synopsis

As the story begins, a small white kitten is being mercilessly tormented by a mean bulldog. The kitten manages to escape, and while hiding for safety behind a garbage can, she is met by a bowler hat-wearing, cigar-chomping black cat, who offers to protect the kitten (his business card reads "Black Cat — Bad Luck Company — Paths Crossed–Guaranteed Bad Luck"). The black cat demonstrates his skills by crossing the path of the rapidly approaching bulldog (to the tune of Comin' Through the Rye), who is then knocked out by a flowerpot that falls from the sky. The black cat leaves the scene after giving the kitten a whistle, to be blown in case of emergency.[4]

The bulldog revives, and tries multiple times to attack the kitten, but every attempt is foiled in the same way: the kitten blows the whistle, the black cat crosses the bulldog's path regardless of circumstances, and the dog is pummeled by various objects falling from the sky, including a cash register, a piano, and a set of good luck horseshoes (not to mention the horse they belong to).

Eventually, the bulldog frightens the kitten into giving up the whistle, and (after a couple of false starts) he gains the upper hand on the black cat by luring him under a large paint brush, turning him white and rendering his bad luck powers useless. However, the white kitten saves the day by painting herself black and crossing the bulldog's path. The bulldog is conked by a falling anvil, and ends up swallowing the whistle, triggering a case of the hiccups, each one of which causes the whistle to go off. As a result, all manner of huge objects plummet from the sky (ranging from a kitchen sink all the way to a battleship), causing the bulldog to flee in terror. The cartoon ends with the formerly-black cat giving the kitten his bowler hat as a show of gratitude.[5]

Reception

The Film Daily (April 8, 1949): "Jet black Blackie brought bad luck to everyone who crossed his path until he met his match in large fanged bull-dog. Blackie turns white and not with age, as they work things out. This cartoon has lots of action and laughs."[6]

Boxoffice (Feb 5, 1945): "Very Good. Blackie, a jet black cat, befriends a white kitten being tormented by a bulldog. Every time the dog crosses Blackie's path, practically everything falls on him out of the sky, from bricks to pianos. When the dog finally removes the spell on him by painting Blackie white, the kitten goes in for black paint, and assorted articles as large as airplanes rain down on the dog. Well drawn and really funny."[6]

Voice cast

Availability
VHS
  • Tex Avery's Screwball Classics[8][9]
Laserdisc
DVD
Blu-ray
Streaming

References
  1. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Bad Luck Blackie (MGM)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 146. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  3. Beck, Jerry (1994). The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals. Turner Publishing. ISBN 978-1878685490.
  4. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Bad Luck Blackie (MGM)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  5. "Bad Luck Blackie (1949)". Cinema Cats. 26 October 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  6. Sampson, Henry T. (1998). That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960. Scarecrow Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0810832503.
  7. ""Hello All You Happy Tax Payers": Tex Avery's Voice Stock Company |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  8. "Tex Avery Tribute/Home Video Listing". texavery.com. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  9. "Tex Avery Screwball Classics | VHSCollector.com". vhscollector.com. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  10. "LaserDisc Database - Tex Avery's Screwball Classics [ML101736]". www.lddb.com. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  11. "LaserDisc Database - Compleat Tex Avery, The [ML102681]". www.lddb.com. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  12. "Looney Tunes DVD News - 2012 Archive". dohtem.com. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  13. "Warner Archive released the full details about their upcoming Tex Avery Blu-ray collection. It comes out February 18th. You can get it for $21.99 over at the WB Shop". @CNschedules. 22 January 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  14. "Boomerang | Full Episodes of Your Family's Favorite Cartoons". Boomerang. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  15. Stray Cats (February 26, 2009). "Stray Cats - Stray Cat Strut (Official Video)". YouTube. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
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