Fire Cheese (1941) - Gabby Theatrical Cartoon Series

Gabby is strutting along and comes to the Lilliput Fire Station. He stops by to brag about his days as a Firemam. Suddenly the alarm sounds and the crew and old horse drawn Fire Engine take off for the scene. Gabby chases after the engine and just catches up with it by the time is has stopped. Gabby's attempts to help out only make matters worse. In this case, the term "Chinese Fire Drill" seems like a well organized operation by comparison. When all is done, the house has burned down with its resident still in the bath tub scrubbing his back. The Fire Chief and crew then turn the hoses on gabby for the trouble he has caused. Although there are some nice bits of animation in this short, it is largely unfunny. Oddly, the sequences inside the burning house don't seem convincing since the color of the room does not look like there is a fire there. Just burning flames in a room painted white, or flashes of light from the fire, or cast shadows. Everything is flat. Also there is not enough smoke. Remember how convincing the fire was in the Popeye short, THE TWO ALARM FIRE? This has the same story format that would follow in later shorts, and the same story conclusion is used again in SWING CLEANING.