Little 'Tinker
- Studio
- MGM
- Distributor
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Synopsis
Dapper young B.O. Skunk is in search of a mate, but is unable to keep one once they get a whiff! The skunk tries every trick in the book (including painting himself as a fox) to earn the affection of the young ladies in his neck of the woods. His romantic ploys, however, consistently fail for odoriferous reasons. His only solution is to wow the girls by impersonating Frank Sinatra. In one scene, director Tex Avery takes a swipe at fan worship as a legion of bobby-soxer bunnies (obviously based on Walt Disney's Thumper) swoon in unquestioning adulation for a second-rate bogus warbler. When even that ploy fails, he tries one last time by disguising himself as a fox, and he meets what is apparently a girl fox. They both happily dance together over a bridge, and both fall into the water. His disguise disappears, and he soon finds that the girl "fox" is also a skunk as her disguise disappears. In the end, the skunk finds that the other skunk (a female) can accept him for who he is.
Characters
B.O. Skunk, Bobby-Soxer Bunnies, Girl Skunk
Credits
Directing
- Director
- Tex Avery
Producing
- Producer
- Fred Quimby
Music
- Music
- Scott Bradley
Animation
- Animator
- William Shull, Grant Simmons, Walter Clinton, Robert Bentley
Production notes
The skunk impersonates Frank Sinatra singing "All or Nothing at All." At the time, Sinatra was under contract to MGM.
Reviews
Little 'Tinker
I first saw this in an Animation History Lecture at my "Cartoon College", VanArts (www.vanarts.com). The whole class was unhinged by this Cartoon. we nearly died laughing. Tex Avery is unrelenting with his Symphony of hilarity. One of my favorite Avery cartoons. Animated by in part former Disney animators, who had been trained to do full, luscious animation, its slap in the face of Tex Avery's perception of Disney cartoons is all the more sweet! The fact that the animators had those "fully animated" principles down allowed them to more effectively bring Tex's vision to life. "You have to know the rules in order to break them," is the old ax. And here it is proven true. The laugh value of this short is great. Even greater when you realize that since it was Disney who had the animators trained, Disney that drove Tex nuts, and Disney that drove his own workers away from him. that knowlege made this cartoon much funnier for me.
A little history goes a long way.
The ingenuitive use of Animation principles and the precision posing and timing of the art combined with fun music and hilarious gags made this a favorite for me.
Little Tinker
Overall it's not a great cartoon but I do looooooove the Sinatra part. That sequence alone makes the film.