Pals

The Little King is feeling low on Christmas Eve, so he joins a pair of homeless bums in admiring the toys and holiday decorations in a department store window. The ever-childlike monarch smuggles the hoboes under his robe into his castle. They go to his room and undress. Then all three climb into a tub and take a bath together. Afterward, the three get in the same bed while the queen sleeps in another room.

The Little King, Two Hobos, Queen, Santa Claus

The Little King was created by Otto Soglow and first appeared in the New Yorker in 1931. When Soglow's contract with the New Yorker expired in 1934, he took The Little King to King Features.

The Little King starred in 10 cartoons at Van Beuren Studios between 1933-1934. The comic series ended in 1975, when Soglow died.

Although he never spoke in comics, the Little King utters a few words in "Betty Boop and the Little King."

According to reviewer Del Walker, some scenes may be a little risque. Quoting Walker:

...As the two hoboes remove their raggedy clothes, one is briefly shown to be wearing a brassiere (cross-dressing?). Next, all three climb into the tub for a bath together (they do wear bathing shorts). After suiting up in one-piece pajamas (yes. with the two-button rear flap door), they sneak downstairs to hang up their stockings, only the tramp's stockings are too threadbare to hold the goods. The ever-resourceful king then sneaks into the queen's boudoir, carefully crawling under the blankets and relieving the sleeping woman of her stocking hose! This makes for an enormous gift-catcher, and come Christmas Day, the three "Big Kids" tear about the castle with Santa's bounty...