She Was an Acrobat's Daughter (1937) User Reviews

Enjoying the movie theater experience circa 1937.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 30 November 2021]

The title, "She Was an Acrobat's Daughter", is an odd one as there's nothing in this Looney Tunes cartoon about acrobats. I think the song you hear during the short is of this same name...but no acrobats were harmed during the making of this film.

There really isn't much plot to this cartoon. Instead, it's set in a movie theater of the day and it pokes fun of the various short subjects patron saw during the day. You see a Lowell Thomas newsreel, a sing-a-long, a clip of the hit Warner Brothers film "The Petrified Forest" and more. And, you see a bratty duck and other funny patrons.

Since this cartoon is so unique, in vivid color and is pretty clever, I score this one a 7.

A fascinating glimpse of the 30s cinema experience

[phantom_tollbooth · 6/10 · 3 November 2008]

Friz Freleng's 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' is one of several cartoons set in a cinema, which would directly reflect the experience of those viewing the cartoon at the time of its release. Although the gags are hit and miss, mostly due to dated references that are now beyond the comprehension of most audiences, 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' beautifully captures the experience of a 1930s cinema goer and offers many great gags which ring true today. The hippo who keeps getting out of his seat and the guy who can't find a decent view of the screen hilariously reflect problems that continue to dog cinema goers to this day. The best skit of the whole cartoon is the titular musical number in which the audience sing along prompted by slides. At one point, the wrong slide is flashed up and the audience duly sing the instruction "Please do not spit on the floor"! The cartoon culminates in an inspired segment in which a baby duck bothers his father and then proceeds to destroy the film projector. In between these great bits, the cartoon is laboured a little by the action that occurs on the cinema screen which is by turns dated and unfunny but what remains in the viewer's head at the end of the short is the excellent action involving the cinema patrons and the great sense of actually being in a 30s cinema that Freleng expertly evokes. 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' comes highly recommended as both a fascinating historical representation of the old-time cinema experience and as a very funny cartoon.

A neat song and a fine cartoon

[slymusic · 28 November 2006]

"She Was an Acrobat's Daughter" is a very screwy and funny Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. There is essentially no plot for this "film within a film": a crowd of animal theatergoers watches a few newsreels, participates in a sing-along, and previews a clip from a brand new motion picture (featuring caricatures of Leslie Howard and Bette Davis). Part of the humor of this cartoon is derived from the antics of some of the animals in the theater.

Here are, in my opinion, the funniest scenes from "She Was an Acrobat's Daughter" (don't read any further until after you have seen this cartoon). A looney news commentator named Who Dehr (based on the real-life Lew Lehr), complete with a hilarious German accent and stereotypical Napoleon headgear, talks about a particular town known as Boondoggle, which has simply "gone to the dogs"; especially funny is Dehr's addressing the mayor of Boondoggle. The theater audience's singing of the title song "She Was an Acrobat's Daughter" is accidentally interrupted by the announcement "Please do not spit on the floor." And a bratty little duckling in the audience (there's one in every theater, folks) continuously asks his father rapid questions about what they are watching on the screen.

"She Was an Acrobat's Daughter" is a highly enjoyable cartoon to watch. Who would have thought that attending a movie theater could be this much fun?

Let's Be Honest: This Is A Lame Cartoon

[ccthemovieman-1 · 4/10 · 15 May 2007]

It's a night at the movies and the first thing we see is a game of "musical chairs" in the packed movie theater. (Did people move seats a lot back in the '30s?)

Then, the "Warmer Brothers Presents Goofy-Tune News" begins the evening's entertainment on screen. It starts with a takeoff on Lowell Thomas with "Dole Promise" giving the latest news of the day. Eddie Cantor is then parodied. Also, the filmmakers make light of the problem of sitting in the front row, of heavy people getting out of their seats and squeezing in front of people as they head to the aisle.

Returning to the news, the feature story is about a town (Boondoggle) that is literally going to the dogs. Mostly we hears puns regarding the word "dogs" and expressions of the day that used the word "dog." By now, 70 years later, they aren't funny, just very corny.

The second half of this 8.4-minute cartoon is pre-feature movie provided by "Stickoutski At The Fertilizer" another cornball play-on-words for a famous conductor at the Wurlizter organ. Finally, the film begins: "The Petrified Florist," another takeoff, of course, but we only see a little bit of that because a little duck goes up in the projection room (there is no projectionist?) and ruins things.

Almost all this cartoon is lame, sad to say. There is nothing funny in here. The only positive thing about it is the tremendous restoration job done on it. The colors and sharpness are amazing, as are most of the 'toons on these Golden Collection DVDs.

Bette Davis & Leslie Howard wander into this Looney Tune and steal the show

[wmorrow59 · 9/10 · 11 October 2006]

This cartoon will provide a real nostalgia trip for middle-aged Baby Boomers. Back when old Looney Tunes were routinely shown on daytime television, this one was in heavy rotation. I must have seen it a dozen times as a kid and found the gags funny every time, but then it seemed to vanish into one of those mysterious cartoon vaults someplace for decades until just recently, when it re-emerged on DVD in the third volume of Warner Bros.' superb Looney Tunes Golden Collection. Seeing 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' again after all this time is kind of like having a happy reunion with an old friend from grade school who, oddly enough, looks exactly the same and can still make you laugh.

This cartoon doesn't feature a familiar star such as Porky Pig or Daffy Duck, but instead offers a mixed group of animal characters as they attend a matinée at the local movie theater. The humans seen on screen are all caricatures of then-famous personalities such as Lowell Thomas, Leopold Stokowski, and comic Lew Lehr. (As a kid I recognized Lowell Thomas from current news programs and Stokowski from Disney's Fantasia, but Lehr's fame didn't last long after his death in 1950. His caricature pops up in several vintage cartoons but I think he just bewilders most people now.) There are puns galore, and the gags fly thick and fast: theater patrons scramble to change seats to get a better view; a hippo annoys everyone around him by repeatedly getting up and moving back and forth down the aisle; and everyone joins in the singalong and dutifully follows the lyrics that flash on the screen, even when the operator accidentally inserts a slide instructing patrons not to spit on the floor. The highlight is a brief but devastating parody of the Warner Studio's recent hit release The Petrified Forest, featuring cartoon versions of stars Leslie Howard and Bette Davis which, I'll wager, did not amuse the subjects if they saw this short. (Humphrey Bogart was in the original too, but wasn't yet considered a big enough star to be spoofed.) In the end a young duck invades the projection booth, commandeers the projector and turns the cinematic experience into chaos.

The DVD includes a commentary track by animation historian Greg Ford who makes the case that this cartoon marked a turning point for the Termite Terrace guys, the first genuinely loony "Looney Tune" to break the mold of the staid mini-musicals they'd been compelled to produce up to this time. And it's true, this one feels like a full-fledged Warner Bros. cartoon classic, wild and anarchic, fast-paced and full of great gags. I'm glad this little gem finally busted out of the vault and is on the loose again!

Ridiculous!! Where's Humphrey Bogart?

[imdb-25288 · 2/10 · 13 October 2021]

Just ugly Betty Davies and elephant ears (so-caricatured) Leslie Howard. What a missed opportunity to omit the star of the film, Humphrey Bogart in one of his very best roles, Duke Mantee. Huge letdown. A generous 2 stars because I liked the very first image, with the wide eyes of the audience dogs.

Film within a film with Fritz Freleng

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 27 September 2016]

Even though not all of the humour worked, 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' was still mostly very entertaining. A relatively early Looney Tunes/ Merrie Melodies effort for Fritz Freleng, this is not him at his best with his masterpieces coming much better, but there is no mistaking his style and it's hard not to like.

What made some of the humour not come off as well as they should is that any caricatures, puns or gags unfamiliar to anybody will no doubt go over their heads. This is particularly true of the Lew Lehr (quite amusingly re-named as Who Dehr) caricature, prior knowledge for me was next to zero so the caricature, on top of being quite stereotypical and not particularly funny, was lost on me. Some of the puns are a bit corny and because they are so of the time they don't hold up as well as they should.

In terms of animation quality, the cartoon is quite beautifully done, with lovingly detailed backgrounds and vibrant colours. The music brims with lively energy and luscious orchestration, not only being dynamic to the action and adding to it but enhancing it as well.

Other parts of 'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' are very funny indeed, especially the musical number, which was hilariously inspired, and the baby duckling interjections, that could have easily been annoying but was a lot of fun. The Leopold Stokowski caricature is very much recognisable and funny, mainly for being known as one of the greatest conducting figures of the 20th century and ever but also because he has been caricatured in animation so often.

'She Was an Acrobat's Daughter' is light on plot, to the point of being described as virtually plot less, but this is compensated by (apart from the odd laboured bit where the humour doesn't quite work) very energetic, sometimes wild, pacing. The characters are mostly good fun, and the voice work is terrific, especially Mel Blanc.

Summing up, an interesting and fun cartoon if variable in the execution of the humour (thankfully hitting more than it misses). 8/10 Bethany Cox

still really funny even if you don't know what it spoofs

[lee_eisenberg · 8/10 · 10 July 2007]

Watching "She Was an Acrobat's Daughter", I quickly figured out that it was going to spoof a famous movie of its era (in this case, "The Petrified Forest", which I've never seen). In a movie theater, the audience plays an over-the-top version of musical chairs, a fat hippo irks some people by getting out of and into his seat, and some other silly things abound before the newsreel replete with puns tells of events in the world. Maestro Stickoutski (they loved playing with people's names, didn't they?) has the audience sing the title song along with some slides, even when the wrong slide gets entered. But when a baby duck starts pissing some people off, that's when the action really gets going! True, we in the 21st century will probably have few if any clues what they're talking about. But if we can imagine ourselves watching the cartoon when it first debuted in 1937, getting every one of the jokes, it's very easy to enjoy the cartoon. Of course, it's a hoot even if you don't know what it spoofs. One can see how the guys behind these cartoons liked to come up with the most twisted things possible. Worth seeing.

"Bacall to Arms" portrayed a similar series of events.

For everything there's a season . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 20 July 2016]

. . . a time to warn, and a time to go, a time to reap, and a time to sow--and Warner Bros. trotted out this warning to their PETRIFIED FLORIST star Leslie Howard ("Lester Coward" here) for all the world, including Hitler, to see, urging the Howard Coward NOT to defect to Hollywood's Fascist Billionaires' Studio MGM to make its infamous historical hysterectomy, GONE WITH THE WIND. However, Howard apparently thought that SHE WAS AN ACROBAT'S DAUGHTER was mostly about a lion named Jack (Warner's obvious symbol for MGM), so he threw caution to the breeze and blew over to the Mendacious Greedy Men's club with fellow Warner defector Olivia De Havilland. As everyone now knows, Leslie was immediately cursed to die without making another notable flick, and Olivia was doomed to live withering on forever. As THE FREE STATE OF JONES recently documented, all the dudes at Scarlett O'Hara's GWTW Coming Out Party--including the Howard Coward--were EXEMPT from any military involvement in the War to Defeat Lazy Southern Racists because their families "owned" more than 20 Black "slaves." Warner tried to warn Leslie that if he played "Ashley Wilkes," he'd morph into ACROBAT's hapless Howard-the-Duck, Jr. prototype for ALL ETERNITY. But Mr. Howard simply responded, quote, "John Booth could not have squelched Lincoln without having 'Wilkes' in the middle!"