Hollywood Canine Canteen (1946) User Reviews

one scene inadvertently predicts a future part of popular culture

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 3 November 2008]

Yes, it's another celebrities-caricatured-as-animals cartoon. Robert McKimson's "Hollywood Canine Canteen" has pretty much the same plot as Tex Avery's "Hollywood Steps Out" from a few years earlier, only this time portraying dogs belonging to famous people (often with names altered to sound canine). As is often the case, they depict Frank Sinatra - or his caricature - as emaciated.

However, there is one scene that, in my opinion, represents a future part of popular culture. The female dog running the cloak room looks almost exactly like Connie Hines, who played Carol on "Mister Ed". And let me tell you, SHE IS ONE OF THE HOTTEST WOMEN EVER TO GRACE THE TV SCREEN!!!!!! Every time that I get a chance to watch "Mister Ed", I only watch it to see Connie Hines (who cares about a talking horse?). Although Ms. Hines retired from acting many years ago, I still consider her one of the most attractive/beautiful/good-looking/gorgeous women of all time. And this cartoon contains a character who resembles her almost to a tee, probably not knowing that they were creating a character who looks like her.

OK, I'm sure that my assertion has nothing to do with the cartoon in general. The cartoon is worth seeing. Not one of their greatest, but certainly OK in a pinch. One of McKimson's more significant cartoons in 1946 was "Walky Talky Hawky", which debuted Foghorn Leghorn.

In conclusion: I LOVE YOU, CONNIE, AND I ALWAYS WILL! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Elvis once said that Old Shep and all other dogs . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 30 September 2016]

. . . go to Heaven, and in H0LLYWOOD CANINE CANTEEN Warner Bros.' Looney Tuners depict all of Tinseltown's "stars" as becoming mutts in the Hereafter. A person would need to be dead themselves to recognize some if any of these Doggie Versions of 1900s notables known to the Great Grandparents of Today's Millennials. Just imagine if we sent a Golden DVD out Today on a Voyager 3 Spacecraft, which included cartoon caricatures for the Pre-Corpse Versions of the Artist Once Known as Prince, along with Heath "The Joker" Ledger, Paul "Furious" Walker, Michael "Moonwalker" Jackson, Joe "Hit the showers, Jerry" Paterno, Whitney Houston, Robin Williams, Elvis himself, and so forth. Even if you tried to be more user friendly than Warner Bros. by providing names on-screen telling whom each animated H0LLYWOOD CANINE supposedly represents, would the people or aliens playing it back in a billion years really give a hoot? Merely displaying a name would not be enough to supply Viewers of the Future with any meaningful cultural context. The aliens would not be able to hear the doves crying as the Jesus Juice flowed freely amid a shower of purple rain.

Canine Hollywood

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 24 January 2018]

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.

'Hollywood Canine Canteen' is one of Robert McKimson's more interesting early, and overall even, cartoons. It may not be McKimson at his very finest, being made during his early years when he was still finding his style and was yet to create characters like Foghorn Leghorn, but it is very good, well made and entertaining. Can totally see where the previous reviewer is coming from with it, and agree with them actually, feeling more like a Frank Tashlin cartoon (actually mistook it for Tashlin on first viewing), the premise is familiar territory for Tashlin while being somewhat unusual for McKimson.

There is really not much to criticise with 'Hollywood Canine Canteen'. Providing one doesn't mind that the cartoon is, like a lot of caricature cartoons, a series of canine caricature gags and sequences and that familiarity with the people (even if just the names) being caricatured is in order (got most of them, though a couple went over my head, so was okay on that front). Its weak point really is that there is a slight sense of McKimson still finding his feet.

Although a couple went over my head (the caricatures in the snack bar sequence for instance and a few other sequences where the caricatures are unknown), being unfamiliar with them, the caricatures were so much fun to spot and the way they were caricatured was inspired. Laurel and Hardy, Leopold Stokowski, Abbott and Costello, Bing Crosby and the big band of famous musicians like Benny Goodman, to name a few. Have to love the canine names, corny but very amusing.

Animation is excellent, it's fluid in movement, crisp in shading and very meticulous in detail. The story may be predictable, but it's beautifully paced with never a dull moment and strongly structured.

Carl Stalling's music is typically superb. It is as always lushly orchestrated, full of lively energy and characterful in rhythm, not only adding to the action but also enhancing it.

Energy throughout is full of liveliness and the voice acting, Mel Blanc having the lion's share, is stellar.

In conclusion, a lot of fun and very well done, plus interesting if still-settling-feel early effort for McKimson. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Hollywood Canine Canteen was a funny parody of celebrities drawn as dogs

[tavm · 8/10 · 22 March 2010]

Just watched this cartoon on the Hollywood Canteen DVD which I partly recognized as first watching on a local afternoon kids show called "The Buckskin Bill Show" in the late '70s. (He also had a morning show called "Buckskin Bill's Storyland" which I also watched) This one is a parody of the actual Hollywood Canteen which had various stars during World War II serving food and entertainment for soldiers around the world. Among the dog caricatures I enjoyed: Laurel & Hardy doing dishes with Stan putting the same one back, Abbott & Costello with the latter saying he's a baaaadd bow-wow, and Blondie & "Dogwood" with the latter getting a big sandwich full of bones. There are more gags that hit than miss so on that note, I highly recommend Hollywood Canine Canteen.

Stage Door Bowwow Canteen

[slymusic · 20 July 2010]

Written by Warren Foster and directed by Robert McKimson, "Hollywood Canine Canteen" is a brilliant Warner Bros. celebrity caricature cartoon. The Hollywood Canine Canteen is a place where our canine servicemen can hang out with all the canine celebrities, shmooze, dance, listen to music, etc.

Do I have any favorite scenes in this short? Yes, there are some. Laurel and Hardy have an amusing bit washing dishes. Bing Crosby's "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" can't compete with Frank Sinatra's "Trade Winds". Being a lover of big bands, how could I not admire the bandleader caricatures near the end of this picture? The same holds true for the brief lively swing dancing to the popular tune of "Avalon". But perhaps the funniest sequence in this cartoon involves a caricature of one of my favorite comedians: that craaaazy Joe Besser.

There are plenty of great celebrities to look for in "Hollywood Canine Canteen". I only mentioned a few. Enjoy!