This Screen Gems-Columbia cartoon was written by Bob Clampett after he left Warner Bros. The director, however, was Bob Wickersham. In this one, a Peter Lorre caricature is awaiting the arrival of a $6,000 parakeet from a friend. "Lorre" has just gotten tired of the same kind of dinner every night and wants a "new taste" so he thinks this bird is his answer. Just before this parakeet arrives, a thin yellow canary that was thrown out by "Peter" takes it's place in the delivery cage and asks for the "best of what I get". "Lorre" obliges and when the canary sees her "new" figure she realizes what the purpose was as she's put in the oven...Plenty of verbal and sight gags worthy of Clampett abound here and while not as great as many of his Warner ones, it's much better than many of the mediocre and poor ones usually associated with Columbia. Found this on Thad's Animation Blog as linked to YouTube. Worth a look there.
3 Reviews
Cockatoos for Two was a not bad Columbia cartoon from an idea by Bob Clampett
tavm3 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Clampett Script
boblipton10 August 2013
This Columbia cartoon was produced during a period of chaos at the Screen Gems cartoon factory -- a condition that had applied, really, since the late 1930s during the decline of Mintz' studio and despite frequent abortive attempts to revive it.
When COCKATOO FOR TWO was begun, Leon Schlesinger's old partners were in charge of the studio and they recruited the great Bob Clampett. By the time it was finished, Clampett was long gone and Bob Wickersham was the director. As a result, this story of a pigeon who takes the place of a rare bird delivered to be eaten by a Peter Lorre character (voiced amusingly by a very young Stan Freberg) shows its provenance in the story and gags, but not in the execution -- the animation is certainly competent, but uninspiring Still, the gags and situation, as well as the voice work is pretty good. Although this cartoon won't be at the top of anyone's list, it provides an amusing six minutes.
When COCKATOO FOR TWO was begun, Leon Schlesinger's old partners were in charge of the studio and they recruited the great Bob Clampett. By the time it was finished, Clampett was long gone and Bob Wickersham was the director. As a result, this story of a pigeon who takes the place of a rare bird delivered to be eaten by a Peter Lorre character (voiced amusingly by a very young Stan Freberg) shows its provenance in the story and gags, but not in the execution -- the animation is certainly competent, but uninspiring Still, the gags and situation, as well as the voice work is pretty good. Although this cartoon won't be at the top of anyone's list, it provides an amusing six minutes.
Cute, if limited, short from Columbia
llltdesq25 June 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This is a short from Columbia Studio's animation studio. There will be spoilers ahead:
This short is rather cute, funny in spots, but average at best. The primary amusement here arises from a caricature of Peter Lorre and a note received by Lorre at the beginning (look at the address on the envelope and the signature on the note).
Other than that, it's a paint-by-numbers piece of work which is funny, but reminiscent of a lot of other shorts which were done better elsewhere. The voice work is good, but even a better than average short by Columbia's standards in the 1940s is still only an average cartoon. Columbia cartoons are still fun to watch a lot of the time, but they don't match up well with the better studios.
It's a nice looking short worth a look and can be found online.
This short is rather cute, funny in spots, but average at best. The primary amusement here arises from a caricature of Peter Lorre and a note received by Lorre at the beginning (look at the address on the envelope and the signature on the note).
Other than that, it's a paint-by-numbers piece of work which is funny, but reminiscent of a lot of other shorts which were done better elsewhere. The voice work is good, but even a better than average short by Columbia's standards in the 1940s is still only an average cartoon. Columbia cartoons are still fun to watch a lot of the time, but they don't match up well with the better studios.
It's a nice looking short worth a look and can be found online.
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