The CooCoo Nut Grove

The CooCoo Nut Grove is a 1936 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short animated film, set in the famed Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. This is a caricature cartoon, with recreations of celebrities from the time. The cartoon was directed by Friz Freleng, with animation by Robert McKimson and Sandy Walker, caricature design by T. Hee, and musical score by Carl Stalling. The short was released on November 28, 1936.

Plot

The short opens with a scene of a full moon reflecting on water lined with palm trees. "Thru' the Courtesy of Love" (Scholl/Jerome) plays during the opening scene. The camera pans to the Coo-Coonut Grove, 'Dine and Dance with the Stars', reflecting the Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel, where many Academy Award shows were held in the 30s and 40s. The camera pans to a star lined hall, with various caricatures of Hollywood stars from the 1930s. Noticeable are Fred Astaire in the lower right corner, Bette Davis(left side, 2nd table from the bottom), Lionel Barrymore (right side, 3rd from the bottom) and Jean Harlow, 2nd table from the bottom.

Master of Ceremonies Ben Birdie (bandleader Ben Bernie, voiced by Tedd Pierce) is accosted by Walter Windpipe (Walter Winchell, voiced by Danny Webb), and proceeds to blow Windpipe out of the tuba from which he has emerged. At the time of this short's creation, Winchell and Bernie were engaged in a mock feud. The short then proceeds to showcase many Hollywood stars in the form of Ralph Barton-esque caricatures, starting with Hugh Herbert, W.C Fields as a pig (voiced by Tedd Pierce), speaking with Katharine Hepburn (represented as a horse named Miss Heartburn), Ned Sparks (voiced by Dave Barry) stating "I go everywhere, I do everything, and I never have any fun'. Following this, the camera pans up the tree to where Tarzan and Jane, played by Johnny Weissmuller and Lupe Vélez, are sharing a small table. Weissmuller proceeds to give Tarzan's signature call.

The camera cuts back to Birdie, who comments on the arrival of 'profile of profilers', John Barrymore, who walks to his table keeping his head positioned in order to display his 'perfect profile'. A woman wearing a purple hat and a yellow dress designed with a pattern of purple flowers runs by, with her face away from the camera. She is being chased by Harpo Marx, one of the Marx Brothers, who is drawn as a bird honking a horn. A traffic light and a stop sign pop from his hat and he skids to a stop. He revs up and gets moving again when a traffic light and a go sign pop from the hat. All of this is done without Harpo saying a word, as befits his act.

Birdie suggests the club members start dancing, all depicted as birds, get up and dance. Many of the male birds are wearing turtlenecks and smoking. A blonde bird with a large black hat dances with an old turtle, the bird being Mae West (voiced by Verna Deane), the turtle George Arliss. There is seemingly no reason for the caricatures; the fun is in the animation. Laurel and Hardy appear as a pig (Hardy) and a monkey (Laurel), watching the dancing.

There is then a shot of the caricatures at their tables. Clockwise from the top we see Laurel and Hardy, John Barrymore, still facing profile, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable (with his ears prominently shown, a joke on his large ears), W. C. Fields, and Katharine Hepburn. The lights dim, and Edna May Oliver takes the centre of the room (as the 'Lady in Red'), with a spotlight shining on her. Gable claps his ears instead of his hands. The camera flips between Oliver, and Gary Cooper. Three monkeys comment on Cooper, a reference to the three old women in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, before the camera turns to Oliver one last time. She leaves, and a 'curtain', which is actually five diapers pinned to a clothesline, rises to reveal the Dionne quintuplets (voiced by Bernice Hansen), who sing a song. The quintuplets finish their number, and we see Tarzan and Jane, atop their tree, applauding. A mouse runs by, scaring Tarzan enough that he faints. An annoyed Jane adopts his signature scream, takes him under one arm, grabs a vine and swings through the treetops. The woman in the yellow dress is once again chased by Harpo Marx, though this time he catches her. She turns to face the camera, and is revealed to be Groucho Marx. Harpo runs away and the screen fades to black.

The screen then opens with drops of water falling to the ground, as we hear a singer performing a sad song. The camera pans up to a woman in a black dress, perched on a piano, weeping as she sings a Torch Song. This woman is Helen Morgan (voiced by Verna Deane). A very tearful Wallace Beery squeezes a banana onto a knife and consumes the fruit while continuing to shed tears. The camera shows Morgan crying again, before switching to Harpo and his river of tears. Actors Edward G. Robinson (in green, on the left) and George Raft (in red, on the right), continue with their 'tough guy' persona before giving up and bursting into sobs.

The closing shots have Morgan on the piano, while the Marx Brothers, Hepburn, Fields, Beery, Laurel and Hardy float away on their tables, the CooCoo Nut Grove flooded with tears. Arliss as a turtle paddles away with oars. Ben Birdie closes the cartoon with his signature 'cheerio, pip-pip, and good night'.

Production notes

• The title is sometimes mislabeled as The Coo-Coo Nut Groove. This cartoon was followed by The Woods Are Full Of Cuckoos (1937) and Have You Got Any Castles? (1938), both parodying Hollywood personalities.
• The 1935 song “Rhythm Steps” by Herbie Kay and his orchestra is heard after the Ben Bernie caricature says, “Now we’ll indulge in a bit of the light fantastical, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.”
• T. Hee, the cartoonist hired for this picture, was hired by to do caricatures after Frank Tashlin (or Tash) saw his drawings in the Examiner (particularly of Clark Gable and Greta Garbo). Taking the opening at Warner Brothers, he was then selected by Isadore 'Friz' Freleng to work on the 'CooCoo Nut Grove'. Hee was then so sought after he left Warner Bros to work for Disney, noteably Mother Goose Goes Hollywood

External links

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