Hollywood Canine Canteen

Hollywood Canine Canteen is a 1946 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Robert McKimson.^[2] The short was released on April 20, 1946.^[3]

The cartoon features various caricatures of Hollywood film celebrities and famous jazz musicians of the day, all zoomorphized as dogs.

Plot[]

The canine pets of Hollywood stars meet and decide they need their own nightclub. The cartoon tours the nightclub and presents a series of vignettes featuring dog-styled caricatures of Hollywood celebrities.

Notes[]

There are many dog-styled caricatures of Hollywood personalities in this cartoon.

• Chairing the meeting is Edward G. Robinson
• Speaking at the meeting is Jimmy Durante
• Seated at the meeting are: Ed Wynn; Monty Woolley; ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and doll Charlie McCarthy; Laurel & Hardy
• Welcoming the Sailor (voiced by Mel Blanc)^[1] and the Soldier to the Canteen: Bing Crosby (voiced by Richard Bickenbach^[4]), also seen later; an unknown soldier and sailor)
• On stage: Jerry Colonna (voiced by Blanc)^[1] and Bob Hope; Carmen Miranda, dancing with her signature fruit headdress; Babbit and Catstello (caricatures of Abbott and Costello, from other cartoons such as The Mouse-Merized Cat; only here, they are dogs; Catstello is also voiced by Blanc)^[1]
• At the snack bar: Arthur Lake (as Dagwood, here called "Dogwood" and voiced by Stan Freberg);^[1] Penny Singleton (as Blondie Bumstead)
• Laurel and Hardy again, washing dishes
• In the lounge with the wall portraits: an unknown woman in red dress with red bow in hair; an unknown long-haired man stumbling
• At the phone desk: an unknown soldier, wanting to place a call; an unknown woman seated at desk with a New Jersey accent
• The conductor is Leopold Stokowski, parodied in other WB cartoons such as Hollywood Steps Out and Rhapsody Rabbit; the musicians are likely anonymous, except for the tuba player, Joe Besser (voiced by Blanc;^[1] Besser later co-starred in the Three Stooges)
• Bing Crosby crooning while stuffing a pipe; Frank Sinatra (voiced by Freberg);^[1] Dorothy Lamour
• Bandleader Kay Kyser (as Kaynine Kyser); poet and cornet player Merwyn Bogue (aka Ish Kabibble) as "Ish Kapoodle"
• Dancing soldier and woman (unknown)
• Woman in blue dress (unknown) consoling weeping soldier
• Dancing woman who wants to "cut a rug" (possibly Katharine Hepburn)
• Trumpeter Harry James (as "Hairy James"); trombonist Tommy Dorsey as "Tommy Dorgy"; xylophonist Lionel Hampton as "Lionel Hambone and his Bonophone"; clarinetist Benny Goodman as "Boney Goodman"; Jimmy Durante again, playing the piano as "Schnauser Durante" (a play on Durante's nickname, "The Schnoz")

Home media[]

• Hollywood Canine Canteen is available, uncensored and uncut, on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc 2.
• It is also available on The Golden Age Of Looney Tunes Volume 2 laserdisc.

References[]

External links[]

• Hollywood Canine Canteen at IMDb
• Hollywood Canine Canteen at The Big Cartoon DataBase