Background
This Merrie Melodies cartoon, explicitly modeled after Hal Roach's Our Gang live-action shorts, introduces several new characters as grade school students in the hope that some would catch on. At the time, the only star for the more character-driven Looney Tunes series was Buddy, a meager replacement for the feistier Bosko who left Schlesinger's studio with his creators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising.
The short introduces the following characters:
- Beans the Cat, a mischievous young cat voiced by Billy Bletcher
- Little Kitty, a nervous girl cat, voiced by Bernice Hansen in falsetto.
- Porky Pig, a stuttering pig voiced by Joe Dougherty
- Oliver Owl, a haughty owlet who taunts Beans. (His look is similar to the "Owl Jolson" character from I Love to Singa)
- Ham and Ex, (Hansen and Bletcher) twin singing puppies
Though the gags in this short are still fairly indicative of early 1930s cartoons, this short is significant for launching the career of Porky Pig. In addition, the short bears the faintest hint of the developing comic style that was to come in later Warner Bros. cartoons (Porky's and Kitty's recitals).
Read more about this topic: I Haven't Got A Hat
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