Back in 1937, Warner Bros., purveyors of those classic Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons, put out a short called “Speaking of the Weather.”
The actual toon seems rather dated these days. It’s just a musical number “performed” by a variety of cartoon characters.
But what makes this interesting for the pulp fan is that the toon is set on a magazine rack. You see a range of contemporary magazines, many real and others fictional; from The Etude, Popular Mechanics and Woman’s Home Companion to “pulps” The Gang Magazine, Jungle Stores, The Spider, Operator 5 and other “Sweet & Smiff” magazines.
What I like about this cartoon is that it puts the magazines in context of their times. The average movie-goer then probably was very familiar with the magazine stand and those magazines.
It’s like a glimpse into a time machine.
Update: The video has been removed from YouTube.com for copyright violations.
Dude, you just blew my mind.
Thanks, Bill, for the wonderful cartoon! Had never seen that before, in my long and misspent life of cartoon-watching…But where were Doc and The Shadow??
Nevertheless, great stuff! I’ve seen a lot of older cartoons with movie take-offs and caricatures, but never a magazine/pulp riff; thanks again! Bill PS: Windy City or Pulpfest, perhaps?
Hi, Chris & Bill,
Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, I thought it was great. John Locke first mentioned the cartoon on the PulpMags group back in December, and Andrew Porter posted a link to a version on YouTube. I’ve intended to post it here for several months.
Wish I could make it to either of the shows, but looks doubtful right now. I’ll be getting my Pulpfest membership soon anyway. Meanwhile, work continues on this year’s The Pulpster.
Cheers!