073 The Prize Guest

Title: The Prize Guest
Studio: Terry
Date: 6/02/39
Credits: None on viewed print
Series: -
Running time (of viewed version): 5:17

Synopsis: A man walks into a hotel, and is followed by the hotel detective, who for some reason finds his suicidally dangerous actions to be unacceptable, until he is fired for no apparent reason.














Comments: Another abrupt and presumably clipped beginning. The dog goes invisible, like a Jeep. The house dick has a Durante esque voice. He says "A wise guy, eh?"; was that a Durante thing, just a Stooges thing, or a general thing? The cartoon is funny like a Stooges short; in that I can see how it's supposed to be funny, but it isn't. Not the worst looking short so far, not by a long shot, but it just lays there. Almost like a bad version of Milt Gross's Count Screwloose... Ultimately, it's meant to be a showcase for a bunch of magic gags. The one very high angle background of the hotel is really nice. The very low angle background of the building is also nice. Apparently all the skill at the studio was in one guy in the background department (tho the art in the cartoon generally is solid, just incredibly uninspired). The wiggling piggies are ok.