TheLittleSongbird While not quite among Fritz Freleng's masterpiece, though the man did so many great cartoons, 'Holiday for Shoestrings' is still wonderful stuff.For what it lacks in plot, saying that the cartoon's light on it in fact is being generous, it more than makes up for in its entertainment value, terrific animation and some of the best use of classical music of any cartoon seen recently. The animation is simply terrific, with gorgeously vibrant colours, backgrounds that are rich in detail and the characters are smoothly drawn.'Holiday for Shoestrings' is very funny stuff as well, all visual and gag driven with no dialogue or voices. The Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy bits are particularly hilarious, while the cartoon deserves a lot of credit for giving enough variety to the running gag with the two elves to not make it feel stale or repetitive. The ending couldn't have been a more beautiful or clever twist on a story as old as 'The Elves and the Shoemaker'.The characters are endearing, but the best asset is easily the music, all pre-existing and brilliantly arranged by Carl Stalling. Tchaikovsky with 'The Nutcracker' dominates, but there are also healthy doses of Chopin, Strauss, Mendelssohn and Liszt. The music itself is magnificent and how it's utilised in 'Holiday for Shoestrings' makes it even more special, the synchronisation of gag and music is a seamless match throughout.Overall, light on plot but high on entertainment and quality. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . Warner Bros. Movie Studio's strongest warnings as to what could be in store for America, if Capitalism ever is allowed to run roughshod again over the backs of Average Citizens, as it had done in the early 1900s. (As the PBS offering MINE WARS recently documented, back then callous "businessmen" were murdering workers in multiples of one hundred ALL THE TIME in Non-Union Coal Mines for the "privilege" of earning starvation wages, and heavily armed People's Armies numbering in the thousands--led by America's World War One Heroes--shot it out with the Capitalists' Hench People during military campaigns spanning entire states.) In HOLIDAY FOR STRINGS, Warner's animators depict America's Worker Bees as elves, helping out a malingering shoe repair shop owner who feigns an "illness." Then these underpaid Capitalist Pawns notice that the "sick" businessman (or "job creator," in Fox "News"-speak) is trying to sneak away to play golf. Warner shows the worker elves immediately revolting, nailing down the Fat Cat miscreant in a helpless position of House Arrest, and going out to golf themselves. Under U.S. Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, Rich People paid more of their fair share for the American Dream--about a 90% top tax rate. Warner shows in HOLIDAY FOR STRINGS the sort of chaos that results when the rate falls to all-times lows, like today, and the Wealth Disparity explodes to unconscionable record highs.

slymusic "Holiday for Shoestrings" is a wonderfully musical Warner Bros. cartoon, and who better to synchronize music with animation than director Friz Freleng! Thanks to composer/orchestrator Carl W. Stalling, numerous familiar pieces of music accompany a group of hardworking shoemaker elves. And don't worry, there are plenty of funny gags! Highlights: There is a running gag of two dopey elves who repeatedly whack each other on the foot by accident and then have an argument. Two other elves don busby hats & boots as they perform a Russian kick dance. The head shoemaker, supposedly sick in bed, tries to sneak out of his shop to go play golf, but the elves gang up on him, place him back in bed, and nail the bedsheets to the floor, as if to say, "Yeah, buddy, you darn well better be appreciative of all the hard work we do for you!" And watch for some nice caricatures of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy.Among the pieces of music in "Holiday for Shoestrings" that I recognize are Chopin's "Minute Waltz" and "Grand Valse Brilliante", Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Overture, Strauss' "Tales from the Vienna Woods" and "Voices of Spring", and several dances from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker". You can find this cartoon on Disc 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5, with an additional audio commentary by music historian Daniel Goldmark.

toodler2th to some of my favorite music. These elves are cool, and how about when the cobbler decides to sneak out for a round of golf? I love this cartoon. I hope WB or whomever has control of these cartoons puts them out on dvd so we can enjoy them at our leisure.