Vimacone The caricature cartoon had become a staple in the late 1930's and lasted well into the late 40's. These are among the most fascinating of animation period pieces.One of McKimson's first cartoons presents an interesting take on the subject. Instead of doing straight human caricatures or anthropomorphic animals, these caricatures are presented as the pets of the Hollywood stars. The premise has multi layered references to World War II. The Hollywood Canteen was a club that offered food and entertainment for the servicemen during the war. This was the subject of a WB feature film of the same title during the war. In fact the cue that plays over the opening credits of this short, "Corns For My Country", was one of the featured songs from the feature. Certain breeds of dogs were also used in various capacities during the war. Hence, the premise of a Canteen for the war dogs.This is also an interesting cartoon for McKimson. It's believed by many fans that his first few cartoons were actually started by Tashlin. While this notion has been dis-proved, this short does not feel at all like a McKimson directed short. His visual style is all there, but the idea of the cartoon and the feel of it is definitely reminiscent of Tashlin. In my opinion, this is the only short by McKimson that feels like a Tashlin leftover. But considering that McKimson got practically all of Tashlin's unit, there were bound to be some similarities for the first several cartoons.Definitely an interesting period piece and one of the last WB cartoons of its kind from the caricature/Hollywood nightclub genre.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . go to Heaven, and in H0LLYWOOD CANINE CANTEEN Warner Bros.' Looney Tuners depict all of Tinseltown's "stars" as becoming mutts in the Hereafter. A person would need to be dead themselves to recognize some if any of these Doggie Versions of 1900s notables known to the Great Grandparents of Today's Millennials. Just imagine if we sent a Golden DVD out Today on a Voyager 3 Spacecraft, which included cartoon caricatures for the Pre-Corpse Versions of the Artist Once Known as Prince, along with Heath "The Joker" Ledger, Paul "Furious" Walker, Michael "Moonwalker" Jackson, Joe "Hit the showers, Jerry" Paterno, Whitney Houston, Robin Williams, Elvis himself, and so forth. Even if you tried to be more user friendly than Warner Bros. by providing names on-screen telling whom each animated H0LLYWOOD CANINE supposedly represents, would the people or aliens playing it back in a billion years really give a hoot? Merely displaying a name would not be enough to supply Viewers of the Future with any meaningful cultural context. The aliens would not be able to hear the doves crying as the Jesus Juice flowed freely amid a shower of purple rain.

slymusic Written by Warren Foster and directed by Robert McKimson, "Hollywood Canine Canteen" is a brilliant Warner Bros. celebrity caricature cartoon. The Hollywood Canine Canteen is a place where our canine servicemen can hang out with all the canine celebrities, shmooze, dance, listen to music, etc.Do I have any favorite scenes in this short? Yes, there are some. Laurel and Hardy have an amusing bit washing dishes. Bing Crosby's "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" can't compete with Frank Sinatra's "Trade Winds". Being a lover of big bands, how could I not admire the bandleader caricatures near the end of this picture? The same holds true for the brief lively swing dancing to the popular tune of "Avalon". But perhaps the funniest sequence in this cartoon involves a caricature of one of my favorite comedians: that craaaazy Joe Besser.There are plenty of great celebrities to look for in "Hollywood Canine Canteen". I only mentioned a few. Enjoy!

tavm Just watched this cartoon on the Hollywood Canteen DVD which I partly recognized as first watching on a local afternoon kids show called "The Buckskin Bill Show" in the late '70s. (He also had a morning show called "Buckskin Bill's Storyland" which I also watched) This one is a parody of the actual Hollywood Canteen which had various stars during World War II serving food and entertainment for soldiers around the world. Among the dog caricatures I enjoyed: Laurel & Hardy doing dishes with Stan putting the same one back, Abbott & Costello with the latter saying he's a baaaadd bow-wow, and Blondie & "Dogwood" with the latter getting a big sandwich full of bones. There are more gags that hit than miss so on that note, I highly recommend Hollywood Canine Canteen.