You Don't Know What You're Doin'!
Encyclopedia
You Don't Know What You're Doin'! is a 1931
animated
short subject
directed by Rudy Ising
and produced by Leon Schlesinger
as part of the Merrie Melodies
series from the Harman-Ising
studios and distributed by Warner Brothers. First released on October 21, 1931, the film is perhaps one of the most amusing and effective of the cartoons from the studio's earliest years.
orchestra is playing. Piggy mocks the trumpet
soloist, and plays a corny chorus of the 1873
hit "Silver Threads Among the Gold
" on the saxophone
. The audience, led by three drunk dogs in the balcony, then mock Piggy with the title song "You Don't Know What You're Doin'". Piggy is then joined onstage by one of the drunk dogs (a black dog, perhaps a prototype of Goopy Geer). Piggy picks up their bottle of bootleg hootch (the film was made during alcohol
Prohibition
in the USA
), takes a swig, and starts having hallucination
s; he pours some booze into the radiator of his automobile
, which arches its back like a frightened cat
and takes Piggy for a wild ride through the city.
was done by the then-nationally famous Abe Lyman
Orchestra (though on some prints mis-attributed to the Gus Arnheim
band), which adds a happy energy throughout the cartoon. The eccentric virtuoso trombone
playing of Orlando "Slim" Martin is prominently featured. Martin played not only music but also some rather bizarre effects on his horn (the techniques he used to produce some of his sounds continue to puzzle other trombonists). His trombone solo representing the drunken automobile is especially memorable. The Schlesinger Studio had their sound effects department construct mechanical devices to roughly reproduce some of Martin's sounds, which became standard cartoon sound effects.
.
1931 in film
-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
animated
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
short subject
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
directed by Rudy Ising
Harman and Ising
Hugh Harman and Rudolf "Rudy" Ising were an American animation team best known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios...
and produced by Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger was an American film producer, most noted for founding Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the golden age of Hollywood animation.-Early life and career:...
as part of the Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
series from the Harman-Ising
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
studios and distributed by Warner Brothers. First released on October 21, 1931, the film is perhaps one of the most amusing and effective of the cartoons from the studio's earliest years.
Plot
The story involves the character Piggy, who picks up his girlfriend and takes her to a theater where a hot jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
orchestra is playing. Piggy mocks the trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
soloist, and plays a corny chorus of the 1873
1873 in music
- Events :*April — The Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African American a cappella ensemble, perform before Queen Victoria during their first European tour....
hit "Silver Threads Among the Gold
Silver Threads Among the Gold
"Silver Threads Among the Gold", first copyrighted in 1873, was an extremely popular song in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today it is a standard of barbershop quartet singing. The lyrics are by Eben E...
" on the saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
. The audience, led by three drunk dogs in the balcony, then mock Piggy with the title song "You Don't Know What You're Doin'". Piggy is then joined onstage by one of the drunk dogs (a black dog, perhaps a prototype of Goopy Geer). Piggy picks up their bottle of bootleg hootch (the film was made during alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
in the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
), takes a swig, and starts having hallucination
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
s; he pours some booze into the radiator of his automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
, which arches its back like a frightened cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
and takes Piggy for a wild ride through the city.
Music
The musical soundtrackSoundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
was done by the then-nationally famous Abe Lyman
Abe Lyman
Abe Lyman was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including Your Hit Parade....
Orchestra (though on some prints mis-attributed to the Gus Arnheim
Gus Arnheim
Gus Arnheim was an early popular band leader. He is noted for writing several songs with his first hit being "I Cried for You" from 1923. He was most popular in the 1920s and 1930s...
band), which adds a happy energy throughout the cartoon. The eccentric virtuoso trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
playing of Orlando "Slim" Martin is prominently featured. Martin played not only music but also some rather bizarre effects on his horn (the techniques he used to produce some of his sounds continue to puzzle other trombonists). His trombone solo representing the drunken automobile is especially memorable. The Schlesinger Studio had their sound effects department construct mechanical devices to roughly reproduce some of Martin's sounds, which became standard cartoon sound effects.
Availability
You Don't Know What You're Doin'! is available on disc 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6 is a four-disc DVD box set collection of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. Following the pattern of one release each year of the previous volumes, it was released on October 21, 2008....
.