Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid

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Sinkin' in the Bathtub

Airdate:
29 May 1929

Starring:

Rudolf Ising
Bosko

Crew

Voice Characterizations:

Carman Maxwell (uncredited)

Director:

Hugh Harman (uncredited)
Rudolf Ising (uncredited)

Producer:

Hugh Harman
Rudolf Ising
Leon Schlesinger (uncredited)

Animated By:

Friz Freleng (uncredited)
Rollin Hamilton (uncredited)

Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid is a 1929 short directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising.

Plot[]

Animator Rudolf Ising is drawing and trying to come up with a character. Eventually he creates an African-American boy named Bosko. Ising asks Bosko what he can do, and Bosko proceeds to dance and whistle. Bosko stops and notices something, asking Ising, "Who's them folks out in the dark?" Ising tells him that it's the audience; he then asks Bosko if he can make them laugh. After some thinking, Bosko asks Ising to draw him a piano and Bosko starts playing on the piano trying to create laughs (Bosko himself laughs), and sings while tongue sticks out. Bosko continues to sing until his head pops up and we see it's made of springs. He manages to get his head back together and continues to sing. Ising gets annoyed by his singing and decides to use his ink pen to grab Bosko's pants, eventually sucking him in and puts him back in the inkwell. Bosko pops out of the inkwell, says, "Well, so long folks. See ya all later," blows a raspberry at Ising, and goes back inside.

Availability[]

Transcript[]

Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid/Transcript

Notes[]

This short was never released in theaters, and was lost media until 2000, when it appeared on the ToonHeads special "The Lost Cartoons" in its first official public screening in 71 years.
This cartoon has been in the public domain from its inception as it does not have a copyright notice. As of 2025, all works from 1929 are now in the public domain.

Censorship[]

When Cartoon Network aired this as part of a special episode of ToonHeads about lost, rare, and obscure works from Warner Bros (mostly animated, though there were some live-action pieces and a couple that were hybrid), it was a heavily-edited version for both time and content, cutting/shortening the following scenes:

Rudolf Ising (appearing as himself) taking a drag from his cigarette (though they left in him stubbing out his cigarette in an off-screen ashtray).
The edited version starts when Ising actually draws Bosko instead of when Ising is wracking his brain trying to come up with something.
Ising actually drawing Bosko was sped up on the Cartoon Network version.
Bosko’s line, “Well, here I is and I sure feels good”, along with some of Bosko’s dialogue with Ising was cut (the ToonHeads version goes from Ising drawing Bosko to Ising immediately asking Bosko what can he do).
Bosko’s line, “Okay, boss. Watch dis here,” after Ising tells Bosko to show him what he can do.
Everything after Bosko does a stereotypical Yiddish dance while doing an a capella of “Khosn Kale Mazel Tov” was cut, going from the Yiddish dance to Bosko belting out a long note next to a piano that inexplicably appears next to him (it was from one of the many scenes that got cut) until Ising sucks him back in the fountain pen and puts him in the inkwell, which was also sped up slightly.