He Was Her Man is a 1937 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.
Plot[]
On a stormy winter afternoon that's "way way below" zero in the Great Depression, a poor girl mouse is selling apples for 5 cents with seemingly no success. That is, until a rich mouse shows up and finally purchases an apple. The mouse girl is so happy that she starts skipping home, thinking about her husband (even imagining him as Clark Gable).
The girl mouse comes home to Johnny (throwing cards into a hat), who immediately demands her profits. She hands him four nickels, stating she did "pretty good today," but Johnny only counts three...the girl mouse is hiding a gold coin in her mouth! Johnny threatens to hit her and immediately asks her for dinner before she even has a chance to explain herself.
Johnny goes back to throwing cards into his hat when he notices a pretty girl mouse walking into the saloon. Meanwhile, his wife is cooking ham and eggs. She calls for Johnny, but gets no answer. She notices a note on his couch: "I'm thru with you – So long! Johnny." Panicking, she starts calling his name and looking for him everywhere, which causes her to faint.
"Time staggers on," and the two appear to have gone their separate ways. The poor girl mouse is at a bar, singing a song about how she was a fool to fall in love with him...until she sees him with his new girlfriend. Elated to see him again, she runs up to hug Johnny, who promptly tells her to "beat it." She begs Johnny to come home (now dragging him by his vest), but he again tells her to "scram" and smacks her off of him. The two end up having a fight in the bar, which culminates in the girl mouse taking fire at Johnny with a pistol. She misses but eventually shoots him in the chest, seemingly killing him.
The girl mouse feels regret for what she's done and pleads for Johnny to speak to her...who promptly wakes up like nothing happened and says "Aw, ya' just grazed me..." She promptly smashes a beer bottle over Johnny's head, knocking him out cold once again.
The two end up back together, but the tables have now turned: Johnny (with several bandages on his scalp) is selling apples in a freezing cold storm, while his wife is finally living in comfort. Johnny is displeased until he sees the attractive girl mouse pass by. His wife catches him trying to hit on her, and hits his head with another beer bottle.
Caricatures[]
- Clark Gable
- Hugh Herbert (pigs shouting “woo-woo”)
Availability[]
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 3, Side 10: Politically Incorrect
Notes[]
- This is possibly a parody of the 1934 Warner Brothers film He Was Her Man, starring James Cagney and Joan Blondell. In the film, Cagney plays a criminal who hides out with an ex-prostitute.
- The second act may be a parody of an earlier (1929) Paramount short film, also called He Was Her Man. In that film, a jilted showgirl pursues her ex to a dance hall and shoots him with a pistol, just as in this cartoon.
- The short could also be a parody of the song "Frankie and Johnny," which is about a man leaving his wife for another woman, and his wife shooting him dead. The song is also played in the cartoon's score at the very end, and the name of the boyfriend mouse is even Johnny.
- The wife spends her day selling apples, but there is a suggestion of prostitution, in the way she conceals her takings in her bra, the way she solicits business on the street, and the way she is forced to render her takings to her pimp-like husband. These are also signs of a connection with the Cagney/Blondell film.
- Because of the adult themes and risqué references, the cartoon has seldom aired on television.
- This is also likely the reason why this cartoon was released under the "Politically Incorrect" banner of The Golden Age of Looney Tunes: Volume 3 laserdisc set in 1992 alongside six other pre-1948 color Merrie Melodies cartoons. It is also the only cartoon in the "Politically Incorrect" banner to not feature any racial stereotypes.
- According to the cue sheets, the song "He Was Her Man" originally played over the main titles, and continued over the next scene.[2]
- This cartoon was copyrighted 2 March 1937, exactly two months after release[3]
Gallery[]
References[]