Template:Infobox Shorts wTabs
Holiday for Shoestrings is a 1946 Merrie Melodies cartoon short directed by Friz Freleng.
The cartoon's title is a pun on the popular instrumental tune "Holiday for Strings".
Plot
The plot concerns a pack of Elmer Fudd-like elves who help a shoemaker, Jake, who has advertised for help. The cartoon is done largely in pantomime with the gags timed to the tune of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, with the occasional (unintelligible) bickering of elves.
The twist on the usual story is that the bedridden shoemaker, suddenly feeling much better upon seeing the elves working feverishly, tries to sneak out to play golf, implying that the shoemaker was actually faking his illness the whole time to avoid from doing his job. The elves, realizing this, drag Jake back to bed, tie him down ala Gulliver's Travels, and are seen dragging the golf clubs out of the house for themselves to play a round with.
Availability
- DVD - Without Reservations (1995 Turner dubbed version,added as a bonus) (Warner Home Video, 2007)
- DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5, Disc 2 (Warner Home Video, 2007)
- DVD - Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 5, Disc 2 (Warner Home Video, 2007)
- DVD - Looney Tunes Musical Masterpieces (Warner Home Video, 2015)
Censorship
After one of the elves fell into a bucket of water, there is one scene featuring two snake-charmer elves that is cut on Cartoon Network/Boomerang USA (Non-USA CN/Boomerang feeds however aired this scene uncut) for reasons unknown, perhaps due to dangerous activity that could be imitable by impressionable young viewers in this scene:
- One of the snake-charmer elves using the back of the shoe-soles as a bed of nails (Removed perhaps because of the network's censors not wanting kids to attempt lying down on a bed of nails).
- One of the snake-charmer elves playing the flute to tie the boot's shoelace neatly (Removed perhaps because of the network's censors not wanting kids to attempt snake-charming).
Notes
- Many of the elves look like miniature versions of Elmer Fudd with elf-like ears (anticipating a similar role played by Elmer 10 years later). According to the Toonheads episode "Night Of 1000 Elves", the reason why the elves resemble Elmer Fudd is because director Friz Freleng disliked the character and therefore did such to make fun of the Elmer Fudd character.[1]
- At one scene one of the elves replace the shoe stickers from 4F to 1A. Those "4F" and "1A" were military terms used during World War II to describe the person's capability in the army, where "4F" means unfit for military service. However those references become dated during the cartoon's release, as at the time the cartoon was released in theaters, World War II had already ended.
Gallery
References
- ↑ Toonheads "Night of 1000 Elves"