Hollywood Canine Canteen

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Daffy Doodles	Hush My Mouse

Airdate:
20 April 1946

Series:

Merrie Melodies

MPAA Number:	Production Number:	Vitaphone Number:
10522	MM-11-14	1446

Runtime:

7 minutes, 44 seconds

Copyright Renewed:

17 January 1973^[1]

Crew

Voice Characterizations:

Mel Blanc
Sara Berner
Richard Bickenbach
Bob Lyons
Paul Regan
Paul Corley^[2] (all uncredited)

Director:

Robert McKimson

Written By:

Warren Foster

Producer:

Eddie Selzer (uncredited)

Animated By:

Cal Dalton
Don Williams
Richard Bickenbach
Arthur Davis (uncredited)
Anatole Kirsanoff (uncredited)

Layout Artist:

Cornett Wood (uncredited)

Background Artist:

Richard H. Thomas

Film Editor:

Treg Brown (uncredited)

Musician:

Carl W. Stalling

Hollywood Canine Canteen is a 1946 Merrie Melodies short directed by Robert McKimson.

Plot[]

The canine pets of Hollywood stars meet and decide they need their own nightclub. Inside the nightclub are a series of vignettes featuring dog-styled caricatures of Hollywood celebrities.

Caricatures[]

There are many dog-styled caricatures of Hollywood personalities in this cartoon.

Chairing the meeting is Edward G. Robinson.
Speaking at the meeting is Jimmy Durante.
Seated at the meeting are: Hugh Herbert; Eddie Cantor; Ed Wynn; Monty Woolley; ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and doll Charlie McCarthy; Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy;
Welcoming the sailor and the soldier to the Canteen: Bing Crosby, also appearing later;
On stage: Bob Hope and the mustachioed Jerry Colonna; Carmen Miranda, dancing with her signature fruit headdress; Babbit and Catstello (caricatures of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
At the snack bar: Penny Singleton (as Blondie Bumstead); Arthur Lake (as Dagwood, here called "Dogwood");
Laurel and Hardy again, washing dishes;
In the lounge with the wall portraits: Joan Leslie in red dress with red bow in hair; an unknown long-haired man stumbling;
At the phone desk: an unknown soldier, wants to place call; an unknown woman seated at desk with New Jersey accent;
The conductor is Leopold Stokowski as Leopold Bowowski. The musicians are likely anonymous, except for the tuba player, Joe Besser;
Bing Crosby crooning while stuffing a pipe; Dorothy Lamour; Frank Sinatra;
Bandleader Kay Kyser as Kaynine Kyser; poet and cornet player Merwyn Bogue (aka Ish Kabibble) as "Ish Kyoodle";
dancing soldier and woman (unknown);
woman in blue dress (unknown) consoling weeping soldier;
dancing woman who wants to "cut a rug" (possibly Katherine Hepburn);
trumpeter Harry James (as "Hairy James"); trombonist Tommy Dorsey as "Tommy Dorgy"; xylophonist Lionel Hampton as "Lionel Hambone and his Bonophone"; clarinetist Benny Goodman as "Boney Goodman"; Jimmy Durante again, playing the piano as "Schnauser Durante" (a play on Durante's nickname, "The Schnoz")

Availability[]

Notes[]

The opening music for the title card is very similar to the title in "Hare Tonic".
This cartoon is similar in concept to "Hollywood Steps Out" (1941), which was directed by Tex Avery five years prior, except that this time the celebrities are all caricatured as anthropomorphic dogs instead of people.
This is the first Merrie Melodies short that Robert McKimson directed.
This cartoon was based off of the real-life Hollywood Canteen. Opened on October 3, 1942 on Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles, it offered food, dancing and entertainment to servicemen and women during World War II. It was started by actors Bette Davis and John Garfield (not Edward G. Robinson as seen in the cartoon). Actual Hollywood celebrities volunteered their time to work there. By the time it closed on November 22, 1945 (Thanksgiving Day) thousands of celebrities had entertained over 3,000,000 in uniform.
The press release for the 2024 Warner Archive Blu-ray of Rover Dangerfield listed this cartoon, as well as "Chow Hound", as bonus features, but these were left out of the final release.^[3]