Shrunken Cinema/Termite Terrace/Hollywood Steps Out
From Eccentric Flower
Hollywood Steps Out
1941
Summary: Antics of various real Hollywood figures (in caricature) in Ciro's restaurant/nightclub.
Director: Tex Avery
Writer: Melvin Millar
Featuring: No regulars.
Onreel
0:46 Ciro's was a real nightclub frequented by movie stars. "$50 and up" is ridiculously exorbitant in 1941 money; estimates of dollar conversions vary, but the equivalent in today's prices would probably be at least ten times that - e.g. $500 and up.
1:00 We pan past Claudette Colbert and a possible Don Ameche, with Adolphe Menjou and his distinctive mustache sitting with Norma Shearer and her nose at the table behind them, to close in on Cary Grant.
1:06 Grant's speech contains the titles of two of his films (My Favorite Wife, The Awful Truth) plus one he didn't appear in (The Front Page) but which was later remade as one (His Girl Friday) where he did.
1:16 Greta Garbo as a cigarette girl. She strikes a match on her huge foot. Jokes were often made about the size of Garbo's feet (see also Have You Got Any Castles?) but Garbo herself said she wore a size 8. Other materials have her shoe size ranging anywhere from 7 to 10.
1:32 Edward G. Robinson and Ann Sheridan, the "Oomph Girl."
1:43 Pan past Henry Binder and Leon Schlesinger. Schlesinger was the producer of these cartoons and Binder was his assistant. Sound cue: "Merrily We Roll Along," the Merrie Melodies theme.
1:50 Kate Smith was a notably plump woman. Sound cue past Davis and Smith tables: "Oh! You Beautiful Doll."
1:54 Blondie and Dagwood, their child Alexander ("Baby Dumpling") and their dog Daisy were movie and radio characters at the time in addition to being a comic strip. Sound cue as we pass their table: "Pretty Baby" (timed so those words come as we hit the baby's chair). Sound cue for Daisy's fireplug: "Oh where, oh where, has my little dog gone?"
2:02 "Good evening, Mr. Weissmuller!" Johnny Weissmuller was known, of course, for playing Tarzan and is wearing his leopard skin under his coat. Some people think the coat-check girl is supposed to be Paulette Goddard. Sound cue: "Congo."
2:13 Sally Rand was a stripteaser famous for her "fan dance." Here she is checking her feathered "fans," the implication being she is wearing nothing else. Sound cue: "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby."
2:20 The tough guys are, left to right, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and George Raft.
2:40 Harpo Marx and another Greta Garbo foot joke. Her slow "ouch" is a comment on her stoic, distant acting style.
2:56 Clark Gable watching the blonde. Sound cue: "The Lady In Red," very fast.
3:00 The emcee is Bing Crosby. The horse and jockey are a joke on his horse-racing habits, another common subject for jokes of the time. The horses Crosby owned tended not to win. Sound cue: "The Old Gray Mare" (she ain't what she used to be).
3:21 "Brother Stokowski" is of course famous orchestral conductor Leopold Stokowski. His being a classical-music "longhair" is made explicit when he turns to reveal his hair net.
3:32 Dorothy Lamour implores Jimmy Stewart to dance. When he panics, he leaves behind the title of one of his films.
4:19 Gable. "It's me again."
4:25 Dancers: Tyrone Power and Sonja Henie, the ice skater - who is wearing her skates. Then Frankenstein's monster; then the Three Stooges; then Oliver Hardy, dancing not with Stan Laurel but with two women. Then Cesar Romero and Rita Hayworth (I'm not sure I agree with this identification - if so it's a far worse caricature than the others in this film - but the man is definitely Romero). The joke is apparently that Romero is shown as very uncoordinated and ripping the hem of her dress, although he was actually a good dancer.
5:02 Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, who played in several films together as Andy Hardy and Polly Benedict. When Rooney appeals to his "dad" at the next table he is appealing to Lewis Stone, who played Andy's dad Judge Hardy in the same series.
5:25 "Don't go away, folks - this oughta be good!"
5:44 "Miss Sally Strand and her bubble dance." Sally Rand apparently performed the bubble dance (as well as the fan dance) in the film Bolero. Sound cue for the dance: "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles."
5:55 Kay Kyser, the "Professor" of the Kollege of Musical Knowledge, uses his phrase "Students?" (which on his show is what he said when the contestant answered incorrectly and he turned to the audience for the right answer). His "students" are, left to right: (top row) William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Douglas Fairbanks (some people think this is Gilbert Roland), and Errol Flynn; (bottom row) Wallace Beery and C. Aubrey Smith.
6:10 Everyone else is admiring Sally, but Peter Lorre is admiring the bubble.
6:24 Henry Fonda, looking very Warren Beatty (but Warren wasn't around yet). The mother calling "Henry ..." is a reference to the opening of the "The Aldrich Family" radio show, where Henry Aldrich gets called this way. See also Book Revue.
6:40 Yup, that's J. Edgar Hoover, "Chief G-Man." (Gee!) Don't know what he was doing there, but then, he was everywhere, wasn't he?
6:48 We pan past several people famous for their deadpan faces: Boris Karloff, Arthur Treacher, Buster Keaton and Mischa Auer. The person who asks "You boys having a good time?" is Ned Sparks (who also plays Rip van Winkle in Have You Got Any Castles?).
7:04 That's comedian Jerry Colonna behind the binoculars. ("Guess who?") Sitting next to him is the invisible violinist "Yehudi" that Colonna was always looking for or referring to in his schtick. Or at least that's who Colonna says is sitting next to him ....
7:18 Harpo makes trouble.
7:31 Gable's blonde is revealed to be Groucho Marx in a wig.
Offreel
If you'd like to see most of the caricatures and you don't have access to the actual cartoon, have a look at this excellent page.
The Golden Collection version of this cartoon retains the generic "Blue Ribbon" title cards, which means there are no credits, and most likely means the original credits have been lost.
The only male voice Mel Blanc did in the cartoon was Jerry Colonna. The rest were all done by Kent Rogers. Sara Berner did the ladies.
Sally Rand did not take kindly to anyone else duplicating her dances, which may be why she shows up under her real name in the coat check and under an alias when performing.
