Rudolph Ising | Freddy the Freshman / 1932 [animated cartoon]

cheering on beauty

by Douglas Messerli

 

Isadore “Friz” Freleng and Paul Smith (animation), Rudolph Ising (director) Freddy the Freshman / 1932 [animated cartoon]

 

Employing the Cliff Friend and Dave Oppenheim song “Freddy the Freshman, the Freshest Kid in Town,” Ising’s animated work revolves around the raccoon coat-clad Freddy and a canine meanie, evidently the “big man on campus.” Freddy crashes a college pep rally, where he’s greeted by some and jeered by others such as a canine meanie, evidently the “big man on campus.”  The very next day Freddie goes on to become the star of the school football game.

     Various contingents of the student body cheer on their team during that game, including a Jewish group yelling “oy, oy, oy oy oy,” interrupted by a lone sissy, clearly an odd duck, who insists, “No, bah, bah, beauty, beauty, beauty,” while the more conventional fans in the stadium shout “Hold that line, hold that line.”

 

Los Angeles, April 21, 2022

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (April 2022).