''Magical Maestro'' is a 1952 American

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

short

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (; February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of America ...

and produced by Fred Quimby for MGM Cartoons. Distributed by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, the short was released on February 9, 1952. It features the Great Poochini (played by Butch Dog), a canine opera singer who spurns a magician. The magician is able to replace Poochini's normal conductor prior to the show through disguise. In 1993, ''Magical Maestro'' was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", making it the only Tex Avery cartoon so far to be inducted.

Plot

Attention-craving Mysto the Magician rudely interrupts a world-famous

opera singer Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a lib ...

, the great Poochini (a pun on opera composer

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for List of compositions by Giacomo Puccini#Operas, his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he ...

), in the midst of rehearsal and asks to perform an opening act at the show that night. Mysto's tricks primarily come from his magic wand, which can summon flowers and rabbits. Poochini is not impressed by Mysto's tricks and kicks him bodily out of the opera house. Mysto realizes that he can pass himself off as the orchestra conductor, using his wand as a baton, and get revenge on Poochini. As the performance begins, he freezes the conductor in place; steals his tuxedo, nose, and wig; and takes his place to conduct the music. As Poochini (performed by the

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

n baritone Carlos Julio Ramírez) sings the ''

Largo al factotum "" (Make way for the factotum) is an aria (''cavatina'') from ''The Barber of Seville'' by Gioachino Rossini, sung at the first entrance of the title character, Figaro. The repeated "Figaro"s before the final patter section are an icon in popular ...

'' aria from

Gioacchino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...

's 1816 opera ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...

'', Mysto unleashes a variety of tricks with his wand. He begins by summoning rabbits and flowers and tricking Poochini into removing his own pants, changes his clothing several times, and causes him to sing in other styles. At one point, Poochini notices a hair protruding onto the screen (the "hair gag"; see below) and briefly pauses in his singing to pluck it loose and toss it aside. An irate audience member in a balcony seat interferes with the performance three times. He first throws an armload of fruit at Poochini, turning him into a

Carmen Miranda Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha (9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955), known professionally as Carmen Miranda (), was a Portuguese-born Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress. Nicknamed "The Brazilian Bombshell", she was known for her signature ...

-esque singer, then sprays him with black ink from a fountain pen, causing him to sing tenor in the fashion of the

Ink Spots The Ink Spots were an American vocal pop group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style predated the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely ...

. Finally the man drops an anvil on Poochini's head, crushing him to a shorter height and changing his vocals to a spoken bass line in a parody of the group's "Top & Bottom" format. After one rabbit washes the ink off Poochini's face with a fire hose and another one works his arm like an automobile jack to get him back up to full height, Mysto turns him into a Hawaiian singer. In the final bars of the aria, Mysto's borrowed wig falls off and Poochini recognizes him. He takes the wig and wand for himself and levitates Mysto onto the stage when he tries to flee. Poochini uses several of the magician's own gimmicks against him in quick succession, with the curtain falling to flatten Mysto and his rabbits and end the cartoon.

Voice cast

Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company and the Walter Lantz cartoon studio. He originated the voices of many familiar Hanna-Barbera ...

as Mysto the Magician * Carlos Ramirez as The Great Poochini (main singing voice - originally recorded for '' Anchors Aweigh'') **The Mary Kaye Trio as some of Pocchini's comic voices ***

Mary Kaye Mary Kaye (née Malia Ka'aihue; January 9, 1924 – February 17, 2007) was an American guitarist and performer. She was active from the 1940s through 1960s. Biography Malia Ka'aihue was born on January 9, 1924, in Detroit, Michigan, to father J ...

Poochini ***Frank Ross as Chinese, Cowboy, Square-Dancer and Little Boy Poochini ***Frank Ross and Norman Kaye as Hawaiian singers **

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986), better known as Paul Frees, was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass and Walt Disney the ...

blackface Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...

singer Poochini ** Danny Webb as low-pitched

singer Poochini **

as Poochini's speaking voice for a single line: "NO!"

History

The concept of cartoons with insinuating situations is hardly new—Tex Avery especially featured a few quick jokes of this nature in his cartoons. ''Magical Maestro'', for example, shows Poochini with a male and female rabbit on each arm. He lowers his arms behind his back and when he raises them again, he now has an additional dozen baby rabbits on them, six on each arm. This cartoon features a gimmick only seen in Tex Avery films, the "hair gag". If a film strip was incorrectly loaded into a

projector A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer type ...

at a movie theatre, it could rub against the "gate" mechanism and shave off tiny "hairs" of celluloid. A hair that became caught in the gate would sometimes skitter in front of the projector's lamp, causing the image of a gigantic hair to appear on the movie screen. While singing, Poochini notices a hair on the bottom edge of the screen and pauses briefly to pluck it and toss it aside, one of many ways in which Avery's characters broke the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

. The gag had previously been used in the 1941 short '' Aviation Vacation'', also directed by Avery. The role of Poochini is portrayed by Butch the Irish dog, a frequent star of Avery's cartoons of that era (often alongside

Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer c ...

Influence

The "hair gag" would later be used by English comedian

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 18 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor and scriptwriter. He is best remembered for his television programme, ''The Benny Hill Show'', a comedy-variety show whose amalgam of slapstick, bu ...

in the closing chase sequence of his April 25, 1984 show. As he is being chased by medical staff and an ambulance in and around a hospital area, he notices a hair moving around the bottom right corner of the screen, and at a certain point stops his pursuers long enough for him to pluck the hair out before the chase resumes. The ''

Tom and Jerry Tales ''Tom and Jerry Tales'' is an American Animated series, animated television series featuring the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Turner Entertainment Co., it is the seventh installment in the ''Tom and Jer ...

'' episode "Way-Off Broadway" features a gag similar to Poochini's transformations, in that Tom is forced to adapt to various pieces music when Jerry changes them on a radio.

Availability

*'' Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 2'' (Blu-Ray)

References

External links

*''Magical Maestro'' essa

by Thad Komorowski on the

website * *''Magical Maestro'' essay by Daniel Eagan in ''America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry'', A&C Black, 2010 , pages 454-45

{{Authority control 1952 animated short films 1952 films Films directed by Tex Avery 1950s Italian-language films Films about magic and magicians Films about opera Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short films United States National Film Registry films 1950s American animated films Metafictional works Self-reflexive films Films based on The Barber of Seville Films produced by Fred Quimby Films scored by Scott Bradley Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio short films Animated film controversies Race-related controversies in animation Race-related controversies in film Ethnic humour 1950s English-language films English-language short films