Vimacone
In the early years of the WB cartoon studio, the gimmick was popular music. The Looney Tunes featured a popular star and the Merrie Melodies plugged a pop tune from a WB musical.One of the genres that was introduced at the start of the Merrie Melodies series was the book come to life cartoons (or sometimes product labels). After closing, characters would come out of books to sing and dance. A villain would start trouble, only for the other characters to defeat him.Frank Tashlin started directing Merrie Melodies in 1937, starting with this title. He took inspiration from Harman-Ising's cartoons of this genre and would do a trilogy over the next year. The title song and most of the tunes featured on the soundtrack come from the WB musical GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937 (1936). One interesting thing about these cartoons, is that it offers a glimpse into popular American culture of the year the respective cartoon was released. In this case, popular celebrities, magazine covers, and music.Tashlin is known for bigger and better things, especially in animation, but this is a fairly good entry in his filmography. I've always loved the fast paced rendition of "All's Fair In Love And War" that plays while the convict is in hot pursuit.Tashlin's other entries in his trilogy are HAVE YOU GOT ANY CASTLES? and YOU'RE AN EDUCATION (both 1938), which also give some interesting glimpses into popular American culture of the late 1930's.
TheLittleSongbird
It is agreed that 'Speaking of the Weather' is not as good as 'Have You Got any Castles' and especially 'Book Revue', cartoons that execute their concept more cleverly and with slightly more energy and surprises.However, 'Speaking of the Weather' is still a very good cartoon. What immediately stands out is how visually stunning it is, the lush and vibrant colours do positively leap out as you, the backgrounds are handsomely and imaginatively detailed and while not quite as smooth as 'Have You Got any Castle' and 'Book Revue' the drawings are fluid and appealing.Carl Stalling's music is always a highlight in every cartoon he scored for, even if the cartoon itself is not quite so great. His scoring elevates everything to a greater level, with everything beautifully orchestrated with clever use of instruments and energetic rhythms that never loses character or momentum, it's not only dynamic to what's happening, it enhances it and Stalling was a master at this.What's also great about 'Speaking of the Weather' is that it is very funny. The titles are truly inspired and the caricatures are so much fun to spot and easily recognisable if familiar with them, admittedly though the caricatures/references in 'Have You Got any Castles' and 'Book Revue' are more easy to recognise and is less likely to go over people's heads if familiar with the literary classics. The William Powell and Hugh Herbert caricatures are especially noteworthy.Do agree that the story is basic and very easy to figure out what will happen next, especially if you are familiar with cartoons that explore the same, or a similar, concept, which is the case with me, having grown up with the two cartoons being compared with and pretty much only got acquainted with this. It is still paced nicely and all the gags are timed well. The voice acting is spot on from Mel Blanc and Billy Bletcher, both with multiple characters.In summary, very good cartoon and lots of fun, even if there are other cartoons with the same, or similar, concept and did it with more energy and imagination. 9/10 Bethany Cox
Edgar Allan Pooh
. . . (though their cover dates range from Oct. 1916 to Oct. 1946) shown during the Looney Tune SPEAKING OF THE WEATHER are (in order): 1)True Story, 2)McCall's, 3)Liberty, 4)Dreez, 5)West, 6)Dog World, 7)Asian, 8)Collier's Weekly (later misspelled "Collyer's"), 9)Reader's Digest, 10)Police Gazette, 11)Radio Stars, 12)Movie Magazine, 13)Music, 14)Outdoor Life, 15)The Dance, 16)The Ring, 17)House & Garden, 18)Childlife, 19)Screen Magazine, 20)Better Homes & Gardens, 21)The Etude Music Magazine, 22)Cowboy Ballads, 23)Good Housekeeping, 24)Woman's Home Companion, 25)Best Foods Magazine, 26)Home & Fireside, 27)Photoplay, 28)The Gang Magazine, 29)Popular Mechanics, 30)Magazine of Wall Street, 31)Scotland Yard, 32)Detective, 33)True Confessions, 34)Judge, 35)Life, 36)Science & Invention, 37)Radio Mirror, 38)Look, 39)Radio Guide, 40)American Astrology, 41)The Open Road, 42)American Boy, 43)Boy's Life, 44)Homecrafts & Hobbies, 45)Jungle Stories, 46)Africa, 47)Nature Magazine, 48)Sea Stories, 49)Our Navy, 50)Sweet & Smiff's Wild West Weekly, 51)Operator 5, 52)Secret Agant, 53)Crime, 54)Spider, 55)Mystery Magazine, 56)Better Babies, 57)The Saturday Evening Post (later presented as The Thursday Evening Post), 58)Country Life, 59)Polo, 60)Western Story Magazine, 61)Film Fun, 62)American Golfer, 63)Vanity Fair, 64)Hunting & Fishing, 65)Camping, 66)Saint Nicholas, 67)Field & Stream, and 68)World Almanac, ranging in cover price from a nickel (Secret Agent) to four bits (Country Life). The Thin Man and 20,000 Years in Sing Sing are the two books shown here.
slymusic
"Speaking of the Weather" is a very good Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin. Inside a closed-up drug store, all of the various characters pictured on the magazine covers come to life as they sing, dance, play instruments, etc. There actually is a plot, involving the apprehension of a criminal on the loose (well voiced by Billy Bletcher).My favorite scenes: In the beginning, a Will Rogers-type character plays a slide whistle, a Ned Sparks caricature claims (as always) that he's not having any fun, bandleader Ted Lewis plays clarinet while performing some gymnastic dance stunts, and a beaver plunks away at a double bass with his tail. A trio of girls sitting at a backwards piano sings the title song, aided by a few "tongue sandwiches". A garden hose behaves like a snake under the spell of a charmer's flute.Look for quite a few 1930s celebrity caricatures in "Speaking of the Weather". One in particular I find interesting is Hugh Herbert, the big-nosed, stocky guy who claps his hands with a high-pitched giggle. It was once written that Curly Howard of the Three Stooges adapted his famous "woo woo woo" from Hugh Herbert's high-pitched "hoo hoo hoo".
