Happy Hopping
Today, ReFrederator salutes one last ‘Great Director’ — Chuck Jones. Our cartoon is “Inki and the Mynah Bird” from 1943, one of a handful of films that popped up over an eleven year span starring a little African boy and a strange magical, hopping bird. In later years, Jones would expound on the conceptual underpinnings of most of his creations, but when it came to the “Inky” series, he kinda admitted even he didn’t exactly know what the heck was going on. See, there’s always this kid, who usually is trying to hunt, then periodically we hear this crazy music (Fingal’s Cave Overture by Felix Mendelsson) and this weird bird shows up — he has great strength, or supernatural powers, or something — then the bird leaves, and we do a little more of the story — but after a while there’s the music again, and the bird again — then some more story — then that bird… well, suffice to say these were pretty offbeat items, even for the bunch at Warner Brothers.
Like most of Jones’ mature stuff, this is a terrific looking cartoon, full of great scenics and wonderful little animated ’solos’ (check out the worm’s introductory dance in the beginning.) And, yes, Inki is the caricature of a black child as drawn by white 1940’s era American cartoonists — which means there may be some adjustment for cultural context necessary before enjoying this dandy little film.
Next week, we’re off to far away places with “Nice Place to Visit, but I Wouldn’t Want to Live There Week.” Get your passports ready now!
![[large][black] FReDERATOR badge](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3502/3317571331_e33068a3c8_m.jpg)
»
On June 9th, 2006 at 12:00 am
When I was a kid that mynah used to creep me out. Still kinda does, actually.
On June 10th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Minah Bird is too cool to fit inside anyone’s mental box. He did barrow his cool walking style from Popeye in “Lil Sweet Pea”, but with a slower pace. Jones also used the same walking style at a faster pace for a character in the “Dover Boys”. The walking styles and different music selections set the pace of the action in each of the cartoons. The bird isn’t as creepy as the pace at which he moves.
On June 11th, 2006 at 12:00 am
The lion loses his dentures from time to time, rendering him scary, but ineffective. Inky on the hunt throws his fomidable spear at tiny insects, yet, he has a giant slab of meat in his dresser drawer. The mynah bird does his “Pimp Walk” through the forest all day concluding with the only logical result possible.
On June 12th, 2006 at 12:00 am
I find myself trying to figure out what time signature that bird walks in.
On June 13th, 2006 at 12:00 am
It sounds like a 6:8 time signature. I’ve wondered if Jones’ bird was a response to Paul Terry’s Heckle and Jeckle. Minah bird is drawn like the other two birds, but has a completely different personality due to pace and lack of dialogue
On June 19th, 2006 at 12:00 am
In his autobiography, Shamus Culhane said he was briefly brought to Warners By Jones to work as an animator and the only work he did was animating the lion in this cartoon.
On July 3rd, 2007 at 12:00 am
I was a strange kid, I suppose. I barely remember Inky. I was indifferent to the lion. The mynah bird, though, was my hero. I remember it burping when it got the food the other two were fighting over. Over the years it evolved in my mind that the cartoon was about the bird and not Inky.
The hop and the music were wonderful. The bird would hop from behind to claim the prize.
A younger me would walk down the street to the hum of that music (and the memory of a bird).