Speaking of the Weather (1937)

One of the many "objects coming to life" cartoons created at Warner Bros., this one focuses on magazines coming to life at a drug store. It's interesting to note that director Frank Tashlin would do a very similar cartoon to this one year after the initial release of this cartoon, "Have You Got Any Castles" -- but moving onto the cartoon I'm reviewing anyways...The cartoon focuses on music, puns on popular magazines of the time, and celebrity caricatures -- notably Hugh Herbert, who pops up giggling throughout the short. Note that in the magazine Hugh appears, it is mentioned that "he produces his devastating giggle with a feather duster worn strapped to the sole of his left foot."The story is a rather basic one, focusing on the magazines in the first half, and then a thug is introduced who causes ruckus in the second half of the cartoon. However, it doesn't sound as boring as you would think. Tashlin uses the magazines in some rather creative ways, and while some of the puns are corny and predictable, I love them myself anyways. Tashlin also adds more chemicals to the cartoon by making use of his fast-paced editing (although mainly done in the ending), and in a couple of cases, interesting perspectives, which makes the transitions from scene to scene feel neatly done yet action-packed.For a cartoon with a big focus on music, Carl Stalling certainly gets the job done, with excellent renditions of popular tunes of the time. The vocals are nicely done as usual. The original animation is crisp and in some scenes, add more to the gags; a good chunk of animation in this cartoon is reused from other cartoons, however.Overall, Speaking of the Weather, while somewhat generic and not quite utilizing Frank Tashlin's techniques to the fullest, is worth a watch.

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

. . . (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.

Frank Tashlin's 'Speaking of the Weather' is another in the series of cartoons in which books come to life. In this case it is magazines which suddenly leap off the page. Although it has an attractive look to it, 'Speaking of the Weather' suffers from a lack of decent gags. Although these cartoons can sometimes rely on outdated references a little too heavily, they often make up for this with sheer energy or by providing enough information for audiences of any era to understand the joke. 'Speaking of the Weather' features a few more celebrity cameos than usual in these type of cartoons and the jokes that are self-explanatory are mostly just not that good. The obvious high point of this loose series is Bob Clampett's classic 'Book Revue' but Tashlin himself would go on to direct the excellent 'Have You Got Any Castles' a year after 'Speaking of the Weather'. That cartoon was both lush and amusing and 'Speaking of the Weather' feels like just a dry run for 'Have You Got Any Castles'. They're certainly stylistically similar but the latter is by far the superior cartoon and renders 'Speaking of the Weather' virtually unnecessary.