Looney Revue, Part 1 1929-1931: Bosko, Foxy and Piggy
To say that the early days of Warner Brothers' animation studio is a far cry from their most iconic contributions to film is a hefty understatement. You'll not find much as visually inventive as the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons, or as witty as the Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons, in the films of Bosko or Buddy, but Warner had to start somewhere. And that “somewhere” was formulaic Disney imitation, animated by former Disney employees. Steamboat Willie (1928)'s success had solidified a market value in the then-new innovation of sound cartoons, and animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising pitched a short pilot, a four minute cartoon titled Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid . The live-action / animation hybrid features Ising sitting in a chair next to a drawing board, talking to his creation, Bosko. With a rubbery body and wide expressive eyes, black hands and feet with a white body it's pretty easy to see a likeness to Mickey Mouse. But while Mickey's