Just watched this Paul Terry-Frank Moser Terrytoons cartoon on Uncle John's Crazy Town blog. In this one, we go from street musicians to dog races (with a silent slo-mo scene of the dogs chasing a bicycling hare that makes no sense) to a very bizarre, and funny, scene of chicken carcasses dancing at butcher Farmer Alfalfa's shop. It's that last one that made me laugh heartily and made what was initially a pretty bland animated short into a hilarious one. The print wasn't in the best condition but I saw enough to be pretty entertained. Other scenes I didn't mention that were pretty amusing were of an elderly woman swinging to the music of those musicians, a man skating with his dog, and a woman walking with her giant pooch. I think I've said enough so on that note, I recommend Jazz Mad for any animation buff interested in these vintage cartoons.
3 Reviews
Jazz Mad was a pretty bizarre Terrytoons short from the early '30s
tavm10 September 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Strange and disjointed, but amusing nonetheless
llltdesq25 September 2015
Warning: Spoilers
This is a cartoon in the Farmer Al Falfa series produced by Terrytoons. There will be spoilers ahead:
There are two largely unconnected threads in this rather odd and meandering short. It starts with three street musicians playing outside of a building. Cats sitting in front of a window sway in time to the music and encourage the old lady they live with to look out the window. She throws the musicians a coin and then begins dancing. There's a bit where the cats are in a circle around a mouse in a dress dancing as she kicks the cats!
Cut to a parrot heating up a coin and then tossing it to the ground. One of the musicians grabs the coin, burns himself, climbs up a drainpipe to get the parrot, chases him until they land in a barrel and then beats the parrot up and takes all his money!
Cut to a bunch of dogs, a dog track and a dog race (don't ask me why, as there's no explanation given for the change). There's a large and furry dog who has his coat shorn off with a lawn mower! The dogs racing are chasing after a rabbit on a bike! There's a slow motion section during the race which has no point that I can see other than to show off technique or stretch a very short cartoon. Then a tortoise comes onto the track, also on a bike, and rides circles around the rabbit. The Rabbit grabs a hold onto the tortoise and they leave the course, chased by the dogs.
Cut to the musicians again, who go to a butcher shop, run by Farmer Al Falfa, who kicks the musicians out. To get even, the musicians play a tune and get the dead carcasses to dance! Very strange. One of the carcasses drags Al from the shop. At this point, the dogs show up, rush into the shop and start taking all the meat. The final gag, along with other gags, were used frequently in later Terrytoons cartoons, so I won't spoil it here, as it works fairly well.
This cartoon is worth watching.
There are two largely unconnected threads in this rather odd and meandering short. It starts with three street musicians playing outside of a building. Cats sitting in front of a window sway in time to the music and encourage the old lady they live with to look out the window. She throws the musicians a coin and then begins dancing. There's a bit where the cats are in a circle around a mouse in a dress dancing as she kicks the cats!
Cut to a parrot heating up a coin and then tossing it to the ground. One of the musicians grabs the coin, burns himself, climbs up a drainpipe to get the parrot, chases him until they land in a barrel and then beats the parrot up and takes all his money!
Cut to a bunch of dogs, a dog track and a dog race (don't ask me why, as there's no explanation given for the change). There's a large and furry dog who has his coat shorn off with a lawn mower! The dogs racing are chasing after a rabbit on a bike! There's a slow motion section during the race which has no point that I can see other than to show off technique or stretch a very short cartoon. Then a tortoise comes onto the track, also on a bike, and rides circles around the rabbit. The Rabbit grabs a hold onto the tortoise and they leave the course, chased by the dogs.
Cut to the musicians again, who go to a butcher shop, run by Farmer Al Falfa, who kicks the musicians out. To get even, the musicians play a tune and get the dead carcasses to dance! Very strange. One of the carcasses drags Al from the shop. At this point, the dogs show up, rush into the shop and start taking all the meat. The final gag, along with other gags, were used frequently in later Terrytoons cartoons, so I won't spoil it here, as it works fairly well.
This cartoon is worth watching.
As mad as jazz can get
TheLittleSongbird14 February 2018
The Terrytoons are oddly interesting, mainly for anybody wanting to see (generally) older cartoons made by lesser known and lower-budget studios. They are a mixed bag in quality, with some better than others, often with outstanding music and with some mild amusement and charm and variable in animation, characterisation and content.
'Jazz Mad' is another 1931 Terrytoon that is decent and worth watching but doesn't blow the mind. Its main reason is mainly for anybody striving to see every Terrytoons available like me. Again though that is not the sole reason, there is much more to 'Jazz Mad' than that.
It does start off very bland with too few gags with very little to them, let alone funny or imaginative, and a lack of energy.
Animation is uneven. It gets better as it gets on with the backgrounds getting more detailed, but it starts off very crude and simplistic. The story as ever with Terrytoons is basic and obvious.
However, as said, 'Jazz Mad' gets much better after a false first impression. As said, the backgrounds show more detail and ambition and the character designs become marginally more appealing if still lacking finesse.
The gags are funnier, not hilarious but amusing, better-timed and more inventive. The pace is livelier, there is more charm that is natural and unforced, more risk-taking and characters that hit the right notes without blowing the mind.
Best component is the music, not surprising as it was true for all of Terrytoons' output, which is outstanding. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action.
Overall, not mind-blowing but decent fun. 7/10 Bethany Cox
'Jazz Mad' is another 1931 Terrytoon that is decent and worth watching but doesn't blow the mind. Its main reason is mainly for anybody striving to see every Terrytoons available like me. Again though that is not the sole reason, there is much more to 'Jazz Mad' than that.
It does start off very bland with too few gags with very little to them, let alone funny or imaginative, and a lack of energy.
Animation is uneven. It gets better as it gets on with the backgrounds getting more detailed, but it starts off very crude and simplistic. The story as ever with Terrytoons is basic and obvious.
However, as said, 'Jazz Mad' gets much better after a false first impression. As said, the backgrounds show more detail and ambition and the character designs become marginally more appealing if still lacking finesse.
The gags are funnier, not hilarious but amusing, better-timed and more inventive. The pace is livelier, there is more charm that is natural and unforced, more risk-taking and characters that hit the right notes without blowing the mind.
Best component is the music, not surprising as it was true for all of Terrytoons' output, which is outstanding. It is so beautifully and cleverly orchestrated and arranged, is great fun to listen to and full of lively energy, doing so well with enhancing the action.
Overall, not mind-blowing but decent fun. 7/10 Bethany Cox
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