There, Katherine Hepburn is still looking for her sheep. When she kisses him (leaving a large lipstick mark), his mouth opens so wide that the camera tracks inside. Brown are seen dancing and laughing so loud that their mouths are opened wide. Charles Laughton declares the music to be "It's mutiny, but I love it!" Martha Raye and Joe E. Fields plays the double bass with Charlie McCarthy sitting on it. Cab Calloway is much more excited and energetic and sings and dances along with his band. Fetchit tries to encourage his feet, but he is too lazy, and his feet release steam from the effort. He exclaims, "The man's crazy!" Fred Astaire tap dances and invites Stepin Fetchit to dance along with him. When he looks inside, Harpo is seen plucking the strings.
He sends them away, but discovers that his piano now plays by himself. Laurel's clarinet then sounds like a bass one.įats Waller plays piano until Groucho and Chico Marx start playing with him. Oliver Hardy plays the trombone and Stan Laurel the clarinet, whose repeated notes annoy Hardy so much he hits Laurel over the head with a hammer. The camera zooms in on three trumpetists (Edna May Oliver, Joan Blondell (some sources claim the middle woman is Mae West or Sophie Tucker), and ZaSu Pitts), a flutist (Clark Gable) and a saxophonist (George Arliss). The next page turns to reveal a big shoe (a reference to The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe) and all the characters start singing, dancing, and playing instruments. When this takes some time, Fats Waller asks, "Where's that boy?", to which Stepin Fetchit replies, "What boy?" Beery finally wakes up and blows his horn until he's out of breath. One is Cab Calloway (singing "Hi-de-Ho!") who invites Little Boy Blue (Wallace Beery) to blow his horn. He sings " Sing a Song of Sixpence" and when he mentions the line "twenty black birds baking a pie", several Afro-American jazz and swing musicians stick their heads out of a large pie. Little Jack Horner (Eddie Cantor) opens the next scene, a big musical sequence. She says, "I want so much to be alone," to which he replies, "Okay, babe, you asked for it!" He leaves and she falls off the seesaw. See Saw Margery Daw is performed by Edward G. It transforms her face into a black one and she starts speaking in African-American slang. Hardy throws one of his pies at Laurel, who ducks his head inside his shirt, and the pie lands in Katherine Hepburn's face. Laurel swallows his pie in one piece and then snickers at Hardy. When the stack collapses and one of the pies lands on his head, he looks angrily at Laurel.
Nothing happens, however and a reassured Hardy tries to do the same. Laurel refuses an offered pie, and picks one from the middle of the stack, which scares Hardy, fearing it will collapse. The Pie man (Oliver Hardy) is busy tending a stack of his pies on a wagon. Simple Simon (Stan Laurel) is seen fishing with a fish on his hook and catching worms instead of the other way around. Charlie insults Fields who tries to attack him, but then falls off the wall onto a mushroom which then resembles an egg cup. He inspects a bird's nest with the words, "My Little Chickadee", but discovers Charlie McCarthy sitting in it. The tub overturns when the trio tries to hitch a ride with her. Then Katherine Hepburn passes by on a outboard motor still looking for her sheep. Bartholomew falls overboard, but Tracy pulls him back aboard. On the following page the nursery rhyme Rub-a-dub-dub is portrayed with Charles Laughton (as Captain Bligh), Spencer Tracy (as Manuel Fidello from Captains Courageous) and Freddie Bartholomew (who also appeared in Captains Courageous). The king then closes the bowl, much to Donald's chagrin. Then Joe Penner brings him a bowl and, in reference to his famous catch phrase, asks him if he "wants to buy a duck?" Donald Duck appears out of the water in the bowl and starts laughing with Penner's joke. The king enjoys this very much, but his court jester (Ned Sparks) obviously doesn't. They start playing their violins, but then break them over their knees. The next scene shows Old King Cole (Hugh Herbert) getting excited when his fiddlers arrive: (The Marx Brothers). Little Bo Peep (Katherine Hepburn) claims she "lost her sheep, really I have." After performing a few ballet steps she looks behind the next page, which is turned. The opening disclaimer states that "any resemblance to characters herein portrayed to persons living or dead, is purely coincidental". Underneath her is written, in Pig Latin, "Nertz to You". A parody of Leo the Lion ( MGM) logo, Mother Goose roars like a lion.
The film begins with a nursery rhyme book that opens by itself.