. . . than they did on food. At least, that's one of the main Take-Aways of I'VE GOT TO SING A TORCH SONG, which doesn't even reach its title tune until about five minutes of this seven-minute animated short have passed by. In the Looney Tunes Universe, American families would exercise to radio music while grouped together in their underwear, with 12-year-old Little Sis just wearing her panties. Rooms full of college coeds would come together in their bras and panties as Bing Crosby crooned. Harem gals would dance for their owners clad in even less. Beyond animated sex, TORCH is crammed full of Racist sight "gags" and recurring cameos by long-forgotten Dead People. Most folks Today cannot recall very many key cast members of MY AMER!CAN COUSIN (which Abe Lincoln was viewing when a Racist shot him to keep Black Lives from Mattering), and the caricatures incorporated into TORCH are of equal Unimportance. That's why very few of Today's cartoons are built around "immortalizing" fleeting personalities such as Tiny Tim, PeeWee Herman, or Donald "You're Fired!" Trump. As Warner learned, "celebrities" are here Today, but gone Tomorrow.

Like others have already said, this cartoon is a fine example of the difference between "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies". A lot of people will say that music videos didn't come around until the 1980s, with the airing of MTV, but in reality these could be considered the earliest forms of music video. While the actual singer or band that wrote the song doesn't perform it, it should be noted that the film/record company, Warner Brothers, owned the rights to the song, so they could use it in any way they saw fit, which was a common practice at the time when this cartoon was produced, including having it performed by various celebrity caricatures, a bunch of babies (Shuffle Off to Buffalo), or two foxes and a few billboards (Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!). They could even alter the lyrics to match the plot or theme for the film in which the song would be reused (see: Shuffle Off to Buffalo, I Love to Singa), as a way to get audiences to purchase the records or sheet music for that song, and play it themselves. Back then you could buy song books or subscribe to a monthly magazine that featured sheet music and lyrics to popular songs of the time.

Way back long ago, before Bugs, before Daffy, even before Porky - heck, they weren't even filming anything in color yet - Leon Schlesinger Studios tried various and sundry ideas in their cartoons. "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" shows several people around the world exercising to a radio broadcast, with a few gags along the way, and caricatures of famous people from the era.If you're wondering why they named the cartoon after the song, that was the policy with Merrie Melodies cartoons. You see, when Leon Schlesinger Studios started releasing Bosko cartoons in 1930, all the cartoons carried the Looney Tunes tag. Before too long, they created the Merrie Melodies tag (playing off Disney's Silly Symphonies). While the Looney Tunes cartoons continued showing off Bosko - and later Buddy, and then Porky - the Merrie Melodies cartoons would have the names of songs, and the characters would sing the song in one scene. Such was the case not only with this one, but also "I Haven't Got a Hat" and "I Love to Singa", among others. Eventually, they stopped having characters sing title songs. When the Looney Tunes switched to color, the two series became indistinguishable.Overall, this is a look into Warner Bros. animation's very early days. Within ten years, their cartoons didn't look the same at all. Hell, within five years, the combination of stars Porky and Daffy, plus directors such as Tex Avery, had totally changed the look. But this one is still worth seeing. Because Greta Garbo did want to be let alone.I never knew that Bing Crosby was already famous in 1933. Of course, I have no kind words for him.

This short doesn't really have a plot to speak of, but is instead a series of sight gags, celebrity caricatures and a version of the song which provides the title. Consider this a spoiler warning: The cartoon is a bunch of gags loosely connected by radios. The viewer is bounced around the world from one radio to the next. Some of the bits would probably be offensive to some in this day and age, like scenes involving Chinese policemen and African natives and a slightly risqué (for 1933, anyway) scene with a harem girl.There are also celebrity caricatures, including Ben Bernie, a takeoff on Bing Crosby (here, he's Cros Bingby), Greta Garbo, Zazu Pitts and Mae West, plus quite a few who clearly were caricatures whom I didn't recognize. Oh-there's also a scene where Jimmy Cagney and an actress have a bit together.The performance of "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" is done by, among others, Garbo, Pitts and West and the end title has Garbo saying, "That's all, folks!" All in all, a nice little short, if nothing special. Well worth watching once. Recommended.