In the early years of the WB cartoon studio, the gimmick was popular music. The Looney Tunes featured a popular star and the Merrie Melodies plugged a pop tune from a WB musical.One of the genres that was introduced at the start of the Merrie Melodies series was the book come to life cartoons (or sometimes product labels). After closing, characters would come out of books to sing and dance. A villain would start trouble, only for the other characters to defeat him.Frank Tashlin started directing Merrie Melodies in 1937, starting with this title. He took inspiration from Harman-Ising's cartoons of this genre and would do a trilogy over the next year. The title song and most of the tunes featured on the soundtrack come from the WB musical GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937 (1936). One interesting thing about these cartoons, is that it offers a glimpse into popular American culture of the year the respective cartoon was released. In this case, popular celebrities, magazine covers, and music.Tashlin is known for bigger and better things, especially in animation, but this is a fairly good entry in his filmography. I've always loved the fast paced rendition of "All's Fair In Love And War" that plays while the convict is in hot pursuit.Tashlin's other entries in his trilogy are HAVE YOU GOT ANY CASTLES? and YOU'RE AN EDUCATION (both 1938), which also give some interesting glimpses into popular American culture of the late 1930's.

for some reason, this cartoon is special and unique, but I can't really say why (although my conscience knows it). actually, it's quite stupid. we see a lot of magazines coming to life in some art form that already is cliché. yes, I remember it from long ago when I was a kid, but way back then I didn't like it either. I guess it's just because it was as an extra on the DVD of 'Gold Diggers of 1937' that I saw it again, because it simply isn't interesting enough to watch otherwise. the title is the same as one of the songs used in that Gold Diggers movie, but it shows very little resemblance with how it was used in the film. in this cartoon, there are very little animations that have to do with the title. I guess the song was a success in the Thirties and that should be the reason for it's title. I won't forget it, but I certainly will not watch it again in a long time.

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.

I love the retro look of the drugstore right in the opening scene. It looked like an Edward Hopper painting. Once inside, the camera pans to the magazine rack, and we get a glimpse of some of the famous "rags" of the day.The cartoon story is two-fold: characters in these magazines "coming to life" and a story ensuing about a thief as he hops from one magazine cover to another. Another reviewer here, Robert Reynolds, explains that part well. Myself, I especially enjoyed the parody of William Powell and his "Thin Man."I was stunned at the bright colors in here, especially for a cartoon 70 years old. It was stunning to observe. The people responsible for these Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVDs should be lauded for their efforts. That, and the wonderful nostalgia of seeing all of these old magazine covers with their distinctive styles is just wonderful.