The Bon Bon Parade
The Bon Bon Parade
| 05 December 1935 (USA)
The Bon Bon Parade Trailers

A boy, attracted by the same confectionery display that attracts a fly, goes inside and starts eating. A cherub, threatened by him, offers a wish, and the kid asks to live in candyland full time. A train takes him there, where a cupcake king greets him and we see a lavish parade of various goodies, including another group of three cherubs that parody the Three Stooges.

Reviews
Julia Arsenault (ja_kitty_71)

I thought this is another great "Color Rhapsody" cartoon from Columbia to me. It is about a poor orphan boy who is magically transported to Candy Town, as it was his wish granted by a candy cherub in return for not eating him. Anyway in Candy Town, the king and all the citizens throw a welcome parade for the boy.Like those who had seen this cartoon, I love the floats for Valentine's, Easter and Christmas treats. Though the animators left out a float for Halloween candy, but of course the film is 8 minutes long. I also love the "Waddley,Waddley, Waddley Woo," that sounded funny to me. Now I don't know what else I like about this cartoon, except that I love it.

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Robert Reynolds

This is a short from Columbia studios. There will be spoilers ahead:Back in the 1930s, there was a definite and fairly clear pecking order among the cartoon departments of the various studios. Disney was at the top, with Fleischer their principal competition during the early part of the decade, Warner Brothers and MGM getting to the upper echelon in the latter half of the decade. Lantz was just below them, hitting his stride with first Andy Panda and then Woody Woodpecker as the 1940s began. Then there were the also rans, Van Beuren, Columbia, Terrytoons and briefly Iwerks.Columbia was one of the mediocre studios, basically turning out yard goods more out of expectation than desire and it usually showed. For every cartoon like The Little Match Girl or Holiday Land, there were a dozen like this one. Similar shorts were done much more effectively by Disney, Warner Brothers and others. By 1935, even Iwerks was doing better shorts most of the time. It's a wonder that Columbia was able to do a short like The Little Match Girl two years later.The basic premise here is tried but true. A little boy is outside a candy shop, nose pressed to the window. In spite of the most treacly music imaginable, the cartoon begins promisingly with a fly on a sugar buzz taunting the boy.Sadly, this promising beginning degenerates into the predictable, with the boy being taken to Candy Town. The bits are largely warmed over retreads of gags long past their expiration date, which is actually not as fatal as it sounds. Many much better cartoons than this have gags so old, they've got whiskers. The difference is that a studio like Disney can make old gags fly because the cartoons are sharp and well paced. The pacing and animation here are marginal at best. The most promising bit-Santa with a belly actually made out of jello-is essentially wasted, because it's just a throwaway.This short can be found online. It's probably better than I make it sound and children will probably like it well enough. I've simply seen much better.

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Foreverisacastironmess

Oh, now you would have to be a real stone-cold meany-pants to not derive at least a little joy from this very old but very sweet and charming animation, I mean it is all about a strange fantasy land of walking-talking candy people who are hosting a giant parade that's all just to plain celebrate sweet treats of all colours shapes and sizes everywhere - hooray!!! And naturally there are some great confectionery and chewy-gooey sight gags to feast your eyes on. I love the design of the train that brings the little urchin boy into the town, if you look closely what's it made out of is quite intricate and cleverly put together. And I also enjoy the Easter egg float with the chicks inside, and my favourite one was definitely the Santa Claus jelly, all of it is so totally yummers! And that's a strange inherent element that comes with the animations of this type that I always love, the way that tend to make you hungry and wanna take a bite out of 'em! And I love that cosy warm image of the old-fashioned candy shop like in the original Willy Wonka that is shown at the beginning. The fly sure seemed to think it was pretty good! Gross, by the way.. It's a lovely short but to me it's a little thin somewhere and felt like a rehearsal for greater, very similar animations such as the classic Silly Symphony "The Cookie Carnival" and 1934's "The Hot Choc-Late Soldiers", two cartoons that I like just that little bit more than this one, not because they're Disney brand specifically so to speak per-se, but because they seemed to do more with the 'Candyland' premise and were more polished and endearing than this, which while fine, is in my opinion a little dull and rough around the edges in comparison. And what really made those two so much fun was the presentation, their tiny plots were really no more complex this one's, although quite unlike this, they at least had a little conflict in them. Heck, even Cookie Carnival had trials of a sort for its hero! The little boy who I think is supposed to be the main character of this story just seems to vanish from it as soon as the all-dancing all-popping spectacle of the edible town appears! Anyway whatever, it remains to this day a very good festive celebration of sweetness that you'd do well to seek out and enjoy anytime. Thank you, be seein' ya, and with all sincerity, a very Happy New Year to you!!!

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richard.fuller1

Right smack-dab in the middle of a depression, a mere four or five years or so after talkies began, we get the simplest of cartoons with a poor child who wishes to go to candy land, so away he goes on the wish of a cupid.All the depictions would be described as sickly sweet, but they are definitely old-timey enchanting.This is the second appearance of 'the stooges' I've seen in one of these old Columbia cartoons. If you ask me, its a bit of a stretch to call them the stooges (one long-haired redhead, one dark-haired fellow and for the strangest reasons, there seems to be some confusion on the color of Curly's bald head).Nevertheless, by the time St. Nick appears as the bowl of red gelatin, the enchantment is complete and the cartoon ends before it continues on too long.

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