The idea of a boxing kangaroo is a staple in movie comedy. There was at least one live-action comedy short in the 1920s on the theme, starring the poorly-remembered Lige Conley and, of course, Bob McKimson had a small series of cartoons in the 1950s in which Sylvester the Cat would continually battle with Hippety Hopper, under the mistaken impression that he was actually a very large mouse. Frankly, neither the Conley movie nor the McKimsons were much of anything. Apparently once you get past the initial gag, no one was able to think of much in the way of variation.So this 1896 actuality by Birt Acres, today best remembered as a collaborator of Robert Paul, is just about right: ten or fifteen seconds of a real stage act in which a kangaroo boxes with a human opponent.
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