Bubble and Squeek

Bubble and Squeek is a British animated cartoon created in 1947 by George Moreno Jr. It was released by a British Animated Productions in Harringay. The films revolve around the adventures of the two main characters: Bubble and Squeek. Their names are derived from the British dish Bubble and Squeak. The series contained 4 films and 1 spin-off which were produced between 1947-1948. The cartoon's humor is mostly British. The cartoons have faded into obscurity and the only copies online are poor-quality copies from videotapes.

For the British breakfast, see Bubble and squeak.
The title card of Bubble and Squeek

History

George Moreno Jr. was an animator for Universal/Lantz and Fleischer Studios from 1938 to 1940, where he worked on Gulliver's Travels, among other series. During World War II he befriended Richard Smith, showing him the concept of two characters, Bubble and Squeak. After the war Moreno Jr. and Smith developed British Animation Productions studio, and produced the characters and cartoons.[1]

Plot

The cartoons revolve around the adventures of its two main characters. Bubble is a taxi driver. Squeek is the taxi whom Bubble drives. The cartoons visit a variety of places, from the funfair to a haunted house. Their adventures are light-hearted.

Characters
The two main characters: Bubble (driver) and Squeek (taxi).

Bubble

Bubble is a taxi driver who drives Squeek. He wears a green scarf, blue trousers, a yellow t-shirt, brown jacket and a hat.

Squeek

Squeek is the taxi that is driven by Bubble. He has a blue body and yellow wheels.

Recurring characters

Colonel Rat is featured in Old Manor House and also in Loch Ness Legend as he tries to get the Loch Ness Monster.

Willie the Worm is only featured in Loch Ness Legend. Willie helps Colonel catch the monster by using himself as bait.

Episodes

The Big City

Bubble and Squeek set off to London to find work. However, Squeek is terrified of the busy traffic and potential customers are being stolen by other taxis. They set off back home until Bubble has an idea. Bubble and Squeek are now picking up customers at a fast rate when their customers' tires mysteriously burst. We find out why their customers tires are bursting in the final shot when Bubble sees a car coming and throws a thumbtack on the road; hence the mysterious bursting.[2]

Fun Fair

Bubble is awoken by a newspaper which features an advert for a funfair. Bubble is intrigued and seems eager; but Squeek would rather work. However, Squeek quickly changes his mind when he sees a shining three-tone horn for grand prize. They can't get knock the coconut down, which is how they will get the horn. Until, a fortune-teller gives them another ball to knock it down, but that does not work. Ashamed and empty-handed, Bubble tries to kill himself, but Squeek diverts the gun and ends up destroying the funfair and the coconut, which makes them win the grand prize.[3]

Home Sweet Home

A flea-bitten tramp visits the Bubble household and takes over Little Squeeker's chair, so she devises a plan to get rid of him. Her plans don't work and she changes her mind when she thinks of what will happen if the tramp is out of the house and welcomes the tramp into the house.[4]

Old Manor House

Caught between a storm. Bubble and Squeek take refuge in an abandoned mansion, which is owned by Colonel Rat. Colonel Rat is determined to catch the intruders. Both Bubble and Squeek think the mansion is haunted and hide when Colonel Rat is firing cannonballs at them. During the battle, Colonel gets tangled in a net which makes him look like a ghost. Squeek gets caught on armor. Bubble tries to be heroic by going after the 'ghost' but is surprised to find that he was just a little rat.[5]

Loch Ness Legend

A spin off. Colonel Rat and the Willie the Worm turn detective. They set off to find if the Loch Ness monster is genuine after it ruins his meal. He ends up finding it in a river with the help of Willie the Worm as bait, where the monster informs the rat that she is a legend. After telling Colonel, the monster then skips off the mountains.[6]

Radio and Television Packagers' redraws

In 1973 the company Radio and Television Packagers redrew the Bubble and Squeek cartoon Big City.[7] Packagers was known for producing low-quality black and white or Two-strip Technicolour redraws of cartoons. The redraw quality of Big City is low, and there are a lot of animation mistakes. In order to retrace the cartoon, the company used animators from South Korea, who were known for their poor quality, based on previously poorly recoloured cartoons.[8]

Examples of animating and editing errors in redrawn version.
  • No cigarettes drop down to Bubble's feet in the opening iris.[7]
  • The 2nd cigarette does not fully go into Bubble's mouth whilst he's in the waiting room.[7]
  • Squeek is the wrong colour; he is pink in the redrawn version but blue in original.[7]
  • In the pub, when Bubble is throwing the cigars, they just come back to him.[7]
  • July is spelled Jul in the calendar scene.[7]
  • The Bladford Sq. sign is upside down and spelled like Bladford S0.[7]
  • The ending line "Cab sir?" is missing.[7]

References
  1. "Animation Anecdotes #356 |". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  2. "The Big City (1947)".
  3. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Fun Fair (British Animated Productions.)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved 2018-02-06.
  4. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Home Sweet Home (British Animated Productions)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  5. DataBase, The Big Cartoon. "Old Manor House (British Animated Productions)". Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB). Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  6. pebey (2013-02-10), Bubble and Squeek present Loch Ness Legend, retrieved 2018-02-07
  7. "Big City (Radio and Television's redraw)".
  8. "The Radio & Television Packagers Redrawns | Retro Junk Article". www.retrojunk.com. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
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