Well, here it is March, and it’s already the second Friday the 13th of the year! Normally, today’s the day where a movie blog will run an article on the Friday the 13th films. But let’s face it, Jason Voorhees and his summer camp shenanigans have been…well, done to death. Instead, let’s focus on the unlucky aspect of today’s date. We’re taking a look at a cartoon black cat who puts his knack for causing catastrophe to good use.
Directed by the legendary Tex Avery for MGM, 1949’s Bad Luck Blackie is packed with his trademark brand of exaggerated physical humor. The short opens on a little gray kitten who’s being tormented by a chuckling bulldog (Fun Fact: The canine’s boisterous laughs were supplied by Avery himself). After catching its tongue in a mousetrap (!) hidden in a bowl of milk, getting squished between books on a shelf (coming out as a volume reading Kitty Foiled), and other abuses, the picked-on puss meets derby-wearing Blackie in an alley. Offering a business card for Black Cat Bad Luck Company (“Paths Crossed–Guaranteed Bad Luck”), Blackie demonstrates by walking in front of the dog, who is instantly beaned by a flowerpot. He then hands the kitten a summoning whistle to blow anytime he’s in trouble.
What follows is one Averyesque sight gag after another. Every time the bulldog threatens the kitten, he tweets on the whistle. In comes Blackie, usually to the tune of “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye.” A second flowerpot, a steamer trunk, a piano, and assorted objects drop onto the antagonist’s noggin. The dog wises up and manages to cover Blackie in white paint, nullifying his powers of misfortune. Just as he’s about to get his revenge, the kitten dives into a can of black paint, then crosses their path. One fallen anvil later, the bulldog collapses on the ground and accidentally swallows the whistle. Toss in a case of the hiccups, and he’s summoning down everything from the kitchen sink to a battleship. A grateful Blackie hands his now-white derby over to the kitten, who chuckles gleefully.
Bad Luck Blackie doesn’t quite match the surreal heights of other Avery MGM efforts (Dumb-Hounded, Red Hot Riding Hood, Lucky Ducky). But it is a funny and compact little tale of an underdog–okay, underkitten–overcoming persecution. The various methods Blackie uses to place himself between his client and the dog are clever. And the array of falling objects never fails to amuse. If I have one quibble with this short, it’s that the final twist doesn’t really make sense. Throughout the story it’s the bulldog’s path being crossed that brings on bad luck. But, once he swallows the whistle, it’s the resulting sound causing his mishaps. Yes, I know, I’m trying to rationalize cartoon physics. I always tend to overthink things on Friday the 13th…knock on wood.