Vimacone The caricature cartoon had become a staple in the late 1930's and lasted well into the late 40's. These are among the most fascinating of animation period pieces.One of McKimson's first cartoons presents an interesting take on the subject. Instead of doing straight human caricatures or anthropomorphic animals, these caricatures are presented as the pets of the Hollywood stars. The premise has multi layered references to World War II. The Hollywood Canteen was a club that offered food and entertainment for the servicemen during the war. This was the subject of a WB feature film of the same title during the war. In fact the cue that plays over the opening credits of this short, "Corns For My Country", was one of the featured songs from the feature. Certain breeds of dogs were also used in various capacities during the war. Hence, the premise of a Canteen for the war dogs.This is also an interesting cartoon for McKimson. It's believed by many fans that his first few cartoons were actually started by Tashlin. While this notion has been dis-proved, this short does not feel at all like a McKimson directed short. His visual style is all there, but the idea of the cartoon and the feel of it is definitely reminiscent of Tashlin. In my opinion, this is the only short by McKimson that feels like a Tashlin leftover. But considering that McKimson got practically all of Tashlin's unit, there were bound to be some similarities for the first several cartoons.Definitely an interesting period piece and one of the last WB cartoons of its kind from the caricature/Hollywood nightclub genre.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . go to Heaven, and in H0LLYWOOD CANINE CANTEEN Warner Bros.' Looney Tuners depict all of Tinseltown's "stars" as becoming mutts in the Hereafter. A person would need to be dead themselves to recognize some if any of these Doggie Versions of 1900s notables known to the Great Grandparents of Today's Millennials. Just imagine if we sent a Golden DVD out Today on a Voyager 3 Spacecraft, which included cartoon caricatures for the Pre-Corpse Versions of the Artist Once Known as Prince, along with Heath "The Joker" Ledger, Paul "Furious" Walker, Michael "Moonwalker" Jackson, Joe "Hit the showers, Jerry" Paterno, Whitney Houston, Robin Williams, Elvis himself, and so forth. Even if you tried to be more user friendly than Warner Bros. by providing names on-screen telling whom each animated H0LLYWOOD CANINE supposedly represents, would the people or aliens playing it back in a billion years really give a hoot? Merely displaying a name would not be enough to supply Viewers of the Future with any meaningful cultural context. The aliens would not be able to hear the doves crying as the Jesus Juice flowed freely amid a shower of purple rain.

tavm Just watched this cartoon on the Hollywood Canteen DVD which I partly recognized as first watching on a local afternoon kids show called "The Buckskin Bill Show" in the late '70s. (He also had a morning show called "Buckskin Bill's Storyland" which I also watched) This one is a parody of the actual Hollywood Canteen which had various stars during World War II serving food and entertainment for soldiers around the world. Among the dog caricatures I enjoyed: Laurel & Hardy doing dishes with Stan putting the same one back, Abbott & Costello with the latter saying he's a baaaadd bow-wow, and Blondie & "Dogwood" with the latter getting a big sandwich full of bones. There are more gags that hit than miss so on that note, I highly recommend Hollywood Canine Canteen.

Lee Eisenberg Yes, it's another celebrities-caricatured-as-animals cartoon. Robert McKimson's "Hollywood Canine Canteen" has pretty much the same plot as Tex Avery's "Hollywood Steps Out" from a few years earlier, only this time portraying dogs belonging to famous people (often with names altered to sound canine). As is often the case, they depict Frank Sinatra - or his caricature - as emaciated.However, there is one scene that, in my opinion, represents a future part of popular culture. The female dog running the cloak room looks almost exactly like Connie Hines, who played Carol on "Mister Ed". And let me tell you, SHE IS ONE OF THE HOTTEST WOMEN EVER TO GRACE THE TV SCREEN!!!!!! Every time that I get a chance to watch "Mister Ed", I only watch it to see Connie Hines (who cares about a talking horse?). Although Ms. Hines retired from acting many years ago, I still consider her one of the most attractive/beautiful/good-looking/gorgeous women of all time. And this cartoon contains a character who resembles her almost to a tee, probably not knowing that they were creating a character who looks like her.OK, I'm sure that my assertion has nothing to do with the cartoon in general. The cartoon is worth seeing. Not one of their greatest, but certainly OK in a pinch. One of McKimson's more significant cartoons in 1946 was "Walky Talky Hawky", which debuted Foghorn Leghorn.In conclusion: I LOVE YOU, CONNIE, AND I ALWAYS WILL! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO