It's a Greek Life

Name: It's a Greek Life
Director: Dan Gordon
Genre: Animation
Released: 1936
Duration: 7 min

1936 Animation 7 minutes Directed by Dan Gordon

About It's a Greek Life

Mercury leaves his winged sandals with a centaur cobbler. The centaur has already tried to fly with a pair of ducks. He takes the sandals for a spin over the Greek landscape and does not finish the repair. When Mercury comes back, the centaur pulls wings off birds and nails them to plain sandals. Mercury is not fooled. He turns the centaur into a pretzel.

Cast & crew

Dan Gordon Director

More about It's a Greek Life

Dan Gordon directed it. Amedee J. Van Beuren produced it. Winston Sharples wrote the music. Van Beuren made it as a Rainbow Parade cartoon, the 25th in the series, and RKO released it on 21 August 1936. It runs 7 minutes. The voices use Italian accents.

Themes

Sandals left for repair
A flight the cobbler was not hired to take
A pretzel for a punishment
Mercury
centaur
sandals
ducks
Rainbow Parade
Van Beuren

Making

Van Beuren built the short on one unpaid job: Mercury's sandals, a joyride, and a punishment.

Music

Winston Sharples wrote the music.

Preservation

A print survives.

Notes

The ducks are both the centaur's earlier flying gear and the pests on the flight.
The fake repair is bird wings nailed onto ordinary sandals.
The last gag turns the cobbler into a pretzel.
Sculpture in the background is used as part of the action.

Scenes

The centaur flies on Mercury's sandals with the ducks after him.
He nails bird wings onto plain sandals.
Mercury turns him into a pretzel.

Also available

Wikimedia Commons (Dan Gordon - Rainbow Parade - It's a Greek Life (1936).webm)