Opening Night
About Opening Night
Santa Claus dusts the letters R-O-X-Y onto the screen. Cubby the Bear cannot get a ticket for opening night at the new RKO Roxy, so he sneaks in and lands on the conductor’s stand. He leads an animal opera, listed in the summaries as Faust. During a fight one singer takes the other’s head off.
Cast & crew
More about Opening Night
Mannie Davis directed Cubby’s first short for producer Amadee J. Van Beuren. It still carries the Aesop’s Fables banner, with Cubby named on the title card. RKO released it on February 10, 1933. The cartoon was drawn for the RKO Roxy, which had opened on December 29, 1932.
Themes
Background
The RKO Roxy was brand new when the short was made. Within weeks the owners of the older Roxy objected to the name, and the house was renamed the Center.
Making
Davis drew Cubby as Van Beuren’s next try at a star after the studio’s earlier series had stalled. The bear is on screen from the title card, not saved for a later entrance.
Reviews
On May 8, 2017, Dr. Grob’s Animation Review called the seat gags strange and noted the beheading in the opera fight. The same review gives the score to Gene Rodemich and says the rest of the short is less inspired.
Music
Gene Rodemich scored the short from Italian opera tunes. Listings still describe the on-screen opera as Faust.
Preservation
A restored raw HD WebM is on Wikimedia Commons. The short is also file one in the Internet Archive set Van Beuren's Cubby Bear - The Complete Collection, marked public domain.
Notes
- IMDb notes that Santa blesses the New RKO Roxy, whose real opening was December 29, 1932, four days after Christmas.
- A comment on Greenbriar Picture Shows says the New York Times paired the live show The Animal Kingdom with that theater’s opening night.
- The RKO Roxy was one of the houses that premiered King Kong the following month. Van Beuren’s cartoons went out through RKO.
- Dr. Grob singles out gags built on the theater seats.
- A restored raw HD file on Wikimedia Commons uses the Aesop’s Fables title in the filename.
Scenes
- Santa’s dust spells out ROXY.
- Cubby drops onto the conductor’s stand and takes the opera.
- In the fight, one singer beheads the other.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Mannie Davis - Aesop's Fables - Opening Night (1933) (restored raw HD version).webm)
- Internet Archive (van-beurens-cubby-bear-the-complete-collection)
