Time on My Hands
About Time on My Hands
A fisherman cannot keep his worms on the hook. A diver flirts with a mermaid drawn like Betty Boop. She turns into Ethel Merman, who sings 'Time on My Hands' in live action while a bouncing ball leads the lyric.
Cast & crew
More about Time on My Hands
Dave Fleischer directed this Screen Song. Max Fleischer produced. Paramount distributed it. The short is in black and white. Reference listings put the release in 1932.
Themes
Making
Fleischer cut from the underwater cartoon to Merman and the ball, then back to the gags with the worms.
Technique
Animation of the diver and the mermaid is cut directly into Merman's live-action chorus.
Music
Ethel Merman sings 'Time on My Hands,' the 1930 song, over the bouncing-ball chorus.
Preservation
The Screen Song is extant. A black-and-white copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The mermaid is drawn in the Betty Boop manner. She is not Betty Boop.
- Ethel Merman appears in the live-action chorus.
- 'Time on My Hands' was published in 1930.
- The bouncing-ball lyric was the point of the Screen Songs series.
- The cartoon is black and white.
Scenes
- The worms refuse to stay on the hook.
- The mermaid changes into Ethel Merman and the bouncing ball takes over the song.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Time on My Hands (1932).webm)
Quotes
Time on my hands, you in my arms.
