Beer Parade (1933)
Article 5733 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-4-2020
Directed by Dick Huemer
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Inebriated Animation

Scrappy and his little brother Oopie serve beer to a gang of thirsty gnomes, but an enraged prohibitionist chops up their kegs. Will they seek revenge?

For the record, Scrappy was an animated character for the Columbia cartoons of the thirties, and he and his little brother are little kids. This cartoon does not have them imbibing in the alcoholic beverages; they only serve it to a gang of thirsty gnomes (which I suspect are borrowed from the story of Rip Van Winkle). Make no mistake about it; this cartoon is not about responsible drinking. It’s a celebration of excess and inebriation; not one of these gnomes could be called a designated driver. It’s the presence of the gnomes that makes this one qualify as fantastic cinema, and even though the cartoon doesn’t explicitly call them gnomes (or, for that matter, anything), I feel I can safely say that an assortment of big-nosed bearded humanoids which are shorter than the little kids in the cartoon can safely classified as some sort of fantastically-themed breed. This is obviously a celebration of the lifting of prohibition. It’s also one of the better Scrappy cartoons I’ve seen, though it could definitely be described as politically incorrect; it’s energetic and has its funny moments. It’s certainly one of the funnier cartoons I’ve seen from Columbia in this era.