The CooCoo Nut Grove (1936) User Reviews

It Helps To Know Who These Celebs Are

[ccthemovieman-1 · 6/10 · 11 May 2007]

"Dine And Dance With The Stars" is the in-house advertisement on this cartoon, which takes place in the famous nightclub, The Cocoanut Grove, which has its name altered in the title here.

You would have to have grown up in the '20s and '30s to know all the personalities that are being spoofed in here, beginning with the band leader, but it was still fun trying to pick out all the people I knew from classic films.

Those I did recognize through sight or audio were columnist Walter Winchell, W.C. Fields, Katharine Hepburn (called "Miss Heartburn" here), Johnny Weissmueller and Maureen O'Sullivan, Hedda Hopper (who turns out to be Groucho Marx), Harpo Marx, Mae West (dancing with a turtle), Oliver and Hardy, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable (flapping his Dumbo-like ears), Edward G. Robinson and George Raft and others I couldn't quite get.

Two of the people featured, the emcee and band leader, and the female crooner I did know. Nonetheless, celebrity-gazing aside, the colors in here were astounding and restoration job outstanding. This looked very good for a cartoon so old. The humor wasn't much. I'm sure this would have been a lot funnier to the folks watching back in the mid '30s because they could relate to all those people.

This was part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3 DVD.

cry me a river (or even more)

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 29 September 2007]

Anyone who's seen enough Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons should know that the creators really liked to poke fun at Hollywood in their cartoons. An example is Friz Freleng's "The CooCoo Nut Grove". We see caricatures of Walter Winchell, Katharine Hepburn (called Ms. Heartburn), Laurel and Hardy, Clark Gable and more.

Obviously, the problem with these sorts of cartoons is that we in the 21st century might not know who the targets are. I'd certainly never heard of Ben Bernie before this. But as long as we just pay attention to the wacky jokes and gags, the cartoon remains a hoot. I guess that as long as there's the celebrity culture - which by now has grown seemingly to a million times the size of what it was in the '30s, partially due to the media fawning over them - there will always be something to spoof.

A jumbled celebrity caricature cartoon

[phantom_tollbooth · 5/10 · 3 November 2008]

Friz Freleng's 'The Coo Coo Nut Grove' is a Hollywood stars caricature cartoon with a difference. The difference is that some of the celebrities are portrayed as animals. Harpo Marx is a bird, Laurel and Hardy are a pig and a monkey, Katherine Hepburn is a horse, etc. This promising concept is soured, however, by the odd fact that only some of the stars are animals. Curiously, some of the caricatures are humans. I can't help but feel that it would have been a funnier concept had all of the characters been animals or humans. Mixing them together just makes it seem odd, particularly when we discover that Groucho Marx is a human while Harpo is a bird?! Tex Avery made a much better caricature cartoon five years later called 'Hollywood Steps Out' in which all the stars were portrayed in their human form. As is generally the case with these cartoons, the fun is in spotting the celebrities and trying to get the references. 'The Coo Coo Nut Grove' would have brought the house down in its day when all the references were topical, now its more fascinating than funny.

Excellent caricatures!

[slymusic · 30 January 2008]

"The CooCoo Nut Grove" is a wonderful Warner Bros. caricature cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The title is a takeoff of the Cocoanut Grove, a popular Hollywood hangout during its golden age. In this cartoon, the various caricatured celebrities who frequent the Coo-Coonut Grove are a mixture of humans, birds, and other animals. Hosting this musical extravaganza is the cigar-chomping, violin-toting Ben Birdie (a caricature of radio personality Ben Bernie), complete with a suave vocal delivery peppered with humorously awkward slang.

Here are my favorite caricatures from "The CooCoo Nut Grove." (DON'T read any further if you have not yet seen this cartoon.) First off, there's the delightfully hoo-hooing Hugh Herbert and the dourly cigar-chomping Ned Sparks ("I go everywhere, I do everything, and I never have any fun"). Then there are Groucho and Harpo Marx, the latter (a bird) chasing the former (a human disguised in drag). Then there are handsome Clark Gable (with his large ears) and tough-guy Edward G. Robinson, as well as Stan Laurel (a monkey) and Oliver Hardy (a pig). Not to mention W.C. Fields (a pig) and Katharine Hepburn (a horse named Ms. Heartburn). And finally, there is Edna May Oliver doing a very funny dance to "Lady in Red." (As of this writing, I have not yet seen any of Edna May's motion pictures, but I HAVE seen a nice publicity photo of her with Ted Healy and His Stooges from the 1933 MGM feature "Meet the Baron.")

Celebrity caricatures were all the rage in the 1930s. You could find them in lots of cartoons from this period. My absolute favorite Warner Bros. caricature cartoon is "Hollywood Steps Out" (1941), but I also highly admire "The CooCoo Nut Grove" for all of its cleverness. You can find this cartoon on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3 Disc 2 (a disc in which all the cartoons contained within specialize in Hollywood caricatures and parodies).

It might not be Col. Mustard with a candlestick in the library . . .

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 21 July 2016]

. . . or even Fatty Arbuckle with an icicle in the bedroom, but Harpo Marx with a bike horn in THE COO COO NUT GROVE is better than nothing for viewers with a hankering to keep seeing Dead People. Since Olivia De Havilland is nowhere to be seen in GROVE, it's hard to imagine that the inspiration for any of these caricatures is still alive. (Even with all of "modern" medicine's "advances," if you put together an animated short featuring cartoon spoofs of Today's geezers--such as George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, and Billy Bob Thornton--it's hard to imagine that ANY of them would still be alive and kicking when you screened it at a retrospective film fest in 2096, which is as far off in the Future as GROVE is in the Past.) If you can recognize all of the "stars" depicted during GROVE from your memories of seeing their work as first-run films, you had better check YOUR pulse, as you've probably passed away yourself. (There's nothing more aggravating than to be driving on the freeway and running upon some deceased driver clogging the high-speed passing lane with their left turn signal still on, blithely ignorant that they're deceased.)

Fun Stuff

[Kieran_Kenney · 6/10 · 24 February 2004]

This fun little film was on TV one night a few years ago, and I just happened to see it. Being a big fan of classic Hollywood, I was amused to see all the very recognizable caricatures of such greats as Laurel and Hardy, Jimmy Durante, Mae West, et al. It was about one A.M., so all the jokes were especially funny, such as when one very fat guy (was it Hardy) is shown dancing from behind, then he turns around and is dancing with a row of three women. As I recall, there must have been some jokes about Durante's nose, or W.C. Fields' comedy schtick, which I never much cared for. I'd enjoy seeing it again. 6/10

My old high school is now a Kroger store . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 20 March 2014]

. . . and L.A.'s famed Cocoanut Grove night club (THE COO COO NUT GROVE here, in this seven-minute cartoon) is now a high school. A lot of guys were snapped with towels in the locker room of my alma mater, but that's probably not the main reason they tore it down (though who can really say for sure?). Presidential primary winner Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down by someone in the Ambassador Hotel, which also housed the Cocoanut Grove. Many people were sorry that the Hall of Music at the Pan-American Exposition, or Buffalo, NY, World's Fair of 1901, was torn down despite its historical significance of being where the "Father of the Dingley Tariff" spent his final healthy moment. Similarly, these same folks find it hard to watch THE COO COO NUT GROVE cartoon today, now that the Ambassador and the Cocoanut Grove club that used to be within have met with the wrecking ball (not to mention the fact that, among the 35 real life people caricatured here, 33 are dead: only Annette Lillianne Marie Dionne Allard and Cecile Marie Emilda Dionne Langlois still are living; they both will turn 80 on May 28). The one saving grace is that someone may get snapped with a towel tomorrow where all this cartoon action took place.

An immensely fun caricature cartoon

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 27 September 2016]

Although not flawlessly executed, cartoons with a lot of caricatures are potentially problematic, was still mostly very entertaining. A relatively early Looney Tunes/ Merrie Melodies effort for Fritz Freleng, this is not him at his best with his masterpieces coming much better, but there is no mistaking his style and it's hard not to like.

It is agreed that 'The CooCoo Nut Grove' is a little jumbled, it was a lot of fun guessing who was who and seeing some of them as animals (very imaginatively done and actually come off better than the caricatures not presented as animals) but others are still human, and it definitely would have been better if it was one or the other (seeing them as animals would be more inventive) which would have made things a little more focused and less strange.

Most of the caricatures for any classic film fans (count me as one) will be immediately recognisable, and misfires are very few. The caricatures are very funny and the references are of the time somewhat but hold up better today than a fair few other similar cartoons. There are a couple of less familiar ones here too, so they come off less successfully when they go over one's head.

In terms of animation quality, the cartoon is quite beautifully done, with lovingly detailed backgrounds and vibrant colours. The music brims with lively energy and luscious orchestration, not only being dynamic to the action and adding to it but enhancing it as well.

While light on story, the wild and wacky energy more than compensates, as does the voice acting, no Mel Blanc but 'The CooCoo Nut Grove' doesn't suffer in any way without him.

On the whole, immensely fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The concept is strong, but the years passed may be a problem

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 30 September 2017]

"The CooCoo Nut Grove" is a 7-minute cartoon from 1936, so this Schlesinger/WB production had its 80th birthday last year already. Here the legendary Friz Freleng gives us a work that does not really have a plot, but is a collection of the biggest stars from back then together with some comedy and slapstick, but also a slightly more serious ending that refers to one of the more known 1935 films. Other films are referenced as well. I guess the stars must have really liked to see their animated selves back then, but honestly as good as it may have been back in the day, the difficult it is ton appreciate today because several of the people and films in here are simply not really known anymore today and this of course does not include Laurel and Hardy, probably the most known from the bunch. The animation is strong of course and the comedy is decent too. For the lovers of Old Hollywood, this should be a feast, even without the legendary cartoon characters. But even without the bunnies, ducks and pigs, there are many animal references in here. Early on, I had doubts, but eventually I give this one a thumbs-up. Worth checking out, even if it is obviously not as easy to appreciate today as a Sylvester/Tweety cartoon for example.

Spoof of famous celebrity hangout The Cocoanut Grove

[ChrisG-8 · 29 November 2004]

Early animation short most notable for the fun trying to figure out who the caricatures are. Most are very easy for an old movie buff but a few might be a challenge. The dance described in the previous review where Oliver Hardy is concealing the fact he is dancing with more than one woman with his back turned isn't in this short. That segment is from a similar cartoon titled Hollywood Steps Out that came a few years later and also included Hollywood stars in a nightclub. This nostalgic little cartoon was shown by Turner Classic Movies as part of their Cartoon Alley. I decided to set up a TiVo season pass for TCM cartoons after watching this one to see what other treasures might show up. I do hope the stars weren't offended by their appearance in this cartoon. One of Hollywood's greatest will be pictured as a horse now whenever seen in a film by this reviewer.

This Wouldn't Be Made Today

[Michael_Elliott · 8 June 2016]

The CooCoo Nut Grove (1936)

*** (out of 4)

There's not too much story here but there are certainly a great number of site gags. What we have is a Warner animated short that takes place inside a night club where a variety of movie stars are hanging. If you showed this film to most people today they probably wouldn't know very many people but if you're a film buff then you'll certainly understand it a lot more as there are a number of screen stars on full display here. Oliver and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Clark Gable, W.C. Fields, Charles Laughton, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Edward G. Robinson, Gary Cooper, Wallace Beery, George Raft, John Barrymore and Johnny Weissmueller are just a few of the stars that we see here. You have to laugh at some of the characterizations on display but I must admit that I've always been amazed that the studios were willing to make fun of various stars. You've got Gable here with giant flapping ears. Hepburn is shown to have a horse's face. You get the idea. The film is actually a lot of fun and I'm sure film buffs will enjoy it.