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Director: Boyd La Vero
Release Date: 1932
Stars: Marty the Monk
Rating: ★
Review
‘Mexically Lilly’ is the last of three known Marty the Monk cartoons.
Like Marty’s previous cartoon, ‘Mere Maids‘, it opens with live action footage of Boyd La Vero himself, but this time, the cartoon is a complete original, even though it thematically covers similar grounds as ‘The Cactus Kid’ (Walt Disney, 1930) and ‘Hot Tamale’ (Van Beuren, 1930).
‘Mexican Lilly’ thus is a classic Western cartoon. It starts with Marty riding horseback, being followed by a bunch of thugs(?). He escapes to Mexico, where he visits a canteen. There he encounters another villain, but he’s rescued by a fan dancer, who takes him to her bedroom, where she – believe it or not – strips before Marty’s very eyes. She leaves Marty to perform a risque fan dance. But then the thugs appear, and in a dark gun fight, everyone gets killed but Marty, the fan dancer, and the Mexican villain, who runs into the distance, naked.
‘Mexically Lily’ makes a little more sense than Marty’s first two films, but the animation remains crude and erratic. Unfortunately, Steve Stanchfield’s copy is rather poor, and devoid of sound, which was recreated, with okay results. The film was to be Marty’s last known screen appearance. I’m sorry to say that he will not be missed.
‘Mexically Lilly’ is available on the DVD ‘Cultoons! Rare, Lost and Strange Cartoons! Volume 3: Monkeys, Monsters & More!’
Director: Boyd La Vero
Release Date: 1932
Stars: Marty the Monk
Rating: ★
Review
‘Mere Maids’ is the second of three known Marty the Monk cartoons.
The short opens interestingly enough with Boyd La Vero sitting at his desk, working. We then cut to Marty, who drives to his sweetie’s house to drive her to ‘Parade Grounds’. But wait! Marty’s first cartoon, ‘Marty the Monk‘, took place there, too! Indeed, from that scene on, practically every scene is reused from the first cartoon, here and there with mild alterations in timing and gag development.
I’ve never before seen such blatant self-plagiarism: as if La Vero wanted to remake his own cartoon immediately. Unfortunately, the second attempt is as bad as the first one, and would in no way have a better chance to propel Marty’s career forward.
‘Mere Maids’ is available on the DVD ‘Cultoons! Rare, Lost and Strange Cartoons! Volume 3: Monkeys, Monsters & More!’
Director: Boyd La Vero
Release Date: 1931
Stars: Marty the Monk
Rating: ★
Review
The work of Steve Stanchfield from Thunderbean Animation cannot be praised enough. His tireless work to unravel lost or forgotten animation films from the golden age has resulted in many great finds. Many of the films discussed on this blog can be found on Thunderbean Animation DVDs only.
However, there are times when Steve Stanchfield unravels something that is hardly worth unraveling. Boyd La Vero’s Marty the Monk series is one of those. The series, made for Associated Films, apparently only comprised three known episodes. These three shorts are typical products of the rubberhose animation era, but they are all hampered by erratic storytelling, poor animation, slow timing and hardly any sense of gravity.
In the first cartoon we watch several animals, including Marty, riding a streetcar to ‘Parade Grounds’, where Marty starts to conduct an orchestra, while a fashion show of bathing beauties is going on. One of the beauties is a female monkey, and the two dance together in what’s the only interestingly animated scene of the entire cartoon. Next there’s a diving contest, and the female monkey falls into the pond, to be rescued by Marty or is she?
There’s extremely little to enjoy in ‘Marty the Monk’, and to me it’s no wonder the character and his maker are forgotten today. So, who was Boyd La Vero? I have no idea. The only person telling us something on the internet is historian David Gerstein, who reveals that animator Cal Dalton (of later Warner Bros. fame) worked for him… Perhaps he can tell us a little bit more?
‘Marty the Monk’ is available on the DVD ‘Cultoons! Rare, Lost and Strange Cartoons! Volume 3: Monkeys, Monsters & More!’
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