The brilliance of this cartoon is that you don't need to see the setup to understand the dynamic. No words are required, either. This was very well done.
I've been thinking about the old cartoons lately, and how well they were able to express things. This is a good example.
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I can't listen to music/movies when flying, but I can watch. On a trans-Atlantic flight they offered a couple of uninteresting movies and a modern sitcom and an old I Love Lucy. The latter two I watched w/o sound.
It was night and day. The body language that went with the old show was almost enough to carry the show by itself, without dialog. Maybe it was the legacy of the old silents that led them to develop the skill, or maybe from learning to perform on stages without microphones. Or maybe L.B. was simply miles ahead of those modern actors. (and her co-stars were better too)
...or maybe from learning to perform on stages without microphones.
Yes, I think that's a big part of it. Jackie Gleason worked theaters until he got signed for television and movies, and the body language ended up being a big part of the comedy in The Honeymooners. It was something they knew how to do.
Note that the cartoon provided a venue for 20th century music. I suspect the music was composed for the cartoon.
The music for the old cartoons was pretty good, quite often taking from the classic repertoire.
"...r maybe from learning to perform on stages without microphones."
Yes. Todays actors, some of whom have *never* worked without a mic- even on stage- are terrible. Half the time when watching TV, I have to re-listen to something three times and sometimes *still* don't know what they said. Not only is the body language gone- so is enunciation and projection. They don't even realize that a whisper can still be enunciated and projected if you know how.
/end rant
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