. . . halfway through his six-minute Looney Tunes biography, BARTHOLOMEW VERSUS THE WHEEL, at the sight of a blue elephant caravan passing him in the Sahara Desert. Since when are elephants blue?! Sure, there's blue bells, blue ice, and even blue whales, but blue ELEPHANTS?! Looney Tuner prognosticators always relied on String Theory and Quantum Physics to show that ANYTHING is possible. For instance, one can watch BARTHOLOMEW during the Ninth Inning of the Oct. 22, 2016 Cubs versus Dodgers Game, which happens to be the exact 60th anniversary of the Dodgers being the ONLY losing team in 113 years of MLB baseball post-season history to send the absolute minimum of just 27 men up to bat. Guess what? This game ends with the Dodgers AGAIN sending only 27 guys to the plate. (It's also the exact 46th anniversary of the Billy Goat Curse guy croaking, meaning that his ban on the Cubs ever reaching the World Series again gets Dumped on his Death Day!) So what do Bart's Blue Elephants signify? Two things, Warner is telling us: A)The blue-clad Cubs will beat the Racist Cleveland Indians to become World Champs, and B)Enough Blue-State Union Democrats will back the Elephantine Party to put Donald J. Trump into the White House!
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oscaralbert23 October 2016
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. . . but he wasn't the first such Lone Wolf operator. Though THE HOUNDS OF THE BASKERVILLES cooperated with each other during their murder sprees, running in packs, BARTHOLOMEW VERSUS THE WHEEL indicates that Brown Bart (NOT to be confused with his Racist litter sibling Black, as Warner Bros. always strives to be Politically Correct) is a mutt whom is an island (which he CAN be, since he isn't a man). The first two wheels Brown Bart is depicted attacking here as a puppy (one belongs to a scooter, the other to some roller skates) he's shown burying deep in the ground. His round victims eventually get too large to detach from their mother boards, but since you cannot teach an old dog new forensic profiles, there's no reason to believe that the now gargantuan pooch outgrows his habit of interring his target wheels, along with whatever is attached to them. His fourth attack documented here shows the gigantic canine chomping on a car--DRIVER INSIDE AND ALL! Obviously, the occupants of such engraved vehicles will suffocate to death, like that busload of kidnapped school kids entombed under the California desert. If this short is based upon such a True Story, one can only hope that the next wheel Bart latches onto belongs to Crooked Hillary's Black Getaway Van.
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Although acclaimed animator and director Robert McKimson is often regarded in high esteem for his efforts in the original Looney Tunes filmography, he tended to create fairly hit or miss cartoons in his directorial career. One of his more fascinating works later on in the WB cartoon lineup was an interesting James Thurber inspired fable called Bartholomew versus the Wheel. With Thurber as the artistic influence all over this cartoon, it's clear that McKimson and his crew attempted to follow the UPA aesthetic established in the late 1940s, despite the short being released in 1964.
The short tells the story of a domestic dog named Bartholomew, who grows to hate wheels of all kinds after an accidental injury. A fairly simple yet charming concept at play is fairly muddled in the execution, particularly because Bartholomew's wheel problem feels rushed in its setup. It doesn't help that since the plot details Barthlomew getting lost in an Arabic desert landscape after nabbing a plane's wheel, the intent to make the dog have a change of heart feels confusing and forced outside of the basic idea that Bartholomew can go back to his home the same way. Also, the main thesis behind the film gets set up a bit too late as the short spends a bit too much time detailing Bartholomew being bullied and overshadowed by a malicious cat, who doesn't even show up until the very end for an obvious payoff. Perhaps if the short cut right to the chase in Bartholomew's hatred of wheels and development on growing fond of them by being away from home for so long, then maybe the short might've been more special than its sketchy opening titles would suggest.
On the other hand, as the short is narrated by Bartholomew's child owner, Leslie Barringer's performance sounds genuinely authentic from the perspective of a light hearted child with a simple yet elegant admiration for his canine friend. Much of the short's strengths lies in the graphic art direction courtesy of veteran layout artist Bob Givens and background painter Robert Gribbroek, as they created the world in the cartoon to look like a children's book Thurber himself would create. Credited animators Ted Bonnicksen, George Grandpre and Warren Batchelder were often regarded as the weakest animators under McKimson's status as director, but the more limited graphic design work suits their strengths and weaknesses by being intentionally easy enough to move around without coming off as too jerky or distorted. Also, while Mel Blanc simply uses his stock dog vocals for Barthlomew, composer Bill Lava's score suits the laid back tone and does at least make up for the otherwise underwhelming climax. Arguably one of the few times Lava's work benefited a cartoon rather than soured it.
Even for its highs and lows, Bartholomew versus the Wheel is a charming effort on behalf of a beloved cartoon director and his crew attempting to do something outside of their usual filmography. At that point when the people behind the Warner cartoons had clearly run out of steam with what they could do with their popular icons like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, these neat little one off shorts were a nice breath of fresh air, regardless of the quality. If you're to look at it under the context of a historical animation studio nearing its demise, it's certainly far from being a turkey. -
slymusic30 March 2009"Bartholomew versus the Wheel" is a very nice Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Robert McKimson and written by John Dunn. The star of this cartoon is a dog named Bartholomew, and the narrator is a little boy (wonderfully voiced by Leslie Barringer) who owns Bartholomew. Bartholomew is basically a good dog until his tail gets run over by a wheel, which causes more trouble for him than anyone could ever imagine.
My two favorite scenes from this cartoon: 1.) One of the desert Arabs (hilariously voiced by Mel Blanc) curses at Bartholomew and then expresses complete surprise upon spotting an airplane. 2.) After learning to love wheels, Bartholomew affectionately licks a few and gets petted for it.
I remember first seeing "Bartholomew versus the Wheel" on Nickelodeon back in the eighties, and I'm now pleased to find this cartoon released on DVD. It's one of the bonus cartoons on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 6 Disc 4. -
. . . reinvent the wheel. BARTHOLOMEW VERSUS THE WHEEL is not among the upper echelon of these animated shorts. We used to have a dog that chased cars--from the safety of the opposite side of our fence. Since he was faster than some of the vehicles he was chasing on our short block, the fence was the main reason he never caught a car. On the other hand, Bart the mutt catches almost every vehicle which he pursues. He even crosses the Atlantic Ocean in the surprisingly hospitable wheel well of a jet plane--twice! Based upon our personal experience, this film does not seem very credible.
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This is one of those latter-day Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoons near the end of the original Termite Terrece period just as the studio first closed in 1963. This was one of two (the other being Chuck Jones' Now Hear This) that has the more modern open done to Bill Lava's version of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" which would be adapted by DePatie-Freleng when they took over producing the Warner cartoons for the next four years. The ending theme, however, for only these two was the sound of the chimes of Big Ben. This cartoon, directed by Robert McKimson, has the UPA-influenced stylized design that started appearing in many of these latter-day cartoons. They're pretty good designs for this particular story of a dog whose name is in the title chasing and eating every wheel he sees because of one from a hand-ridden scooter that ran over his tail one day. Narrated by a child actor, this short goes by on charm with occasional giggle-, instead of guffaw-, inducing scenes. One other thing I'd like to note is that Bartholomew's bark is the same as Dino's on "The Flintstones" (since Mel Blanc is the voice of both, that's no surprise). So on that note, if you're in the mood for a charming, simple story for kids, I highly recommend Bartholomew Versus the Wheel.
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lee_eisenberg6 November 2008If not for the opening and closing credits, I would have never guessed that "Bartholomew Versus the Wheel" came from the Warner Bros. animation department (let alone from the director of the Foghorn Leghorn and Tasmanian Devil cartoons). Drawn very crudely - seriously, it looks more like a storybook - the cartoon clearly identifies that Warner Bros. animation had passed its heyday. To be certain, the studio heads closed the animation department in 1963, prompting Friz Freleng to open his own animation studio (Robert McKimson joined, but Chuck Jones moved to MGM). DePatie-Freleng loaned cartoons to WB for a few years until WB cut off relations with them and tried to restart its own animation studio, but that didn't last very long, and so no more cartoons came from WB.
Anyway, this isn't a bad cartoon, but the era of their really great cartoons was definitely over by this point. -
I say this as a fan of Merrie Melodies/Warner Bros/Looney Tunes since goodness knows how long. Anybody expecting the usual will be surprised for either the better or worse depending on who you are. While unusual for me Bartholomew Versus the Wheel was still a well done cartoon. Sure, some of the backgrounds are rather crudely drawn and the colours could have done with being less sparse. The music though is catchy and fittingly orchestrated, if not in the same league as Carl Stalling, and the stylised character designs were interesting and easy on the eyes at least. There are some amusing moments too, while the story is endearingly cute without being overly sentimental. Bartholomew as a title character is delightful and immediately identifiable. Mel Blanc's voice work is outstanding as you would expect from one of the greatest voice actors of all time.
All in all, very cute if unusual. 8/10 Bethany Cox -
wile_E20057 February 2006This is definitely not your usual Merrie Melodie cartoon. In fact, you can tell it's going to be different when you see the modern 1960s abstract WB opening and closing sequences (which features a weird arrangement of "The Merry-Go-Round-Broke-Down," whereas the normal 1936-1964 Merrie Melodies theme is "Merrily We Roll Along!") When I first saw this on Cartoon Network's "ACME Hour," I was really surprised by this cartoon. The animation is a bit similar to Hanna-Barbera, and the drawing style is reminiscent of James Thurber's illustrations. (UPA tried doing a Thurber-type cartoon back in the 50s, "A Unicorn in the Garden.") The backgrounds are crude crayon-style, and the music is not your definite Looney Tuney music (hey, they didn't have Carl Stalling anymore!) When I first saw it, I thought the animators must have been sick or something like that and couldn't draw like they usually do. However, the story is SO CUTE! It is one of Robert McKimson's finest cartoons of the 1960s.
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zmckemail-imdb22 August 2006one of the best ever. Bartholomew Versus the Wheel is my daughters, and My favorite. We recorded and watched it often, then it was erased accidentally. we want to purchase it but have been unable to locate it. Bartholomew is delightful and cute, especially when his tail gets hurt and he has to comfort himself. His anger gets him whisked to another land, and he just wants to be home again. Upon his return home, he has gained confidence in himself and learned tolerance. However he does stand up to the cat that has tormented him daily. He barks and the cat goes into pieces and back together again. it gave real meaning and pleasure to my daughter when I told her about falling to pieces.
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utgard145 August 2016All the Termite Terrace greats who made such wonderful cartoons with the characters like Bugs and Daffy also from time to time made other cartoons that allowed their genius to shine with a freedom they might not have with the franchise characters. Chuck Jones in particular made many great cartoons like that. Here's one for Robert McKimson, an often underrated animation director who did a variety of work with almost all the classic Looney Tunes characters but is best remembered (by me, at least) for his work with Foghorn Leghorn. This is a charming story about a dog named Bartholomew who develops a vendetta against wheels after a boy on a scooter runs over his tail. The short's narrated by the dog's owner, voiced by child actor Leslie Barringer. The animation is intentionally crude and appealing in its childlike innocence. The colors are gorgeous. The music is some of the best from any short Bill Lava had anything to do with. It's an adorable cartoon that's fresh and smart. Both kids and adults should like it. I think it might be McKimson's best work outside of the Foghorn series.