There's Good Boos To-Night
There's Good Boos To-Night is a 1948 animated short directed by Izzy Sparber and narrated by Frank Gallop, featuring Casper the Friendly Ghost.[1] It is the second cartoon in the Casper series.[2] The title is a play on "There's good news tonight", the sign-on catchphrase of radio commentator Gabriel Heatter.[3]
There's Good Boos To-Night | |
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Directed by | I. Sparber Animation director: Myron Waldman (uncredited) |
Produced by | Seymour Kneitel Isadore Sparber Executive producer: Sam Buchwald (all uncredited) |
Story by | Bill Turner Larry Riley |
Starring | Narration: Frank Gallop Voice cast (uncredited): Walter Tetley (Casper) Sid Raymond (Other Ghosts) Jack Mercer (Other Ghosts/Calf/Ferdie Fox/Hunter) |
Music by | Winston Sharples |
Animation by | Myron Waldman Morey Reden Nick Tafuri |
Backgrounds by | Anton Loeb |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date | April 23, 1948 |
Running time | 8 minutes 45 seconds |
Language | English |
Plot
The cartoon opens with Casper sitting beside his grave which is decorated with the Bible segment 'love thy neighbor', reading a book on animal friends.[4] Around midnight, while the ghosts at the cemetery, where Casper is buried, are getting ready to go off and "boo" people, Casper is trying to make friends with animals instead of humans. The ghosts leave the cemetery, as does Casper, who wanders off looking for friends in a couple animals. However, when Casper tries to make friends with a baby calf, it runs away, calling for its "mama"; when the calf's mother goes up to Casper, she runs away from the farm and jumped over the moon.[5]
Later, Casper comes across a skunk and asks it to be friends, but it sprays him and runs away in terror. Casper sits on a log and ultimately cries because none of the animals want to be his friend. While Casper is sitting on the log, he catches the attention of a small fox cub who feels sorry for him. Casper and the fox quickly bond and he names the cub "Ferdie" and considers him to be his best friend. However, Casper and Ferdie's relationship is put in tremendous jeopardy, while they are playing a game of Hide and Seek. While Ferdie is hiding, a hunter and two of his hunting dogs come and try to kill Ferdie. They pursue him until he is exhausted and out of breath.
While the hunter is firing gunshots towards Ferdie, Casper flies in the hunter's direction, and demands that they leave Ferdie alone. When the dogs and the hunter see Casper, they flee in terror. Casper looks for Ferdie to tell him that everything is fine, but doesn't realize until too late that they shot Ferdie because the bullets went through him and hit Ferdie. Casper breaks down in tears because he lost "the only friend he ever had in his whole life." Casper returns to the cemetery where he buries Ferdie next to his own gravestone. Casper begins mourning but soon discovers that Ferdie has returned as a ghost himself. Reunited, Casper and Ferdie live "happily ever after."[6]
References
- My 13 Favorite Spooky Cartoons, by PAUL DINI|13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 63–64. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- Radio Days - Gabriel Heatter
- How Did Casper the Friendly Ghost Die?|Mental Floss
- Ghosts in Popular Culture and Legend - Google Books (pg.46-47)
- FilmAffinity
External links
- There's Good Boos To-Night at IMDb
- The short film There's Good Boos To-Night is available for free download at the Internet Archive
- BCDB