No one approaches Heckle and Jeckle cartoons expecting art \u2013 or, for that matter, coherent storytelling, sophisticated dialogue or an ironic reflection on the emotional palette. But, of course, they were never intended to provide cerebral invigoration or display the fullest spectrum of animated creativity. As the producer of the cartoons Paul Terry once succinctly declared regarding the quality of his work compared to the master of the genre: \u201cLet Walt Disney be the Tiffany’s, I want to be the Woolworth’s.\u201d
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Heckle and Jeckle were strictly very-old-school slapstick freed from the niceties of plot and character development. Indeed, for years, no one was quite certain which of the characters was Heckle and which was Jeckle \u2013 the identical magpies were differentiated by their accents, a harsh Noo Yawk tone from one and a polished Oxbridge lilt from the other. Together, they represented the class clowns from hell \u2013 gleefully destructive and disrespectful to everyone and everything in their path. But their reign of zany terror inevitably ended with a comeuppance as harsh as their antics, proving that mayhem comes with a steep price tag.<\/p>\n
The 1953 animated short \u201cBargain Daze\u201d is among the most outrageous of the Heckle and Jeckle series. Set in a department store ahead of opening hours, the janitor Dimwit \u2013 a none-too-intelligent anthropomorphic hound \u2013 discovering Heckle and Jeckle sleeping in a sofa-bed in the store\u2019s street-facing window. Rather than following his eviction orders, the magpies complain about the quality of their surroundings and order him to fill a pitcher with ice water. Dimwit\u2019s boss, the store manager Clancy \u2013 a scowling anthropomorphic bulldog \u2013 tries to eject the intruders, but they wind up folding him into the sofa-bed.<\/p>\n
Dimwit and Clancy give chase to Heckle and Jeckle through the store, with disruptive duo wildly assaulting their pursuers with crockery thrown at their skulls, a garden roller to flatten them and a miniature fire truck that runs them over. They even dress up in drag to titillate Dimwit\u2019s carnal appetite. But the pair\u2019s exit from the store is thwarted by a mad rush of shoppers who knock them across a sales counter where Clancy traps them in a bird cage. \u201cBargain Daze\u201d ends with an angry Heckle and Jeckle sold to a zaftig shopper who carries them off to domestic imprisonment.<\/p>\n
\u201cBargain Daze\u201d has all the vices of the Heckle and Jeckle cartoons \u2013 sloppy animation, rough physical comedy, a bombastic and wholly unsubtle music soundtrack, and an overwhelming sense of chaos for the sake of chaos. But it also possesses all the virtues of the series \u2013 a raw, undiluted sense of happy nonsense served at an incredible speed, with nary a pause in the nonstop silliness.<\/p>\n
If anyone here remembers shopping at Woolworth\u2019s, you\u2019ll recall that you could endless amusement from that low-rent emporium. And, if anything, Heckle and Jeckle could always be counted on for endless amusement.<\/p>\n