Tex Avery’s Flea Circus – Looking Back At 1954

Good old Frederick Bean Avery, who was mostly known as “Tex Avery”. He was the wonderful and inspiring man who created Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck [7]. He was also known for his ambitions in animation, voice acting and the responsibilities of a director [7]. Did you know that there was one Metro Goldwyn Mayer cartoon that he directed that was simply titled “The Flea Circus”, due to the fact that it was about two fleas from a flea circus [1] [8] [11] [12]? Thanks for Avery’s skills in directing and Fred Quimby as the cartoon’s producer, it was finished and released way back in 1954 [11]. Though it may not have been as mainstream as Tom and Jerry, it may have still aired occasionally throughout a few generations. I remember first watching the cartoon on Boomerang as a child back in the 2000s and being highly fascinated by it [6]. Furthermore, I shall elaborate on why I still admire one of Avery’s more obscure cartoons today as a young adult in the late 2010s.

The name of the cartoon and Avery's name within the title card. [1] [11] [12]

The cartoon had such a creative and fascinating concept [1] [12]. The cast of one thousand talented fleas would give out remarkable performances, including:

• Fifty-five fleas marching in a band
• Many acrobatic fleas forming various shapes
• A tap dancer, who unfortunately fell into a hole
• A sword swallower
• A very athletic pianist with a deep voice
• A clown named “Francois Le Clown” whose singing did not impress the audience at all
• A glamourous dancer named “Fifi Le Flea” who amazes the audience with a lot of backup dancers

Flea circuses were highly popular from the 1830s to the 1960s [2], but the fact that the story about one in Avery’s cartoon featured the fleas performing on a stage like humans instead of them performing in a miniature circus set like other animals, including elephants and tigers gave a clear sign that the fleas are anthropomorphic in quite a sophisticated way. Additionally, the fleas could understand and speak French and English, just like their circus master, Pepito. I, and perhaps some more cartoon lovers adore the concept of many talented anthropomorphic fleas performing within a circus [1] [11] [12]. Do not forget your magnifying glasses, mesdames et messieurs.

The pianist about to play "The Unfinished Symphony". [1] [12]

The animation and art style are nostalgically classy [1] [12]. It is fascinating how Fifi and Francois are fleas, yet they were designed to closely resemble humans [8]. Seriously, I had no idea that the two main characters were fleas as a child. The decision to make the two resemble humans was probably to make their character developments more convincing. The traditional 2D animation flows smoothly and manages to pull off Fifi’s graceful walk and joyful dancing with very well [8]. And the ways that Francois and the dog’s emotions are expressed really add some humour to the outcome. Drawing a lot of small black blobs and making them move in frantic ways must have required a bit of extra ambition, especially for how the acrobatic fleas position themselves into different shapes, including a slim woman. I honestly would like a dressing room that is quite similar to Fifi’s dressing room. As for the other backgrounds, I like how the colours are not too saturated and each setting has been designed in convincing ways. The appealing visuals and splendid animation of the cartoon enhance the premise of two anthropomorphic fleas falling in love [1] [12].

The dancing of Fifi and some of her backup dancers is convincing enough to be quite like a dance routine performed by some students at a dance academy in real life. [1] [12]

Francois and Fifi are quite the cute couple whose romance was the main highlight of the cartoon [1] [12]. At first, Fifi would assertively reject a marriage proposal from Francois (again), being all about on her career. She probably only wanted him as a colleague at the time as she thanked him for laying his jacket over the puddle of his tears in a gentlemanly manner. But after the dog endangers the fleas in a pond, Fifi was the only flea to be rescued by Francois, who indeed loves her dearly. As a result, she quickly returns the favour by asking him to marry her, resulting in a lovely wedding scene and an adorable moment of a pregnant Fifi knitting a tiny woolen cardigan. Even though it is highly unrealistic for a woman to ask a man to marry her after he just rescued her from drowning, Francois and Fifi’s love story is still far more pleasant than how the gold-digging cat ditched Tom over a very wealthy Butch in Blue Cat Blues [15]. It is lovely to see the performer who is considered to be the worst eventually be happily married to the performer who is arguably the best.

Despite the very little realism established in their relationship, Francois and Fifi are still pretty cute together. [1] [12]

Although the concept of ambitious showbiz that consists of fleas resembling short humans is cute and interesting, I would personally describe the plot as “slightly fast-paced” [1] [12]. But I digress. It was meant to be a quite a short cartoon with a unique premise. I can at least say that the characters were at least bearable. Fifi may have been rather narcissistic, but she later embraced the sweetness of being a loving wife and mother. Francois may have had low self-esteem at first, but I could say that his loyalty to Pepito and happy marriage to Fifi at least later made him feel somewhat worthy. Pepito is a lovely man. What I like about his character is that he does not mistreat Francois for his failed performance, but instead appreciates him for being loyal to his showbiz [1] [2]. Now that seems like the kind of employer a job seeker would love to negotiate with. Aside from the marginally fast-paced plot, the characters are at least decent, though their developments throughout the plot might not have been memorable enough for any successful chances of their intellectual property receiving any expansions.

Pepito discovers that Francois is the only flea who did not flee the showbiz. [1] [12]

How many children did Francois and Fifi have exactly after they got married?! Presumably, they spawned enough to make a carpet out of them on the hospital’s steps, according to the scene after the nurse reveals them. Well, in real life, female cat fleas lay about over 20 eggs per day [3] [17], even though Pepito’s fleas enjoy dog fur, so I guess it kind of makes sense. The poster that can be seen by the backstage exit would be a hint that the amount of offspring produced is about one thousand [1] [12]. It baffles me to see how the couple has not aged at all after all of their children grew up to be magically as talented as the fleas who all presumably drowned, but what happened to the tap dancer who fell into a hole? Cartoon logic is awesome, isn’t it? At least the legacy of Pepito’s fantastic flea circus could be continued after Francois and Fifi’s offspring were well-trained.

A larvae carpet! [1] [12]

The poster of Pepito's flea circus on the left side of this screenshot hints how many children Francois and Fifi had for the next generation of performers. [1] [12]

Even the audio brings out the ambiances of 50’s animation, especially the lively and sophisticated music. I enjoy listening to the song that played during Fifi’s performance, “Applause, Applause” that originated from Give A Girl A Break, a musical from 1953 [1] [4] [5] [12] [13]. And let us not forget the cheerful and adorable music that plays whenever Fifi is seen knitting. The thing I noticed about the sweet little clown is that he could be voiced by Bill Thompson, the same voice actor who voiced Droopy and his beautiful wife Fifi was highly likely to be voiced by Francoise Brun-Cottan, the same voice actress who voiced Nibbles from Tom and Jerry musketeer cartoon [9] [16]. And of course, there were some noises for the quirky moments, including a hiccup from the sword swallower and a car horn when the original tiny cast members want to continue performing in the dog’s fur. The Flea Circus may be an intellectual property that may not have been as mainstream as Tom and Jerry at the time, but every example of exceptional audio within the outcome adds to why I would recommend watching it on Vimeo and Dailymotion [1] [12].

Applause, applause! Vociferous applause! [1] [12]

There does not seem to be any sign of a newer adaption of the Flea Circus as it was probably only featured in one Tex Avery cartoon compilation after its original airing [10]. The one compilation was simply a LaserDisc from early 1993 titled “The Compleat Tex Avery” [10]. Despite this, it seems far more humbling to watch a somewhat forgotten intellectual property from a long time ago that never evolved rather than seeing a cartoon run for years and become stale, usually jumping the shark. Yes, I am looking at you, Simpsons [14]. My final score for this classic cartoon will be eight out of ten fleas. Even though I’m a 2000s kid, I will always be humbled by the vibes of animation from any decade before my childhood, including the Metro Goldwyn Mayer cartoons from the 1950’s. If you believe that you could be a star or starlet like Fifi Le Flea, feel free to give out, give in, be noisy and make a din [5] [13].

The End. [1] [11] [12] 

References

1. Christo Vision Classics. (2015). Flea Circus. Available: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x403lpw. Last accessed 11th Oct 2018.
2. Cockerill, T. (2018). The rise and demise of the flea circus. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2LF04Y9n5hJTHK1l6ffLhPc/the-rise-and-demise-of-the-flea-circus. Last accessed 12th Oct 2018.
3. FleaScience. (2014). How many eggs do fleas lay?. Available: https://fleascience.com/flea-encyclopedia/life-cycle-of-fleas/flea-eggs/how-many-eggs-do-fleas-lay/. Last accessed 13th Oct 2018.
4. Furia, P. (1997). Lonelier And Tougher: 1951 - 1954. In: Ira Gershwin: The Art of the Lyricist. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 211.
5. Jacob. (2010). Sound Effects. Available: https://www.deviantart.com/n00bdragon/journal/Sound-Effects-227735844. Last accessed 11th Oct 2018.
6. Logopedia. (2015). Boomerang. Available: http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/Boomerang_(UK_and_Ireland). Last accessed 11th Oct 2018.
7. Looney Tunes Wiki. (2010). Tex Avery. Available: http://looneytunes.wikia.com/wiki/Tex_Avery. Last accessed 12th Oct 2018.
8. HowardLowery.com. (2018). M-G-M Tex Avery THE FLEA CIRCUS Rare Full-figure Animation Cel of FIFI LE FLEA, 1954. Available: http://auction.howardlowery.com/Bidding.taf?_function=detail&Auction_uid1=3401642. Last accessed 11th Oct 2018.
9. MGM Cartoons Wiki. (2018). Droopy. Available: http://metro-goldwyn-mayer-cartoons.wikia.com/wiki/Droopy. Last accessed 11th Oct 2018.
10. MGM Cartoons Wiki. (2018). The Compleat Tex Avery. Available: http://metro-goldwyn-mayer-cartoons.wikia.com/wiki/The_Compleat_Tex_Avery. Last accessed 13th Oct 2018.
11. MGM Cartoons Wiki. (2017). The Flea Circus. Available: http://metro-goldwyn-mayer-cartoons.wikia.com/wiki/The_Flea_Circus. Last accessed 11th Oct 2018.
12. Movie Memories. (2018). Flea Circus. Available: https://vimeo.com/284510215. Last accessed 11th Oct 2018.
13. That’s EntertainedMe!. (2011). Applause, Applause. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93b9DDqZ8BU. Last accessed 11th Oct 2018.
14. The Simpsons Wiki. (2018). List of Episodes. Available: http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Episodes. Last accessed 12th Oct 2018.
15. Tom and Jerry Wiki. (2013). Blue Cat Blues. Available: http://tomandjerry.wikia.com/wiki/Blue_Cat_Blues. Last accessed 11th Oct 2018.
16. Tom and Jerry Wiki. (2013). Nibbles Mouse. Available: http://tomandjerry.wikia.com/wiki/Nibbles_Mouse. Last accessed 11th Oct 2018.
17. VetWest. (2018). Fleas - Solving A Flea Problem. Available: https://www.vetwest.com.au/solving-fleas. Last accessed 12th Oct 2018.