Hollywood Canine Canteen

Hollywood Canine Canteen is a 1946 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Robert McKimson.^[1] The short was released on April 20, 1946.^[2]

The cartoon features various caricatures of Hollywood film celebrities and famous jazz musicians of the day, all zoomorphized as dogs.^[3]

The canine pets of Hollywood stars meet and decide they need their own nightclub. The cartoon tours the nightclub and presents a series of vignettes featuring dog-styled caricatures of Hollywood celebrities.

There are many dog-styled caricatures of Hollywood personalities in this cartoon.

• Chairing the meeting is Edward G. Robinson
• Speaking at the meeting is Jimmy Durante
• Seated at the meeting are: Ed Wynn; Monty Woolley; ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and doll Charlie McCarthy; Laurel & Hardy
• Welcoming the Sailor (voiced by Mel Blanc) and the Soldier to the Canteen: Bing Crosby (voiced by Paul Regan), also seen later; an unknown soldier and sailor, many either from the US Army, US Marines, US Navy) (The blonde woman who takes care of the soldiers uniform is Lauren Bacall)
• On stage: Jerry Colonna (voiced by Blanc) and Bob Hope; Carmen Miranda, dancing with her signature fruit headdress; Babbit and Catstello (caricatures of Abbott and Costello, from other cartoons such as The Mouse-Merized Cat; only here, they are dogs; Catstello is also voiced by Blanc)
• At the snack bar: Arthur Lake (as Dagwood, here called "Dogwood" and voiced by Paul Corley); Penny Singleton (as Blondie Bumstead and voiced by Sara Berner)
• Laurel and Hardy again, washing dishes
• In the lounge with the wall portraits: an unknown woman in a red dress (possibly Joan Leslie) with a red bow in her hair; an unknown long-haired man stumbling
• At the phone desk: an unknown soldier (a southern US soldier Jackie Kelk (who played Henry Aldrich in The Aldrich Family) due to his southern accent with a quirky voice), wanting to place a call; an unknown woman seated at a desk with a New Jersey accent (sounded like Paulette Goddard)
• The conductor is Leopold Stokowski, parodied in other WB cartoons such as Hollywood Steps Out and Rhapsody Rabbit; the musicians are likely anonymous, except for the tuba player, Joe Besser (voiced by Blanc; Besser later co-starred in the Three Stooges)
• Bing Crosby (voiced by Gil Turner instead of Regan, audio recycled from Swooner Crooner),^[4] crooning while stuffing a pipe; Frank Sinatra (voiced by Robert Lyons); Dorothy Lamour
• Bandleader Kay Kyser (as Kaynine Kyser); poet and cornet player Merwyn Bogue (aka Ish Kabibble) as "Ish Kapoodle"
• Dancing soldier and woman (possibly Rita Hayworth)
• Woman in a blue dress (looks like Kate Smith) consoling weeping soldier
• Dancing woman who wants to "cut a rug" (looks and sounds like Martha Raye)
• Trumpeter Harry James (as "Hairy James"); trombonist Tommy Dorsey as "Tommy Dorgy"; xylophonist Lionel Hampton as "Lionel Hambone and his Bonophone"; clarinetist Benny Goodman as "Boney Goodman"; Jimmy Durante again, playing the piano as "Schnauser Durante" (a play on Durante's nickname, "The Schnoz")

• Hollywood Canine Canteen is available, uncensored and uncut, on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6, Disc 2.
• It is also available on The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 2 laserdisc.

• Hollywood Canine Canteen at IMDb