Cartoon Short from 1940-"Malibu Beach Party" with a caricature of Deanna

Note: this page has received much attention lately. Have you found what you are looking for? I hope my comments are working; there have been no comments on the post but many views. 


(A Warner Bros. cartoon)

(Note: Deanna's caricature appears after 5 minutes, 14 seconds)

Lampooned this time: radio comedian Jack Benny and a few regular players from his program, including his real-life spouse Mary Livingstone, the show's bandleader (and jokester) Phil Harris (called "Pill Harris"), and Jack's "porter" Rochester (Eddie Anderson) (called "Winchester"). Jack is throwing a beach party in Malibu, and among those to show up include fellow radio pals Bob Hope and Baby Snooks. Some movie stars stop by too, including Bette Davis, Spencer Tracy, Joan Crawford, and James Cagney. Oh and you can't have a cartoon loaded with celebrity caricatures without Clark Gable and Greta Garbo. For sure! (Directed by Friz Freleng)


l-r: Carole Lombard, Don Ameche, Fred MacMurray, Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, Charles Boyer, Adolph Menjou, Claudette Colbert



Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone, stars of the popular and long-running radio comedy The Jack Benny Show


Regular Jack Benny Show players Phil Harris (pictured with his wife Alice Faye) and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson


Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Deanna Durbin, and Mickey Rooney.

Rik Tod, in his blog post on this cartoon, observed how all of the heads of the celebrities are slightly too large for thier bodies, giving them a bobble-head feel. I've identified no less than 30 stars, and they are listed below. See how many you can recognize. Out of all the celebrities, only Mickey Rooney and Deanna Durbin are still living.

Sorry, I couldn't find a version that would allow me to embed it in this page, so you'll have to go to the You Tube site to watch the clip.

Watch "Malibu Beach Party" (1940) (opens in a new tab)

Caricatures, in order of appearance:

Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone
Bob Hope
Bette Davis (as Queen Elizabeth from Warner Brothers' 1939 "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex")
Andy Devine (yelling "Hiya Buck" - a reference to the movie "Buck Benny Rides Again from 1940 which starred Benny and Devine)
Spencer Tracy (in his Henry Stanley garb from the 1939 movie "Stanley and Livingstone")
Kay Kyser
Robert Donat (with a reference to the 1939 movie "Goodbye Mr Chips")
Carole Lombard/Don Ameche/Fred MacMurray/Joan Crawford/Robert Taylor
George Raft
Clark Gable
Greta Garbo (surfing!)
Caesar Romero and John Barrymore
Ned Sparks and Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks
Charles Boyer/Adolph Menjou/Claudette Colbert/James Cagney/Alice Faye
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson
Phil Harris
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Deanna Durbin, singing soprano
Mickey Rooney
Cary Grant

This cartoon is available on DVD; it's one of the extras to the movie "Dance Girl Dance" (1940), which is part of the Lucille Ball Film Collection.