Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid

Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid was the first animated short from Warner Bros., produced as a pilot short in May 1929. It features live-action footage of Rudolph Ising drawing Bosko, who comes to life.

Synopsis
Animator Rudolf Ising is drawing. He’s trying to come up with a character, eventually he creates an African American boy named Bosko. Ising asks Bosko what he can do, and Bosko proceeds to dance and whistle. Bosko stops and notices something asking Ising, “whose them folks out in the dark?” Ising tells him that it’s the audience; he then asks Bosko if he can make them laugh. After some thinking, Bosko asks Ising to draw him a piano and Bosko starts playing on the piano trying to create laughs (Bosko himself laughs), and sings while tongue sticks out. Bosko continues to sing until his head pops up and we see it’s made of springs. He manages to get his head back together and continues to sing; eventually Ising gets annoyed by his singing and decides to use his ink pen to grab Bosko’s pants, eventually sucking him in. Bosko gets out of some ink and says, “Well so long folks see yah later”, as the cartoon ends.

Video Releases

 * Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 -- as a bonus feature on disc 4
 * Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2 -- Disc 3 (Blu-Ray Version Only)