The Fire Alarm

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Airdate:
23 December 1935^[1]

Series:

Looney Tunes

MPAA Number:	Production Number:
1684	7000

Copyright Renewed:

7 January 1964^[2]

Starring:

Ham and Ex
Beans

Crew

Film Editor:

Bernard B. Brown (uncredited)
Treg Brown (uncredited)

Musician:

Norman Spencer

The Fire Alarm is a 1935 Looney Tunes short directed by Jack King.

Plot[]

Beans is a fireman. One day his nephews Ham and Ex arrive unannounced at the fire station with a note asking him to watch them. Beans is not much of a babysitter, so the pups have their run of the place. They play with the hose, the protective clothes, the axes and other equipment, send out a false alarm, drive a ladder truck through the wall and around town, and more. Upon their return, they try to pretend they've been sleeping the whole day, but Beans is wise to them and gives them a spanking.

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Notes[]

In the opening shot, to the left of the fire station, "Norm's Roadhouse" is shown, a reference to musician Norman Spencer. Also, "Norm's Market" is shown during the fire truck’s collision with a trolley.
To the right of the station, "Brown's Fryin’ Pans Dictionaries an' Bird Seed" is shown, a reference to film editor Treg Brown and/or film editor/voice actor Bernard B. Brown.
Ham and Ex pass by three ads on a fence for "King's Korn Kake", a reference to director Jack King.
A billboard advertising "Opry House Next Week "East Lynne"" is a reference to a play adapted from the novel "East Lynne". The play was so popular that theaters showing poorly received plays would tease audiences with the promise "Next Week "East Lynne!"" The phrase became a punchline, used in comedies and cartoons.
As the fire truck is approaching the station, a "Warner Bros." sign is shown hanging from the fence.
During Ham and Ex’s joyride, a cafe named "Griff’s Grill" is shown, likely a reference to Griff Jay, a background/layout artist.
Most copies of the cartoon (including early Nickelodeon airings in the late 1980s and the HBO Max restoration) use the wrong opening and closing music cues, replacing the opening cue with the 1939-41 Looney Tunes theme and the closing theme with the 1938-41 Looney Tunes theme with Porky Pig's "That's all Folks!" voice atop of the theme.
This is the first Looney Tunes short to have "That's all Folks!" written out instead of spoken. This variant would be used until "Milk and Money", and a second variant would be used until "Porky's Garden", where it would be replaced with the signature Porky Pig drum ending.
The concept of the short involving multiple mischievous kids being taken care of by an "uncle" leading to chaos would be revisited by Jack King in his 1937 Disney short "Donald's Nephews", the animated introduction of Donald Duck's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie.