Blackboard Jumble (Droopy)

Blackboard Jumble is a 1957 Droopy cartoon. In this cartoon, a Southern wolf encounters three schoolchildren who look like Droopy once after he gets the job to be a schoolteacher. Eventually, he faces a lot of trouble with them. It is one of the last seven Droopy cartoons in the Golden Age to be directed by Michael Lah and produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the creators of mh:besttvshows:Tom and Jerry.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) False advertising: The main problem with the short is that despite supposedly having Droopy as the main protagonist (as usual in his appearances), the short instead portrays three mischievous schoolchildren that resemble him, probably for the sake of comedic purposes of them causing trouble. Even if one of them is Droopy, it would be incredibly out of character for him as he wouldn't be fighting back an enemy of his when never being provoked in the first place. Let alone outright torturing someone for his amusement. You can easily bring in Snoopy and Loopy from the Droopy short "The Three Little Pups" (whose personalities were rather underdeveloped in that short) as the troublemakers while Droopy remains the voice of reason, and the potential would increase.
 * 2) Speaking of the Droopy clones, they just come across as annoying and unlikable, rather than cute, light-hearted, charismatic, and funny. On top of that, these Droopy clones are pale rip-offs of Huey, Dewey Louie from Disney's Donald Duck shorts.
 * 3) The wolf is constantly tortured throughout the short, as he has to deal with the trouble caused by these three Droopy clones losing more patience over time. Unlike his other appearances where his comeuppance is usually justified for his actions against Droopy, and most notably, Red, here, he is an innocent character who gets tortured for no explained reason at all.
 * 4) Predictable plot where the wolf is stuck among juvenile traps only to lost his patience as a teacher over time.
 * 5) The Droopy clones never got punished for their sadistic actions towards the wolf teacher.
 * 6) Weak gags that also lack comedic and wacky timing known among Droopy's cartoons, let alone Tex Avery's creations overall. Some of them later on in the short are rehashed from the Droopy short "The Three Little Pups".
 * 7) The animation at this point is subpar at best due to budget cuts in the late-1950s.
 * 8) Horrible ending: The wolf, after having fallen into his bomb traps used to punish the Droopy clones for their sadistic mischief, finally comes out of the school going mentally insane like what the previous school teacher did at the beginning while the Droopy clones get away scot-free.
 * 9) For these reasons above, this short is often considered to be the weakest Droopy cartoon Michael Lah has ever directed, which is a shame since he also directed a few good and/or decent Droopy cartoons such as "Grin and Share It", "Sheep Wrecked" and "Mutts About Racing" for example.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Great voice acting done by Daws Butler, as usual.
 * 2) The Wolf's portrayal with a Southern accent is funny (reminiscent of the voice of Huckleberry Hound), and is easy to root for.
 * 3) Great musical score from Scott Bradley, as usual.
 * 4) Some funny moments. For example, the beginning scenario showing how the previous school teacher (portrayed by Butch the Irish Dog, who makes a brief cameo in this short) comes out going mentally insane is executed hilariously, and his quote "Anyone who wants this teaching job would have to be an idiot" is arguably the funniest scene of this short.

Trivia

 * This is the only Droopy cartoon to not star or even feature Droopy at all.
 * This is the only Droopy cartoon where the wolf, who is often depicted as an antagonist to Droopy, is depicted in the protagonist role instead. The Southern wolf also was previously depicted in the protagonist role in the Tex Avery-directed MGM one-shot cartoon "Billy Boy" (1953) four years prior.
 * The schoolteacher-wolf is depicted as a Confederate sympathizer; he encourages his students to paint a Confederate flag. However, his "theme song," which he whistles several times in the short, is Henry C. Work's "Kingdom Coming" (1862), an anti-Confederate song, celebrating the impending end of slavery in America. (This may be a deliberate joke by the filmmakers, because the dimwitted protagonist may not realize this.)
 * This short is a parody/spoof of the MGM social drama feature film "Blackboard Jungle" (1955), as both the film and this cartoon are about mild-mannered schoolteachers at violent, unruly inner-city schools determined to do their jobs despite resistance from both the students and the faculty. It is even released as a special feature on the Blackboard Jungle (1955) DVD released in 2005 by Warner Home Video before being remastered and restored in its original widescreen format for the Tex Avery's Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection DVD release two years later.
 * This short was originally released in theaters preceding the MGM musical feature film "Les Girls" (1957), which was coincidentally also filmed in the more expansive CinemaScope widescreen process like this short.