Happy Honeybee Harmonies

November 9, 2019 6:20 AM

For your Saturday cartoon enjoyment, here’s Honeyland (1935), one of the MGM Happy Harmonies available on YouTube. More about the Technicolor 10-minute short at WP, and production details at Cartoon Research.
posted by cenoxo (7 comments total)

Thanks for the link to Cartoon Research. I'm a fan of vintage cartoons but hadn't seen this site (or Honeyland) before. Perfect fare for Saturday morning. And from that site, I learned that today is the 100th anniversary of Felix the Cat! Happy Birthday Felix!
posted by crazy_yeti at 6:54 AM on November 9, 2019 [2 favorites]

Ditto on the thanks for the link to Cartoonresearch! I never knew a site like it existed!
posted by Thorzdad at 7:12 AM on November 9, 2019

Felix the Cat Classic Cartoons - FULL EPISODES - 1 HOUR NON STOP.

You’re welcome.
posted by cenoxo at 7:25 AM on November 9, 2019

From Wikipedia:

Honeyland is a 1935 American one-reel animated film in the Happy Harmonies series (the second in 3-strip Technicolor),

Me: Huh, I wonder what the first one was, and why it's not mentioned or linked.

From Cartoonresearch:

Disneys contract to use the full three-strip Technicolor process in his films expired in September 1935. In that same time, the Harman-Ising studio released The Old Plantation, their first Happy Harmonies released in full Technicolor.

Me: Oh.

clicks on Dailymotion link

Me: OH. 🤮
posted by xthlc at 2:10 PM on November 9, 2019 [1 favorite]

Funny how honey production, in this cartoon, is divorced from any kind of biological realism, being instead based entirely on agricultural and industrial production models of the time.
posted by kozad at 3:07 PM on November 9, 2019 [1 favorite]

Bees melting candles to seal their honey, using pots to mix up nectar, the girl bee kissing the boy bee causing him to buzz around happily.... this is exceedingly unbee-like.
posted by JHarris at 5:28 PM on November 9, 2019 [1 favorite]

How Do Bees Make Honey? (PerfectBee) — As you might expect, they're very, very busy: no 40 hour work-weeks, no breaks, and no vacations. The good thing is that there's no management reviews, but otherwise it's bZZT, bzz, Bzzz all day, every day.

However, let's clear one thing up right away:

...
When bees collect nectar, they use a long tongue, called a proboscis, that can slide down into the flower and suck nectar out like a straw. They store the nectar in a second stomach, sometimes called a honey stomach, that doesn’t digest nectar. It serves as a carrying purse and is in front of the digestive tract of the bee. The honey stomach can hold up to 70 mg of nectar and weigh almost as much as the bee itself.

Honey bees have tiny hairs on their bodies allowing pollen to stick to them, so they can carry both nectar and pollen while flying. While the worker bees are flying and storing nectar, the honey stomach begins mixing the nectar with enzymes to start pulling some of the water out of the nectar.

It is important to note that bees do not turn their vomit into honey. That is a myth. When the bee intakes the nectar they use one of two valves, sending the nectar into the bee’s digestion. This is a good thing, because if the worker bee needs energy while in flight she can use this option while foraging.

If she doesn’t need the energy, then the nectar takes a second pathway into the honey stomach where it won’t be digested. Once bees make the choice to begin digesting the nectar, then that nectar cannot be used to create honey.
...

(Word to the wise: don't skip the article's comments.)

The rest of the honey making process is somewhat unappetizing — no pictures, videos, or sound effects, fortunately — but it's a legacy procedure, tried and true. Don't ask too many questions and simply enjoy the sweet results.
posted by cenoxo at 6:36 PM on November 9, 2019 [2 favorites]