Come Take a Trip in My Airship (1930) is a weird little sing-along

If you have six minutes and want to see what people in the 30s thought was a fun time at the theater, watch this. It is definitely for people who like **old animation** and history. If you hate old-timey music or cartoons where things move like they have no bones, you will probably hate it. 🎈

I just finished watching this and honestly, my brain feels a little fuzzy. Dave Fleischer and Willard Bowsky made this one, and you can tell they were just having a strange time with the visuals.

The whole thing starts with a guy and a girl and this airship that looks more like a giant, sad potato than a vehicle. The way the characters move is that classic rubber-hose style. Everything is bouncy for no reason.

There is this one moment where the airship's engine looks like it is breathing. It is kind of *creepy* if you look at it for more than a second.

Then the song starts. The 'follow the bouncing ball' mechanic is so iconic but seeing it here feels like looking at a ghost.

The lyrics are about flying to Venus and Mars, which is pretty ambitious for 1930. I found myself hummimg the tune even though it is incredibly repetitive. 🎶

I noticed the background art has some surprisingly dark shading for a silly short. It reminded me of the grit you see in The Gold Rush, even though that is a totally different kind of movie.

There is a cat in the background of one scene that just... disappears. I think they forgot to animate it for the next frame.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Come Take a Trip in My Airship (1930) through its definitive frames.

It is not exactly a deep story. It is barely a story at all.

But compared to some of the stuff from back then, like maybe The Mission Trail, this actually has some energy. It feels alive, even if it is a bit ugly in spots.

The audio is super scratchy, which makes the singing sound like it is coming from the bottom of a well. It adds to the vibe, I guess.

I like how the ball sometimes interacts with the letters on the screen. It is a small detail but it made me smile.

One reaction shot of the girl in the ship lingers just a bit too long. She looks like she is staring into your soul. 👁️

The movie gets way better once the singing starts and you stop trying to make sense of the 'plot.'

It is not something I would watch twice in one day. But it is a neat little time capsule of how people used to entertain themselves before the internet.

Check it out if you want to see a flying potato. Or if you just like weird old stuff.