The Merry Old Soul

The Merry Old Soul is a 1935 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.
== Plot ==
Old King Cole and the Woman in the Shoe are recently married while various fairy tale characters sing. The members of the wedding cheer for the king's marriage, while also pelting him with shoes. As the king and the woman head home to the shoe house, Old King Cole realizes that his bride has an overwhelmingly large number of children. While having to bathe the children, King Cole realizes the jesters singing outside and closes the blinds on them. To help deal with the children, the king sets up a mechanism that will send each young child through a bathing conveyor belt, then a roller towel to dry, followed by applying baby powder, and then a balloon trip to another part of the conveyor belt to apply diapers and send each baby to their crib.
Old King Cole uses a rocking mechanism to put the babies into slumber. As he tries to walk away to rest, the babies are bothered by the footsteps and cry. The king is forced to run back and step on the mechanisms again. After finally getting some rest, two of the babies sinisterly sneak out of their cribs and rapidly press the rocking mechanism, tossing most of the babies back at Old King Cole and having them all cry again. Unable to deal with babysitting the children without rest, the king cries.
== Availability ==
Golden-Age-of-Looney-Tunes-5-F.jpg|(1997) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 5, Side 4, Musical Madness (a.a.p. version)
=== Streaming ===
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2023) (restored)
lt max.jpg|Max (2023 - 2024) (restored)
== Notes ==
* The original titles are known to exist, albeit in extremely poor condition. Warner Bros. only restores 35mm prints, hence for HBO Max in 2020, the Blue Ribbon titles were restored instead.
* The Blue Ribbon titles use a special ending rendition of Merrily We Roll Along first used in "The Wacky Wabbit".
* Unlike most pre-1944 color Merrie Melodies cartoons released on The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 5, the a.a.p. print (complete with the a.a.p. opening titles intact) was featured on this LaserDisc release. Many of the cartoons on Volume 5 were the then-recent American Turner "dubbed" versions.
== Gallery ==
1935 VITAPHONE.png
MerryOldSoulRestored.jpeg|Cropped screenshot of 2020 restoration
The Merry Old Soul (1935) - Bedtime.jpg
Merry-old-soul-600.jpg|Lobby card
Screenshot 2021-04-20 at 19.49.59.png|Lobby card
== References ==
es:The Merry Old Soul
Category:1935
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Shorts
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng
Category:Cartoons animated by Rollin Hamilton
Category:Cartoons animated by Riley Thomson
Category:Cartoons with music by Norman Spencer
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Berneice Hansell
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Bernard B. Brown
Category:One-Shot Cartoons