The Tree's Knees

The Tree's Knees is the twelfth title in the Looney Tunes series featuring Bosko.^[1] It was released as early as May 16, 1931.^[2][a] It was the last cartoon in the series to be directed by both Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising.^[3] Every Looney Tunes cartoon after this was directed by Hugh Harman until 1933, and every Merrie Melodies cartoon was directed by Rudolf Ising until the aforementioned year. It is also the last Bosko cartoon in the Looney Tunes series to not feature the main character's (Bosko's) name in the title. The short is also notable for the extensive use of footage from the earlier short Ain't Nature Grand! that it reuses, in particular a scene of Bosko happily and innocently pursuing a butterfly. The film score was composed by Frank Marsales.

The Tree's Knees
Bosko trying to grab hold of a small anthropomorphic tree
Directed by	Hugh Harman Rudolf Ising
Produced by	Hugh Harman Rudolf Ising Leon Schlesinger
Starring	Johnny Murray (uncredited)
Music by	Frank Marsales
Animation by	Isadore Freleng Rollin Hamilton
Production companies	Harman-Ising Productions The Vitaphone Corporation Leon Schlesinger Studios
Distributed by	The Vitaphone Corporation Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	May 16, 1931 (1931-05-16) (earliest known date)
Running time	7:02
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

Bosko wanders through the forest with an axe, and finds a tree, but the tree turns out to be alive and the surrounding saplings (presumably its children) beg Bosko not to chop it down. Bosko then engages in a song-and-dance routine with the trees, until he is distracted by and follows a butterfly, leading him into another song-and-dance routine with several other living trees and the animals of the forest.