July 9, 1932 – The Silly Symphony The Bears and the Bees is Released to Theaters
On July 9, 1932, the Silly Symphony short film The Bears and the Bees was released to theaters. The short was directed by Wilfred Jackson.
The short opens in the woods, where a bear and her two cubs are seen sleeping next to a river. The cubs wake up and begin to tussle, in turn waking up their mother, who roars at them before returning to her sleep. The cubs run off to play in the woods, and one of the cubs falls head first onto a rock and gets a rather large bump on his forehead. The other cub runs over and soothes the sibling’s injury before finding a berry bush and pulling off berries for a snack.
The cubs are bullied by a big black bear and take to hiding in a hollow log nearby
A nearby roaring alerts them, and a large black bear emerges from his cave, growling angrily. He runs to attack the two cubs before eating from what appears to be his berry bush. When the cubs approach to grab just one berry to eat, the black bear startles them and sends them hurrying to a nearby log, where one of them begins to cry at the meanness of the other bear. The other cub tries to cheer the sibling by giving it flowers to eat. When a bee emerges from one of the flowers and begins to buzz around, the cubs follow it curiously.
The cubs spot a flower garden, with bees buzzing all around collecting nectar and taking it back to their hive in a hollowed-out tree. After the bees leave the hive, the cubs poke around inside it, delighted to know that the hive contains honey. They begin to eat the honey in the hive eagerly, until a bee comes back and sees them and sounds the alert to the other bees. Angrily, the swarm grows and immediately heads back to protect the hive.
Meanwhile, the angry black bear has spotted the cubs and their honey, and decides he wants it for himself. He charges at the tree and throws the cubs aside, where they can only watch as the swarm heads for the hive and the black bear. The bees attack the bear, covering him with stings while his head is stuck in the hole in the tree. The bees continue their attack, stinging him with points from a plant and a tree branch, before delivering the final blow, sending the bear running for his life. The cubs take advantage of the bees’ disappearance and continue to eat from the now destroyed hive, enjoying all the leftover honey.
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