Jack King's 'Hollywood Capers' is a very early Looney Tune which stars several of the characters who were introduced as potential new stars in earlier short 'I Haven't Got a Hat'. The character that finally became a star from that cartoon was Porky Pig but he does not feature here. Instead, 'Hollywood Capers' gives top billing to Beans, a mischievous cat. It also features cameos from Oliver Owl, Little Kitty and teacher Miss Cud. 'Hollywood Capers' is convincing evidence as to why none of these characters caught on with audiences. They are cute but largely devoid of personality and the times when 'Hollywood Capers' comes to life are when they are not on screen. There are a couple of fun but ever-so brief skits with caricatures of W.C. Fields and Charlie Chaplin at the beginning of the short and when Frankenstein's monster enters the narrative he gets to perform a camera-eating and self-repairing routine which is the highlight of the cartoon. Unfortunately, Beans keeps coming back with limp antics which give the cartoon a stilted feel. Conceived as a possible replacement for the lacklustre Buddy (Warner Bros' previous attempt at creating a star, many of whose cartoons were also directed by King), Beans was not much of an improvement. While it's not especially funny, 'Hollywood Capers' is a fascinating artefact in which some early characters are auditioned but ultimately lose out to a stuttering pig who had the good sense to opt out of this particular film!
