Prologue: various animals enjoy winter sports. Beans sees a notice of a ski race, and decides to enter. But so does a bad guy (who looks more than a little like Disney's Pete). The bad guy sabotages the other contestants in various ways, takes short cuts, etc. But Beans manages to tie up the bad guy in his own trip line. A duck riding a dachshund knocks the bad guy out for a while; he and Beans trade places a few more times before Beans wins the race, just barely.
Practical Effects
Hand-drawn ski physics that defy logic and gravity
Acting
Billy Bletcher's villain voice: pure 1930s cartoon menace
Director
Jack King
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This is early Warner Bros animation before they perfected the Looney Tunes formula—notice how the villain looks suspiciously like Disney's Pete, a not-so-subtle jab at their rival studio.
Beans was Warner's attempt at a Mickey Mouse competitor before they realized Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny were the chaotic icons we actually needed. This short is basically a prototype that history forgot.
US
