And now for something completely different. This wonderful 1931 musical film short by General Motors combines the surreal comic animation of Max Fleischer with the chestnut, “In My Merry Oldsmobile.”

General Motors and Max Fleischer teamed up for a six-minute Oldsmobile  promotional movie? Indeed, and here it is.

Fleischer, of course, is celebrated today as the genius who created the impossibly creative Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons. His animation production here is not to be missed, either. There’s also a live-action film segment supporting a “follow the bouncing ball” singalong, a popular gimmick in film shorts of the era.

Folks today will have a hard time believing this, but in the 1930s, complete strangers crowded into movie theaters to sing along together to song lyrics projected onto a movie screen. People did lots of interesting things to entertain themselves before television.

The song, composed way back in 1905 by Gus Edwards with lyrics by Vincent P. Bryan, is worthy of study in its own right. Note the racy (for 1905) line, “you can go as far as you like with me in my merry Oldsmobile.” Also featured is the whimsical neologism “automobubbling,” which unfortunately failed to catch on. Anyway, there’s plenty of strange and magical content here, so please enjoy.