vintage Li'l Bucketboy poster, circa 1932

Predating all known iterations of the "heroic" Hoverboy, is this little known character that may have given some inspiration to Hoverboy artist Bob Stark. Li'l Bucketboy shares numerous design traits with many B&W cartoon stars such as Bosko, Oswald the Rabbit, and of course Mickey Mouse.

It's unclear if Li'l Bucketboy is intended to be a black youth like Bosko; nevertheless it's a decided turnaround from the later Hoverboy's conservative positioning. The individual who contacted me with this image goes on to inform me, "Only three cartoons are known to exist. The pic I included is from BEATIN'S FOR BREAD, where Li'l Bucketboy assaults several vagrant dogs (?) in a depression era bread line." Each cartoon ran 3 minutes.

"boscofan33" says a collector friend of his owns a 16mm copy of BEATIN'S FOR BREAD. I'm hoping to get a hold of him directly to negotiate getting a copy. Stay tuned!

still from HURTIN'S FOR HAMBONES, circa 1933