Come On Steve

Steve the horse wants to sleep but the farmer wants him to plough.

The film begins with a shot of Roland Davies at the drawing board. Steve the Horse is asleep in a field, tethered to a plough. He is kicked awake by a farmer. He gets up and the two of them carry on ploughing the field. Steve is not pleased. As the days pass and the field is ploughed, Steve gets increasingly tired. At Friday breakfast time, the farmer breaks to eat his breakfast. Steve goes to sleep. The farmer returns and sees a Fordson tractor. He ploughs using the tractor, leaving Steve to sleep. Eventually Steve wakes up. The farmer backfires a clod of earth at Steve. The film finishes with him riding in a cart, pulled by the tractor. The cartoon is accompanied by a musical track which includes variations of the Spiritual One More River and Come To The Cookhouse Door.

Keywords

Farming; Ploughing

Intertitles

Monday - 8 acres to plough.Tuesday - 7 acres to plough.Wednesday - 6 acres to plough.Thursday - 5 acres to plough.Friday breakfast time - 4 acres to plough.Idea.11 O'clock.4.30.

Background Information

There was a series of Come On Steve films made in 1936 and 1937 by Roland Davies and his animator Carl Giles. In 'British Animated Films 1895 - 1985', Denis Gifford records six films but not this one. 'During the Second World War, Davies' realistic genre of comic design and early automotive interests were used at the Ministry of Information as demonstrated in INF 3/1586 from The National Archives' collection. Although Roland Davies studied to be a lithographer, he soon changed career and became an illustrator first working on cinema posters and automotive magazines Autocar and Motor Cycle. In 1928 he drew illustrations and covers for Modern Boy. In 1932 he first appeared in the Sunday Express with the comic strip ‘Come on, Steve!' - four years later the strip was animated. Davies also drew for The Beano, and TV Comic. In 1970, Davies left comics and devoted his attention to painting. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/theartofwar/artists/davies_roland.htm