A Ham in a Role

A Ham in a Role follows a cartoon dog who grows tired of the same old slapstick routines and decides to trade the stage for a quieter life, hoping to study Shakespeare at his country house. He packs up his routines and settles in, imagining evenings of declaiming verse instead of pratfalls. His plans are repeatedly interrupted by two polite, mischievous gophers whose courteous misbehavior keeps collapsing his theatrical aspirations. The film plays out as a series of escalating interruptions, mixing highbrow references with classic animated physical comedy, and it ends without undermining the comedic core that drives the short.

Released in 1949, the short was directed by Robert McKimson and created by Sid Marcus, with Mel Blanc voicing the dog Mac and Stan Freberg as Tosh, among the credited performers.

As a theatrical cartoon short, there are no widely cited box office figures or gross totals; it circulated as part of the era's animated shorts program rather than as a standalone commercial release.

Though not one of the most famous cartoons from its decade, the film is a neat example of postwar animation that pairs literary nods with slapstick. It highlights the vocal talents of Mel Blanc and Stan Freberg, and the polite gopher gag fits into a recurring comic pattern where small characters outwit a larger, self-important foil. Collectors and historians often note it for that contrast and for its period humor.

Critical responses tend to treat A Ham in a Role as light entertainment rather than a landmark, reflected in a modest average rating around 6.3 out of 10 from contemporary viewers. The short toys with themes about performance versus seriousness, and how ambition can be undercut by everyday absurdity. It stays funny because it refuses to take its own high-minded premise too seriously, preferring jokes that land quickly and often.