When I watched this short and other Bobby Bumps cartoons on TCM, I was shocked at the very high quality for its time. While people today might not realize it, the Bumps films were among the best animated of their time....and "Bobby Bumps' Fly Swatter" is no exception.
The story begins with some flies bothering Pa. He's trying to sleep but they keep driving him to distraction. Soon Pa instructs Bobby to come inside and spend his day swatting flies away so Pa can sleep. Since Bobby is a rather evil sort, he quickly finds a way around his duty. When Pa realizes this, a chase ensues...and Bobby once again shows his evil streak.
While Bobby was a cute looking character, his sociopathic behaviors helped to make these Bray Studio cartoons a lot of fun...even when you see tem more than a hundred years later. Well animated for the time and most enjoyable even if it does seem rather quaint and old fashioned today.