Today's watching starts with a delightful Walt Disney Oswald. The film is The Ocean Hop (1927). Disney fans may notice that the villain here is none other than Pete, Mickey Mouse's later nemesis. Pete is the oldest Disney cartoon character still in use today dating back to the Alice Comedy, Alice Solves the Puzzle (1925). The character would appear in many of Walt's silent films. Pete here is clearly a bear, as he was in all of these early cartoons. By the time of the Mickey Mouse cartoons, he was changed into a cat. The reason for this being that Walt did not own the bear version of Pete, just as he did not own Oswald. Because of this the bear version of Pete continued appearing in Universal cartoons as late as 1937, with the cat Pete appearing in Disney cartoons at the same time. The ending of this movie may leave some wondering what happened to Oswald's dog friend. The answer is in a scene that was cut from the film for later re-showings and is lost today. In the original version the movie ends with a joke where the dog falls into a taxi and comes out of the exhaust pipe as a string of sausages.
Speaking of dogs turning into sausages, that idea plays a major role in the next cartoon, A Mutt and Jeff film titled, Dog Gone (1926).
Next comes an early Charles Mintz produced Krazy Kat cartoon. Like the sound Krazy Kat cartoons, he produced (that I often share on this blog), the story barely resembles George Herriman's comic strip. However this movie does have Krazy looking much more like Himself or Herself (though later Mintz cartoons would clearly define the character as a male, the strip never gave away Krazy's gender). Like the later films this is an enjoyable little movie on its own terms. However it is disappointing that we couldn't have gotten a film version of Joe Stork from the comic strip. So enjoy, Stork Exchange (1927).
Here is an earlier cartoon of Krazy Kat, not produced by Mintz that bears a stronger resemblance to the comic strip. This film is from the International Film Service. Owned by William Randolph Hearst, this company mostly made short animated films based off of comic strips that were controlled by Hearst. The film is The Bugolist (1916) and the credited animator is Frank Moser, who will be immediately recognized by Terry Toons fans as he directed and animated many of the cartoons there.
Next is another cartoon from the International Film Service, The Spider and the Fly (1918) starring Happy Hooligan.
Next comes a really enjoyable Out of the Inkwell cartoon, Modeling (1921).
Afterwards comes one of Sid Griffith's Jerry the Troublesome Tyke cartoons, Great Expectations (1927).
Today's cartoon selection ends with a delightful movie from Russia combining live action and animation, One of Many (1927). This film is a tribute to all things movies, especially those coming from Hollywood. As such there are many treats for silent film fans throughout this movie. Thank you to Lea Stans and her excellent blog, Silent-ology for introducing me to this film.
Thank you for joining me come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then Peace, love and cartoons.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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