Hello, my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with Mighty Mouse in A Swiss Miss (1951). In this short film, Mighty Mouse must once again save Pearl Pureheart from the evil Oil Can Harry.
Next, we join Porky Pig in Meet John Doughboy (1941). This short film was made and released before the United States entered World War 2, but it is obvious that it was on the horizon.
Now for a truly classic Disney short film, Pluto's Judgement Day (1935). This cartoon was released as part of the Mickey Mouse cartoon series, but the true star of the film is Pluto. Pluto would not receive his own cartoon series until 1940. The writers who brought us this cartoon were Joe Grant and Bill Cottrell. The same year this film came out this story team also brought us the Silly Symphonies shorts, Who Killed Cock Robin and Three Orphan Kittens. This cartoon made it TV debut on an episode of The Mickey Mouse Club that aired on February 4, 1958.
Next is the Ub Iwerks Comi-Color cartoon, Old Mother Hubbard (1935). Ub Iwerks had previously been Walt Disney's right-hand man playing a major role in the creation of Mickey Mouse, animating on Walt's Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons and directing the earliest Silly Symphonies. When distributor Pat Powers offered Ub the chance to head his own studio he left Walt (though he would later return). Ub's own studio would never receive the success that the Disney studio did, but he turned out some films that still delight cartoon buffs to this day. His Comi-Color series was a thinly veiled imitation of Disney's Silly Symphonies cartoons, adapting many classic fairy tales and similar stories. However, these cartoons are a bit odder than the Silly Symphonies and there are some jokes in these movies you would not see in a Disney cartoon.
Now it is time for a commercial break.
Now for a classic silent film, Koko the Kop (1927).
Popeye proved to be such a popular cartoon star, that while Fleischer Studios was putting him in their black and white cartoons, they also put him in three special longer length color cartoons. While these cartoons were still short films and not features, they were over twice the length of the average Popeye short. Up next is the last (and probably least appreciated) of these films, Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp (1939).
Now for something completely different here is a completely serious cartoon short of the 1950's, The Tell-Tale Heart (1953). This film is not surprisingly from the UPA studio. The UPA studio at this time sought to move away from the violent slapstick of Warner Brothers or MGM cartoons, or the more realistic "illusion of life" featured in many Disney cartoons. They often experimented with what could be done with the color and design in animated films. These films often experimented with flat backgrounds, purposely limited animation and abstract color schemes that reflect the emotion of a scene rather than what something would really look like. As is true of all cartoon studios that do a lot of experimenting, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Tell-Tale Heart is one of the most successful and one of the most extreme experiments. Most American audiences at this time had never seen an animated short quite like this and many would never see something like this again. When a 1954 article in Home Movies talking about the Cannes Film Festival got to Disney's Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953) winning a prize, the writer had this to say, "It is unpardonable however that Disney should so openly and fully steal the style of the cartoon developed by the most excellent groups of artists, Steven Bosustow's UPA. It was no secret this was the case among those as the festival as UPA is well known and well respected in France. It is a shame that UPA recent and excellent 3D cartoon, The Tell-Tale Heart could not be shown at the festival, for it most certainly won the prize awarded to Disney." This cartoon is placed at 24 in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons.
Even after Lou Costello passed away and Bud Abbott retired, Eddie Sherman (Abbott and Costello's manager) kept looking for new projects for Abbott and Costello. In 1965 he watched The New Three Stooges cartoons where the real Stooges provided voices for cartoon versions of themselves. He felt there were possibilities in an animated version of Abbott and Costello. Sherman sold this idea to Lee Orgel, president of Jamar Productions. Orgel than sold the idea to Hanna-Barbera, who recently made a similar show with Laurel and Hardy. Joe Barbera originally did not want Bud Abbott to voice himself, instead wanting a younger actor in the role. However, Orgel talked him into it by convincing him that having the real Bud would add some authenticity to the project. Orgel also had to convince Joe Barbera that Stan Irwin should voice Lou Costello (Joe wanted Vegas comic, Shecky Greene to voice Lou). Irwin had worked as a stand-up comic and had done a Lou Costello impression that Lou himself loved. Irwin's connection to Lou Costello ran even deeper than that. Irwin had performed the famous Who's on First routine with Lou Costello at some charity performances at the Biltmore Theater in Los Angles. 156 TV Abbott and Costello cartoons were made. Next is the 106th of these cartoons to air, Texas Jack (1968).
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another selection of animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
Resources Used
https://mediahistoryproject.org/
The Abbott and Costello Story by Stephen Cox and John Lofflin
The 50 Greatest Cartoons edited by Jerry Beck
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein
Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Brothers Cartoons by Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald
Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series by Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman
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