Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #261

 Hello my friends and happy Saturday Morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons. 

For the most part characters that originally appeared in Disney's animated feature films did not appear in the studio's short films. There were however exceptions to this. One of the most interesting of these exceptions was The Winged Scrouge (1943), which features the Seven Dwarfs. This is not your typical Disney short. During the time when the studio was making a series of South American films (some of them celebrating South American culture and some made for South American audiences) as part of the US's Good Neighbor Policy, The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (or the CIAA) commissioned the studio to make a series of films about health and safety. This is the marked the first of these films and the only one to use already established characters. Originally going to be titled The Mosquito and Malaria. Because of the nature of this film, it was made with the CIAA working closely with the Disney story team. The CIAA in fact sent specialists to work with the Disney story crew. Working with them on this film were Dr. Edward C. Ernest, acting director of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau and Assistant U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. E.R. Coffey. The studio came up with a format of the first part of the film being played completely seriously and essentially a lecture. The second part would introduce the dwarfs and bring some slapstick comedy into the film. However with this second part Walt warned, "The only reason to bring in the dwarfs is to add a little interest; when you get into gags and impossible things, you're not accomplishing the job you are supposed to do - show in a simple way how to get rid of the mosquitoes. If you make it look like a tremendous job, they'll say, hell, I'll take the mosquitoes." Even with this not being your typical Disney short, it had a great cast of animators, which even included two of Walt's future Nine Old Men, Milt Kahl and Frank Thomas. John McManus animates much of the first more serious part of the film. Milt Kahl animates the introduction of the dwarfs, Doc and Sneezy in a boat, Happy spraying oil, Dopey with a dipper and an oil can, Bashful and the birds applying the green color, Sleepy digging the ditches, Grumpy chopping the stump, dwarfs with the deer and the cart, Doc with the wheelbarrow and Grumpy with the Woodpecker. Frank Thomas animates the sequence with Dopey and the mosquitos. Harvey Tombs animates Happy with the rain barrel, the dwarfs hanging the screens, Sleepy with the birds and the dwarfs snoring. 

Next comes one of the Fleischer Studio's stone age cartoons, Wedding Belts (1940). 

Now for perhaps my favorite of the classic Betty Boop cartoons, Snow White (1933). This cartoon is chock full of imagination and there is never one moment that isn't a lot of fun. There is a pure energy in this film that simply never lets up. This cartoon is simply everything I love about the cartoons from the Fleischer Studio at this time and is perhaps the best example of why the early 1930's Betty Boop cartoons are held in such high regard by animation fans. What makes this cartoon all the more impressive is that it has often been said that it was animated almost entirely by Doc Crandall. The main song number is performed by jazz legend Cab Calloway, who also provided vocals for the Betty Boop cartoons, Minnie the Moocher (1932) and The Old Man of the Mountain (1933). This film arrived at the number 19 spot in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons. 

Next up is Heckle and Jeckle in Hair Cut Ups (1952). Paul Terry has said that the Heckle and Jeckle films were the best cartoons he produced, and I personally agree with him. 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Now for a silent Aesop's Film Fables cartoon, The Traveling Salesman (1923). This short includes our good friend Farmer Alfalfa. 

Moving Picture World, 1925

Next up is Tex Avery's next to last black and white cartoon, The Haunted Mouse (1941). By this time Tex had moved from working on the black and white Looney Tunes to the color Merrie Melodies. He had not made a black and white cartoon since Porky's Garden (1937). After this film, he would make one more black and white short, Porky's Preview (1941). This movie was the first Looney Tune to not feature any reoccurring characters. Before this Looney Tunes always featured a star character, at first Bosko, then Buddy, then Beans and then Porky. This star character would appear in every cartoon for the series, while the Merrie Melodies would include cartoons without any of the main characters. This movie also features the first writing credit for Michael Maltese who would go on to write Chuck Jones' best cartoons. 
 

Now to close with a song. 

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

South of the Border with Disney by J.B. Kaufman.

The 50 Greatest Cartoons edited by Jerry Beck

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/disneys-the-winged-scourge-1943/

https://mediahistoryproject.org/