Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again, it is time for more classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with the Terry Toons short, Paint Pot Symphony (1949). The three main characters here previously appeared in the Terry Toons cartoon, A Truckload of Trouble (1949)
Now for the Scrappy cartoon, Scrappy's Toy Shop (1934). About working at the Mintz Studio (which made this film) animator Dick Huemer stated, "There was no such thing as a director per se at the Mintz studio ... not like at the Disney studio, that is. When I came to the Disney foundry, I found a whole new setup prevailing. There, a director was a director - and nothing else. He (and I, when I later became one) had an assistant director even. And two layout men. And a private secretary. What luxury! And, oh yes, a director never touched pencil to animation paper. The stories were concocted by the story department, which never did anything else but that. How different at Mintz's. Me and [Sid] Marcus and [Art] Davis were all of the above - plus being the head animators. Each of us was our own director, once the storyline had been roughly agreed upon. Gags were added as we animated. Only thing we didn't do was paint the backgrounds. It never occurred to any of us to claim the title of Herr Director - at least not in my time there. The same went for Manny Gould and Ben Harrison on Krazy Kat." These short films are much less polished than what was being made at the Disney studio but the feeling of making it up as the filmmakers went along only added to the charm.
Next is Herman and Katnip in Mice Capades (1952). This was the first cartoon of Herman and Katnip's own cartoon series. However, the two had appeared in the Noveltoons series before this.
Next comes one of the most atmospheric Mickey Mouse cartoons, The Mad Doctor (1933). Differing from earlier Mickey cartoons, this film is not a pure comedy. Rather this cartoon mixes in elements of horror and suspense. The horror elements were too present for some. Because it was deemed too scary, it was actually banned from some theatres and completely banned in the UK. Much of this sense of atmosphere comes from the wonderful background art by Mique Nelson. Nelson was a brilliant background artist, who worked on many of the best Silly Symphonies as well as such Disney features as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Pinocchio (1940). The director of this cartoon was Dave Hand. Dave Hand directed such classic Disney cartoons as Building a Building (1933), The Flying Mouse (1934), Who Killed Cock Robin (1935), Pluto's Judgement Day (1935), Mickey's Polo Team (1936), Thru the Mirror (1936), The Country Cousin (1936) and Magician Mickey (1937). He also served as the supervising director on two of the Disney studios most popular animated features, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bambi (1942). A working title for this film was The Mysterious Castle. This cartoon reached movie theaters on January 20, 1933. At the same time this film was in theaters, Mickey Mouse was having another adventure in a spooky castle. The Mickey Mouse daily newspaper comic strip was currently running a storyline entitled Blaggard Castle. Blaggard Castle is often considered by Disney fans to be one of the best storylines of the comic strip. This cartoon's spooky themed storyline revolves around a recent popularity of horror films. A couple years earlier Universal released Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931). This caused a while slew of horror movies to hit theaters including Paramount's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Warner Brothers' Doctor X (1932), MGM's Freaks (1932) and many more as well as all the Universal monster films to follow. As such this Mickey Mouse cartoon was simply inspired by a trend of the time. Shockingly this cartoon's copyright was never renewed and actually fell into the public domain. This film along with The Sprit of '43 (1943) and Minnie's Yoo Hoo (1930) is one of the very few Disney shorts (not including the Alice Comedies) to fall into public domain. Video game fans will be familiar with elements of this cartoon. The second level of the game Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse was based off this cartoon, and the Mad Doctor himself became a major character in both Epic Mickey games. The following is a review from Motion Picture Review (which was published by The Women's University Club of Los Angles), "Mickey is not to be outdone by the present rage for horror films - and goes to the rescue of his dog in the clutches of a 'mad doctor' in heroic and sensational fashion. It is perhaps too nightmarish for children; the fad for thrills goes to great lengths even in cartoons."
Now it is time for a commercial break.
Next we join Sylvester and Tweety in Tweet Zoo (1957). Director Friz Freleng once said about Tweety, "I made him look more like a charming baby, with a bigger head and big blue eyes. He's a canary because we say he's a canary … He doesn't look like a canary. We didn't have time to develop characters. When you see Yosemite Sam, you know he's a villain, when you see Tweety, the audience is sympathetic."
Now for the Walter Lantz produced cartoon, Nellie, The Indian Chief's Daughter (1938). This is part of a brief running series of Nellie cartoons made by the Lantz studio.
Now for the Terry Toons short, The Kitten Sitter (1947).
Let us close with a song.
Thank you for joining me. Come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
Resources Used
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein.
I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety by Jerry Beck.
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
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