Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again, it is time for some classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with Tree For Two (1952) starring Sylvester the cat. This short film introduced the two dogs, Spike and Chester. They would only appear in two classic theatrical shorts (the other being Dr. Jekyll's Hyde (1954)), but the popularity of these cartoons has made them make cameos in many post-golden age Looney Tunes projects. This short would later be edited into the feature film, Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island (1983) and be remade as The Dogfather (1974), the first short in The Dogfather series.
Up next is the Terry Toons cartoon, Hounding the Hares (1948). This short film features our good friend Farmer Al Falfa.
Now we join Donald Duck in Sky Trooper (1942). Like many cartoon characters, Donald Duck spent much of World War 2 making service comedies that featured him in some branch of the military. Despite the most famous image of Donald being him in his sailor suit, most of these service comedies featured the duck in the army. Many of these cartoons also feature Mickey Mouse's nemesis Pete as Donald's long-suffering sergeant. The highlight of these films is often the interactions between these two characters. Sky Trooper was written by Carl Barks, who is best known for his wonderful comic book stories starring the beloved cartoon duck as well as for the creation of his uncle Scrooge McDuck (for whom Carl also wrote the comic book stories). The cartoon was directed by Jack King, who directed most of the Donald Duck shorts around this time. The film was released to theaters on November 6, 1942. It made its TV debut on an episode of The Mickey Mouse Club that aired on December 10, 1957. The cartoon would also be used in the Walt Disney Presents episode, This is Your Life, Donald Duck (1960).
Next is the silent Out of the Inkwell film, Hot After It (1926). This film would later be retitled Koko's Treasure Hunt for television and that is the title you see here.
Now it is time for a commercial break.
Next comes Bugs Bunny in Bugsy and Mugsy (1957). This film was a semi-remake of the Slyvester cartoon, Stooge for a Mouse (1950). Bugsy and Mugsy would later be remade as the Dogfather cartoon, Heist and Seek (1974).
Now for the Fleischer stone age cartoon, Way Back When a Razzberry was a Fruit (1940).
Winsor McCay is easily one of the most important, and most talented pioneers of animation. Contrary to some stories you might hear though he is not the first filmmaker to use animation (Emil Cohl, J. Stuart Blackton, Charles-Émile Reynaud, and Segundo de Chomón beat him to it). However, his importance to the history of animation cannot be underestimated. Winsor McCay had already enjoyed much success before entering the field of animation, as creator and writer of the newspaper comic strips, Little Nemo in Slumberland, and Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend. These comic strips were the highlight of the comics page back then. They transcended what comic strips had been known for through their abundance of imagination, and expert drawing style. It is only natural for a man who created this to be attracted to the art form of animation. His first film was Little Nemo (1911) based off his own comic strip. This film starts out in live action with McCay betting he can make drawings move (although he incorrectly credits himself as the first to do this), and his friends respond with laughter and disbelief. The live action segment of this film is very clever, and humorous. The highlight of the live action portion though is seeing McCay draw his characters before the animation starts. This is when you know you are watching a great talent at work. The animation segment itself is very well done and entertaining, but it is a little dated. It is obvious he had not yet figured out what to do with animation, and that leads to a lack of understanding our characters, and therefore a lack of personal involvement. However this animation is expertly done. It is very appealing and still looks very good by today's standards. This entire segment was hand-drawn by one man, Winsor McCay himself. He drew four-thousand drawings all by himself for this one short segment of the film. The early color was achieved by hand painting the 35mm film itself after it was complete. this was also done only by McCay.
Now let us close with a song.
Thanks 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
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety by Jerry Beck
Donald Duck: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein
https://mediahistoryproject.org/
https://mediahistoryproject.org/
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