Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning # 13

Hello again my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time to look at some more classic cartoons. 

With Easter being tomorrow where better to start than with Disney's Easter themed Silly Symphony Funny Little Bunnies (1934). Easter in 1934 was on April 1st. The New York opening of the film was at a timely March 29th (at the Radio City Music Hall playing along with the Frank Buck feature Wild Cargo (1934). However the Los Angles opening date would be a post-Easter April 6th (at Grauman's United Artists with the William Wellman feature Looking For Trouble (1934)). According to J.B. Kaufman and Russel Merritt's incredible book on the Silly Symphonies this film is the earliest known work on a Silly Symphony by one of the future Disney's Nine Old Men and the director of such feature films as The Sword and the Stone (1963), The Jungle Book (1967) and The Aristocats (1970), Wollie "Wolfgang" Reitherman. Here he worked as an assistant animator under Ben Sharpsteen (who would become the supervising director for Pinocchio (1940) and Dumbo (1941)). Also animating on this film are such animation legends as Dick Lundy (the sculptor bunnies), Art Babbitt (the blind bunnies), Dick Humeur (the hens, the old grandpa rabbit, and the bunnies with crossed eyes), and Ham Luske (the finale scene). The film was directed by Wilfred Jackson, one of the finest directors of Silly Symphonies. This cartoon would win a Gold Medal for Best Animated Film at the Venice Film Festival that year and would be rereleased to theatres in 1950.

The sponsor for many of the Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons of the late 1950's and early 1960's was Kellogg's cereal. It should come as no surprise then that the studio made various commercials for these cereals featuring their characters. For your enjoyment here are some of those.





Next comes a really earlier Popeye cartoon, Blow Me Down (1933). This is a much rougher and tougher Popeye than the one in later films. He will even punch a man for smiling at him the wrong way. At this time Popeye was voiced by William Costello (no relation to Lou). Costello was the original voice of Popeye, however he could also be a difficult man to work with. So later when they found one of the studio's writers (Jack Mercer) could do a perfect imitation he would take over. Despite being a little rough around the edges this is a great cartoon and the ending gag is fantastic.

Next Up comes one of my favorite Pink Panther cartoons Pink Poises (1967). Following the template set by the Pink Panther's first short film, Pink Phink (1964) our hero tries to turn, the little man's yellow flowers to pink. The Pink Panther wanting to turn everything Pink was an idea used often in the early Pink Panther cartoons, and this has to be one of its best uses in the series.




We end with a classic Porky Pig cartoon entitled Plane Dippy (1936). This is an early Porky Pig cartoon as the character had just made his debut a year earlier. This is also an early cartoon for legendary director Tex Avery. In fact it is his third cartoon for Warner Brothers. As such it has a slower pace than most cartoon fans associate Tex with today. This is not one rapid fire gag after another, but rather a film that takes its time between gags. This does not mean the cartoon is not funny though. There are some really funny jokes here, especially when Porky is going through the tests. Also in this film is little Kitty a short lived character that debuted in the same cartoon as Porky (I Haven't Got a Hat (1935)) For my fellow fans of the old Mickey Mouse comics, is it just me or does Professor Blotz remind you of Professor Ecks? This is also the cartoon where we learn Porky Pig's full name  Porky Cornelius Washington Otis Lincoln Abner Aloysius Casper Jefferson Philbert Horatius Narcissus Pig. -Michael J. Ruhland