Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #17

Hello again my friends and happy Saturday morning. Of course we all know that means time for more cartoons. 

To start off we have a classic Donald Duck cartoon, Donald's Dilemma (1947). This cartoon was directed by Jack King. King was hired as an animator at the Disney studio in 1929. During that time he mostly worked as an animator. He would leave the studio in 1933 and would become a director at Warner Brothers. What is interesting about his Warner Brothers cartoons is that they were less filled with humor than most of the other Warner Brothers cartoons where. A cartoon like Shanghaied Shipmates (1936) starring Porky Pig couldn't be called a comedy at all. What is more fascinating is that when he came back to Disney and became the director for many Donald Duck shorts, his cartoons would become some of the most slapstick filled Disney was putting out at the time. These Donald Ducks took nothing seriously and instead everything in them was just for the sake of making one laugh. This is especially strange considering that Disney made a greater number of serious cartoons than Warner Brothers ever did. This cartoon was written by Roy Williams who would go on to become a regular cast member on The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1956) TV show. In his book The Disney Films Leonard Maltin would describe this cartoon as "Perhaps the best Donald Duck of all..." I don't know if I would go that far, but this certainly is an excellent cartoon. 

Next up comes a Hokey Wolf cartoon from The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958-1961) called Hokey's Missing Millions. The story involves a billionaire giving Hokey a billion dollars. This story makes me think of the Top Cat (1961-1962) episode The Tycoon, in which a billionaire gives TC a million dollars. Interestingly both episodes were released in 1961. Hokey Wolf trying to sneak past a butler to see a rich man, makes me think of the Daffy Duck cartoon, Daffy Dilly (1948). I always love in these Hanna-Barbera cartoons when a character references another Hanna-Barbera character and here Hokey references Snagglepuss.



Next comes one of the classic Bugs Bunny cartoons, Fresh Hare (1942). One thing you may notice quickly about this cartoon is that Elmer Fudd is fatter than we usually see him. This was done for a brief time during the early 1940's. The came from director Bob Clampett, who felt Elmer should look more like his voice actor, Arthur Q. Bryan. This new design appeared in a few cartoons not only directed by Clampett, but Friz Freleng as well (this one was directed by Friz). This cartoon features an impolitically correct gag that has been cut out from TV showings. This cut was done very poorly and left the ending feeling abrupt. For those of you who have only seen it on TV, you can now see how the film actually ends and no this ending would not fly today.

 

I have stated before on this blog that I think Earl Hurd's Bobby Bumps cartoons are some of the finest animated films during the silent era. Well here is another classic Bobby Bumps cartoon, Bobby Bumps Starts for School (1917).







   
Let us end with an episode from The New Three Stooges (1965-1966) TV show. This series would feature cartoons staring the famous trio, where they would provide their own voices and star in live action segments introducing the cartoons. So enjoy, Flatheads.



So stay tooned for more animated treats next Saturday morning. Until then peace, love and cartoons.

-Michael J. Ruhland