Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #25

Hello my friends. It is once again Saturday morning and time to look at some more classic cartoons. 

We start with an early Looney Tunes cartoon. This film was made before such characters as Porky, Daffy and Bugs were created. Instead it stars the often forgotten Bosko. Bosko was the main character of Looney Tunes from 1930 to 1933. In fact while its sister series Merrie Melodies featured various non-reoccurring characters, every Looney Tune during this period starred Bosko. Bosko was like many of the cartoon stars of the early 1930's. This is to say he was very much in the mold of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse. He even had a girlfriend (Honey) and a dog (Bruno), meant to remind audiences of Minnie and Pluto. The creators of Bosko were Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising, both of whom had previously been employed by Walt. When they left the studio in 1933, they took the rights to the character of Bosko with them. They would make a few cartoons with Bosko at MGM, but it wasn't long until the character faced retirement from cartoons. This cartoon is one that uses much of Bosko's dog, Bruno, as Bosko enters him in a dog race. Animation of the actual race would be reused in Bosko's Picture Show (1933). The ending reminds me rather vaguely of the Porky Pig cartoon, Milk and Money (1936). Though that cartoon being Tex Avery would be timed much faster. So enjoy the delightful, Bosko's Dog Race (1932).    


Next comes a much later Warner Brothers cartoon, from Looney Tunes' sister series Merrie Melodies. This is one of the many cartoons of the 1960's which placed Daffy Duck as Speedy Gonzales' anatogist. This was an odd pairing to say the least. The cartoon is directed by animation legend Robert McKimson who had worked on Warners cartoons as early as some of the Bosko's. McKimson's cartoons were certainly the strongest Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies of this late era. So enjoy, Mexican Mousepiece (1966).




Next comes a real oddity. This is a Popeye cartoon, where the sailor is not voiced by either Jack Mercer or Billy Costello. Instead the voice is provided by Floyd Buckley, who a few months after this recording session would voice Popeye on a popular Popeye radio show. This would be the only time he would voice Popeye in a cartoon short. The voice of Popeye certainly does sound more than a bit off here, but the cartoon is delightful despite that. This is one of those excellent Fleischer shorts, where a character learns a lesson by being subjected to the creulty he placed on others. So enjoy, Be Kind to Animals (1935).




Next comes another classic Fleischer Brothers short of the 1930's. This one stars their most famous original character (Popeye was a comic strip before they started the cartoon series), Betty Boop. This is one of the three Betty Boop cartoons to feature the voice of jazz legend Cab Calloway (the other two being Minnie the Moocher (1932) and Snow White (1933)). All three of these cartoons to capture the magic of Cab's on stage movements, rotoscoped (tracing over live action film) Cab's dancing. Fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), will recognize that that movie made a direct reference to this cartoon even borrowing a bit of dialogue. So enjoy, The Old Man of the Mountain (1933).




Thanks for joining me, come back next week for more animated treasures.

-Michael J. Ruhland