Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #38

Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. You know what that means? If you don't know what that means, then can I assume you are new to this blog, in which case I say welcome and hope you enjoy these classic cartoons today. 

So we start off with a classic Merrie Melody directed by the one and only Chuck Jones, Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939). This was the first Daffy Duck cartoon he directed and animation buffs can easily tell the difference between this and Chuck's later efforts with the character. Chuck would be a very prominent figure in the evolution of Daffy from a character who was completely and utterly insane into the more greedy self centered character. However in this cartoon Daffy is the crazy character more associated with directors like Tex Avery or Bob Clampett. A reviewer in Boxoffice magazine was less than impressed with this film stating "Humor content of this cartoon is not up to par for this series. But it's just as daffy as the others with a couple of good laughs." A review in the Motion Picture Herald however called it "one of the most entertaining Merrie Melodies to date." 

I admit to really liking Columbia's Fox and Crow cartoons, and here is one especially like, Woodman Spare That Tree! (1942).




In the 1930's before Mighty Mouse or Heckle and Jeckle. Terrytoons had trouble finding cartoon characters that would stick. Part of this came from Paul Terry preferring one shot cartoons at this time over ones with reoccurring characters. Bill Weiss who was put in charge of much of the studio's output was opposed to Paul's ideas and tried to introduce new characters anyway. One of these was Kiko the Kangaroo. He came about due to a conversation with Roger Ferri (editor of the 20th Century Fox house organ), who liked the idea of a cartoon character being a kangaroo. Next is one of Kiko's cartoons, Kiko Foils the Fox (1936). A review in the Motion Picture Herald called this "a lively cartoon." An exhibitors review from the Motion Picture Herald (written by L. A. Irwin from the Palace Theatre) was just a little bit negative stating "The usual dull cartoon. Nothing to make it entertainment. They oughta throw overboard all these Paul Terry characters and start anew."




As I have stated before plenty of times on this blog, Jack Kinney's Goofy cartoons for Disney are extremely funny. That put shame to that unfortunate belief that Disney cartoons were cute and sweet, while Warner Brothers and MGM cartoons were actually funny. One of my favorite of these Goofy cartoons is Cold War (1951). This is a hilarious cartoon that combines great slapstick with some extremely clever satire. So enjoy this fantastic cartoon.




We end with a classic Fleischer Brothers Popeye cartoon, Morning, Noon and Nightclub (1937). This an especially good Popeye with many laugh out loud moments.




-Michael J. Ruhland