Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #51

Hello my friends and welcome back for another round of classic cartoons.

Since New Years is only days away it seems appropriate to start with a New Years cartoon. One of the best New Years cartoons is Columbia's The Little Match Girl (1937). This was one of the studio's Color Rhapsody cartoons. These films were in many ways Columbia's answer to Disney's Silly Symphonies. Because of this they were more polished and lavish than the studio's Scrappy or Krazy Kat cartoons. The Little Match Girl is perhaps the finest film in the series, featuring a surprising amount of emotion and well used sentimentality. Still a reviewer in The Film Daily was not that impressed calling this film "amateurishly executed." One doubts a Silly Symphony would end the way this cartoon does.

 

Next comes a delightful early Terrytoon from back in the day when Terrytoons were full of singing mice. The film is called Mice in Council (1934). One exhibitors review from the Motion Picture Herald of the cartoon stated, "Fair cartoon. Terry-Toons are much better than last year's efforts."

Though Betty Boop had appeared in films before, Stopping the Show (1932) was the first one credited as a Betty Boop cartoon. What a perfectly delightful start to one of the great cartoon series of the 1930's. This is a creative, fast paced and very funny cartoon. Reviews in old movie magazines show that this was a very popular film when first released. A review from The Film Daily stated "A knockout animated cartoon number from the Max Fleischer studios. Different, clever and highly entertaining." The review went on to call the film "a treat on any bill." An exhibitors review called the cartoon, "extra good." Another called it "a very clever cartoon." A much less enthusiastic one called it "Fairly interesting."






The last cartoon for the day is a delightful Disney gem staring Humphrey Bear, Hooked Bear (1956).



Thank you for joining me and come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then peace, love and cartoons.

-Michael J. Ruhland