Hello again my friends and welcome back to another round of classic cartoons.
I start off today's selection of classic cartoons with one of Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus TV cartoons, Lion Around (1964).
Next comes a cartoon with my buddy and yours, Scrappy. The film is Technoracket (1933). This film is full of the very creative and plain weird gags that make the Scrappy cartoons so enjoyable. This short movie is one of the many cartoons of the 1920's and 30's dealing with machines taking the place of farm animals. The film of course features a mechanical cow, something very popular in cartoons from this era. An exhibitor's review from the Motion Picture Herald stated "Another very good cartoon from Columbia. Most all of Columbia's single reel shorts are good, but their two-reelers are terrible."
In the 1920's Felix the cat was just as much a movie star as any of his live action counterparts. Though Felix's movies were only one reel shorts, they often times drew just as many people to the movies as any feature. When you watch one of these cartoons the reason for that becomes clear. Not only is Felix a very appealing character, but his films are still very funny to this day. The Felix films are justifiably considered by many movie buffs to be some of the best cartoons of the silent era. Proof of how good the Felix series was can be seen in the following cartoon, Felix the Cat Hits the Deck (1927). This cartoon answers the age old question of how many playing card puns can fit into one 7 minute short.
I have never been shy on this blog about my love of Jack Kinney's Goofy cartoons for Disney. So enjoy one of these cartoons, Two Week's Vacation (1952).
Thank you for joining me come back next week for more animated treasures until then peace, love and cartoons.
-Michael J. Ruhland
Great selection! I watched all four. The Peter Potamus and Goofy ones are all time favorites of mine. The other two were new to me. The Felix cartoon is very clever in its many gags related to cards and card-playing. And "Technoracket" sounds more like a modern title than one from the 30's. I think sometimes we forget how relatively advanced the 30's were in terms of modern technology--compared to previous eras.
ReplyDeleteA note on the voice work. Daws Butler, of course, voiced Peter Potamus, while Don Messick provided the voice of So-So. The lions, both of them, were vocalized by Alan Melvin, best known as the voice of Magilla Gorilla or as the live-action character of Sam the Butcher in "The Brady Bunch."
Goofy's voice was provided by the one and only Pinto Colvig. No one else has ever come close to his vocal characterization. Not too bright-sounding, but also not too dumb, just easy-going and happy-go-lucky. The cartoon "Two Weeks Vacation" was narrated by Alan Reed, who also provided the incidental voices--the garage mechanic, the hobo, etc. This is one of my favorite Goofy cartoons. It parodies so many things that can go wrong on a road trip. I especially enjoy the ironic but sublimely happy ending for Goofy--well-deserved after the trials he has endured.
I'm not a Potamus fan, but I'm glad to see you picked one with animation by George Nicholas. It's a shame the people who worked on them were reduced to gang credits at the end of the half hour.
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