Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning, welcome back for another round of classic cartoons.
We resume with our good buddy Krazy Kat in Krazy's Race of Time (1937). This cartoon is a take off on The March of Time newsreels. This film gives us a look into the impossibly far away future of 1999. A review in the Motion Picture Herald states "Imaginatively contrived with the comic situations certain to draw an amused response." An exhibitors review from the Motion Picture Herald stated "Just an average cartoon with a few wise cracks." Another called the cartoon, "A very good filler." This film has some of my favorite jokes from any of the Krazy Kat shorts.
Next is one of the great early Scrappy cartoons, Showing Off (1931). This film has all the entertaining surreal-ness that so many of us cartoon fans love about the early Scrappy's.
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| Film Daily, 1931 |
Much like in the later Mickey Mouse cartoons, the later Betty Boop cartoons would often times have the supporting characters becoming the focus of the films. The characters who would take over the series were Grampy and Betty's dog Pudgy. The pudgy centered cartoons would have a softer and gentler feel than the early Betty cartoons. Those who know their Fleischer Studio history will know that while Dave Fleischer always got director credit, the first animator listed did much of the directing. Therefore it is not much of a surprise that the first animator listed for this movie is Myron Waldman who specialized in these gentler cartoons. The film is Riding The Rails (1938) and while it may not be one of the best Betty Boop's it is still quite entertaining. A review in The Motion Picture Herald stated "Metropolitan audiences will derive the greatest amount of enjoyment from the cartooning of Subway travel, but the subject's pace is so fast and amusing that even non-subterranean riders should get several good laughs." An exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald stated, "This is a fair cartoon, but they are getting shorter and shorter each issue and we notice that by the last series are played there will be no more. Too bad as they are a good draw here." 1939 would be the last year of Betty's big screen career.
Next up comes one of the most infamous Silly Symphonies shorts, The Country Cousin (1936). The highlight of this movie is Art Babbitt's animation of a drunk Abner the Mouse. There has been a lot of drunk animation over the years yet this is probably the best drunk animation ever done. There is as much comedy, personality and artistry here as there is in the classic Charlie Chaplin short, One A.M. (1916). Art Babbitt's animation of Abner isn't the only animation highlight of this cartoon. A montage sequence animated by Cy Young was so good it was later reused in the Mickey Mouse short, Mickey's Delayed Date (1947) and was still up to par with all the technical advancements Disney had made since 1936. This film was based on the Aesop's Fables story, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, so not surprisingly the original working title was Town Mouse and Country Mouse. In 1970 Bob Clampett would later say that Abner was the inspiration for the Warner Brother's character Sniffles. Frank Tashlin went further saying that he inspired every cartoon mouse including Jerry over at MGM. An exhibitor's review in The Motion Picture Herald stated "Is there no end to the versatility of this Disney fellow? This is one of the finest and funniest cartoons we have ever had the pleasure of offering our patrons and comments indicated their complete approval."
This post ends with one of my favorite Tom and Jerry cartoons, Trap Happy (1946). This movie is one of the most pure Tom and Jerry cartoons ever made. There is no time wasted on story or set up. This is simply seven minutes of pure fast paced slapstick goodness.
Thank you for joining me come back next week for more animated goodies. Peace, love and cartoons.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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