Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #110

 Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Since tomorrow is Valentines Day, this week's cartoons will have a romantic theme.

Today's cartoon selection begins with the world's greatest lover himself, Pepe Le Pew in Scent-imental Over You (1947).  While still following the typical Pepe formula, this cartoon differs in a couple of ways. The main difference is that instead of falling for Penelope Pussycat, Pepe falls for a little dog he mistakes for a skunk. I have always loved the ending of this cartoon. Reviews in movie magazines misspelled the name of this cartoon as the more traditional "Sentimental Over You." Remember love stinks. 

Next comes an extremely charming Mickey Mouse cartoon, Puppy Love (1933). Though this is more cutesy than the earlier Mickey shorts, there is a lot to enjoy here. The Rivoli Theatre in New York went out of their way to advertise this cartoon when it played there. This is evidenced by the following article from The Film Daily, "Several effective merchandise tie-ups were made for the showing of the new Mickey Mouse feature, 'Puppy Love' at the Rivoli theater, New York. Saks department store devoted a prominent widow to dog accessories and an enlargement of a still from 'Puppy Love.' Brentano's book store gave a window to ' Puppy Love Bookx for Young and Old' using a large paiper [sic] mache Mickey Mouse figure as a centerpiece, around which has built a display of dog books. The fact that these stores seldom give window space to films shows the immense respect and popularity attained by by the Walt Disney short subjects."  The following is an exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald, "PUPPY LOVE: Mickey Mouse—One of the best Mickey Mouse reels we have ever run.—W. A. Col- lins, Regal Theatre, Elvins, Mo. Small town patronage." This cartoon introduced Pluto's girlfriend Fifi to movie audiences though she had appeared in the Mickey Mouse comics (under the name Flapper) earlier. In their must have book Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History, J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein wrote, "In particular, this film marked a turning point for Fred Moore, establishing him as one of the very top tier of Mouse artists."

Note: I originally had a link to the original black and white version of this cartoon. However that video was removed from YouTube, so I replaced it with this colorized version. 

Next we join another one of the greatest screen lovers in Krazy Kat Goes A-Wooing (1916).

Next the long time couple, Popeye and Olive Oyl consider marriage in Nearlyweds (1957). You may be surprised to know that things don't quite work out as planned. This short also shows us how much deep thought Olive Oyl puts into something like marriage. Which means not much thought at all. Marriage is an institution and sometimes I think Popeye and Bluto belong in one for putting up with Olive's fickleness.  

Now we join our good friend Gandy Goose in Gandy's Dream Girl (1944). This cartoon follows a formula often seen in this series where Gandy and his good friend (and this time romantic rival) Sourpuss find themselves a fantasy world of Gandy's imagination. This is an my opinion an above average use of this formula as this film gives us quite a few good gags that make me smile whenever I watch it. Not everyone was so impressed with this cartoon though as evidenced by the following exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald, " GANDY'S DREAM GIRL: Terrytoons—Just another cartoon. Laughs few and far between. Skip this and you won't miss a thing.—Elmer Bohlig, Lake Theatre, Big Lake, Minn." 

Now we join those literal love birds, Donald and Daisy Duck in Donald's Double Trouble (1946). As Jack Hannah and Jack Kinney are often praised by cartoon fans for directing much of the studio's funniest short subjects, Jack King often gets overlooked. Jack King's Donald Duck cartoons are consistently very good. A typically great Donald cartoon from Jack King is Donald's Double Trouble (1946), which is a fast moving and quite funny cartoon. The following is an excerpt from an issue of Showman's Trade Review (dated August 23, 1947), "John Arnold of the Yale Theatre, Houston, Texas billed the Walt Disney Donald Duck short, 'Donald's Double Trouble,' equally with the feature on the marque. The short meant more than the feature he said." This cartoon played with Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946) at the Radio City Music Hall the weeks of September 23rd, September 30th and October 7th. The following is an exhibitor's review of the cartoon from the Motion Picture Herald, "DONALD'S DOUBLE TROUBLE: Walt Disney Cartoons—Pretty good. This had the usual quota of laughs and the crowd seemed to appreciate it.—Fred J. Hutchins, Community Theatre, Sask., Can." 

Today's cartoon selection continues with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Pete as romantic rivals in the silent, Rival Romeos (1928). One gag involving a goat will be very familiar to Disney fans as Walt would use the same gag a little later with Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie (1928).  

Let us end with a song. 

Thank you for joining me come back next week for another selection of classic cartoons. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.