Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #113

 Hello my friends and Happy Saturday morning. I am glad to have you back for another selection of classic cartoons. 

Today's cartoon selection begins with Porky Pig in Confusions of a Nutzy Spy (1943). This short was directed by Norman McCabe, who while never achieving the fame or recognition of Chuck Jones, Tex Avery or Bob Clampett, is a director whose cartoons I have always had a special fondness for. Much of the reason that McCabe is not as familiar to cartoon fans today is that his work rarely shows on TV. There are three major reasons for this. One is that his output is in black and white, another is that much of it is very topical of the WW2 era and yet another is that most of these films feature racial stereotypes. McCabe's Looney Tunes association did not end with the golden age. He would work as a timing director on the TV series, Tiny Toon Adventures, Taz Mania and Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. Confusions of a Nutzy Spy was an increasingly rare case of Porky being the star of a cartoon around this time. Though Porky not long ago had been the star of nearly every Looney Tune, this had been changing. Porky's roles would get smaller to the point where though he still appeared in every Looney Tune, he became strictly a supporting player (even in cartoons that featured his name in the title). Just a couple of years before this cartoon, the first Looney Tune in years not to feature Porky was released, The Haunted Mouse (1941). After this there were quite a few more Looney Tunes not featuring Porky as well as ones in which he only had brief cameos. The following are a couple of exhibitor's reviews from the Motion Picture Herald. "CONFUSIONS OF A NUTZY SPY: Looney Tunes Cartoons—Routine stuff. Always goes over big with the kids. Ran Friday, Saturday to good audience of kids and the house shook.—Wilson T. Cottrell, Caro- lina Theatre, Oxford, N. C." "CONFUSIONS OF A NUTZY SPY: Looney Tunes Cartoon—This is only a fairish sort of a black and white cartoon.—W. V. Nevins, III, Alfred Co-Op Theatre, Alfred, N. Y."

Sponsor, 1957


Next comes a great early Mickey Mouse cartoon, Barnyard Battle (1929). This cartoon takes place back when Mickey was a simple country mouse. One thing I love about the early Mickey cartoons is these barnyard settings. They provide the films with a good sense of atmosphere and are full of gags that come from the setting. Like the Our Gang kids these cartoon characters make all sorts of inventions out of simple barnyard objects. This gives the films a charm and creativity that the later Mickey's never fully captured. This was also before Walt came up with the idea to do away with some of the more cartoony gags where characters bodies could do impossible things. While I love many of the Disney studios short of the 1940's and 50's I wish these gags didn't fade away because they are a lot of fun. This cartoon features Mickey going to war with a bunch of cats (that all look like Pete) and in many ways feels like a follow-up to such previous Disney war cartoons as Oswald's Great Guns (1927) and the Alice Comedy, Alice's Little Parade (1926). In fact many of these gags would have felt right at home in those pre-Mickey cartoons. This film would be banned in Germany due to the cat's helmets resembling German army helmets. 

Exhibitor's Herald World, 1929

Next we have a Famous Studios cartoon starring the short lived Blackie the Lamb, Lamb in a Jam (1945). Though Blackie only starred in four cartoons (the other three being No Mutton Fer Nuttin' (1943),  Sheep Shape (1946) and  Much Ado About Mutton (1947)), I personally feel his series had potential and I would not have minded seeing more. 

Now for a very funny cartoon from the National Film Board of Canada, The Cat Came Back (1988). Director, writer and animator Cordell Baker pitched the idea of a short film about an old man and a cat, and the NFBC suggested that the he base the short around the folk song, The Cat Came Back. He spent an incredible amount of time working on this short film. He spent eight hours a day (as well as weekends) for over three years making this cartoon (which he has sole animator credit). The work paid off as the film was extremely well receiving numerous awards. This short ranks at #32 in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons. 

Farmer Al Falfa was typical of early Terrytoons characters. He is pleasant and fun to watch but he is hardly a character who will leave much of a lasting impression. It is appropriate then that not he is not only the earliest star of the Terrytoons but that he had already been a major part of Paul Terry's work before Terrytoons. Paul Terry had been making films with the old gray farmer since 1915, and Terry used the character in cartoons for such studios as the Bray Studios, Paromount, Aesop's Fables and Van Bueren. Here is an early film with the character at Bray Studios, Farmer Al Falfa sees New York (1916) directed by Paul Terry. 

Next comes a classic Fleischer-era Popeye cartoon, The Paneless Window Washer (1937). The following is an exhibitor's review from the Motion Picture Herald, "PANELESS WINDOW WASHER, THE: Popeye the Sailor—An above average Popeye cartoon that pleased everybody; a good addition to any program. Popeye cartoons always seem to please. Running time, seven minutes.—Theodore J. Freidman, Strand Theatre, Suffern, N.Y. General patronage." 

Today's cartoon selection ends with a Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales pairing, Moby Duck (1965). As strange of a pair as they seem, in the mid to late 1960's, the team was paired up in quite a few shorts. Many cartoon fans look at these as some of Warner Brothers' weakest cartoon shorts, but I admit there are some of them I quite like and this is one of them. The pair would later be reteamed for the feature film, Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island (1983). The premise itself is quite good and some gags do make me chuckle.    

Thank you for joining me come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.