Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning.
Today's cartoon selection begins with an early Woody Woodpecker short, The Dizzy Acrobat (1943). In these earlier Woody films the character is a bit cruder than fans of his later work are used to. But there is something about this sheer unabashed craziness that many cartoon fans (including myself) can't get enough of. This movie was nominated for an Academy Award, however it lost to Disney's Der Fuehrer's Face (1943). The following is from an issue of Showman's Trade Review (dated June 5, 1943), "Walter Lantz Cartune Studios which releases through Universal, has just released 'The Dizzy Acrobat,' A Woody Woodpecker special. The cartune revolves around the circus, and Lantz had experts advising the animators so that the action and facts would be accurate.
Next up is Tex Avery's next to last black and white cartoon, The Haunted Mouse (1941). By this time Tex had moved from working on the black and white Looney Tunes to the color Merrie Melodies. He had not made a black and white cartoon since 4 years earlier with Porky's Garden (1937). After this film, he would make one more black and white short, Porky's Preview (1941). This movie was the first Looney Tune to not feature any reoccurring characters. Before this Looney Tunes always featured a star character, at first Bosko, then Buddy, then Beans and then Porky. This star character would appear in every cartoon for the series, while the Merrie Melodies would include cartoons without any of the main characters. This movie also features the first writing credit for Michael Maltese who would go on to write Chuck Jones' best cartoons.
As the Van Bueren cartoon studio was not achieving the level of success that Disney or the Fleischers were having, it seemed like the right idea for the studio to hire talent from one of these other studios. Because of this Adamee Van Bueren made Burt Gillett the head of his cartoon studio. Gillett had one of the greatest credentials that anyone in animation could have in the 1930's. He had directed Disney's The Three Little Pigs (1933), which was by far one of the most popular cartoons to hit movie theaters. As head of the studio he dumped all the characters and series that the studio was currently making in favor of new series. One of these series began in 1934 and was titled Rainbow Parade. These shorts were clear imitations of Disney's Silly Symphonies and as the title implies they were in color. Most of these cartoons featured one shot characters but there were a few reoccurring characters, one of which was Molly Moo Cow. Here she is in Molly Moo Cow and the Indians (1935). The following is an exhibitor's review from the Motion Picture Herald, "Molly Moo Cow and the Indians: Rainbow Parade Cartoons - In Molly Moo Cow, RKO has a great character. These colored cartoons are good enough for anyone's program and should have preferred time. -C.L. Niles, Niles Theatre, Anamosa, Iowa, General Patronage."
The Plastics Inventor (1944) is a very interesting Donald Duck short in many ways. The movie marks the first time, a Donald cartoon credited the animators on screen. The film was made during World War 2 and was very topical of that time period, when people (and ducks) were conserving for the war effort and tried to find ways around various restrictions. The Disney studio had interestingly done a illustrated article for Look magazine about plastics that used Donald only three months before the film's release. That article had a serious message while this cartoon was made just for laughs Not everyone who saw this movie laughed though. Charles A. Breskin editor of Modern Plastics Magazine wrote, "Although we realize this cartoon is intended to be humorous, the result unfortunately is to belittle plastics.… I think this picture will do incalculable harm to our industry. Even if it is a comic exaggeration, the film leaves the uninformed movie-goer with the impression that (1) plastics are easily made from junk and (2) that they melt in water. It is this kind of muddled thinking about plastics that the industry is trying to correct.” He did not stop at this telling readers to write to the Disney studio to complain. Not everyone was angry. An editor of a rival plastics magazine wrote Walt, “All of us who laughed with your jolly aviator want to join in thanking you for giving plastics a break. We don’t mind a bit that Donald Duck’s materials were junk and turned into a plane and a melting parachute, because we know that plastics are not so shaky that a little ribbing will do them any harm. Thanks from all of us for a nice boost.” A review from The Film Daily called this "...one of the best of the series."
While nothing can reach the heights of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons of the 1930's, 40's, 50's and 60's, some very entertaining stuff has been done with the classic characters since then. Here is a later short I really like, Little Go Beep (2000).
Betty Boop cartoons defined the pre-code era (if don't know what that means click here.) better than any other cartoon series. This can fully be seen in our next movie, Boop-Oop-a-Doop (1932). The sexual references in this cartoon are in no way subtle and may surprise those who think old cartoons were completely innocent. The following is a review from The Film Daily, "A Max Fleischer Talkatoon cleverly executed with some novelty animated tricks that are new and amusing. The Boop-Oop-a-Doop heroine leads the hero into some dizzy adventures, but he comes through in great style qualifies easily as her hero. It will please the youngster and likewise their elders.
While most of the Fleischer Studio's Color Classics cartoons imitated Disney's Silly Symphonies, there were a few that had their own identities and fit in well with the studio's earlier wilder output. One of the best of these was A Car-Tune Portrait (1937). Like many classic cartoons this one used classical music. The piece used here is Franz Liszt’s second Hungarian Rhapsody which was also used in The Cat Concerto (1947), Rhapsody Rabbit (1946), Convict Concerto (1954), The Opry House (1929), Rhapsody in Rivets (1941) and The Magic Fluke (1949). Dave Tendlar is the head animator on this film and as the first animator credited he did much of the directing. He animates some long shots of the lion conducting in this film. Joe Oriolo animates the conductor roaring to awaken a sleeping audience member. Oriolo would later along with children’s author Seymour Reit create Casper the friendly ghost. Jack Rabin only animates a brief scene in this movie, where a bird uses his violin and violin bow as a combination bow and arrow. He would later provide special effects and matte paintings on such live action movies as The Night of the Hunter (1955), The Noose Hangs High (1948) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1956).
Thanks for joining me come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
Resourses Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin.
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/max-fleischers-a-car-tune-portrait-1937/
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/donald-duck-in-the-plastics-inventor-1944/
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