Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #126

 Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.

Today's cartoon selection starts off with a black and white Porky Pig short, Who's Who in the Zoo (1942). Actually to call this a Porky Pig short is a bit of a stretch. Like many Looney Tunes of this era, Porky plays a minor role that is little more than a glorified cameo. This film also has no real story. It is instead a spot gag cartoon of the type Tex Avery was directing a few years earlier. The gags are really excuses to see how many corny puns writer Melvin "Tubby" Miller can fit in. While not every joke works the ones that do are really darn funny. This movie was directed by Norm McCabe and is quite possibly the first time he directed a full cartoon. While Norm McCabe may not be as talked about by cartoon fans as other Warner Brothers directors, he was a solid director who made a lot of really good cartoons. He would return to the Looney Tunes universe well after the golden age as a timing director on such TV shows as Tiny Tunes Adventures, Taz-Mania and The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. The following an exhibitor review from the Motion Picture Herald, "WHO'S WHO IN THE ZOO: Looney Tunes Cartoons—If another cartoon is produced trying to create funny expressions by various animals, we certainly will not use it. This had only one laugh and that seemed strained. - Horn and Morgan Inc., Star Theatre, Hay Springs, Neb. Small Town Patronage."

Up next is an especially good Pink Panther cartoon, The Hand is Pinker Than the Eye (1967). This short was directed Hawley Pratt, who had been Friz Freleng's (producer of the Pink Panther shorts) layout artist when he was a director at Warner Brothers. 

Before they brought us Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle, the Terry-Toons studio brought us a cast of characters that are pretty much forgotten today. One of these characters is Kiko the Kangroo. Kiko was a mostly pantomime character, who really didn't have much in the way of personality. Yet his cartoons are still quite charming and fun. Some advertisements at the time, advertised Terry-Toons with Kiko featured very prominently, perhaps hoping for him to become the studios big name cartoon character. This morning's cartoon selection continues with his first starring cartoon, Kiko and the Honey Bears (1936), though Kiko made his first appearance earlier the same year with the Farmer Alfalfa cartoon, Farmer Alfalfa's Surprise Package (1936). The following is a review from The Film Daily. "Introducing the new cartoon character, Kiko the Kangaroo. He proves to be a very amusing, lovable and diverting character and will no doubt please the kids to no end. He has plenty of snap in his movements, making tremendous leaps across the screen. In this one he hires out as a nurse to three little bears, and saves them from a hunter who comes upon them in the forest with his three hounds. Kiko looks like a real contribution to the cartoon division for the funny gent has plenty of personality." 

Motion Picture Herald, 1936

Ferdinand the Bull (1938) began production as a Silly Symphony short but in the end the Disney studio released it as a Special. Unlike many Disney cartoons of the time which were either original stories or based off stories that dated quite a ways back, this film was based off a contemporary story. The book had been published in 1936 and though there was controversy for its pacifist themes, it became a real best seller, even outselling Gone With the Wind. Walt bought the rights to the book in October, 1937. Albert Hay Malotte, who wrote the score for this movie, would co-write a song called Fernand the Bull with Larry Morey. Though this song does not appear in the film it was used to promote the cartoon. The matador seen in this cartoon is a caricature of Walt Disney himself. The scene in which the matador enters was animated by Ward Kimball, who included himself as the little man carrying the sword. Animation for this cartoon would be reused by Disney in a wartime training film, Stop the Tank (1942), the Goofy cartoon, For Whom the Bulls Toil (1953) and the feature length, Fun and Fancy Free (1947). The following is an article in Boxoffice Magazine (Dated January 7th, 1939). "Sioux Falls, S.D. Manager Joe Floyd of the Granada covered nearly all the angles for the RKO-Disney short, 'Ferdinand the Bull' the subject rated a holdover. A 14 foot cutout of Ferdinand, was used in the lobby illuminated by two Klieg lights. Another large cutout was anchored a sound truck which blasted announcements and played the show's records. Four illuminated billboards were used with two thirds of the space given over to the Disney picture. Window displays were especially made by Floyd and there were 12 in select locations. A feature of the advertising was a teaser campaign: newspaper space was in editorial columns were large throughout the run. There were extra announcements on the radio and records of 'Ferdinand the Bull' were broadcast several times through station KELO, which reaches about 150,000 persons." 

Motion Picture Daily, 1939

Next is a highly enjoyable post golden age Looney Tunes short, Box Office Bunny (1990). 

Though many today only know Felix the Cat from his 1958-1960 TV show, the famous feline started his career in silent movies. In Felix in Hollywood (1923), Felix meets his fellow silent movie star including Charlie Chaplin, who Otto Messmer and Pat Sullivan (two of the main contributors to Felix's silent cartoons) made a cartoon series starring. Felix was the most popular cartoon star of the silent era and watching a film like this it is beyond easy to see why. This cartoon received spot #50 in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons. 

Today's cartoon selection ends with a real treat, some bumpers from The Yogi Bear Show.

Resources Used

https://likelylooneymostlymerrie.blogspot.com/2014/10/357-whos-who-in-zoo-1942.html

Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon by Leonard Maltin

Silly Symphonies: A Companion Guide to the Classic Cartoon Series by Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman

The 50 Greatest Cartoons Edited by Jerry Beck