Hello my friends and happy Saturday Morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with a classic Pink Panther short, Pink Plunk Plink (1966). This is a clever cartoon in which once again our Pink hero engages in a battle of wits with the little man (who is often said to be a caricature of producer Friz Freleng). This time the setting for their battle is an orchestral concert. The little man trying to play the classical Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and the Pink Panther trying to playing the jazzy Henry Mancini's Pink Panther theme creates an excellent musical contrast that adds greatly to the action on screen. Though this cartoon is a lot of fun the whole way through, the ending gag is what truly makes it stand out.
It has often been said that while the Warner Brothers and MGM cartoons were wild and crazy, the Disney cartoons were sweet and sentimental. However there is an exception to every rule and there is no bigger exception than the Goofy cartoon, Hockey Homicide (1945). This cartoon is as wild crazy and funny as anything Warner Brothers or MGM ever put out. It should come as no surprise that the short was directed by Jack Kinney, who was the Disney studio's wildest and craziest directors. Comparing Kinney's Goofy films with the slower paced and very sweet Pluto cartoons that Charles Nichols was making at the same time, it is hard to believe that they came from the same studio. At this time Kinney mostly worked with Goofy and his shorts often had the Goof providing us with examples of how to do something (or really how not to). This is one of the sports cartoons in which every character looks like Goofy. One treat for Disney buffs is the names of the players, which are take offs on people who worked for the studio. For instance the referee is "Clean Game Kinney" , and two of the players are “Fearless Ferguson” and “Ice-Box Bertino,” take-offs on animators Norm Ferguson and Al Bertino. This cartoon also features an all star cast of animators including Milt Kahl, John Sibley, Ward Kimball, Les Clark, Al Bertino, Cliff Norberg and Hal King. Despite Les Clark being a legendary animator and one of Walt's nine old men, he animates very little here. His sole scene involves the referee droping the puck and quickly running off. John Sibley is a perfect animator for a film like this as he was excellent at broad and exaggerated animation. Two of his best scenes here include the many pucks being scooped up into the net and a pile of pucks being hit with incredible speed by one hockey player. Milt Kahl also shows talent for comedy with his animation Ferguson and Bertino's rivalry and the referee's discipline of them. Ward Kimball handles the very funny scene in which the referee wears a suit of armor. Look for reuse of animation from the feature length Pinocchio (1940) during the short's climax. The following is an exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald. "HOCKEY HOMICIDE: Disney Cartoons—Boy, if your patrons don't die laughing on this, they ain't human. Disney can sure make these Goofy series. - Nick Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesville, W, Va."
Next comes one of Columbia's Krazy Kat cartoons, Whacks Museum (1933). Despite being based off of George Herriman's classic newspaper comic strip, these films bare little resemblance to the comic strip. Krazy in these shorts more resembles Mickey Mouse than the comic strip character and has become clearly a male character instead of the character of indeterminate gender that was in the comics. A review in The Film Daily stated, "This one ranks just so-so among animated cartoon comedies." The following is an exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald, "WHACKS MUSEUM: Krazy Kat Kartoons—I sure liked this one. My audience liked it also. Running time, eight minutes.—Louis Perretta, Crescent Theatre, Mahoningtown, Pa, General Patronage."
Next comes an early Chuck Jones directed Looney Tune, Porky's Prize Pony (1941). Like many Chuck Jones cartoons of this time there is very little dialogue here and the story is mostly told in pantomime (something that would become a staple of his later Roadrunner cartoons). The dialogue here only consists of a song Porky sings at the start and a quick announcement to begin a race. This film does have echoes of a later series of cartoons Chuck would make. Just like how Charlie Dog would try desperately to become Porky's dog, the horse here tries just as hard to get get Porky to ride him.
In the Tiny Toon Adventures TV show, there was an episode titled Tiny Toon Music Television (1991). This episode parodied MTV and featured a some short music videos staring the show's cast. Two songs by the alternative rock band, They Might Be Giants (a band I love) received music videos in this episode. The following is the Tiny Toons music video for the song Particle Man.
Next comes one of my favorite silent era Felix the Cat cartoons, Comicalamities (1928).
Broadcasting, 1959
We continue with the Ant and the Aardvark cartoon, Don't Hustle an Ant With Muscle (1970). This short was directed by Art Davis, who directed some of the finest shorts out of the DeDaptie-Freleng studio and had earlier directed some fan favorite Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. Voicing the two characters is impressionist, John Byrner who is doing imitations of Dean Martin and Jackie Mason. Note as well that this is one of the rare theatrical cartoon series in which the individual musicians are named in the open credits.
Today's cartoon selection ends with Kiko the Kangaroo in Kiko's Cleaning Day (1937). Kiko had made his debut a year earlier in Farmer Alfalfa's Prize Package (1936). This short was directed by George Gordon who had just recently moved up to director but would soon leave the Terrytoons studio and is best known by animation fans today for his work as an animator at MGM. George was one of studio boss Paul Terry's favorites and Bill Weiss would later say, "If he had stayed, Terry had enough faith in him to let him run the place."
Thank you for joining me and come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
Resources Used
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/disneys-hockey-homicide-1945/#prettyphoto[23143]/7/
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin.
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