Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #129

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with a late Fleischer Studios Popeye short, I'll Never Crow Again (1941). The year after the release of this cartoon Max and Dave Fleischer would find themselves no longer making cartoons for Paramount and many of their employees continuing to make Popeye and Superman shorts for Paramount without them. Many critics of the Popeye series claim that all the cartoons simply feature Popeye and Bluto fighting over Olive. However a look at the sailor's filmography shows that there were in fact many cartoons that did not follow this formula in the slightest. The song that Popeye and Olive sing at the beginning of this cartoon is from the first of Fleischer Studio's two feature films, Gulliver's Travels (1939). A review in The Motion Picture Daily called this cartoon, "Good for a few laughs." A review in Showman's Trade Review stated, "While this is not the usual type of Popeye cartoon, the novelty is not sufficient enough to raise it out of the 'fair' class." The following is an exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald, "I'LL NEVER CROW AGAIN: Popeye the Sailor— Popeye Cartoons are always enjoyed, but this was not as good as average. Running time, 7 minutes.—J. M. Thomsen, Center Theatre, Marlette, Mich. Rural patronage."

Next Yakko, Wakko and Dot answer that age old question.

Many of us cartoon lovers have a similar experience. We saw an old cartoon short on TV as a kid that we knew next to nothing about. It featured none of our favorite characters, yet something about it stuck in our heads. As an adult we run into this cartoon and are now are able to put into context just where and when this cartoon came from and most of all that it was not something that we imagined as kids. So often with me these cartoons turned out to be Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising's Happy Harmonies cartoons for MGM. This series has often been referred to as an imitation of Disney's Silly Symphonies cartoons and there is no denying that this is true but something about them stuck in my head before I knew what they were. One cartoon that especially stuck in my mind was The Calico Dragon (1935). I always remembered the scene (animated by Bob Allen) where the title character introduces himself through song and states the he might even eat "you." Future Looney Tunes director Cal Dalton animates the closing scene as well as the introduction to the toy bunnies. Tome McKimson, brother of Looney Tunes director Robert McKimson, as well a great animator and comic book artist in his own right animates the scene in which we first truly enter the fantasy land, where the hero is riding his horse and the dog is following close behind, as well as the dragon peeking its heads out through the top of the castle. Animator Jim Pabian shows some great acting as our hero tells us that "these knights of old were not so bold," and proceeds to turn his nose up at the knights only to be frightened by the little girl snoring. Pete Burness also gives some great acting with his scenes involving the little dog, especially with the dog running from the dragon's tongue. The following is a review from The Film Daily, "It looks like a smash novelty in the animated field that may revolutionize the whole technique. Done in Technicolor, with most of the characters presented dressed in calico material that actually shows as material on the screen. Not the lines of a cartoon character. How the intriguing effect is produced is a secret of the producers. But it's a pip. The young hero of the skit travels with his horse and dog into the castle of a fearsome dragon, with some amazing adventures resulting."

Now it is time for a Garfield quickie.

Up next is a Norm McCabe directed Looney Tune, Hobby Horse Laffs (1942). Norm McCabe was a director of Looney Tunes for a relatively short amount of time, from 1940 to 1943. His cartoons are not among the best known Looney Tunes for the reason that they were all in black and white and many of them are very impolitically correct. Still many cartoon fans including myself love his cartoons and wish he had directed more. He would return to the world of Looney Tunes much later and serve as a timing director on such TV shows as Tiny Toon Adventures, Taz-Mania and The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries. He would be credited as the director on the Tiny Toons cartoon, Life Guard Lunacy (1991). Hobby Horse Laffs is a take-off on the radio program, Hobby Lobby which ran from 1937 to 1938. The following is a review from The Showman's Trade Review, "For some time now the Leon Schlesinger produced cartoons have been successfully satirizing the more serious aspects of screen and radio entertainment. Now the animations enter a new field, with 'Hobby Horse Laffs' burlesquing the well-known Hobby Lobby program. It's a succession of clever gags, whose appeal, oddly enough, is principally for adults."

Up next comes probably the most popular and well known of Disney's Silly Symphonies, Three Little Pigs (1933). This cartoon is considered to be a breakthrough in personality animation. No less than Chuck Jones would say, "That was the first time that anybody ever brought characters to life. There were three characters, who looked alike and acted differently; the way the moved is what made them who they were. Before that in things like Steamboat Willie [1928], the villain was a big heavy guy and the hero was a little guy; everybody moved the same. Even in the Fleischer's stuff, the basic difference between Popeye and Bluto was the size difference not the action difference." The animation of the three pigs is mostly handled by Fred Moore and Dick Lundy. Dick Lundy animated all of the dancing scenes. Jack King animated one excellent scene in which Practical Pig is playing the piano. Norm Ferguson animated the majority of the Big Bad Wolf. Art Babbitt animates only two scenes, one in which the wolf catches the pig's by their tails and one in which he falls into a boiling pot. These were some of the best Disney animators of the time and their work here perfectly shows why. This is not just a milestone for its time, but remains a hugely entertaining cartoon today, heavily because of the work of these animators. Walt Disney later remembered this film's premiere, "It caused no excitement at its Radio City premiere. In fact many critics preferred Father Noah's Ark [1933], which was released at the same time. I was told that some exhibitor's and even United Artists considered The Pigs a 'cheater' because it only had four characters in it. The picture bounced back to fame from the neighborhood theatres." Three Little Pigs would become not only a hit cartoon but a sensation with movie goers everywhere. The short also gave the Disney studio its first of many hit songs, Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf (written by Frank Churchill), a song that is still instantly recognizable to Disney fans today. Time Magazine referred to the song as "the tune by which 1933 will be remembered." Despite all this Walt would later discuss the making of the cartoon stating, "It was just another story to us and we were gaging it up just like any other picture." The following is from a 1933 issue of Modern Screen Magazine, "Here's some good news for you 'Three Little Pigs' fans: This Silly Symphony has met with such tremendous success that Walt Disney is going to feature them (plus the Big Bad Wolf) in several other Mother Goose rhymes. In other words they're going to become regular stars like Mickey Mouse. Incidentally folks are seeing 'Three Little Pigs for the umptieth time and still enjoying it." There would only be three sequels (The Big Bad Wolf (1934), Three Little Wolves (1936) and The Practical Pig (1939)), none of which would as successful as the first leading Walt to infamously say, "you can't top pigs with pigs." This cartoon reached the number 11 spot in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons.

Up next comes another animated take on The Three Little Pigs. This one is a Merrie Melody directed by Friz Freleng, Pigs in a Polka (1943). This cartoon serves as a parody of both the Silly Symphony and the Disney feature film, Fantasia (1940). It is no surprise that this cartoon was directed by Friz Freleng, who specialized in musical cartoons and perfectly synching a gag to music. Here he marries the cartoon action with Braham's Hungarian Dances, and the result is pure cartoon magic. This short appears in Jerry Beck's book, The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes.

Now we join our old friend Scrappy in Sunday Clothes (1931). 

Today's cartoon selection ends with Mickey Mouse in Hickory Dickory Mickey (2001). This short comes from the first episode of the TV show, House of Mouse.

Thanks for joining me come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry. -Michael J. Ruhland Resources Used The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons Edited by Jerry Beck. Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series by Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin The 50 Greatest Cartoons Edited by Jerry Beck Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier. https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/harman-isings-the-calico-dragon-1935/