Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with one of the Fleischer Brothers' Superman films, The Mechanical Monsters (1941). In 1940 Paramount bought the movie rights to the Superman character. They approached the Fleischer Brothers about making a series of short films starring the character. The Fleischer Brothers were initially skeptical about this feeling that this was far from what they had done previously. The studio was best known for making over the top comedy shorts like the Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons. To make cartoons that were more serious and action oriented would provide quite a challenge. They also knew that these films would require higher budgets. Paramount luckily gave them the higher budgets. The first cartoon only had a budget of $100,000. That was four times the budget for a Popeye short. Though there has been plenty of good Superman animation since, cartoons fans still consider the Fleischer cartoons to be the definitive animated Superman and for good reason. A review in the Motion Picture Daily states, "The cartoon is cleverly done in color, is certainly exploitable and should bring results wherever the fantastic makes for entertainment."
The Exhibitor, 1940
Up next we join Donald Duck in Trombone Trouble (1944). This is one of my favorite Donald Duck cartoons. The film begins with a typical cartoon storyline, but then goes in a completely different direction with it. Typical of director Jack King's Donald films, the cartoon moves at a fast pace and the gags never let up. This movie has a fantastic ending. A review in The Film Daily states, "This Technicolor animated cartoon is supercharged with laughs."
Broadcasting, 1949
Next comes a very important film, Porky's Hare Hunt (1938). This cartoon features the first appearance of a prototype of Bugs Bunny. "Bugs" here is far from the rabbit who would emerge a few years later with Tex Avery's A Wild Hare (1940). The version that appears here is much closer to the early Daffy Duck (who made his film-debut a year earlier with Porky's Duck Hunt (1937)). The rabbit also looks very little like the later Bugs and is simply a small white rabbit. This same design would be used by Chuck Jones in Presto Change-O (1939). Besides Daffy Duck, this bunny resembled another famous cartoon character in another way. This way was the rabbit's laugh which sounds a lot like Woody Woodpecker (who had yet to be created at this time). This is not just a coincidence as both characters were voiced by Mel Blanc. The director of the cartoon was Ben Hardaway. Ben's nickname was Bugs and although the character was not named on screen he was known as Bugs' Bunny.
Now for a commercial break.
While by the 1970's most studios were no longer making cartoons for movie theaters, DePatie-Freleng was helping keep the animated short film alive with multiple series. One of these series were the Dogfather cartoons for the mid-1970's. These shorts were a take-off of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972) with the titular character even sounding like Marlin Brando. 17 theatrical cartoon shorts were made of these series. Here is the first film in the series, The Dogfather (1974). This film is a slight remake of the Merrie Melodies cartoon, Tree For Two (1952).
Director Art Davis only directed two cartoons with Sylvester, both of which were rather off-beat. One of them, Doggone Cats (1947) gives Sylvester no dialogue at all. The other, Catch as Cats Can (1947) gives the cat a completely different dopey sounding voice. It is the latter that is featured next.
Up next comes The Pink Panther in Pink Blue Plate (1971).
Today's cartoon selection ends with the Terry Toons cartoon, Chris Columbo (1938). I love the Terry Toons of this era and this film perfectly shows why. There is little regard for anything making sense or the story being coherent and instead the film is simply made up of whatever bizarre gags the filmmakers can come up with. I especially love the cartoon's opening scene where Columbo tries to convince the crowd that the world is round. There is some very fun character animation by Carlo Vinci here (the brief appearances of the queen in this scene are animated by Gordon Whitter and is equally fun). Gordon Whitter's animation of the gambling scene is very good and is funnier than the scene itself. George Cannata's animation of the monkeys creating an amusement park ride for themselves is another highlight. The following is an exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald, "Chris Columbo: Terry-Toons - Very good indeed. We make a steady policy of showing this series every Sunday and Monday and find that after plugging them right that they do bring in extra business. A swell series to book. - Pearce Parkhurst, Paramount Theatre, Schroon Lake, N.Y. Small town and summer patronage."
Thanks for joining me come back next week for another selection of animated classics until then, may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
Resources Used
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/terrytoons-chris-columbo/
Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier.
The 50 Greatest Cartoons Edited by Jerry Beck
Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon by Leonard Maltin
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