Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #144

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

Most people today know Felix the Cat as the star of TV cartoons from the 1950's. However Felix began his career in silent movies. Created in 1919, he would star in a series of great short films throughout the 1920's. These cartoons often stand among the best silent comedies. Here is one of Felix's best silent movies, Comicalamities (1928).

Up next comes the 5th Dogfather film, Mother Dogfather (1974). 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 this series. 

Next up comes a Color Rhapsody cartoon from Columbia, Professor Small and Mr Tall (1943). This movie was co-directed by Paul Sommers and John Hubley. John Hubley was a former Disney artist having not only worked on that studio's shorts, but on animated features like Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1941) and Bambi (1942). However when one looks at the films he made after leaving Disney, they often differed quite a bit from the Disney style. His work feature more limited and highly stylized animation. He is best known by animation fans today for working on some the UPA films, including the early Mr. Magoo cartoons and for the films he and his wife Faith Hubley would make independently such as The Hole (1959) and Moonbird (1962). Paul Sommer would have a long career in animation and would even direct cartoons into the 1990's including episodes of such TV shows as Tom and Jerry Kids, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo! and Yo Yogi!. This movie is a lot of fun and the name mix-up makes me crack up every time. 

Next is the early Porky Pig cartoon, Plane Dippy (1936). This is the movie in which we learn Porky's full name,  Porky Cornelius Washington Otis Lincoln Abner Aloysius Casper Jefferson Philbert Horatius Narcissus Pig. I'm sure you all will memorize that name. As well as Porky this film also has some other characters that also premiered in the Merrie Melodies cartoon, I Haven't Got A Hat (1935) such as Little Kitty (who plays an important role here). Comic fans may also notice that the character of Professor Blotz looks extremely simular to a character from the Mickey Mouse comic strip, Professor Ecks. Though this movie is directed by Tex Avery, don't except the pure insanity of his later cartoons, as this was still early in his directorial career and he hadn't fully developed his style yet. Still this cartoon has many very funny gags in it, I especially love Porky writing his name. The following is an exhibitor's review from the Motion Picture Herald, "PLANE DIPPY: Looney Tune—This is a very comical cartoon. Above the average.—Paul J. Pope, Avon Theatre, Geneva, Ala., Small Town and Rural Patronage." 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Up next is a great Disney Silly Symphony cartoon, The Cookie Carnival (1935). This movie marks the first Symphony to be directed by Ben Sharpsteen. Sharpsteen would go on to become the supervising director of Disney features like Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940) and Dumbo (1941). This is also the first Symphony for animators Bill Tytla (my favorite Disney animator) and Grim Natwick. Tytla is best known by Disney fans for his work on feature films like Snow White (1937), Pinocchio and Dumbo (1941). He played a major role in animating the Dwarfs for Snow White, Stromboli in Pinocchio and the elephants in Dumbo (including the titular character). In this movie Tytla animates the boy cookie singing to the girl cookie as well as the angel and devil food cakes. Grim Natwick had before joining the Disney Studio had played a role in the development of Betty Boop. Here he animates a long scene (with some assistance by Eddie Strickland and Frank Thomas) in which the boy cookie gives a makeover to the girl cookie. This was some of the best animation of a female character done at Disney by this time. Because of this he would often be cast with animating female characters. Among those female characters would be the star of the studio's first feature film, Snow White. The following is an exhibitors review from the Motion Picture Herald, "Cookie Carnival, The: Silly Symphony - I do not like this one. It might be OK for nursey but not for grownups. Just a bunch of candy men, etc. the usual hokum. Running time, eight minutes, —Paul J. Pope, Avon Theatre, Geneva, Ala., Small Town and Rural Patronage." 

International Motion Picture Almanac, 1938


Next comes Sylvester in A Kiddie's Kitty (1955). It is worth noting that after Tweety and Sylvester first teamed up in Tweetie Pie (1947), Tweety would not again appear apart from Sylvester (apart from small cameos), yet Sylvester would make many cartoons without Tweety. This is one of Sylvester's solo cartoon where he is not trying to catch the little yellow bird. Also unlike most classic cartoon characters Sylvester was a fully formed character from his first appearance on movie screens and has not really changed since. Looney Tunes director and animator, Robert McKimson later said of Sylvester, "He had a juicy voice, you know. He's the closest, I would say, that Mel [voice artist Mel Blanc] would come to have an original voice and then fitting the character to it. Of course, Daffy Duck's voice is the same as Sylvester's only sped. So I guess when Mel recorded Daffy it sounded like Sylvester." Looney Tunes director Friz Freleng [who directed this movie] talked about how he and layout artist Hawley Pratt  designed this character, "I designed Sylvester to look subtly like a clown. I gave him a big red nose and a very low crotch, which was supposed to look like he was wearing baggy pants."

Today's cartoon selection ends with The Pink Panther in Pink Arcade (1978).

Thanks for joining me come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry. 

Resources Used

I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety by Jerry Beck.

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

Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier

Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series by Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman