Hello my friends and welcome back for a Halloween addition of Saturday Morning Cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection appropriately starts with Betty Boop's Halloween Party (1933). This film has everything that I love about Betty Boop cartoons of this era. It is strange, surreal and a heck of a lot of fun. The following are a couple exhibitor's reviews from The Motion Picture Herald. "BETTY BOOP'S HALLOWEEN PARTY: Talkar- toons—Better than the average Betty Boop. Good short for any program. Running time one reel. -H.E. Newberry, Y.M.C.A. Theatre, Whale Shoals, S.C. Small Town Patronage." "BETTY BOOP'S HALLOWEEN PARTY: Betty Boop Cartoons - Good cartoon and sound. It's just a toss up which is the best cartoon, 'Mickey Mouse,' 'Betty Boop' or 'Popeye the Sailor,' with 'Popeye' slightly in the lead. S.H. Rich, Rich Theatre, Montpelier, Idaho, Small Town and Rural Patronage."
The Film Daily, 1933
Our next film has The Pink Panther meeting Dracula (who likes a lot like The Little Man) in Pink Plasma (1975). By 1975, when this cartoon premiered in movie theatres, most cartoon studios had stopped making animated short films for theatres. However with The Pink Panther cartoons, The Dogfather and other series, The Depatie-Freleng studio was keeping the animated short film alive.
The Exhibitor, 1964
Next comes one of the all time great films (not just cartoons but films as a whole) for Halloween watching. This is the Donald Duck short, Trick or Treat (1952). In this cartoon Donald goes up against not only his nephews but a witch named Witch Hazel. Looney Tune fans will recognize this name as the Bugs Bunny antagonist from a few short cartoons. The similarities between the two witches go deeper than just their name. They were both voiced by June Foray (though the Looney Tunes character was voiced by Bea Benederet (Betty Rubble) in her first cartoon in all the subsequent films she would be voiced by June Foray). Trick or Treat's director Jack Hannah would later recall in a 1978 interview, “I enjoyed directing Trick or Treat because I got a chance to work with a different personality. June Foray, who did such a great job as the voice of the witch, still mentions the film to me whenever I see her.” In a 1995 interview June Foray stated, “I did Witch Hazel as a short at Disney. She was a very funny character that I created the voice for. Chuck Jones loved it so much that he called me over to Warner Brothers to do her again. I went over there and they said, ‘You’re going to do Witch Hazel.’ And I thought, ‘how in hell are they going to do that?’ Disney owns it and they’re so litigious. But we did it. Chuck just went ahead and did it! So I asked him, just a couple of years ago, ‘How the heck did you ever do that and get away with it, taking a character out from under Disney’s nose?’ And he said, ‘Because it was an alcohol rub! He didn’t own the name!’ So Disney couldn’t capitalize on that or stop Chuck because it was already a copyrighted name.” Disney's Witch Hazel would appear in other Disney media besides just animated cartoons. She would appear in the 1953 Little Golden Book, Donald and the Witch for instance. Most importantly though Carl Barks would adapt Trick or Treat into a comic book adaption. Though it deviated from the source material in certain ways, Barks would reuse some of Witch Hazel's dialogue from the film.
Next comes one of The Simpsons best Treehouse of Horror segments The Raven (1990). This comes from the first Treehouse of Horror episode which aired in the show's second season. Although the show is in it's 33rd season, it has done a Halloween episode for every season that followed as well and will continue to do so as long as the show runs.
Now it is time for a commerical break.
Now we join Flip the Frog in Spooks (1932).
The Film Daily, 1931
Up next is our old friend Scrappy in Scrappy's Ghost Story (1935). The following is a review from The Motion Picture Herald, "This would have been a rather more successful cartoon, if it were not for its subject matter. In view of the fact that cartoons may be considered to be largely the material which most pleases small children, this can hardly be recommended for them. As Scrappy, before the fire, with his small brother starts on his ghost story, the cartoon pictures all sorts of ghosts a goblins and the like pursuing the small boys, which is likely to keep small children awake far into the night. Otherwise a fair cartoon. - Running Time, 7 Minutes." A review in The Film Daily states, "A good number of laughs evolve from this fast moving cartoon."
Today's cartoon selection ends with the TV special, Bugs Bunny Howl-Oween Special (1977).
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
These are wonderful!!! Thanks for this great Halloween gift!
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