Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #165

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with a later Speedy Gonzales film, Cats and Bruises (1965). During the mid to late 1960's there were many Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies being made that pitted Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales against each other in fact at this time they hardly made a cartoon apart from each other. This movie is an exception to that rule as it pits Speedy Gonzales against his old foe, Sylvester the Cat. 

Up next is an early Terrytoons cartoon, Hungarian Goulash (1930). This short film follows the pattern of most other Terrytoons at this time by having its name be a type of food. While this movie may seem primitive compared to what Disney, Fleischer or Warner Brothers were doing at this time, it is quite entertaining in its own weird way. Two of the artists who worked on this film though would later do great work for the Disney studio. These were effects artist Cy Young and animator Art Babbitt. The following is a quote from an issues of The Film Daily (dated June 11, 1930), "'Swiss Cheese,' 'Codfish Balls,' 'Hungarian Goulash.' Just the titles of three of the Terrytoons to be released by Educational this month. Evidently they are running out of sexy titles." 

Up next is a classic Mickey Mouse short film, The Steeple Chase (1933). This movie was originally planned as a musical, but there are no songs in the finished film. The horse Thunderbolt would inspire the Mickey Mouse comic strip character Tanglefoot. The following are a couple of exhibitor's reviews from The Motion Picture Herald. "STEEPLE CHASE: Mickey Mouse— Another good cartoon from Mickey. You'll like it. - J.A. Verchot, Opera House, Abbeville, S.C. Small Town Patronage." "STEEPLE CHASE: Mickey Mouse— Let me repeat, the biggest thing in this cartoon is the rental. Running time, 10 minutes.  - A.H. Edwards, Orpheum Theatre, Orwinsburg, Pa. Small Town and Rural Patronage." 

Up next we join The Pink Panther in Keep Our Forests Pink (1975).

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Next up is the first appearance of Betty Boop's dog, Pudgy, Betty Boop's Little Pal (1934). Though Dave Fleischer is credited as the director of this cartoon, it is widely accepted in animation circles that the first credited animator of the Fleischer cartoons did much of the directing. Not surprisingly the first credited animator here is Myron Waldman. Myron Waldman excelled at cute cartoons and this is about as cute as a Betty cartoon can get. The following are some exhibitor reviews from The Motion Picture Herald. "BETTY BOOP'S LITTLE PAL: Betty Boop Cartoons — This is another good cartoon from Betty. We liked it here. Running time, one reel—J. A. Verchot, Opera House, Abbeville, S. C. Small town patronage." "BETTY BOOP'S LITTLE PAL: Betty Boop Cartoon—Fair cartoon. Betty has made much better ones. —John H. Forrester, The Fines Theatre, Waldron, Ark." 

The Old Mill (1937) is far from your typical Silly Symphony cartoon. This short film has no storyline to speak of nor has it any gags. This is instead a mood film, that is much more concerned with creating a sense of atmosphere than telling a story. As such it stands as one of the most powerful and unique short films Disney ever made. The basic idea for this movie had been on the minds of the Disney filmmakers for quite a while. In 1931 an idea for a film called The Old Mill Stream had been proposed. This story was elaborated further in 1934, though at that time the story was planned to be more comedic. This film introduced Disney's famed multiplane camera. This camera would create a three-dimensional effect by moving various pieces of artwork past each other at varying speeds. This would of course play a major role in Disney's later feature length animated films. To help the animators and layout artists Ferdinand Horvath would create a large model of the mill. This cartoon won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and the studio received a special Oscar for the multiplane camera. More recently it received the 14th spot in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons. It is interesting to note that such an unusual movie was the first Disney film that was distributed by RKO. 

The Film Daily, 1937

Now to end with a song. 

Resources Used

The 50 Greatest Cartoons edited by Jerry Beck

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

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein. 

https://mediahistoryproject.org/