Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #185

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

Starting off is a delightful black and white Porky Pig cartoon, Get Rich Quick Porky (1937). This was an early cartoon for director Bob Clampett (1937 was his first year as a director) and while it may not be as wild as some of the director's later work, there is plenty to enjoy here. This cartoon also marked the last appearance of Porky's sidekick, Gabby Goat. There is not much to Gabby besides him being grumpy and easily irritated, but the contrast between him and the more optimistic Porky makes for delightful watching. Two of the animators on this movie would later become great Looney Tune directors in their own right. Chuck Jones animates the wonderful scene with the dog, the gopher and a bone as well as the film's ending. Norm McCabe animates Gabby underground with his jackhammer as well as Porky handing the deed to Honest John. 

Next comes a wonderful Donald Duck cartoon, Modern Inventions (1937). A review in The Film Daily called this picture, "One of the funniest episodes in which Donald Duck has been featured." In a 1938 article from World Film News Richard Ford writes, "Several Disney Cartoons - Donald and Pluto and Modern Inventions have Machiavellian incidents to which many children are frightening. This fear subsequently gives way to sympathy for the victim, so that Donald Duck is liked on a basis of tragedy rather than comedy." In the June 26, 1937 issue of Boxoffice magazine this movie was named "Short of the Week." The following is the review from that issue. "Donald Duck stamps himself as pre-eminent among cartoon comedians by his hilarious antics in his creator's final Technicolor subject for United Artists release. Unquestionably one of the most laugh-provoking subjects to issue from Disney studios since Donald first made his timid entrance as a minor cartoon character over a year ago. In this clever satire on the machine age Donald enters an exhibit where a robot butler immediately moves his hat much to the duck's fury. His irritability increases as he is cradled in an automatic baby carriage and is forcibly fed with a bottle and clothed with a diaper. However the piece de resistance is Donald's struggles while placed upside down in a barber chair with the mechanical attendant clipping off his tail feathers and blackening his face. The laughs follow in such quick succession that they are practically continuous." Though no director is credited on this short, it was directed by Jack King, who directed many of Donald's finest cartoons. 

Next we join The Terry Bears in The Reluctant Pup (1953). This cartoon was directed by Mannie Davis. 

Movie fans tend to agree that some of the funniest cartoons ever made are the shorts that Tex Avery directed for MGM. A great example of why can be seen in today's next cartoon, Doggone Tired (1949). Tex once described to historian Joe Adamson, "I found out the eye can register an action in five frames of film. Five frames of film at twenty-four a second, so it's roughly a fifth of a second to register something, from the screen to your eye to your brain. I found out that if you want something to barely be seen five frames was all it needed ... Say we had an anvil falling, we would bring it in perhaps four or five frames before the hit, that's all you need - djuuuuuu ... Bam! it's there, and you don't need to know where in the hell it came from. It makes the gag that much funnier. If you saw this thing coming down, and you panned down with it, and it hits - uh uh." 

Now it is time for a commercial break.

    

Now for some Saturday Morning Minions. 

Up next comes a silent movie starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Tall Timber (1928). 

Today's cartoon selection ends with the TV special It's the Pied Piper Charlie Brown (2000). Though this is not one of the most remembered specials, it is one of the most important ones. It is the first special of the 21st century, it is the last one that Charles Schultz had any involvement in, and it is the first special to be released after Charles Schultz's death. This is also an unusual special by Peanuts standards. Most of you sure familiar with the fact that most Peanuts animation never showed the adults and had a trombone replace the sound of their voices. In this special you get to see and hear the adults. This actually wasn't the first time it was done in Peanuts animation though. A couple of other examples of animated Peanuts adventures that included speaking and visible adults are the mini-series This is America Charlie Brown (1988-1989) and the theatrically released feature length movie, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!) (1980) (and these are only two examples). This is also a rare special to adapt a classic children's story with Peanuts characters in it. While this is a common practice with many cartoon characters it is rare for the Peanuts gang. 

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

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

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animator-breakdown-get-rich-quick-porky-1937/

https://mediahistoryproject.org/