Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #192

 Note: Due to technical difficulties, this post is up a little late. 

Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning (?), it is once again time for some classic cartoons. 

Today's cartoon selection begins with a wonderful Chuck Jones directed cartoon, The Ducksters (1950). This short film features Daffy Duck in quite a villainous role, of the kind that would be more common for him in the 1960's then in the 1950's.   

The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) not only brought director Blake Edwards and actor Peter Sellers back to the Pink Panther franchise but also brought the Pink Panther cartoon character back to the feature film series as he would star in the opening credits sequence for the first time since the first movie. He would appear in the opening credits for every Pink Panther feature film after this as well. This opening credits sequence features an animated version of Inspector Clouseau chasing The Pink Panther for the first time. This would become a reoccurring theme for the opening credits of these movies. This marks the first of two times the opening credits would be done by Richard Williams (many of you may know him for being the animation director for Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)) instead of DePatie-Freleng. Also working on this sequence is Ken Harris (who worked on many of Chuck Jones’ Looney Tunes cartoons). 

While many cartoon fans praise the Donald Duck cartoons directed by Jack Hannah, I feel the Donald shorts directed by Jack King do not get enough praise. They are often really funny. An especially good example is Chef Donald (1941). I love the use of I Got No Strings from Pinocchio (1940) in a particularly funny spot. 

Up next comes Flip the Frog in The Soup Song (1931). This movie has everything I love about Flip the Frog cartoons in it, especially the incredibly odd sense of humor and logic that could only come from an early 1930's cartoon.

Now it is time for a commercial break.

Ever wonder how cartoons are mde well wonder no more. Van Bueren Studio explains the whole process to us in the short In a Cartoon Studio (1931). 

Now we join our favorite rodent superhero in Super Mouse Rides Again (1943). You will quickly notice the cartoon you watch below has been retitled Mighty Mouse Rides Again. This was done because the character's name in his earliest films was Super Mouse. However to avoid confusion with a comic book character named Super Mouse, the character's name was changed to Mighty Mouse, which is a better name anyway. Naturally for this movie's TV airings the title was changed to have the current name of the character. I love how this version still keeps in our hero autographing his name as "Super Mouse." 

Today's cartoon selection ends with Woody Woodpecker in Fair Weather Fiends (1946). This movie was directed by Shamus Culhane. Culhane had worked at Disney, Warner Brothers and many other classic cartoon studios, however in my opinion his best work is seen in the films he directed for Walter Lantz studio. These may not only be some of his best work but they are arguably some of the finest films to come out of the Walter Lantz studio. Fair Weathered Fiends may not be my favorite of the bunch but it is still a throughly delightful cartoon, that I could watch many times and not get tired of. 

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