Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #193

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

Today’s cartoon selection begins with a true classic, Woody Woodpecker in Barber of Seville (1944). Though Walter Lantz’s cartoon studio is not as highly regarded by many classic cartoon fans as Disney or Warner Brothers, when the studio was at its best it showed that it could truly hold its own. The best Lantz cartoons are true classics and this is one of the best. This cartoon is directed by the wonderful Shamus Culhane, who delivers a masterpiece of comedic timing here. This movie appears as #43 in Jerry Beck’s book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons and is the only Walter Lantz film in that book. 

The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) is one of the wild and craziest feature films of the Pink Panther franchise. To suddenly go this over the top would be a jumping the shark moment for most franchises but this movie is too darn funny to be anything but wonderful. The animated opening credits sequence is also wonderful. It is especially a delight to movie buffs parodying many classic films that movie fans will instantly recognize. This sequence (like in the previous feature film) was made by Richard Williams studio (instead of DePatie-Freleng) and follows the format set by the last feature where an animated Inspector Cl chases the Pink Panther.

Moby Duck (1965) is one of the many cartoons pairing Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales in the 1960’s. The idea of a mouse tormenting a major character by having a can opener while that character only has food in cans was done before in Canned Feud (1951) with Sylvester and ab unnamed mouse. The idea of Daffy and Speedy being stranded on a deserted island together would later be done in the feature length, Daffy Duck’s Movie: Fantastic Island (1983). 

Now it is time for a silent movie with The Artist’s Dream (1913). This short film was the first cartoon John Randolph Bray (who would soon head one of the biggest animation studios of the silent era (it would be named after him)) made. In an interview with Harvey Deneroff, Bray talked about his first thoughts after being introduced to animation stating, "I thought there was something new and original that would go over big." Though he would also say, "I thought there was good money in it." When Bray showed this showed this movie to distributor Charles Pathe, Pathe was quite impressed and asked Bray to make more cartoons. 

Time for a commercial break. 

Now we take a trip to Mexico with our good friend Popeye the Sailor in Blow Me Down (1933). 

Now for the delightful Silly Symphonies cartoon, The Cat’s Nightmare (1931). You may notice the video below titles the cartoon, The Cat's Out. J.B. Kaufman and Russell Merritt's excellent book on the Silly Symphonies explains this, "Modern sources have sometimes identified this film as The Cat's Out. This was the working title and survives today in an original vault print. However the finished film was copyrighted and released as The Cat's Nightmare." Interestingly this movie played on The Mickey Mouse Club under both names (The Cat's Out on January 23, 1956 and The Cat's Nightmare on February 27, 1956). Whatever the name this is a darn good cartoon. It contains all of the atmosphere that enhances so many of the early Symphonies (especially the ones with a spooky theme). It may not quite be The Skelton Dance (1929), but it is a good film in its own right. Speaking of The Skelton Dance the animation of a rooster crowing (by Wilfred Jackson) is reused from that more famous Symphony. A review in The Film Daily states, "Right up to the high standard of this popular animated cartoon series." The following is a review from the Motion Picture Herald, "A clever piece of cartoon work, typical Silly Symphony number. The theme is as the titles suggests, and the animators have taken full advantage of its laugh making possibilities." However a review in Motion Picture Reviews warns us, "A Halloween spooky atmosphere is so well done that it might frighten a sensitive child."

Up next comes a really fun Aesop's Sound Fables cartoon, Fairyland Follies (1931). This movie gives a wonderful example of what cartoon studios that weren’t Disney or the Fleischer Brothers were doing in the early 1930’s. 

Today’s cartoon selection ends with Misterjaw in The CodFather (1976). Created for TV's The Pink Panther's Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show (isn't that a mouthful to say) in 1976, Misterjaw was an affectionate parody of much more deadly shark in Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975). For this series he appeared in 34 made for TV cartoons, all made in 1976. His voice was provided by comedian Arte Johnson, best known to TV fans for his work on Laugh-In. His sidekick, Catfish is voiced by Arnold Stang, best remembered by cartoon fans as the voice of Hanna-Barbera's Top Cat. 

Resources Used

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

Pink Panther: The Ultimate Guide to the Coolest Cat in Town by Jerry Beck

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