Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
Though when most animation fans think of Tex Avery, they think of his films for MGM, I have always had a huge fondness for his work at Warner Brothers as well. What I love about his films for Warner Brothers is that he takes very conventional storylines and adds his wacky sense of humor. One of my favorite of his films for Warner Brothers is Porky’s Preview (1941). This cartoon takes a cute premise of Porky Pig (still a child in this film) making a cartoon movie show for his little barnyard friends and turns it into a wonderful self parody of cartoons themselves. I love how even musical director Carl Stalling gets in on the joke by giving us kiddie versions of songs he often used in the Looney Tunes cartoons.
Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) was the first of the Pink Panther feature films in 10 years where the DePatie-Freleng studio would do the animated opening credits sequence for as the last two movies had Richard Williams’ studio providing these sequences. Here DePatie-Freleng would borrow the formula that the Richard Williams studio set up, where an animated Inspector Clouseau chases the Pink Panther. Here the studio uses many classic cartoon chase gags that the everyone working for the studio would have been very familiar with and many had used before. Because of this while the gags may not be original, they are expertly animated and timed.
Up next is possibly my favorite of the Famous Studios Superman cartoon, The Mummy Strikes (1943).
Next comes one of Ub Iwerk's Flip the Frog cartoons, Phoney Express (1932). When talking about working for Ub Iwerks, animator Shamus Culhane would say, "He drew like an engineer. The first thing I had to do in his place was some Flip the Frog cartoon with a stagecoach, and it had these oval wheels. I think he had drawn some layouts of it. Well, hell, I wasn't used to worrying about oval anything. I would just draw wheels and if they came out oblong, it wouldn't matter. It mattered to him. He blew his stack, and he sat down and drew them like an engineer. Perfect ovals." There is no doubt that Ub Iwerks had a mechanical mind. Animator Grim Natwick would remember "He was a mechanical genius. He'd look at a plan for a boat and build it, and it would be perfect in every detail."
Now it is time for a commercial break.
Next comes a wonderful film with Donald Duck, Sea Salts (1949). In this movie Donald is good friends with Bootle Beetle. This is a minor Disney character who appeared in only four short films. The other three cartoons were Bootle Beetle (1947), The Greener Yard (1949) and Morris, the Midget Moose (1950). Morris, the Midget Moose was the only one of these cartoons not to feature Donald Duck in it. Sea Salts made its TV debut in the Disneyland episode, At Home with Donald Duck (1956).
Up next comes the film that introduced the character of Woody Woodpecker to movie-goers, Knock Knock (1940). However this cartoon is part of the Andy Panda series and Andy Panda and his dad are the true stars of the movie. Yet it is Woody who gets the best laughs and steals the show. Producer Walter Lantz would later state that the idea for this film would be inspired by a woodpecker hammering at his roof during his honeymoon at Sherwood Lake California. However this story has been disproven by many film historians. Leonard Maltin would write in his landmark book, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, "This delightful story has apparently undergone some showmanly embellishment, since the honeymoon occurred one year after the production of the cartoon." If Woody here seems very familiar to the early Daffy Duck or the early prototype characters for Bugs Bunny this is not a coincidence. Recently having joined the Lantz staff was Ben "Bugs" Hardaway, who had worked for Looney Tunes and with said characters. In fact Bugs Bunny is said to have gotten his name for Hardaway's nickname. This cartoon feels a lot like many of the Warner Brothers cartoons that Hardaway had directed. Also helping add to the similarity is that Woody is voiced by Mel Blanc, the voice of Daffy Duck and all the incarnations of Bugs Bunny (until his death).
Next comes a great World War 2 era Daffy cartoon, Daffy the Commando (1943). How can you not love this film's ending?
Now it is time for a Garfield quickie.
Today's cartoon selection ends with the first film of The Fleischer Brothers' Talkartoons series, Noah's Lark (1929).
Resources Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/The_Disney_Wiki
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