Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. It is time for a special Halloween themed selection of classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with one of my favorite Halloween time films ever (including live action feature films), Trick or Treat (1956). In this cartoon Donald Duck goes up against not only his nephews but a witch named Witch Hazel. Looney Tunes fans will recognize this name as the Bugs Bunny antagonist from a few short cartoons. The similarities between the two witches go deeper than just their name. They were both voiced by June Foray (though the Looney Tunes character was voiced by Bea Benederet (Betty Rubble) in her first cartoon in all the subsequent films she would be voiced by June Foray). Trick or Treat's director Jack Hannah would later recall in a 1978 interview, “I enjoyed directing Trick or Treat because I got a chance to work with a different personality. June Foray, who did such a great job as the voice of the witch, still mentions the film to me whenever I see her.” In a 1995 interview June Foray stated, “I did Witch Hazel as a short at Disney. She was a very funny character that I created the voice for. Chuck Jones loved it so much that he called me over to Warner Brothers to do her again. I went over there and they said, ‘You’re going to do Witch Hazel.’ And I thought, ‘how in hell are they going to do that?’ Disney owns it and they’re so litigious. But we did it. Chuck just went ahead and did it! So I asked him, just a couple of years ago, ‘How the heck did you ever do that and get away with it, taking a character out from under Disney’s nose?’ And he said, ‘Because it was an alcohol rub! He didn’t own the name!’ So Disney couldn’t capitalize on that or stop Chuck because it was already a copyrighted name.” Disney's Witch Hazel would appear in other Disney media besides just animated cartoons. She would appear in the 1953 Little Golden Book, Donald and the Witch for instance. Most importantly though Carl Barks would adapt Trick or Treat into a comic book adaption. Though it deviated from the source material in certain ways, Barks would reuse some of Witch Hazel's dialogue from the film.
Now we join The Inspector for Transylvania Mania (1968). The ending of this film makes it obvious what time period this was made in.
Up next is Porky Pig and Sylvester in Claws For Alarm (1954). This short film is the second of two cartoons with the two characters staying in a creepy building that is full of mice wanting to scare Sylvester out of his mind. Sylvester sees all the dangerous things going on in the hotel but Porky does not making Porky think Sylvester is crazy. This plot was used before in Scaredy Cat (1948), however there are enough differences to not make this feel like a complete repeat of the earlier film. The idea of a scared Sylvester and an oblivious Porky in a frightening situation was reused again later in Jumpin' Jupiter (1955). All three films were directed by Chuck Jones and feature no dialogue from Sylvester at all. Claws for Alarm would later be used in the feature length compilation movie, Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988). The ending gag of this short made it a favorite for me as a kid.
Now for a real Halloween classic, Betty Boop's Halloween Party (1933). If Halloween parties were more like this everyone would want to go. The following are a couple exhibitor's reviews from The Motion Picture Herald. "BETTY BOOP'S HALLOWEEN PARTY: Talkar- toons—Better than the average Betty Boop. Good short for any program. Running time one reel. -H.E. Newberry, Y.M.C.A. Theatre, Whale Shoals, S.C. Small Town Patronage." "BETTY BOOP'S HALLOWEEN PARTY: Betty Boop Cartoons - Good cartoon and sound. It's just a toss up which is the best cartoon, 'Mickey Mouse,' 'Betty Boop' or 'Popeye the Sailor,' with 'Popeye' slightly in the lead. S.H. Rich, Rich Theatre, Montpelier, Idaho, Small Town and Rural Patronage."
Now it is time for a commercial break.
The famous cat and mouse were not the first cartoon duo named Tom and Jerry. In the 1930's the Van Beuren Studio made a series of short films featuring human cartoon characters named Tom and Jerry (later TV showings would rename the characters Dick and Larry). Joseph Barbera commented on this in his autobiography My Life in Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century. There he wrote, "Historians of animation might point out that one of Van Beuren's justly forgotten series featured a pair of characters named Tom and Jerry. This was the era of rubber-limed animation - when as far as movement was concerned arms and legs might as well have been worms - and Van Beuren's Tom and Jerry, humanoid if not precisely human, bore a far closer resemblance to the funny papers' Mutt and Jeff than to the cat and mouse Bill Hanna and I would invent in 1940." Up next is the first cartoon featuring these characters, Wot a Night (1931). This film is not only their first cartoon but also one of their best. By the way if you ever wonder which one is Tom and which is Jerry refer to this film.
The next cartoon features the character who would soon be known as Mighty Mouse. Frankenstein's Cat (1942) marks the character's second appearance and in my mind is one of his best films. You may notice that the narrator's voice changes as he says, "Mighty Mouse." This is because at the time this movie was made the character's name was still Super Mouse. After the character was renamed, this part of a the narration was dubbed over. The name change was made to avoid confusion with a comic book character called Super Mouse. Mighty Mouse is a better name for the character anyway. In the first Super Mouse film, the character lived in a supermarket and gained his powers after using all sorts of items with the word super in the name. Here he still lives in a supermarket but gets his power from Limburger cheese.
Next is one of my favorite of the Walter Lantz produced Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons, Spooks (1930). This cartoon parodies the 1925 silent feature film version of Phantom of the Opera. That feature film is perfectly parodied in this short film's unmasking scenes, which parodies probably one of the most famous scenes of that feature.
Today's cartoon selection ends with The Pink Panther in Pink Plasma (1975).
Thanks for joining me come back next week for another selection of animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
Resources Used
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/disneys-trick-or-treat-1952/
My Life in Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century by Joseph Barbera
https://mediahistoryproject.org/
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