Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, today's cartoon selection begins with a true Thanksgiving classic, Tom Turk and Daffy (1944). Unlike Christmas or Halloween, there really aren't a wide variety of Thanksgiving cartoons, which is odd once you think about how hunting a turkey is a perfect subject for a cartoon. However, the idea of hunting a turkey in a cartoon was done to perfection in this film. The cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones, who is often credited with playing a major role in turning Daffy from his early crazy self into a self-centered character bent on self-preservation-ism. While Daffy had not fully turned into that character by this point this cartoon shows that sneaking into the character. In this film Daffy is willing to sell-out his friend he vowed to protect when temptation gets the better of him (Those darn canned yams!). The idea of Daffy simply being too weak to resist temptation is fully in line with the Daffy we would see in later Jones cartoons. Yet he still has the wild energetic streak that characterized the older Daffy Duck cartoons. In an interview with film historian Joe Adamson, Chuck would state, "What you do is multiply your own weakness, I guess, in a character like Daffy. There was no problem after I began to understand what he was all about. My Daffy and Friz's [Looney Tunes director, Friz Freleng] are also a little bit different, Friz was the one you might say, who got him into that cowardly self-preservation. The minute he did it, I understood what that was; I knew how I'd feel. It's that awfulness, when you're on the battlefield, of realizing when your buddy is shot that your basic feeling is one of relief: that it wasn't you. Well Daffy says that. He says, 'I may be a mean little duck but I'm an alive little duck.' or when he gave Bugs up to the Abominable Snowman, he said, 'I'm not like other people: I can't stand pain - it hurts me.' When I'd go home, I'd tell Dorothy [Chuck's wife] a line like that, which just occurred as I was working. I'd say, 'You know what that guy Daffy did today?' and I'd repeat the line and then she'd look at me. She never got used to this, she'd say, 'Well, you were drawing it you did it.' I'd say 'That's not true! It just developed! That's what he said. It was natural for him to say it.'" Despite this cartoon being Thanksgiving themed, Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald's book, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to Warner Brothers Cartoons, lists the film release date as February 12th, 1944. The story credit for this film goes to "The Staff" and as far as I know this is the only Warner cartoon with that credit. I do not know the reason for this if any of you do please let me know.
Today's cartoon selection continues with Therapeutic Pink (1977). This short film marks the last Pink Panther cartoon to be made for movie theaters.
Now it is time for a commercial break.
Now for a fun black and white Terry Toons cartoon, The Mayflower (1935). This film may be crude compared to what Disney was doing at this time but watched in the right mindset, it is a lot of fun.
Now for our frustrated hero, Donald Duck in Lucky Number (1951). This movie is an oddity among Donald cartoons as it depicts Huey, Dewey and Louie as older than usual (seemingly teenagers). They are at least old enough to drive a car without anybody thinking a thing of it.
Now to end today's cartoon selection is a special Thanksgiving surprise. It is the TV special, Garfield's Thanksgiving (1989).
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another selection of classic cartoons. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
Resources Used
Chuck Jones: Conversations Edited by Maureen Furniss
Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to Warner Brothers Cartoons by Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald
https://mediahistoryproject.org/
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