Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #209

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with our old friend Bugs Bunny in A-Lad-In His Lamp (1948). This movie features Bugs Bunny meeting a genie that he calls Smokey. The genie was voiced by Jim Backus, who cartoon fans probably know as the voice of Mr. Magoo. Jim Backus also had a pretty good career appearing in live action films including Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Pat and Mike (1952) and Don't Bother to Knock (1952). On television he played Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island. The character of Smokey the genie would later appear in an episode of Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries TV series entitled Fleas Release Me (1998) and in the episodes of New Looney Tunes, The Meanie and the Genie (2019) and O.M.Genie (2020). 

Now for Andy Panda in Meatless Tuesday (1943). This movie was directed by Shamus Culhane. Shamus had previously worked at both Disney and Fleischer Studios. However his best work was as a director at the Walter Lantz studio, making wonderful cartoons like this one and some of the best Woody Woodpecker shorts ever made. 

We continue with the last black and white Silly Symphony, Bugs in Love (1932). This is a rather typical Silly Symphony of its time, following the well-established formula of animated characters having a grand time to music until the villain of the piece appears and tries to wreck their fun. As you can guess by the title this film's story involves various bugs. Bugs were a common site in the early Silly Symphonies and the newspaper comic strip based off the cartoon series. In fact, the newspaper comic strip featured a complete remake of this cartoon. The Silly Symphonies were a series that at this time was constantly improving and audiences and exhibitors quickly took note of this improvement. For evidence here is an exhibitors review from 1934 (two years after the film's original release), "BUGS IN LOVE: Silly Symphonies—An old Silly Symphony. Not as good as the new ones. Running time, one reel. —A. B. Jefferis, New Piedmont Theatre, Piedmont, Mo. Small Town Patronage." Of course the Silly Symphonies were quite appropriately one of the most popular cartoon series of the time. The following is an exhibitors review from The Motion Picture Herald, "BUGS IN LOVE: Another great Silly Symphony. Give it extra billing. —Charles Niles, Niles Theatre, Anamosa, Iowa." Not everybody was so impressed with the series though as shown through the following exhibitors review from The Motion Picture Herald, "BUGS IN LOVE: Silly Symphony—This is just another Walt Disney cartoon comedy. Nothing good about it; just ordinary and is only fair entertainment. We have only played one good comedy of this series and every time we hope the next one will be better. Disappointed in these. Running time, nine minutes. - J. J. Medford, Orpheum Theatre, Oxford, N.C., General Patronage." 

Now we join the Pink Panther in Pink Piper (1976).

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

I have mentioned many times on this blog, that some of my favorite cartoons of all time are the Goofy cartoons, Jack Kinney directed for Disney. Up first is an early example of this, Goofy's Glider (1940). This was the first of Goofy's wonderful series of "how to..." cartoons, where Goofy shows us how to do something the wrong way. It is also the first Goofy cartoon to be directed by Jack Kinney. This movie also serves as the basis for Goofy's Fly School, the really fun roller coaster in Disney's California Adventure. The following is an exhibitor's review from the Motion Picture Herald, "GOOFY'S GLIDER: Walt Disney Cartoons— Very funny. Disney's poor cartoons compare with what the majority of other companies consider good. Runtime 8 minutes. - H. Goldson, Plaza Theatre, Chicago, Ill. General Patronage." 

Motion Picture Herald, 1932

Now for a silent movie starring KoKo the Clown, Koko in Toyland (1925). His live action boss is played by the legendary cartoon producer Max Fleischer, who produced this series of cartoons.

Now for the Looney Tunes web cartoon, My Generation G...G...Gap (2004).

Next is the Van Beuren Rainbow Parade cartoon, Rag Dog (1935). This cartoon is directed by Burt Gillett and Tom Palmer. Burt Gillett had come to Van Beuren from Disney and was one of Disney's finest directors of the early 1930's. There he even directed the most famous Silly Symphony cartoon, The Three Little Pigs (1933). Animator Jack Zander remembered first seeing Gillett, "One day the boss of the place, Frank Snell, who was just a businessman, came walking through the place with a funny little beady-eyed fellow. Somebody nudged me and said, 'Do you know who that is?' and I said no. 'That's Burt Gillett.' So I said, 'Who's Burt Gillett?' and he said, 'Burt Gillett is the guy who directed The Three Little Pigs.'" Jack Zander also remembered, "He worked like Walt did. We'd do pencil tests. Of course, when we were working at Van Beuren, nobody ever heard of a pencil test. We'd just animate and ink it and that's all there was to it. He initiated pencil tests and movieolas. We'd have to animate this stuff and look at it; he'd look at it and then he'd make changes. It was a stimulating thing. The only ones who had any trouble were the real old animators, animating for years in a set manner. They found it a little difficult to adjust." 

Now for one of The Simpsons shorts for the Tracey Ullman Show, Bart's Hiccups (1988).

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

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

Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series by Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman.

https://mediahistoryproject.org/