Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #132

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with a wonderful Friz Freleng directed Looney Tune, Yankee Doodle Daffy (1943). Friz Freleng was an expert at comedic timing and he has few (if any) peers when it comes to this. This short film is a perfect example of why. The movie moves at a very fast pace, yet never feels rushed. Each gag lands perfectly here. It is also common for Friz's name or even caricatures of Friz to appear in the background in these cartoons. Here if you look in the background there is a picture of Friz hanging on Porky's wall. A review in The Motion Picture Daily calls this film a "Pleasant little subject." The following are Exhibitor's reviews from The Motion Picture Herald. "YANKEE DOODLE DAFFY: Looney Tunes Cartoons—This studio's cartoons lately seem to be either exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. This is downright terrible. - W. Verricks Nevins, III, Alfred Co-op Theatre, Alfred N.Y." "YANKEE DOODLE DAFFY: Looney Tunes Cartoons—Good cartoon, but where does it get its name? - Ralph Raspa, State Theatre, Rivesdale, W. Va." "YANKEE DOODLE DAFFY: Looney Tunes Cartoons - Average color cartoon. - E.M. Freiburger, Paramount Theatre, Dewey, Okla." 

Next comes a Disney short film that is actually a sequel to a previous Disney cartoon. The cartoon is Casey Bats Again (1954) and is a sequel to the Casey at Bat sequence from the Disney feature film, Make Mine Music (1946). 

Up next we join our old friend Scrappy in Park your Baby (1939). I absolutely adore the ending of this movie. 

Now comes the Betty Boop cartoon Be Human (1936). This short film has a very important lesson for us all about treating animals well and not abusing them. The Fleischer Studio (which made this movie) also made a Popeye cartoon with a similar theme, Be Kind to 'Aminals' (1935). However this Betty Boop short is the superior film, with the elaborately over the top way of getting revenge on the abuser. There is something therapeutic about seeing a bully get even worse than he dishes out in return, especially in such a cartoonish and over the top fashion. The sheer over the top nature makes this movie feel completely entertaining instead of like a lecture. 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Up next is a delightful Disney Silly Symphony short, The China Shop (1933). Like all the Disney films of this time period this movie benefits from a fantastic cast of animators. Art Babbitt, whose animation helped define the character of Goofy and worked on the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Geppetto in Pinocchio (1940), animated the scenes with the shopkeeper. Dick Lundy, who would go on to direct Woody Woodpecker and Barney Bear cartoons, animates the waltz. Frenchy de Tremaudan animates the satyr stalking and taking the girl. Dick Huemer, who played a major role in developing Koko the Clown for the Fleischers and creating Scrappy for Columbia, animates almost all of big fight between the boy and the satyr, with the exception of only three brief insert shots animated by Archie Robin. Ben Sharpsteen, who would later be the supervising director for the Disney feature films, Pinnochio (1940), Fantasia (1940), and Dumbo (1941), would lead a group of animators that included Cy Young, Roy Williams (later to become the big mooseketeer on TV's The Mickey Mouse Club), Jack Kinney (who would later become one of the finest directors of Disney cartoon shorts), Leonard Sebring and Louie Schimdt. This crew would do the animation for the clock the ostrich, the peacock, the broken vase and the mugs. This short film made its TV debut on an episode of The Mickey Mouse Club that aired on November 2, 1955. 

Next we join Mr. Magoo in Sloppy Jalopy (1952). 

Broadcasting, 1960 

Now for a silent movie starring Mutt and Jeff, A Kick for Cinderella (1925).

Today's cartoon selection ends with a New Three Stooges TV cartoon, Aloha Ha Ha (1965). Like in all these cartoons, The Three Stooges are voiced by themselves. Curly Joe felt that the show was hurt by the fact that the live action intro and outro segments would be repeated, even when the cartoon was new. He felt this would lead people to see an opening they recognized and change the channel thinking it was a repeat.

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another selection of animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and melodies merry. 

Resources Used

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

The Three Stooges Scrapbook by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer and Greg Lenburg.

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

https://lantern.mediahist.org/