Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #241

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with the Betty Boop film, Pudgy the Watchman (1938). By the time this movie was made Betty was often playing supporting roles in her own films. In this short film, her dog Pudgy takes center stage as he often did in these latter Betty cartoons. 

Up next is one of the best post golden age Looney Tunes cartoons, Box Office Bunny (1991). This short film played before the feature film The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1991) in movie theaters. 

Next comes a real classic, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953). Though this is a Disney cartoon, it does not visually resemble what one excepts from a Disney film. This short has a stylized look that was clearly inspired by what the UPA (Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing Boing) was doing at the time. This movie was very much legendary Disney animator (and one of the infamous Nine Old Men), Ward Kimball's brainchild. Though C. August Nichols receives a co-director, he soon had little to do with this movie leaving all the creative decisions to Ward. Ward later remarked, "I was the one who did that picture all the way." As well as the high stylized look this short also uses limited animation. This is not limited animation used for budgetary reasons (like so many Saturday Morning Cartoons) but an artistic choice. Ward later commented on this decision stating, "you have to hold drawings. Watch and you'll see that sometimes the mouth just moves or an eye blinks. That is the difference between full animation and limited animation." Some at the Disney studio did not approve of the look or movement in this cartoon, with Ward even stating that for some it was "regarded as sacrilegious for Disney at the time." Iwao Takamoto for instance would state, "I believe that Ward in a sense took advantage of Walt's growing interest in live action during the early 1950's and that Walt was away from the studio more than he had been previous. This is how [Ward] was able to produce things that Walt would have never been in favor of, such as 'Toot Whistle, Plunk and Boom' which … was drawn in that stark, modern UPA style that Walt tended to disparage."  However some were inspired by the short. Director Jack Hannah would even use similarly flat stylized designs in a few of his future cartoons. As this movie was almost finished. Walt Disney got a call from Darryl Zanuck (head of 20th Century Fox) who asked if they had any cartoons to go with his Cinemascope features. Walt said, "Well, I'll look around." Walt approached Ward Kimball about releasing this film in Cinemascope to which Ward replied, "We're almost finished with it but ok I'll go back and redesign some of the gags for the bigger screen." It turned out to be a much more complex and daunting task than this though. Kimball would state about these changes that they "would have to change the size of the celluloid sheet on which we make our drawings and paintings - from 12 1/2 by 15 1/2 inches to 12 1/2 by 31 inches." He also learned the difference between making a cartoon for Cinemascope. He would later state, "In Cinemascope cartoon characters move not the backgrounds. Because there is more space, the characters could move about without getting outside the visual angle … characters could no longer perform in one spot against a moving background but are moved through the scenes." Still Ward was able to meet the deadline. The movie was a huge success winning the Acedmy Award for Best Animated Short Subject. However since a live action Disney nature documentary short was also nominated for an award that night, Walt came up and accidentally thanked the "Naturalist photographers who have played such a great part in making the nature films." This movie receives the number 29 spot in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons.

Now we join our good friend Gandy Goose in A Bully Romance (1939). In this short film Gandy must fight a bull in order to win the girl of his dreams. 

Now for a commercial break.

Next comes an early Woody Woodpecker short, The Dizzy Acrobat (1943). In these earlier Woody films the character is a bit cruder than fans of his later work are used to. But there is something about this sheer unabashed craziness that many cartoon fans (including myself) can't get enough of. This movie was nominated for an Academy Award, however it lost to Disney's Der Fuehrer's Face (1943). The following is from an issue of Showman's Trade Review (dated June 5, 1943), "Walter Lantz Cartune Studios which releases through Universal, has just released 'The Dizzy Acrobat,' A Woody Woodpecker special. The cartune revolves around the circus, and Lantz had experts advising the animators so that the action and facts would be accurate." This cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated short film, however it lost to the Tom and Jerry cartoon, The Yankee Doodle Mouse (1943). 

Now for a silent Aesop's Film Fables short, Small Town Sheriff (1927). 

Now for a classic one-shot Merrie Melodies cartoon, Bars and Stripes Forever (1939). This short film is directed by the directing team of Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton, who I feel are very overlooked as directors of Warner Brothers cartoons. 

Let us close with singing one we all know. Last week I talked about the Mickey Mouse cartoon, Mickey's Follies (1929). That film had a song called Minnie's Yoo-Hoo, which would become the instrumental theme for the Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts. This song also launched a sing-a-long short called Minnie's Yoo-Hoo (1930) that featured the footage from the previous film. This short was not made as a regular Mickey Mouse movie, but rather as a film to be played when the various Mickey Mouse Clubs (well predated TV's Mickey Mouse Club) would meet at their local movie theater. 

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.

The 50 Greatest Cartoons Edited by Jerry Beck

The Life and Times of Ward Kimball: Maverick of Disney Animation by Todd James Pierce.