Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #253

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

Santa's Surprise (1947) is an especially delightful Christmas cartoon from Famous Studios. This cartoon is best remembered as the first cartoon to feature the character of Little Audrey. Little Audrey was an original character for the studio and also a replacement for Little Lulu, who the studio had made a series of cartoons with, in the past. Little Lulu was not created by the studio but was the star of a comic strip by Marjorie Henderson Buell. When Paramount decided not to renew the license for Famous Studios to use that character, Little Audrey was created. The character was designed by veteran Disney animator Bill Tytla (possibly my favorite Disney animator), who was now a director at Famous. This short's lead animator was Myron Waldman, who specialized in cute animation (often shining his best in the studio's Casper series). Myron would later remember this cartoon as one he was especially happy with.

Now for a Fleischer Brothers Screen Song cartoon, My Wife's Gone to the Country (1931). The Screen Song cartoons featured a mixture of cartoon action and "Follow the Bouncing Ball" sing-along. In fact, it was these short films that introduced the idea of following the bouncing ball. 

Next comes Pride of the Yard (1954). Despite this cartoon stating that it is staring Percval Sleuthhound, this is the only film he appeared in. 

Next is a classic Donald Duck film, Toy Tinkers (1949). This movie features Donald once again going up against Chip and Dale. This film is directed by Jack Hannah, who at this time was directing the majority of the Donald Duck cartoons. When Chip and Dale had their very short-lived series of shorts, Jack Hannah directed all three cartoons in that series. This cartoon is laugh out loud funny. The slapstick is spot on and timed perfectly. Every joke works and they are all very funny. The humor is also displayed perfectly through the great character animation one should expect form a Disney cartoon. While Disney cartoons are often called sweet and cute in contrast to the hilarious antics at studios like Warner Brothers and MGM, the Disney studio could make slapstick cartoons as great as the rest of them (this is not an insult to Warner Brothers and MGM as I love there cartoons a lot as well). This stands as one of Disney's funniest shorts (a joke involving a telephone never fails to make me laugh out loud)

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Next comes the Aesop's Film Fables short, The Alley Cat (1923).

Next comes Mickey Mouse in The Duck Hunt (1931). In this short film, Mickey and Pluto go out hunting for ducks with little luck. A scene in which Pluto is swimming in the lake with a decoy on his head was later repeated in the Sunday Mickey Mouse comic strip. A variety of animators worked on Pluto here, but the star animator for the character is Norm Ferguson, who is one of the main animators responsible for developing Pluto's personality. This cartoon predates the first appearance of Donald Duck, but I wonder how Mickey's future friend would feel about this movie. 

Now for some Saturday Morning Minions. 

If any of you wonder why I love Christmas so much, this song should explain. 

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

Resources Used

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein 

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

.