Movies With Michael : Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #255

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #255

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with one of my favorite Happy Harmonies cartoons, Alias St. Nick (1935). The Happy Harmonies series was one of many cartoon series of the 1930's trying to copy the success of Disney's Silly Symphonies. Like the Disney cartoons, this series for the most part featured one off characters. There were a few exceptions where there would be characters who would appear in multiple Happy Harmonies films. This movie introduces one of those characters, Little Cheeser. This is one of those cartoons that I for a long time had a distinct memory of it being on TV in the background one Christmas Eve, when I was small. The first time I saw this movie as an adult, it was a joy to find out just what the name of the cartoon was and what studio it came from. I was also happy to find out that the cartoon was still a pure delight. This film looks wonderful as did most of the cartoons Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising looks wonderful and this gives it a delightful Christmas-y feel that I simply love. I watch this every Christmas time and I hope you enjoy it and maybe it will become a Christmas tradition for you too.

Next comes Deputy Dawg in Shotgun Shambles (1960). Though these cartoons were made for TV, this is one of six shorts that was also released to movie theaters. You may notice that this short really stars Muskie Muskrat rather than Deputy Dawg. The reason for this is that the series was originally going to star this character, who would have originally been called Possible Possum (which explains his early catchphrase “It’s possible, it’s possible”). However, the focus of the series would later shift to Deputy Dawg. Yet some cartoons had already been made by this time. If you listen closely to this cartoon, you can notice that there is an audio splice whenever Muskie's name is mentioned. It is believed that the change in both this character's name and who would become the star of the cartoons, was because it would be felt that they were too closely copying the very popular Pogo comic strip.

Now for a Fleischer Brothers Screen Songs cartoon, Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning (1932). Betty Boop makes a cameo appearance in this short film.

Next is a classic Friz Freleng directed Bugs Bunny cartoon, Fresh Hare (1942). If you have seen this cartoon on TV, you may have noticed that it ends rather abruptly on these TV airings. The reason is most TV airing cut out the ending here for its use of blackface. This is also one of those cartoons where Elmer Fudd is heavier set. This design lasted only briefly and appeared in only four cartoons. The idea behind this design was to make Elmer look more like his voice actor, Arthur Q. Bryan. Fresh Hare marked the last appearance of this design for Elmer.

Now it is time for a commercial break.

Up next is Christmas Night (1933). This cartoon comes from the delightfully underrated cartoon series, Van Bueren's Little King cartoons. These films are full of the type of surreal cartoony gags that

I simply love and this movie is one of my favorites in the series.

Home Movies, 1943

Next is a Disney yuletide favorite, Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952). This movie features a great cast of animators including, George Kreisl, Fred Moore, Bill Justice, Volus Jones, Blaine Gibson and Dan MacManus. Dan MacManus animates the opening scene of the cartoon. Fred Moore is recognized as one of the greatest Mickey animators of all time and he gets to show that off here as he animates Mickey chopping down the tree, Mickey decorating the tree, Mickey with the Christmas gifts, Mickey's reactions to Pluto's antics, Mickey holding the chipmunks and him and Pluto looking out the window. Bill Justice and Volus Jones animate much of the Chipmunks. Justice also animates the cameo of Minnie, Donald and Goofy at the end. George Kreisl animates much of Pluto's antics. Blaine Gibson animates very little in this movie with the tree lights going off and on. Pluto's Christmas Tree was a rare Mickey Mouse cartoon directed by Jack Hannah, who mostly directed Donald Duck cartoons. However this is not too surprising as this cartoon features two of Hannah's creations, Chip and Dale (whom the director most often used as adversaries for Donald). Hannah had directed an earlier Mickey Mouse cartoon that co-starred Chip and Dale with Squatters Rights (1946). Despite Hannah being one of the main directors of Disney shorts during this period, these marked the only two Mickey shorts he actually directed.