Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #268

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with Casper in Keep Your Grin Up (1955). The title card for this short film is terrifying. 

Next up is one of the Fleischer Stone Age cartoons, Way Back When a Nag Was Only a Horse (1940). This series of short films predated The Flintstones by a couple decades. 

Next is Porky Pig in Confusions of a Nutzy Spy (1943). This short was directed by Norman McCabe, who while never achieving the fame or recognition of Chuck Jones, Tex Avery or Bob Clampett, is a director whose cartoons I have always had a special fondness for. Much of the reason that McCabe is not as familiar to cartoon fans today is that his work rarely shows on TV. There are three major reasons for this. One is that his output is in black and white, another is that much of it is very topical of the WW2 era and yet another is that most of these films feature racial stereotypes. McCabe's Looney Tunes association did not end with the golden age. He would work as a timing director on the TV series, Tiny Toon Adventures, Taz Mania and Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. Confusions of a Nutzy Spy was an increasingly rare case of Porky being the star of a cartoon around this time. Though Porky not long ago had been the star of nearly every Looney Tune, this had been changing. Porky's roles would get smaller to the point where though he still appeared in every Looney Tune, he became strictly a supporting player (even in cartoons that featured his name in the title). Just a couple of years before this movie, the first Looney Tune in years not to feature Porky was released, The Haunted Mouse (1941). After this there were quite a few more Looney Tunes not featuring Porky as well as ones in which he only had brief cameos. The following are a couple of exhibitor's reviews from the Motion Picture Herald. "CONFUSIONS OF A NUTZY SPY: Looney Tunes Cartoons—Routine stuff. Always goes over big with the kids. Ran Friday, Saturday to good audience of kids and the house shook.—Wilson T. Cottrell, Caro- lina Theatre, Oxford, N. C." "CONFUSIONS OF A NUTZY SPY: Looney Tunes Cartoon—This is only a fairish sort of a black and white cartoon.—W. V. Nevins, III, Alfred Co-Op Theatre, Alfred, N. Y."

Next comes Donald Duck and Pluto in Window Cleaners (1940). This short film was directed by Jack King, who directed the majority of Donald Duck cartoons of this time. The writers were Carl Barks and Jack Hannah. Jack Hannah would later take over as the main director of Donald Duck shorts, and Carl Barks would go on to great success writing Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comic books. Though this cartoon stars Donald and Pluto, it introduced another Disney character with Spike the bee. Spike and Donald would often be on screen rivals. 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Now for a classic UPA cartoon, Little Boy with a Big Horn (1953). This short film shows UPA at their best. UPA changed the face of American animation by giving their cartoons a very stylized look that embraced the modern art of the 1950's. This is very evident here and this film is a pure visual treat. 

Now for a classic silent film, The Runaway (1924). 

Next is one of the all time great Disney cartoon shorts, Clock Cleaners (1937). The original plan for this movie was quite different from the finished film. In the original outline, Mickey, Donald and Goofy had their own clock repair business where they advertised that they could clean any clock for only one dollar. When Pete hears of this he makes them an offer, they accept only to find out that the clock Pete was talking about was at the top of a tower. This movie does away with all that exposition and instead starts with our heroes atop the tower cleaning the clock. In many ways this short is a thrill comedy of the type that was popular in the silent era (most famously with Harold Lloyd's feature length Safety Last (1923)). This influence is especially felt during the scenes in which Goofy walks dazed after being hit. That scene is heavily animated by Wolfgang Reitherman. Reitherman was one of Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and excelled at fast paced action scenes (something that can be seen to full advantage with the Monstro the Whale scenes in Pinocchio (1940), as well as the fight with the rat in Lady and the Tramp (1955)). He would later become a director of animated feature films including The Jungle Book (1967), The Aristocats (1970), Robin Hood (1973), and The Rescuers (1977). The following is an Exhibitor's review from the Motion Picture Herald, "CLOCK CLEANERS, THE: Mickey Mouse—Excel- lent. One of the best series of shorts on the market. If you advertise your shorts heavy and take pride in showing them, by all means book in this series." This movie received the number 27 spot in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons. 

Now let us close by singing a song we all know. 

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

50 Greatest Cartoons edited by Jerry Beck.

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

https://mediahistoryproject.org/