Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #278

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with Mr. Magoo in Magoo's Moosehunt (1957). This short film was directed by Robert Cannon, one of my favorite UPA directors. He also directed the studio's most popular short, Gerald McBoing Boing (1950). One of the writers for this movie was Bill Scott, who is best known for being the voice of Bullwinkle the moose. 

Up next is Mighty Mouse Meets Jekyll and Hyde Cat (1944). This is one of the best Mighty Mouse cartoons and the movie truly lives up to its delightful premise. 

Next up is Tex Avery's next to last black and white cartoon, The Haunted Mouse (1941). By this time Tex had moved from working on the black and white Looney Tunes to the color Merrie Melodies. He had not made a black and white cartoon since 4 years earlier with Porky's Garden (1937). After this film, he would make one more black and white short, Porky's Preview (1941). This movie was the first Looney Tune to not feature any reoccurring characters. Before this Looney Tunes always featured a star character, at first Bosko, then Buddy, then Beans and then Porky. This star character would appear in every cartoon for the series, while the Merrie Melodies would include cartoons without any of the main characters. This movie also features the first writing credit for Michael Maltese who would go on to write Chuck Jones' best cartoons. 

Now we join our good friends The Terry Bears in Thrifty Cubs (1953). 17 Terry Bears cartoons were made from 1951 to 1955. Despite the characters' short-lived span as cartoon characters, they did have a life outside of theatrical cartoons.  St. John Publishing included them in their series of Terry-Toons comic books entitled Paul Terry's Comics. Sometimes they would even appear on the cover of these comic books. They would even briefly receive their own Terry Bears comic book. This would only receive three issues though which were released in 1952-53.

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Now for a Garfield Quickie. 

Now for a true Disney classic, Alpine Climbers (1936). Though this film teams Mickey, Donald and Pluto, it follows the same format as the Mickey, Donald and Goofy cartoons that Disney made around this time. Like those films, here each of the characters goes his separate way and has a separate adventure. Mickey tries to collect an eagle's egg. Donald tries to pick flowers. Pluto has a run in with a St. Bernard dog (designed by Joe Grant). This other dog actually has a name, and that name is Bolivar. The character however is unnamed in the film, nor would he ever be used again in an animated cartoon. Instead, the character would be named in the Disney comics. He started appearing in 1938 in Al Taliaferro's Donald Duck newspaper comic strip. Bolivar would soon become the family dog of the duck family and would even be a reoccurring character in Carl Barks' beloved Donald Duck comic books. Despite this being an odd name for a cartoon animal the name had almost been used before. A cartoonist named Pinto Colvig (best known to cartoon fans today as the original voice of Disney's Goofy) was interested in entering the making of animated cartoons when sound came to the movies. He felt due to the fact that he was a cartoonist, who was also capable of doing various voices and playing multiple musical instruments, he felt sound cartoons were a wonderful opportunity for him. He created a character named Bolivar the Talking Ostrich. Teaming with Walter Lantz (later of Woody Woodpecker fame), he made a film with this character called Blue Notes (1928). In this film, the animated ostrich interacted with a live action Pinto Colvig. Unfortunately, this film is considered lost and despite Colvig's best efforts, a series never materialized. Colvig would however talk much about this ostrich in later years, however Lantz would barely ever mention the character. It may be possible that Al Taliaferro named the dog character after Colvig's ostrich character, but there is no real proof either way. Alpine Climbers would be reissued to movie theaters in 1948. The short film would make its TV debut on an episode of TV's Disneyland entitled, The Adventures of Mickey Mouse (1955). The following is a review of Alpine Climbers from a 1936 issue of World Film News. "I laughed immoderately at the latest Mickey Mouse, Alpine Climbers. The spectacle of the frozen Pluto getting tiddly with his savior, a St. Bernard with a handy keg around his neck is wonderful. - Ian Coster" 

Now it is silent movie time with the Aesop's Film Fables cartoon, The Spendthrift (1922).

Now to close with one of the finest moments in the history of musical theater. 

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

 

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

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

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/bolivar-the-ostrich-unspoken/

https://lantern.mediahist.org/

https://www.toonopedia.com/terybear.htm