Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #282

 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 Problem Child (1956). This short film was directed by Pete Burness. Burness had previously been an animator on MGM's Tom and Jerry shorts as well as some classic Looney Tunes. At this time, he was the main director of the Magoo series. 

Up next comes a Columbia Color Rhapsody cartoon, A Cat, a Mouse and a Bell (1935). 

Big Bad Sindbad (1952) is an interesting cheater cartoon. This is because it only uses clips from one previous cartoon. The previous film is Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936). That short ran more than twice as long as the normal Popeye cartoon. With this short being more of a regular length, this movie plays as a shorter version of the earlier film with a new opening and closing. One change that appeared in the Popeye films between the two cartoons is that Popeye's outfit changed from black to white. Because of the reused footage though this movie is the rare 1950's Popeye cartoon with Popeye wearing his old outfit. 

Next comes a classic Talkartoon cartoon, The Cow's Husband (1931). This short film stars Bimbo, who is best known today for being Betty Boop's boyfriend. However, at this time he was the Fleischer Studio's main star. His design here is also greatly different than the one we would later see in Betty Boop cartoons. This film contains all the delightfully surreal humor that made the Fleischer cartoons of this era so much fun. The film's highlight may be the rotoscoped bull dance. 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Up next comes Daffy in Wackyland (2023). This recent short film was the first Looney Tunes cartoon to be done completely in stop motion. It premiered at Annecy International Animated Film Festival on 17 June 2023. This cartoon is a continuation of sorts of the classic Looney Tunes short, Porky in Wackyland (1938). 

Now for another modern cartoon based on a classic cartoon character, D.I.Y. Duck (2024). This Donald Duck short was directed by Mark Henn, who worked as an animator on such Disney movies as The Little Mermaid (1989, the lead animator for Ariel), Beauty and the Beast (1991, the lead animator for Belle), Aladdin (1992, lead animator for Jasmine), The Lion King (1994) and Mulan (1998, lead animator for the title character). This short is a wonderful throwback to the Donald cartoons of the 1940's and 50's. 

Now it is silent movie time with one of Walt Disney's Alice Comedies, Alice on the Farm (1925).

I love of the cartoons of Chuck Jones from any period but there is something special about his films from 1942 and 1943. At this time, he was fully getting away from his slower paced cuter output of the late 1930's but had not yet gotten to the style of films he would make in the 1950's that everybody is familiar with today. So, what we get from output during these two years are cartoons that experiment with what you can do in an animated short. It doesn't hurt that he worked with such experimental artists as layout man John McGrew. Chuck gave McGrew plenty of freedom and what John accomplished in these movies is nothing short of amazing. This is especially shown in The Case of the Missing Hare (1942), where experimentation is seen in every moment. Just watch the abstract backgrounds that show a mixture of two colors at a time, but the colors change when there is a strong action in the foreground. This is something someone may not notice on their first watch, but it is something they can feel. A review in The Film Daily stated, "Here is another hilarious, the Leon Schlesinger creation that keeps growing in comic strength with every new release." I think anyone watching this cartoon today will recognize that the antagonist is not Elmer Fudd, but one reviewer from The Exhibitor didn't as in his review he stated "...this has Elmer, as a magician..."  A review from the same magazine less than a month later stated, "Elmer isn't in this." The latter is right. A review in Variety called this "One of the better Bugs Bunny subjects."

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

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

https://mediahistoryproject.org/