Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons. Today in honor of Halloween here is a selection of spooky themed cartoons.
Today's musical selection begins with Scaredy Cat (1948). This is the first of a trilogy of cartoons directed by Chuck Jones to star Porky and Sylvester. In these films, Sylvester is a scaredy cat, while Porky is oblivious to the danger around him. These cartoons also feature Sylvester as a completely pantomime character. This cartoon holds an important distinction in cartoon history. It is the first film in which the name Sylvester is used for the cartoon feline.
Now for a short perfect for this time of year, Betty Boop's Halloween Party (1933). This short has all the surreal and manic energy, you would expect from a pre-code Betty film, especially one taking place around Halloween. The following are two exhibitors' reviews from the Motion Picture Herald. "BETTY BOOP'S HALLOWEEN PARTY: Betty Boop Cartoons—Good cartoon and sound. It's just a toss-up which is the best cartoon, "Mickey Mouse," "Betty Boop" or "Popeye the Sailor," with "Popeye" slightly in the lead.—S. H. Rich, Rich Theatre, Montpelier, Idaho, Town and Rural Patronage." "BETTY BOOP'S HALLOWEEN PARTY: Talkar- toons—Better than the average Betty Boop. Good short for any program. - H. E. Newberry, Y.M.C.A. Theatre, Ware Shores, S.C. Small Town Patronage."
Now we join Little Roquefort in The Haunted Cat (1951).
Now for a spooky Van Bueren short, Magic Mummy (1933). This short film stars a pair of human characters named Tom and Jerry, which predate the cat and mouse duo by nearly a decade.
Now it is time for a commercial break.
You can't have spooky cartoons without Scooby-Doo!
Now for something completely different here is a completely serious cartoon short of the 1950's, The Tell-Tale Heart (1953). This film is not surprisingly from the UPA studio. The UPA studio at this time sought to move away from the violent slapstick of Warner Brothers or MGM cartoons, or the more realistic "illusion of life" featured in many Disney cartoons. They often experimented with what could be done with the color and design in animated films. These films often experimented with flat backgrounds, purposely limited animation and abstract color schemes that reflect the emotion of a scene rather than what something would really look like. As is true of all cartoon studios that do a lot of experimenting, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Tell-Tale Heart is one of the most successful and one of the most extreme experiments. Most American audiences at this time had never seen an animated short quite like this and many would never see something like this again. When a 1954 article in Home Movies talking about the Cannes Film Festival got to Disney's Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953) winning a prize, the writer had this to say, "It is unpardonable however that Disney should so openly and fully steal the style of the cartoon developed by the most excellent groups of artists, Steven Bosustow's UPA. It was no secret this was the case among those as the festival as UPA is well known and well respected in France. It is a shame that UPA recent and excellent 3D cartoon, The Tell-Tale Heart could not be shown at the festival, for it most certainly won the prize awarded to Disney." This cartoon is placed at 24 in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons.
Now for another Edgar Allan Poe cartoon adaption, this one starring The Simpsons. So, enjoy The Raven (1990) from the first Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episodes. This still remains as one of my favorite Treehouse of Horror segments. True it may not be the funniest or the scariest, but it is a surpassingly well-made adaption of Edgar Allan Poe's short story and the vocal performances from James Earl Jones and Dan Castellaneta are fantastic.
Next comes a classic silent Alice Comedy, Alice's Spooky Adventure (1924). This is an early Alice Comedy meaning that it plays more as a live action comedy with an animated insert than a full cartoon like later entries. The pure live action scenes resembled Hal Roach's Our Gang comedy shorts (known by many now as The Little Rascals). This is rather interesting considering how new Our Gang was at the time of these shorts, having just started in 1922. Still the resemblance is hard to ignore with Alice's live action friends often physically resembling the Our Gang kids. Featured in Alice's Spooky Adventure are Spec McDonald, who looked a lot like Our Gang's freckled faced Mickey Daniels and Leon Holmes, this series' answer to chubby Joe Cobb from the Our Gang films. Distributor Margert Winkler was very happy with the film upon receiving it and wrote to Walt, "I will be frank with you and say that I have been waiting for just such a picture as 'Alice's Spooky Adventure' before using it in all territories throughout the world." She did have reservations though about some of the scenes combining live action and animation and asked that they would be retaken. Winkler must have been happy with the introduction of a cartoon cat in this film (later named Julius for future Alice Comedies). In the next Alice Comedy, Alice's Wild West Show (1924) a dog would be used as Alice's sidekick and Winkler would write Walt saying, "I might suggest that in your cartoon stuff you use a cat whenever possible and don't be afraid to let him do ridiculous things." Not surprisingly the cat would again appear in the following Alice Comedy, Alice's Fishy Story (1924).
Now to close here is Garfield's Halloween Adventure (1985).
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 in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney by J. B. Kaufman and Russell Merritt.
The 50 Greatest Cartoons by Jerry Beck
https://mediahistoryproject.org/
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