Hello, my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with what is widely considered to be one of the greatest cartoon shorts ever made, Duck Amuck (1953). This short film has been analyzed as much as any live action feature and is sometimes considered to be a great commentary on the film medium itself. However, none of this was on the minds of anyone making the cartoon at the time. Director Chuck Jones would later say, "We started out, I sat down and started drawing, and I came up with the opening and it was just an idea that he runs out of background. From that point on it happened right on the board. We didn't even have a story as such, we made one afterward, but there wasn't one as we were making it." He would even state that the iconic ending didn't even happen until the last week of layout. This cartoon reached the number 2 spot in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons and still delights audiences whether they are seeing it for the first or the 100th time.
Quiet Please (1945) was the third Tom and Jerry cartoon to win the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. It's competition that year included Disney's Donald's Crime (1945), George Pal's Jasper and the Beanstalk (1945), Warner Brother's Life with Feathers (1945, the debut of Slyvester), Terry Toon's Mighty Mouse in Gypsy Life (1945), Walter Lantz's Poet and Peasant (1946) and Columbia's Rippling Romance (1945). A scene from this film was recreated in the opening for the 1975 Tom and Jerry TV show. This scene features Tom chasing Jerry and coming to a stop when he sees Spike sleeping. The gag of Jerry making a drawing of Tom and writing "Stinky" underneath was reused in an episode of TV's The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, called New Mouse in the House (1980).
Now we join our good friend Dinky Duck in The Timid Scarecrow (1953).
Now we will join our friend Toby the Pup, Down South (1931). While Charles Mintz was producing Krazy Kat cartoons for Columbia, he decided to create a separate series of cartoons for RKO, these starring a character named Toby the Pup. To head this series Mintz handed the duties to Dick Huemer, Art Davis and Sid Marcus. Dick Huemer had been a major contributor to the style of the Fleischer studio earlier and this is probably why these shorts have a Fleischer-type feel to them. Huemer, Davis and Marcus would later be the major creative factors for Columbia's Scrappy cartoons (also produced by Mintz).
Now it is time for a commercial break.
Now for a Walter Lantz cartoon starring Jock and Jill, Ghost Town Frolics (1938). This is the only Jock and Jill cartoon. If there were plans to make this a full series it didn't pan out. Watching the film, it is understandable why. The cartoon is quite creative and full of fun gags. However, Jock and Jill don't have much in the way of personality or anything to make them stand out from similar cartoon characters of the same time.
Now for a silent stop motion film, Green Pastures (1926). Yes, I think the horse looks like Pokey too.
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 to end with a very educational short film.
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
The 50 Greatest Cartoons edited by Jerry Beck
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://tomandjerry.fandom.com/wiki/Quiet_Please!
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