Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some more classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with Bugs Bunny in Frigid Hare (1949). This is the first of two theatrical cartoons where Bugs Bunny is paired with a little penguin. This penguin would later be known as Playboy Penguin. The other short film with this character would be 8 Ball Bunny (1950). Both of these shorts were directed by Chuck Jones.
Next comes the Tom and Jerry short, Barbecue Brawl (1956). As the 1950's progressed more of the Tom and Jerry cartoons would feature the supporting characters in larger and more important roles. Here Spike and Tyke are just as much the stars of this film as Tom and Jerry. The ending gag in this short is very similar to the one in the earlier Tom and Jerry short, Pup on a Picnic (1955).
With how much I am not a fan of the Gene Dietch Tom and Jerry cartoons, I was surprised to learn that I actually like his Terry Toons shorts quite a bit. When Dietch was given control of the Terry Toons studio, he had little interest in the films, the studio had been making. Because of this he abandoned nearly all the Terry Toons characters to that point and replaced them with new characters. One of these new characters was John Doormat and here is John Doormat in Shove Thy Neighbor (1957).
Next comes one of my favorite early Mickey Mouse cartoons, The Karnival Kid (1929). This film is famous for featuring Mickey Mouse's first spoken words. Though Mickey's earlier shorts had been sound pictures, they mostly revolved around music instead of dialogue. Though Walt Disney was excited about moving in this direction, his distributor, Pat Powers was not. Powers felt that an English-speaking mouse would have less appeal in countries where English is not the common language. To be fair the mouse does not receive a great deal of dialogue in this cartoon. His first words are the immortal, "Hot Dogs! Hot Dogs!" (in a scene animated by future Donald Duck director, Jack King). The voice is not the familiar high pitch falsetto, but a plainer undistinguished voice. I do not know who provided this voice. Carl Stalling speak about the early voices of the mouse in a 1969 interview, “all the animators were taking a shot at it, those who wanted to.” Of course, later on Walt himself would become the voice of Mickey. The cartoon features some men who would soon have a great input on Disney's animated films. Ben Sharpsteen (supervising director on the Disney features Pinocchio (1940) and Dumbo (1941)) animates the opening shots of the fairgrounds, the monkey playing all the instruments and the barker (a forerunner of Kat-Nip from the Mickey Mouse comic strip) pulling Mickey's nose. Burt Gillet (who would direct the most popular Silly Symphony, Three Little Pigs (1933)) animates the scene with the merry-go-round, Mickey playing the hot dogs like musical instruments, the emergence of Minnie and Mickey tipping his ears to her ("The Big Mooseketeer" Roy Williams stated that this scene inspired the Mickey Mouse ears that all of TV's The Mickey Mouse Club wore). Les Clark (one of Walt's nine old men and one of the greatest Mickey Mouse animators) receives very little footage in the cartoon. He animates Mickey catching a runaway hot dog and giving it a spanking, Mickey briefly strumming the guitar and the final shot of the movie. Les Clark's ending was originally going to be longer with Mickey riding the bed like a horse. The legendary Ub Iwerks (who co-created Mickey with Walt) animates the two cats' duet. Despite the forward-looking ideas in this cartoon borrowed a major gag from a previous Disney short. Mickey chasing and spanking the hot dog was originally done by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in All Wet (1927).
Now it is time for a commercial break.
Now for a classic silent Out of the Inkwell film, The Clown's Little Brother (1920).
And now here is Mr. Know-it-All.
Stephan Bosustow, cartoon producer and one of the founders of the UPA studio (home of Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing Boing) had a strong interest in creating an animated feature film based on the work of writer James Thurber. However, he could not get the funding for this, so he asked UPA director William T. Hurtz to adapt one of Thurber's stories as an animated short film. Hurtz took this idea very seriously and studied nearly every drawing Thurber made. The result was A Unicorn in the Garden (1953). Bosustow was reportedly disappointed with the end result. Because of this he refused to submit the cartoon for consideration for an Academy Award and changed plans for the studio's first feature to one starring Mr. Magoo. Cartoon fans certainly aren't disappointed by the result. This short is not only beloved by cartoon fans but received the 48th spot in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons.
Let us close with one of the greatest commercials in the history of TV.
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
-Michael J. Ruhland
Resources Used
The 50 Greatest Cartoons edited by Jerry Beck
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/mickey-mouse-in-the-karnival-kid-1928/
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