Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #216

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with Heckle and Jeckle in Wild Life (1959). 

Up next is the Walter Lantz produced cartoon, The Big Cat and the Little Mousie (1938). I personally have a fondness for these black and white Walter Lantz cartoons. This is a really charming and fun film. It may not be exactly hilarious, but it does have a real charm to it. The whole sequence with the drunk mouse is similar to a famous sequence in the Disney cartoon, The Country Cousin (1936) and was perhaps inspired by it. While the character animation here may not be as impressive as that of the Disney film, it is still quite well done. A review in The Film Daily stated, "Kids and grownups alike will find this yarn amusing." A review in the Motion Picture Herald calls this film "unnecessary" and states, "The background commentary with its 'teeny weeny little mousie,' has a burlesque ring in light of the theme of this Oswald Rabbit subject." 

Next comes an early example of one of Disney's Silly Symphonies, Arctic Antics (1930). Like all Disney cartoons of this era, this short film benefits from an incredible cast of animators. The opening scene with the bears and seals was animated by Frenchy de Tremaudan. Wilfred Jackson, who would go on to direct some of the finest Silly Symphony shorts animates more of the bears and seals as well as the penguin leader and the little penguin during the march. Dave Hand, who would later be the supervising director for the Disney feature films, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Bambi (1942), animates the bear cub on the ice cake and much of the penguin march. Les Clark, one of Walt's future Nine Old Men and one of the best Mickey Mouse animators, animates the large bear on the ice cake and a penguin doing a dance by himself. Norm Ferguson, whose animation would help define the character of Pluto, animates the operatic walrus (reused animation from the Mickey Mouse cartoon, Wild Waves (1929)) and the penguins dancing in a chorus line. Ben Sharpsteen, who was the supervising director for the Disney feature films Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940) and Dumbo (1941), animates the four dancing seals, the seals applauding (reused animation from the Mickey Mouse cartoon, Wild Waves) and the walrus with the fish. Dick Lundy, who would go on to be a great Woody Woodpecker director, animates the seal dancing by himself and the seal balancing a fish on his nose. Johnny Cannon animates the seal squeezing the walrus' nose. Jack King, who would go on to direct some wonderful Donald Duck cartoons animates more of the penguin march. This short film would make its TV debut on an episode of The Mickey Mouse Club that aired on February 17, 1956. 

 Now for the World War Two era Terry Toons short, Keep 'Em Growing (1943). This film is incredibly topical and of its time but that is just what makes it so much fun. 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Now for the first short film directed by Walt Disney, Little Red Riding Hood (1922).

Next comes another real classic, Falling Hare (1943). This cartoon features one of the few characters to get the upper hand of Bugs, the gremlin. Despite only appearing in this one short, the character has proven quite popular and has appeared in quite a few Looney Tunes spin offs. The original title for this short was going to be Bugs Bunny and the Gremlin. However, since Disney was working on an animated feature film about gremlins (a movie that would never be finished), the studio took the word gremlin out of the title of this cartoon to appease the Disney studio. The following is a review from The Film Daily, "Literally and figuratively, Bugs Bunny, already a prime favorite among current cartoon characters, gets off to a flying start in the distribution season just started. The buck-toothed, long-eared clown meets up with a gremlin and both find themselves aloft in an airplane, with Bugs or what's left of him being darn glad to get back to earth. There are plenty of laughs throughout. The tough Bunny, if this initial '43-'44 offering of his producer Leon Schlesinger, is any criterion, is in for a further rise in popularity among fans who like humor. Of course, the reel is in Technicolor. It was supervised by Robert Clampett and animated by Roderick Scribner. Warner Foster wrote the story and Carl W. Stalling handled the musical direction." This cartoon amounts to one of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons and it is appropriately in Jerry Beck's book, The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes.  

Motion Picture Daily, 1941

Now for the Aesop's Sound Fables short, Gypped in Egypt (1930). The following is a review from The Film Daily, "This Aesop Fable has the cartoon cat and dog on an adventure in Egypt. They fall into an ancient town and find themselves surrounded by mummies and skeletons that come to life. There is a funny fire sequence, with all the skeleton riding pell-mell to the fire in chariots. It finishes with a wild ride in an elevator to the top of an obelisk, where they step off the platform into space. A nightmare of goofy antics cleverly worked out for the laughs."   

Now for The Simpsons in Skateboarding (1988). This was a short made for The Tracey Ullman Show before the family received its own TV series. 

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

Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series by Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman

100 Greatest Looney Tunes Edited by Jerry Beck.

https://lantern.mediahist.org/