Hello, my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with a classic educational Disney short, Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959). This fun little movie was released alongside one of Disney's best live action features, Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). Donald in Mathmagic Land made its TV debut on the first color episode of the popular Disney anthology TV series (retitled Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color), An Adventure in Color/Mathmagicland (1961). Though this film was originally created for movie theaters, it would later be made available to schools and lived a long life there. Walt Disney would state, "The cartoon is a good medium to stimulate interest. We recently explained mathematics in a film and in a way that excited public interest in this very important subject." Dr. Heinz Haber was credited as a writer on this short. Haber was a psychiatrist at UCLA, who worked with the Disney studio on many of their 1950's educational films as a consultant.
Now for the first Mickey Mouse cartoon made; Plane Crazy (1928). This was back in the days when Mickey was still a simple country mouse who went around barefoot and didn't wear gloves. These early Mickey cartoons have a genuine rural feel to them (partly because Walt always considered himself a farm boy at heart) that I personally find irresistible and definitely prefer over the later and bland suburban settings featured in his later cartoons. In this film Mickey dreams of being a pilot and makes himself a homemade plane that would make the Our Gang kids jealous. This is because aviation was a popular topic around this time due to the fame of Charles Lindbergh (briefly caricatured here) after his New York to Paris flight of 1927. Walt had already had his earlier star, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in an aviation themed cartoon with The Ocean Hop (1927). This cartoon began production in March 1928. The production of this cartoon was done in secret due to the fact that Walt was still under contract to make Oswald cartoons for Universal. Animator Ub Iwerks (who animated the film by himself) was separated from the artists working on the Oswald shorts so that he could not be seen by them. Hugh Harman later described this saying, "They curtained off part of the studio with a great black drop, black skim of some kind, so that I and a few others who were leaving couldn't see the great secret that was going on." Ub Iwerks was one of the fastest animators of the time and finished this cartoon in only a matter of weeks. It has been said that he made as many as 700 drawings in one day. This cartoon was originally made as a silent film, yet you will notice the opening title card says, "Sound Cartoon." The reason for this is that after the success of Steamboat Willie (1928) with sound, a soundtrack was added to this cartoon.
Be sure to sing along because up next is one of the Fleischer Screen Songs cartoons, A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight (1930).
Now for the Terry Toons short, The Butcher of Seville (1944).
Now for a commercial break.
Though when most animation fans think of Tex Avery, they think of his films for MGM, I have always had a huge fondness for his work at Warner Brothers as well. What I love about his films for Warner Brothers is that he takes very conventional storylines and adds his wacky sense of humor. One of my favorites is Porky’s Preview (1941). This cartoon takes a cute premise of Porky Pig (still a child in this film) making a cartoon movie show for his little barnyard friends and turns it into a wonderful self-parody of cartoons themselves. I love how even musical director Carl Stalling gets in on the joke by giving us kiddie versions of songs he often used in the Looney Tunes cartoons.
Now it is silent movie time with the Out of the Inkwell short, Koko's Queen (1926).
Now for the Andy Panda cartoon, Mousie Come Home (1946). Despite this being an Andy Panda cartoon, our hero actually receives fairly little screentime with the majority of the runtime devoted to a little mouse.
Now to close with a song that we all know.
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
Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia by Dave Smith.
Donald Duck: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein
Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier
https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Donald_in_Mathmagic_Land
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