Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #237

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with one of Chuck Jones' great Bugs Bunny cartoons, Wackiki Wabbit (1943). The two castaways who try to eat Bugs in this cartoon, were caricatured to look like and were voiced by Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies writers, Michael Maltese and Tedd Pierce. Many of Chuck's cartoons of this time had great experimentation with background art, and that is certainly true here. The following are some exhibitor's reviews from the Motion Picture Herald. "Wackiki Wabbit: Merrie Melodies Cartoons: A 'Bugs Bunny' short that shows signs of getting him back into his once high place. If they like Bugs, they'll like this one. - W. Varrick Nevins, Ill, Alfred Co-op Theatre, Alfred, N.Y." "Wackiki Wabbit: Merrie Melodies Cartoon— This is one of the best Bugs Bunny cartoons of the season and it went over big here. - Thomas Di Lorenzo, New Paltz Theatre, New Platz, N.Y." 

Next is a classic Fleischer Screen Songs cartoon, I Can't Escape From You (1936).

Now we join Honey Halfwitch in Trick or Cheat (1966). This short film features nearly all of the supporting characters from this series. It is also directed by Howard Post, who created the character of Honey Halfwitch.  Post is better known for his comic work rather than his animation work. He created the comic strip The Dropouts and DC Comics character Anthro. He had also worked for Harvey Comics on various Casper comic books and on the Heathcliff and Care Bears comics for Marvel as well as being an editor on Looney Tunes Magazine and Tiny Toons Magazine for DC. The Honey Halfwitch films are a series of thirteen theatrically released cartoon shorts. 

Next is The New Three Stooges cartoon, Behind the 8 Ball Express (1965). The three stooges voiced themselves in this series of made for TV shorts. 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Next is The Trail of Donald Duck (1948). This marked the last Donald Duck short directed by Jack King. Jack King was one of Donald's best directors (if not his best), having begun directing the duck in the mid 1930's. Before that he was briefly a director of some of the black and white Looney Tunes shorts and before that he had worked at Disney as an animator. Dan MacManus, who gets a story credit here is much more prolific as an effects animator, having worked in this capacity on many Disney features and shorts from 1935 to his retirement in 1973. Some of his story sketches for this film can be seen in J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein's book on Donald Duck. This film would make its TV debut on an episode of The Mickey Mouse Club that aired December 12, 1956. 

Now we join Felix the Cat in Frolics at the Circus (1920). 

Next is the Terry Toons short, The Happy Cobblers (1952). 

Today's cartoon selection ends with The Simpsons in Babysitting Maggie (1987). This is one of the shorts featuring the animated family that aired on The Tracey Ullman Show before they got their 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.

Resources Used

Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon by Leonard Maltin.

Donald Duck: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/The_Trial_of_Donald_Duck