Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #239

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with one of my favorite early Bugs Bunny films, The Wabbit Who Came to Supper (1942). One of the things you will notice first about this cartoon is how the characters are drawn. Bugs will often go off model in a way you would never see in a later short (around 1944 this would come to an end). Elmer is also in his heavier set design. Bob Clampett had redesigned the character for his cartoon Wabbit Twouble (1941) and that design would stick for four more cartoons (including this one). The design was based off of Elmer's voice artist, Arthur Q. Bryan. Yet there is so much to enjoy about this cartoon that you won't care how the characters look. Director Friz Freleng is known for how perfectly he could time a gag and this is incredibly evident. There are also plenty of incredibly clever gags from writer Michael Maltese (who would go on to form a writer/director partnership with director Chuck Jones that would result in some of the funniest and most famous cartoons of all time). Many of these gags would take cartoon logic to ridiculous and hilarious extremes. A review in The Film Daily called this short, "Tremendously hilarious." A review in The Exhibitor stated, "This has many humorous moments, even if not ranking with the best of the B.B. series. However with that title and his popularity, this offers an opportunity." The following is an exhibitor's review from the Motion Picture Herald, "Wabbit Who Came to Supper: Merrie Melodies Cartoons- Good. This series is taking off fast. They are asking when we are having our next 'carrot eating rabbit.' - A.H. Goldson, Plaza Theatre, Chicago, Ill." 

Up next is the Fleischer Screen Songs cartoon, La Paloma (1930).

Servants' Entrance (1934) is a delightful comedy starring Janet Gaynor (Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), A Star is Born (1937)). If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend you do. It is a charming little movie that even has some real laugh out loud moments. One of the highlights of the film is the sequence when Janet Gaynor's character has a nightmare. She plays a spoiled rich girl who decides to disguise herself as a working girl. After making a mess of everything, she has a nightmare where various appliances and food come to life to taunt her. These appliances and food were brough to life via animation from the Disney studio. Like all Disney animation at the time, it was brought to you by a top-notch cast of animators. Art Babbitt animated Judge Egg. Ed Smith animated the characters entering from under the door and exiting back towards the door. Roy Williams animated the characters climbing up the foot of the bed and the dresser, the crowd scene at foot of bed and the crowd scene as characters start to exit foot of bed. Archie Robin animates the mustard pot. Cy Young animates the eggbeater. Jack Kinney animates the characters singing on top of the dresser. Don Townsley animated the singing knife and nutcracker. Leonard Sebring animates the fork quartet and the spoon trio. Earl Hurd and Nick George animate the characters running in a frenzy. Louie Schmitt animates Judge Egg falling, cracking and the little chick coming out. Milt Schaffer (under the supervision of Ben Sharpsteen animates the mustard pot climbing up the stand and turning on the light as well as the singing sugar tongs. Woolie Reitherman (under the supervision of Ben Sharpsteen) animates the broken fork singing.  The sequence also features a great cast of voice actors. Billy Bletcher voices Judge Egg. Pinto Colvig voices the mustard pot. Allan Watson voices the singing knife. Paul Taylor voices singing nutcracker. Betty Rome voices the sugar tongs. Sid Jarvis voices the broken fork. 

Now for Hoot Kloot in As the Tumble Weed Turns (1974). 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Next is the Fleischer Brothers Superman cartoon, Billion Dollar Limited (1942). Paramount (the distributors of the Fleischer cartoons) brought the screen rights to the famous superhero in 1940 and gave it to the Fleischers to make a cartoon series out of. The studio was not quite sure about this venture after all animated cartoons had not yet done anything similar to a pure action film. They tried to dissuade Paramount by asking for four times the usual budget for one of the studio's cartoon shorts ($100,000) thinking Paramount would refuse. Shockingly they accepted and the series began production. Voicing Superman himself was Bud Collyer, who was already the character's voice on radio. The famous lines "Look up in the sky- it's a bird - no, it's a plane - no its superman" made their first appearance in Superman lore with these cartoons. The following are some exhibitor's reviews from the Motion Picture Herald, "Billion Dollar Limited: Okay. Too bad the animation is so jerky, however.  - Palace Theatre, Penacook, N.H." "BILLION DOLLAR LIMITED: Superman Color Cartoons — Poorest of this series so far. Even the kids didn't like this one. Too extreme to get by. The other two we have shown got by pretty well. - S.L. George, Mountain Home Theatre, Mountain Home, Idaho. Small town patronage." "SUPERMAN IN THE BILLION DOLLAR LIMITED: Superman Color Cartoons — We hardly know how to rate these cartoons. Played with a Gene Autry western and the program brought in a lot of kids. Maybe it was the cartoon. - Horn and Morgan Inc., Star Theatres, Hay Springs, Neb. Small Town Patronage." The following is a review from The Motion Picture Daily (that includes spoilers), "This version of The Great Train Robbery is quite a departure from the original. It involves a billion dollar train shipment. Bandits in an armored car attempt to take over with dynamite, machine guns and other implements of persuasion. Superman speeds to the scene. When the bridge is blown up and train goes toppling over, he dives down, gets a firm grip on it, and brings it back to the tracks. With bullets bouncing off his chest, he then tows it back into the station. The bandits retreat. Apart from the short's obvious value as children's fare, it is so fantastic that adults too should go for it. Running time, 8 mins. Release Jan. 9, 1942."

Now for a Mickey Mouse Works cartoon, Mickey's Airplane Kit (1999).

Now it is silent movie time with How Animated Cartoons Are Made (1919). Though the view of how these cartoons are made seems simplistic today, back when this film was made movie audiences knew much less about how animation was done. For them this would have been a fascinating look at a fairly new and emerging artform. 

Today's cartoon selection ends with The Simpsons in Family Portrait (1988). This is one of the shorts made for The Tracey Ullman show before the animated family 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

The 50 Greatest Cartoons edited by Jerry Beck

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/disneys-servants-entrance-sequence/

https://lantern.mediahist.org/