Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #234

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with the Disney Silly Symphony short, The Tortoise and the Hare (1934). This was an especially important cartoon in the history of American animation and is often credited with bringing a real sense of speed that had not previously been seen in cartoons. Director Wilfred Jackson once told in a 1939 studio lecture that this was their first film where "we depicted speed on the screen. Before that time nobody dared to move the character across the screen in five frames." However, unlike future fast paced cartoon this film was not simply a quick procession of gags. Animator Dick Huemer told film historian Joe Adamson, "If [any other studio] had done The Tortoise and the Hare it would have been a series of assorted gags about running one after another. Not all this clever, boastful stuff like stopping with little girls and bragging and being admired and showing off how he could play tennis with himself." The character of Max Hare perhaps has a greater significance to cartoon history rather than just starring in this great film. Tex Avery and Frank Tashlin (both of whom had directed cartoon for Warner Brothers) have stated that Bugs Bunny was greatly inspired by Max Hare. Animator Ham Luske also stated that Mortimer in the Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Rival (1936) was based off of Max Hare (Ham animated on both cartoons). Such a cartoon however would not have the effect it does now if not for the top-notch group of animators working at Disney at this time. They were the ones who made not only the speed work but made these characters feel more real and full of personality here. Louie Schimdt animates the opening scene with the crowd at the starting line. Dick Lundy (who would go to direct cartoons for both MGM and Walter Lantz) animates the introduction of Toby Tortoise and Max Hare and Toby running with the snails, dodging branches and passing Miss Cottontail's school. Milt Schaffer animates the crowd in the bleachers and at the finish line. Frenchy de Trémaudan animates the starter. Ham Luske animates Max running, tricking Toby, showing off for the girls and playing tennis and baseball with himself (some of the tennis animation would later be reused in the Donald Duck cartoon, The Hockey Champ (1939). Future Disney legend and one of Walt's Nine Old Men was Ham's assistant animator. Larry Clemmons animates the trees being uprooted. Eric Larson (another of Walt's Nine Old Men) animated Max passing the picket fence and crane. Les Clark (another of Walt's Nine Old Men and one of the finest Mickey Mouse animators) animates the little girls. Dick Huemer animates the finish of the race and of the film. A song was written for this cartoon called Slow but Sure. This song had music by Frank Churchill and lyrics by Larry Morey. While the lyrics are never heard an instrumental version is used as Toby's theme music. About the music in this film Wilfred Jackson would state in another 1939 studio lecture, "We tried to phrase it so the peaks of the siren [used as a repeating sound effect] would fall naturally on the peaks of the music and still give us time to cut back and forth." This cartoon would make its TV debut on an episode of the Disneyland TV show entitled From Aesop to Hans Cristian Anderson (1955). Max and Toby would later star in a sequel film Toby Tortoise Returns (1936) and would appear in the opening of TV's The Mickey Mouse Club.  

Now for the Fleischer Screen Songs cartoon, Somebody Stole My Gal (1931).

Now for the Blue Racer in Punch and Judo (1972). 

Next comes a classic Bob Clampett cartoon with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, Tick Tock Tuckered (1944). This was a remake of Clampett's earlier, Porky's Badtime Story (1937). In that film Porky had been teamed with the short-lived Gabby Goat, in this film Gabby is replaced with the much better-known Daffy. This short shows how far Clampett had come in his directing style. Tick Tock Tuckered is fast moving, constantly funny, crazy and just a pure cartoon gem through and through. 

Now it is time for a commercial break.

Next comes the first of Walt Disney's Alice comedies, Alice's Wonderland (1923). Before this film was even close to done with production, Walt was already writing distributors stating, "We have just discovered something new and clever in animated cartoons!" He was speaking of the idea of having a live action character enter into an animated cartoon world. This was actually a reversal of what the Fleischer Brother were doing with their Out of the Inkwell films, were animated characters entered our live action world. For the live action little girl Walt hired four-year-old Virginia Davis. Walt had seen Virginia on an advertisement for Warneker's Bread. Virginia later spoke of this stating, "It was just a picture of me smiling and looking like 'Oh, yum, yum!' and eating this piece of Warneker's Bread with a lot of jam on it." At the time of making this film, Walt and his studio were struggling financially. While many producers would take this as a reason to make a cheap film, Walt plugged into the project with everything he had. This short was downright lavish compared to much of Walt's previous work and still looks great today. Unfortunately, the film was not enough to save his company, but it did catch the attention of Margaret J. Winkler, who was also distributing the Felix the Cat and Out of the Inkwell cartoons. His studio went under, and Walt moved to Hollywood without his crew. Yet he had this film and was able to secure a deal for 12 more Alice films with Winkler.  

Now for our hero Little Roquefort in Mouse Meets Bird (1953). 

Before Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck or Porky Pig, the main star of the Looney Tunes cartoons was a little boy named Bosko. Before making his theatrical debut, he appeared in a short film called Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid (1929) that was created not to be seen by movie audiences but by distributers who would hopefully pick up a series of Bosko cartoons. Yet it was from these humble origins that Looney Tunes was born. The cartoon was created by former Disney animators Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising. Harman claimed he had been wanting to make a sound cartoon since 1927 when animator Rollin Hamilton visited his apartment and read him an article about sound film. Harman would state, "I got to thinking about that, and I thought that if the images of the person could be replaced with an image of a cartoon, you've got the same thing." What makes this film stand out is that the use of sound focuses on dialogue instead of music as the Disney cartoons did around this time. Harman made a sheet of drawings of Bosko that were copyrighted January 3, 1928. By the spring of 1929 he claimed to have been working on a Bosko cartoon for over a year. By August 1929 work began on this film. Harman and Ising had prepared a detailed script and not long afterwards animators Rollin Hamilton and Friz Freleng (who would later become one of the best Looney Tunes directors) began the animation process. The film combined live action featuring Rudolph with animation. The voice of Bosko was provided by Max Maxwell. Maxwell is providing a stereotypical black voice to the character. This voice would in later films be replaced by a high falsetto (in order to imitate Mickey Mouse). Maxwell was off screen while doing Bosko's voice. However, a second camera was filming him so the animators could get the mouth movements correctly.     

Today's cartoon selection ends with The Simpsons in Family Therapy (1989). This short was 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

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

Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Brothers Cartoons by Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald 

Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney by J. B. Kaufman and Russell Merritt.