Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #242

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with a classic Disney short starring Pluto, Cat Nap Pluto (1948). This short film also features Figaro, who made his big screen debut in the Disney feature film, Pinocchio (1940) as Geppetto's cat. The cat would prove such a popular character with those at the Disney studio he would also be used in the studio's cartoon shorts. 

Ub Iwerks is a legend of animation if there ever was one. His work with Walt Disney (the two co-created Mickey Mouse) in the 1920's remain some of the highlights of Disney history and it is hard to imagine where Disney would be without Ub. However, thoughts on the cartoons he himself heading after leaving Walt prove not to be as popular with cartoon fans. While I do agree that none of this work reaches the height of the best of his Disney work, I personally feel there is a lot to enjoy about these cartoons and that includes his Flip the Frog cartoons. Up next is one of those, The Cuckoo Murder Case (1930). The following is a review from Motion Picture News, "Fifteen or more series of animated cartoons on the market at one time make the going tough for this type of short. That is unless they are turned out with the cleverness of 'Cuckoo Murder Case,' one of the Flip the Frog subjects produced by Ub Iwerks. Here the cartoonist takes the usual mystery slant but sends it over with loads to spare. The answer is in the treatment. Iwerks has Flip go through the most amazing contortions. This shows real thought."  

Next up comes a clip from The Fleischer Screen Song cartoon, When Yuba Plays the Rumba on the Tuba (1936). The music in this film is provided by The Mills Brothers. This includes not only the title song but the music throughout the cartoon, much of which is done with scat singing. Music-wise The Mills Brothers through their own version of scat singing were able to sound like a full band using only their voices and one guitar. This type of music works remarkably well as the score for a cartoon. 

The Hound For Hire – Sam Basset, Private Eye series of theatrical shorts is hardly held in high regard. In fact, Jerry Beck has often included these films in his annual Comic-Con panel, Worst Cartoons Ever. Despite this, there is a certain corny charm to films, even if one would never call them good. So "enjoy" Case of the Nervous Sheriff (1961).

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Up next comes the Pixar short, Luxo Jr. (1986). 

The most famous film animator/comic strip artist Winsor McCay made is easily Gertie the Dinosaur (1914).  This film was actually a vaudeville act before it was in theaters. The act consisted of Winsor McCay talking to his animated dinosaur Gertie. He would tell her what to do and Gertie would do it (most of the time). This was translated to theaters by having an off-screen narrator, who speaks through intertitles (since this was a silent film). This film has often times wrongly been called the first cartoon ever made. While this is not true (It isn't even McCay's first cartoon, it is his third), its place in animation history is still extremely important. The reason for this is Gertie, herself. She is one of the first animated characters that the audience was allowed to see think. Unlike most of the earlier silent cartoon characters, Gertie does not seem like she is just moving drawings projected on a screen, but instead like a real character that we know and relate to over the course of the film. This was the beginning of character animation, and one of the first successful attempts at it. Like McCay's earlier short Little Nemo (1911) this film begins in live action. Winsor McCay bets his fellow cartoonists that he can make a dinosaur come to life and boy does he. This cartoon still holds up incredibly well today and received the number 6 spot in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons. 

For those of you who are still in suspense here is Maggie and Peril (Chapter 2) (1989). Be sure to stay tuned next week to see what happens. 

Today's cartoon selection ends with the Looney Tunes TV special, Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court (1978), which was produced, directed and plagiarized by Chuck Jones.

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

The 50 Greatest Cartoons edited by Jerry Beck.

Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/thunderbean-doings-and-the-case-of-the-nervous-sheriff-1961/

https://mediahistoryproject.org/