Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
We start with one of the most atmospheric Mickey Mouse cartoons, The Mad Doctor (1933). Differing from earlier Mickey cartoons, this film is not a pure comedy. Rather this cartoon mixes in elements of horror and suspense. The horror elements were too present for some. Because it was deemed too scary, it was actually banned from some theatres and completely banned in the UK. Much of this sense of atmosphere comes from the wonderful background art by Mique Nelson. Nelson was a brilliant background artist, who worked on many of the best Silly Symphonies as well as such Disney features as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Pinocchio (1940). The director of this cartoon was Dave Hand. Dave Hand directed such classic Disney cartoons as Building a Building (1933), The Flying Mouse (1934), Who Killed Cock Robin (1935), Pluto's Judgement Day (1935), Mickey's Polo Team (1936), Thru the Mirror (1936), The Country Cousin (1936) and Magician Mickey (1937). He also served as the supervising director on two of the Disney studios most popular animated features, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bambi (1942). A working title for this film was The Mysterious Castle. This cartoon reached movie theaters on January 20, 1933. At the same time this film was in theaters, Mickey Mouse was having another adventure in a spooky castle. The Mickey Mouse daily newspaper comic strip was currently running a storyline entitled Blaggard Castle. Blaggard Castle is often considered by Disney fans to be one of the best storylines of the comic strip. This cartoon's spooky themed storyline revolves around a recent popularity of horror films. A couple years earlier Universal released Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931). This caused a while slew of horror movies to hit theaters including Paramount's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Warner Brothers' Doctor X (1932), MGM's Freaks (1932) and many more as well as all the Universal monster films to follow. As such this Mickey Mouse cartoon was simply inspired by a trend of the time. Shockingly this cartoon's copyright was never renewed and actually fell into the public domain. This film along with The Sprit of '43 (1943) and Minnie's Yoo Hoo (1930) is one of the very few Disney shorts (not including the Alice Comedies) to fall into public domain. Video game fans will be familiar with elements of this cartoon. The second level of the game Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse was based off this cartoon, and the Mad Doctor himself became a major character in both Epic Mickey games. The following is a review from Motion Picture Review (which was published by The Women's University Club of Los Angles), "Mickey is not to be outdone by the present rage for horror films - and goes to the rescue of his dog in the clutches of a 'mad doctor' in heroic and sensational fashion. It is perhaps too nightmarish for children; the fad for thrills goes to great lengths even in cartoons."
Next comes the Pink Panther in Pink Panic (1967). This short film was directed by Hawley Pratt, who served as a layout artist on many of the Friz Freleng directed Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. Friz Freleng was one of the creators of the Pink Panther and co-produced all of the character's theatrical cartoons.
Now we join Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in Chilly Con Carmen (1930). This is one of the Walter Lantz produced Oswald cartoons. Though many today recognize Oswald as a Disney character at this time he was not. Walt Disney would learn that he did not actually own the rights to Oswald, and after refusing to take a pay cut would have the character taken away from him. The man who was responsible for taking the character away was Charles Mintz. However Universal which was distributing these cartoons took the character away from him and gave it to the head of their new animation department, Walter Lantz, who would continue making Oswald cartoons.
Next up is Tex Avery's next to last black and white cartoon, The Haunted Mouse (1941). By this time Tex had moved from working on the black and white Looney Tunes to the color Merrie Melodies. He had not made a black and white cartoon since 4 years earlier with Porky's Garden (1937). After this film, he would make one more black and white short, Porky's Preview (1941). This movie was the first Looney Tune to not feature any reoccurring characters. Before this Looney Tunes always featured a star character, at first Bosko, then Buddy, then Beans and then Porky. This star character would appear in every cartoon for the series, while the Merrie Melodies would include cartoons without any of the main characters. This movie also features the first writing credit for Michael Maltese who would go on to write Chuck Jones' best cartoons.
Now it is time for a commercial break.
Next comes the Ant and the Ardvark cartoon, Isle Of Caprice (1969). I have always had a real fondness for the Ant and the Aardvark cartoons and they are probably my second favorite DePatie-Freleng cartoon series (after Pink Panther of course).
Now for 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."
Next is the Aesop's Sound Fables cartoon, Good Old Schooldays (1930).
Now let us close with a song.
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 American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin.
https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/The_Mad_Doctor
https://mediahistoryproject.org/
Isle of Caprice was the third of the "shark between two desert island" cartoons, following Rabbitson Crusoe (1956) and Hawaiian Aye Aye (1964). Friz never let a good story concept go to waste, did he?
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