Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #263

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


Today's cartoon selection starts with a truly classic Mickey Mouse cartoon, Traffic Troubles (1931). This movie is simply a wonderful little short. Much of this is due to the great cast of animators. Dave Hand, who would go on to be the supervising director for the Disney features Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Bambi (1942), animates the opening scenes of this film, the tire rolling away and Pete pouring the "medicine" down the car's radiator. Les Clark, one of Walt's Nine Old Men and often considered one of the finest Mickey Mouse animators, animates the pig getting into the car and Minnie playing the accordion. Tom Palmer, who would later direct a few short cartoons for Warner Brothers, animates the cop getting angry at Mickey, Minnie climbing into the taxi and some of Pete's dialogue. Ben Sharpsteen, who later was the supervising director for the Disney feature films, Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940) and Dumbo (1941), animates the cop in traffic, Mickey parking the car, Mickey chasing the taxi and the car hitting the rock. Dick Lundy, future Woody Woodpecker and Barney Bear director, animates Mickey trying to fix his tire (including replacing the pump with the pig) and the car landing on the cow. Jack King, who would become possibly the finest Donald Duck director, animates the taxi in traffic, a close up of Minnie playing the accordion and Mickey actually inflating the tire with the pig. Johnny Cannon, who spent the majority of his career working uncredited on Disney shorts, animates the taxi going through the mud and Pete on the bicycle. Norm Ferguson, an animator who would help define the character of Pluto, animates some scenes with the pig inside the taxi, the taxi trying to dodge the bumps and the film's ending gag. An interesting note about this movie is that it was made pretty much at the same time, Floyd Gottfredson was making an adaption of it for the Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip. He had done this before when he made a comic strip version of the Mickey Mouse short, The Picnic (1930). That was a rather straightforward adaption of the cartoon, while this comic strip story took more liberties with the source material. The comic strip adaption included a gag that was animated (by Norm Ferguson) for the film but dropped from the short before release. This was a gag involving a fireplug. If you are interested in reading the comic strip version yourself, it is included in J.B. Kaufman's fantastic article on this movie. This cartoon was directed by Burt Gillett. Gillet was one of the studio's major directors of the early 1930's. His cartoons include such classics as The Chain Gang (1930), Mickey's Orphans (1931), Flowers and Trees (1932), Trader Mickey (1932), Mickey's Good Deed (1932), The Three Little Pigs (1933), Mickey's Gala Premiere (1933), Playful Pluto (1934) and many others. Animation for this film began on December 12, 1930, and was completed on January 1, 1931. It was released on March 7, 1931. A famous story about the making of this cartoon involved a scene David Hand was animating. Walt kept telling him, the scene needed to be more exaggerated. This made Hand so frustrated he decided to show Walt, he would make it twice as exaggerated. Though Hand felt this might get him fired, this new animation was exactly what Walt wanted. This cartoon is one of the five viewable in the Main Street Cinema in Disneyland. In 1933, this cartoon was released on 16mm film, for home viewing. This 16mm film was silent and could rented for 75 cents. In his heyday (when this cartoon was released), Mickey was one of the popular movie stars not only with audiences but those working in the film industry as well. Silent movie queen Mary Pickford was an especially huge fan. In June 1930, she wrote Walt Disney to thank him for a replica of Mickey Mouse he gave her. She stated that with this replica her husband actor Douglas Fairbanks finally had a rival. She also complained to Walt about Mickey Mouse's screen appearances being too infrequent and asked Walt if he could speak to the mouse to speed up his work schedule. Another filmmaker who was a massive fan of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse was Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein, considered one of the most important directors of Russian cinema and a director who is still studied by film students today. Sergi wrote that Walt Disney's work was “the greatest contribution of the American people to art.”

Next comes the Terry Toons cartoon, The Lyin' Lion (1949). 

Now for the Fox and the Crow cartoon, Be Patient Patient (1944). Though rather forgotten today, the Fox and the Crow were probably the most popular characters to come out of the Columbia cartoon studio. They were not only popular in these theatrical shorts, but they had a very successful comic book series (published by DC Comics) as well. 

Now we will join our friend Toby the Pup in Down South (1931). While Charles Mintz was producing Krazy Kat cartoons for Columbia, he decided to create a separate series of cartoons for RKO, these starring a character named Toby the Pup. To head this series Mintz handed the duties to Dick Huemer, Art Davis and Sid Marcus. Dick Huemer had been a major contributor to the style of the Fleischer studio earlier and this is probably why these shorts have a Fleischer-type feel to them. Huemer, Davis and Marcus would later be the major creative factors for Columbia's Scrappy cartoons (also produced by Mintz).

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Now for the New Three Stooges cartoon, Let's Shoot the Player Piano Player (1965). The Stooges voice themselves in this made for TV cartoon. The real Stooges also appear in the opening and closing live action segments. The live action segments would often be repeated even when the cartoon was new. Curly Joe DeRita felt that this hurt the show. He thought that people would see a live action segment they had seen before and assume the show was a rerun and change the channel not knowing the cartoon was new. 

In the late 1930’s and early 40’s, Porky Pig was the star of Looney Tunes. It became a rule that Porky had to appear in every Looney Tunes cartoon while the same would not be true of the sister series Merrie Melodies. Because of this oftentimes in these Looney Tunes Porky would just make a brief cameo appearance. Case in point, A Coy Decoy (1941) which stars Daffy Duck and Porky only makes a brief appearance singing the great cowboy song Ride Tenderfoot Ride and delivering the final line. The song Ride Tenderfoot Ride was written by Johnny Mercer and Richard A. Whiting. Johnny Mercer also wrote another one of the best cowboy songs ever with I'm an Old Cowhand. Richard Whiting was a writer for two songs every Looney Tunes fan will know, Hooray for Hollywood and Ain't We Got Fun. 

Now for the Happy Harmonies cartoon, The Old Mill Pond (1936).

Today's cartoon selection ends with The Simpsons in Football (1987). 

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

Mary Pickford: America's Sweetheart by Scott Eyman

Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History by David Gerstein and J.B. Kaufman

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

https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/mickey-mouse-movies-into-comics-2-traffic-troubles/

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

https://furinchime.com/2021/12/11/the-protean-cartoon-currents-of-animation-theory/