Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #209

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with our old friend Bugs Bunny in A-Lad-In His Lamp (1948). This movie features Bugs Bunny meeting a genie that he calls Smokey. The genie was voiced by Jim Backus, who cartoon fans probably know as the voice of Mr. Magoo. Jim Backus also had a pretty good career appearing in live action films including Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Pat and Mike (1952) and Don't Bother to Knock (1952). On television he played Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island. The character of Smokey the genie would later appear in an episode of Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries TV series entitled Fleas Release Me (1998) and in the episodes of New Looney Tunes, The Meanie and the Genie (2019) and O.M.Genie (2020). 

Now for Andy Panda in Meatless Tuesday (1943). This movie was directed by Shamus Culhane. Shamus had previously worked at both Disney and Fleischer Studios. However his best work was as a director at the Walter Lantz studio, making wonderful cartoons like this one and some of the best Woody Woodpecker shorts ever made. 

We continue with the last black and white Silly Symphony, Bugs in Love (1932). This is a rather typical Silly Symphony of its time, following the well-established formula of animated characters having a grand time to music until the villain of the piece appears and tries to wreck their fun. As you can guess by the title this film's story involves various bugs. Bugs were a common site in the early Silly Symphonies and the newspaper comic strip based off the cartoon series. In fact, the newspaper comic strip featured a complete remake of this cartoon. The Silly Symphonies were a series that at this time was constantly improving and audiences and exhibitors quickly took note of this improvement. For evidence here is an exhibitors review from 1934 (two years after the film's original release), "BUGS IN LOVE: Silly Symphonies—An old Silly Symphony. Not as good as the new ones. Running time, one reel. —A. B. Jefferis, New Piedmont Theatre, Piedmont, Mo. Small Town Patronage." Of course the Silly Symphonies were quite appropriately one of the most popular cartoon series of the time. The following is an exhibitors review from The Motion Picture Herald, "BUGS IN LOVE: Another great Silly Symphony. Give it extra billing. —Charles Niles, Niles Theatre, Anamosa, Iowa." Not everybody was so impressed with the series though as shown through the following exhibitors review from The Motion Picture Herald, "BUGS IN LOVE: Silly Symphony—This is just another Walt Disney cartoon comedy. Nothing good about it; just ordinary and is only fair entertainment. We have only played one good comedy of this series and every time we hope the next one will be better. Disappointed in these. Running time, nine minutes. - J. J. Medford, Orpheum Theatre, Oxford, N.C., General Patronage." 

Now we join the Pink Panther in Pink Piper (1976).

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

I have mentioned many times on this blog, that some of my favorite cartoons of all time are the Goofy cartoons, Jack Kinney directed for Disney. Up first is an early example of this, Goofy's Glider (1940). This was the first of Goofy's wonderful series of "how to..." cartoons, where Goofy shows us how to do something the wrong way. It is also the first Goofy cartoon to be directed by Jack Kinney. This movie also serves as the basis for Goofy's Fly School, the really fun roller coaster in Disney's California Adventure. The following is an exhibitor's review from the Motion Picture Herald, "GOOFY'S GLIDER: Walt Disney Cartoons— Very funny. Disney's poor cartoons compare with what the majority of other companies consider good. Runtime 8 minutes. - H. Goldson, Plaza Theatre, Chicago, Ill. General Patronage." 

Motion Picture Herald, 1932

Now for a silent movie starring KoKo the Clown, Koko in Toyland (1925). His live action boss is played by the legendary cartoon producer Max Fleischer, who produced this series of cartoons.

Now for the Looney Tunes web cartoon, My Generation G...G...Gap (2004).

Next is the Van Beuren Rainbow Parade cartoon, Rag Dog (1935). This cartoon is directed by Burt Gillett and Tom Palmer. Burt Gillett had come to Van Beuren from Disney and was one of Disney's finest directors of the early 1930's. There he even directed the most famous Silly Symphony cartoon, The Three Little Pigs (1933). Animator Jack Zander remembered first seeing Gillett, "One day the boss of the place, Frank Snell, who was just a businessman, came walking through the place with a funny little beady-eyed fellow. Somebody nudged me and said, 'Do you know who that is?' and I said no. 'That's Burt Gillett.' So I said, 'Who's Burt Gillett?' and he said, 'Burt Gillett is the guy who directed The Three Little Pigs.'" Jack Zander also remembered, "He worked like Walt did. We'd do pencil tests. Of course, when we were working at Van Beuren, nobody ever heard of a pencil test. We'd just animate and ink it and that's all there was to it. He initiated pencil tests and movieolas. We'd have to animate this stuff and look at it; he'd look at it and then he'd make changes. It was a stimulating thing. The only ones who had any trouble were the real old animators, animating for years in a set manner. They found it a little difficult to adjust." 

Now for one of The Simpsons shorts for the Tracey Ullman Show, Bart's Hiccups (1988).

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another selection of 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

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

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #199

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote in Compressed Hare (1961). This movie marked the fourth time Bugs and Wile E. would be pitted against each other. Unlike in the Roadrunner cartoons, in these films, Wile E. talks quite a bit. There would be only one more theatrical cartoon pairing the two characters, Hare-Breadth Hurry (1963). However in Hare-Breadth Hurry, Wile E. would not speak. 

Next comes Popeye the Sailor in It's the Natural Thing to Do (1939). This movie has an incredibly clever plot. Popeye, Bluto and Olive get a letter from their "fans" asking them to cut and the rough stuff. With this the trio tries hard to get along but soon find themselves unable to break the monopoly of not fighting. The title song was a hit song at this time and had been used in the Bing Crosby feature film, Double or Nothing (1937). Strangely enough a review in The Showmen's Trade Review stated, "Caught during a full house, this cartoon didn't elicit much laughter from the audience. Nevertheless, it should suffice." The same issue gave advice on how theatre owners could advertise this film, "Tie-up with store selling the Popeye labeled merchandise. Use a compo-board cutout of the cartoon character in the lobby. In a newspaper contest on 'the natural thing to do,' you might list some etiquette rules, true and false, offering prizes to those who label them correctly." 

Now for Mickey Mouse in Mickey's Mellerdramer (1933). This is a film full of wonderful animation and artwork. Watching this cartoon makes one realize was Disney was so revered at this time period. This is just a very handsome cartoon and when you look at who worked on this movie, it becomes very obvious why. This movie features an all star cast of animators. Paul Fennell animated the hat gag towards the start of the cartoon. Ham Luske animated the hen sitting down towards the start and the hen applauding. Les Clark, one of Walt's Nine Old Men and still hailed as one of the finest Mickey animators of all time, animates Minnie in her dressing room.  Frenchy de Trémaudan, a truly wonderful animator whose work appears on many of the best Disney shorts from this period, animates Clarabella Cow in her dressing room. Chuck Couch animates the firecracker gag. Eddie Donelly animates Horace Horsecollar in his dressing room, Horace making the galloping sound and Horace coming on stage and bowing. Bill Roberts, who would later be a sequence director on such Disney feature films as Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), Bambi (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944), and Johnny Cannon share the animation duties of the audience reacting to what is happening on stage. Gerry Geronimi, who would later be one of the directors of such Disney feature films as Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955) and 101 Dalmatians (1961), animates Horace whipping Mickey and Horace getting hit by the vegetables. Tom Palmer, who would direct some cartoons for Warner Brothers and Van Beuren, animates Goofy and his card. Fred Moore, another master Mickey Mouse animator and legendary Disney feature animator known for his work with the Dwarfs in Snow White (1937), Lampwick in Pinocchio and the mermaids in Peter Pan animates Clarabella on the ice, Horace and the dogs and Mickey letting the curtain down. Ben Sharpsteen, later supervising director for Pinocchio and Dumbo (1941), animates Horace against the wind, Mickey and the cat falling onto the stage and the cat on Clarabella's head. Roy Williams, later the big mooseketeer on TV's The Mickey Mouse Club, animates Mickey making the thunder effect. Harry Reeves animates Mickey and the cat in the tuba, the tuba player blowing them out of his horn and Goofy with the lightning. Ed Love, later a member of Tex Avery's unit at MGM, animates the dogs annoying the musicians and chasing our heroes. The fade out gag is animated by both Tom Palmer and Gerry Geronimi. The idea of Mickey and friends putting on a stage play of Uncle Tom's Cabin and some of the gags used here had been used in the Mickey Mouse comic strip in 1932, the year before this cartoon was released. Though the blackface gags may make this cartoon a product of its time, there is still a lot to enjoy in this movie.

Up next is Andy Panda in Under the Spreading Blacksmith Shop (1942). This movie marks the last appearance of Andy's father in a theatrical cartoon short. 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Next comes Betty Boop in Judge for a Day (1935). This movie has everything I love about Betty Boop cartoons from the 1930's as it is equal parts cute and sadistic. The following is an exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald, "Judge For A Day: Betty Boop Cartoons - Just a fair one reeler, not much to laugh at. Running time one reel. -Rudolf Duba, Royal Theatre, Kimball, S.D. Small Town Patronage." I disagree very much with that assessment. 

Motion Picture Daily, 1938

Now we join our old friend Scrappy in The Black Sheep (1933). 

In the 1970's the DePatie-Freleng studios was keeping the ear theatrical cartoon shorts going after most cartoon studios have abandoned these types of films. One of the series of short films they made during this time was The Blue Racer staring a fast-moving snake. Here is one of those movies, Blue Racer Blues (1972). 

Today's cartoon selection ends with The Simpsons in on of their shorts for The Tracy Ullman Show, The Bart Simpson Show (1988). This short marks the first appearance of Itchy and Scratchy. 

Thanks for joining me come back next week for another selection of animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.