Video Link: How Chip and Dale Created Disney’s Wildest Christmas Cartoons - West of Neverland

Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #211

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with Chariots of Fur (1994). This movie marked the final Coyote and Roadrunner cartoon to be directed by Chuck Jones, who directed the duo in their best films. Though many of the later day Chuck Jones cartoons, don't live up to the film's he directed from Warner Brother during the golden age of American animation, this cartoon is about as close as he came to recapturing the magic of those cartoons. This is truly a delightful movie, that almost feels like it could have been released during that era. This cartoon was released before the feature film, Richie Rich (1994). 

Now for a silent movie starring Dinky Doodle, The Hunt (1925). The live action man in this movie is Walter Lantz, who would later produce the Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda and Chilly Willy cartoons. Lantz also directed this film. 

Next we join those beloved chipmunks, Chip and Dale in Two Chips and a Miss (1952). This cartoon was part of duo's brief lived solo series of theatrical shorts. This series only lasted three cartoons with the other films being, Chicken in the Rough (1951) and The Lone Chipmunks (1954). This cartoon made its TV debut in the Walt Disney Presents episode, The Adventures of Chip 'n' Dale (1959).

Next comes a rare two-reel cartoon from Fleischer Studios, The Raven (1942). This cartoon came towards the end of Fleischer Studios, in fact 1942 was the last year cartoons would be released from that studio. One of the writers credited for this movie is Pinto Colvig, who Disney fans may know as the original voice of Goofy. 

Now it is time for a commercial break.

Up next is a great Disney Silly Symphony cartoon, The Cookie Carnival (1935). This movie marks the first Symphony to be directed by Ben Sharpsteen. Sharpsteen would go on to become the supervising director of Disney features like Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940) and Dumbo (1941). This is also the first Symphony for animators Bill Tytla (my favorite Disney animator) and Grim Natwick. Tytla is best known by Disney fans for his work on feature films like Snow White (1937), Pinocchio and Dumbo. He played a major role in animating the Dwarfs for Snow White, Stromboli in Pinocchio and the elephants in Dumbo (including the titular character). In this movie Tytla animates the boy cookie singing to the girl cookie as well as the angel and devil food cakes. Grim Natwick had before joining the Disney Studio had played a role in the development of Betty Boop. Here he animates a long scene (with some assistance by Eddie Strickland and Frank Thomas) in which the boy cookie gives a makeover to the girl cookie. This was some of the best animation of a female character done at Disney by this time. Because of this he would often be cast with animating female characters. Among those female characters would be the star of the studio's first feature film, Snow White. The following is an exhibitors review from the Motion Picture Herald, "Cookie Carnival, The: Silly Symphony - I do not like this one. It might be OK for nursey but not for grownups. Just a bunch of candy men, etc. the usual hokum. Running time, eight minutes, —Paul J. Pope, Avon Theatre, Geneva, Ala., Small Town and Rural Patronage." 

Now it is time for Woody Woodpecker in Solid Ivory (1947). 

Next comes another real classic, Falling Hare (1943). This cartoon features one of the few characters to get the upper hand of Bugs, the gremlin. Despite only appearing in this one short, the character has proven quite popular and has appeared in quite a few Looney Tunes spin offs. The original title for this movie was going to be Bugs Bunny and the Gremlin. However, since Disney was working on an animated feature film about Gremlins (a movie that would never be finished), the studio took the word Gremlin out of the title of this cartoon to appease the Disney studio. The following is a review from The Film Daily, "Literally and figuratively, Bugs Bunny, already a prime favorite among current cartoon characters, gets off to a flying start in the distribution season just started. The buck-toothed, long-eared clown meets up with a gremlin and both find themselves aloft in an airplane, with Bugs or what's left of him being darn glad to get back to earth. There are plenty of laughs throughout. The tough Bunny, if this initial '43-'44 offering of his producer Leon Schlesinger, is any criterion, is in for a further rise in popularity among fans who like humor. Of course, the reel is in Technicolor. It was supervised by Robert Clampett and animated by Roderick Scribner. Warner Foster wrote the story and Carl W. Stalling handled the musical direction." This movie amounts to one of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons and it is appropriately in Jerry Beck's book, The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes. 

If you have trouble reading the following pages click on them and use your touch screen to zoom in. 

Showman's Trade Review, 1946

Next is a cartoon that has become a bit of a cult classic, The Sunshine Makers (1935). This movie was directed by Ted Eshbaugh whose uniquely bizarre cartoons have made him a favorite among many animation buffs. 

Today's cartoon selection ends with The Simpsons in their short for The Tracey Ullman Show, House of Cards (1987). 

Thank you for joining me. Come back week for another selection of classic cartoons. 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

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 #203

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with a yuletide favorite, Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952).  This movie features a great cast of animators including, George Kreisl, Fred Moore, Bill Justice, Volus Jones, Blaine Gibson and Dan MacManus. Dan MacManus animates the opening scene of the cartoon. Fred Moore is recognized as one of the greatest Mickey animators of all time and he gets to show that off here as he animates Mickey chopping down the tree, Mickey decorating the tree, Mickey with the Christmas gifts, Mickey's reactions to Pluto's antics, Mickey holding the chipmunks and him and Pluto looking out the window. Bill Justice and Volus Jones animate much of the Chipmunks. Justice also animates the cameo of Minnie, Donald and Goofy at the end. George Kreisl animates much of Pluto's antics. Blaine Gibson animates very little in this movie with the tree lights going off and on. Pluto's Christmas Tree was a rare Mickey Mouse cartoon directed by Jack Hannah, who mostly directed Donald Duck cartoons. However this is not too surprising as this cartoon features two of Hannah's creations, Chip and Dale (whom the director most often used as adversaries for Donald). Hannah had directed an earlier Mickey Mouse cartoon that co-starred Chip and Dale with Squatters Rights (1946). Despite Hannah being one of the main directors of Disney shorts during this period, these marked the only two Mickey shorts he actually directed.

Next we join Little Roquefort and Percy the Cat in Seasick Sailors (1951). While these Terry Toons shorts, never quite lived up to Tom and Jerry, they could be a lot of fun on their own terms, as is the case here. 

Up next is one of my favorite of the early Merrie Melodies cartoons, The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives (1933). I love the atmospheric feel to the early scenes in this cartoon. There is a delightful amount of detail in these opening moments. I also simply love the title song. Despite being a Christmas cartoon, this movie was released to theaters on January 7, 1933, just barely missing Christmas. The animation of the dolls singing, and dancing was reused from an earlier Merrie Melody, Red Headed Baby (1931).

Now for a silent movie starring KoKo the Clown, Egg Cited (1926). 

To read the article below, just click on the page and use your touch screen to zoom in. 

Pictures and the Picturegoer, 1924

Now it is time for a commercial break.

Now it is time for some Saturday Morning Minions. 

Next we join Daffy Duck in Scrap Happy Daffy (1943). This movie marks Daffy Duck's last apperance in a black and white cartoon. It is also simply a delightful film. The short is directed by Frank Tashlin, who would go on to direct many live action feature films. His Looney Tunes are some of the most cinematic and feature wonderful filmmaking. The use of editing and montage here are excellent and hold up to many of the great live action films of the time. Yet this is also simply a very funny cartoon, including one of the funniest fade-out/fade-ins in the history of cartoons. This cartoon appears in Jerry Beck's book, The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes.

Now for Popeye in Floor Flusher (1954). 

While it is easy to say that the DePatie-Freling cartoons of the mid and late 1970's were not on par with the studio's cartoons of the 1960's and early 70's without any sense of doubt, A Pink Christmas (1978) is a huge exception. This TV special is about as good a cartoon as the studio ever made. This dialogue-less special is somewhat based on O. Henry's The Cop and the Anthem. The Pink Panther has often been compared to Charlie Chaplin, mostly because he is a pantomime character. This though is probably the most Chaplin-esque film the cartoon cat ever stared in. It beautifully combines comedy and pathos, and the idea of a poor tramp like character looking for food of course has roots in Chaplin as well. In fact, this film borrows a gag from Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925) (involving shoveling snow). It succussed very well. It is both very funny and very moving.





 

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

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

The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes edited by Jerry Beck 

http://afilmla.blogspot.com/search/label/Shorts_RKO?updated-max=2006-08-26T01:00:00-07:00&max-results=20&start=25&by-date=false

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #201

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

Today's cartoon selection begins with Sylvester the Cat in Tree For Two (1952). This short film introduced the two dogs, Spike and Chester. They would only appear in two classic theatrical shorts (the other being Dr. Jekyll's Hyde (1954)), but the popularity of these movies has made the characters make cameos in many post-golden age Looney Tunes projects. This short would later be edited into the feature film, Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island (1983) and be remade as The Dogfather (1974), the first short in The Dogfather series of short films. 

Santa's Surprise (1947) is an especially delightful Christmas cartoon from Famous Studios. This cartoon is best remembered as the first cartoon to feature the character of Little Audrey. Little Audrey was an original character for the studio and also a replacement for Little Lulu, who the studio had made a series of cartoons with, in the past. Little Lulu was not created by the studio but was the star of a comic strip by Marjorie Henderson Buell. When Paramount decided not to renew the license for Famous Studios to use that character, Little Audrey was created. The character was designed by veteran Disney animator Bill Tytla (possibly my favorite Disney animator), who was now a director at Famous. This short's lead animator was Myron Waldman, who specialized in cute animation (often shining his best in the studio's Casper series). Myron would later remember this cartoon as one he was especially happy with.

Now we join Mighty Mouse in Goons from the Moon (1951). I love that since this movie was made for Terrytoons, the town in it is called, Terrytown. 

Disney cartoons have long been associated with sentimentality and cuteness. Yet this wasn't always the case. The early black and white Mickey Mouse films were mostly pretty much the opposite. They focused purely on the gags and jokes and with keeping the comic momentum going. A perfect example of this is Mickey's Orphans (1931). This movie has all the makings for a sentimental cartoon. It takes place at Christmas time and the involves Mickey adopting a bunch of orphans. Yet all of this is play strictly for laughs and some of the kids can be a little sadistic. A review in the Motion Picture Herald stated "The youngsters will get a real kick out of this short, and the oldsters will extract a bit of enjoyment." A review in The Film Daily gave the same sentiment stating "It will delight all children and get many a laugh from their elders." An issue of The Film Daily (Dated February 7, 1932) stated "In addition to El Brendel in person this week's show at the Roxy is a special treat for the kids. The presentation includes four scenes based on 'Mickey's Orphans,' the Mickey Mouse cartoon that was held over for three weeks at this house. The characters of Mickey and Minnie are portrayed by the Arnaut Brothers, popular pantomimists. Patricia Bowman, Fred Waring's orchestra in a novelty entitled 'Dancing Melodies,' and the Roxyettes also are part of the proceedings. In the Mickey scenes, the Roxyettes and ballet group are made up to represent kittens, musical notes and animated furnishings in Minnie's boudoir." This movie was reissued to theatres in 1934. 


    

Now it is time for a commercial break.

Now we join our good friend Pooch the Pup in Nature's Workshop (1933). The last few moments of this movie are completely insane and I love them.

If you have trouble reading the page below click on it and use your touch screen to zoom in. The page has an extra little bonus for fans of Universal Monster movies. 

Universal Weekly, 1933

Up next Donald Duck once again battles Chip and Dale in Chips Ahoy (1956). Unlike other Chip and Dale, shorts, this cartoon was directed by Jack Kinney instead of Jack Hannah. While it is not as crazy as some of Kinney's other films, this cartoon still features all the delightful slapstick you could want. This movie predates the cookies with the same name. 

Now for Bugs Bunny in Prince Violent (1961). This film would later be renamed, Prince Varmint for TV airings, because I guess seeing the word violent written out would make kids want to be violent. 

Today's cartoon selection ends with The Simpsons in Simpson Xmas (1988). This was one of the Simpsons shorts on The Tracy Ullman Show before the family got their own TV series. 

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. 

 

Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #48 - Christmas Edition

Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Since Christmas is still approaching, let us have another look at some classic Christmas themed cartoons. 

The Max Fleischer Color Classics served as the Fleischer Studio's version of Disney's Silly Symphonies. Like that series these cartoons rarely featured reoccurring characters. It was definitely uncommon to see a character from one of the Fleischers' other cartoon series. An exception was Christmas Comes But Once a Year (1936). This short movie featured Grampy from the Betty Boop cartoons. This is one of the most charming Color Classics and one of the best uses of sentimentality (something that was not the studio's forte) at the studio. Grampy was one of the best things about the later Betty Boop films and he definitely gets to shine here. The title song in this short movie would later be reused in the Popeye cartoon, Let's Celebrake (1938) with the lyrics changed to be about New Years instead. Some of Grampy's household toy ideas would later be used in the Casper cartoon, True Boo (1952). So enjoy this delightful cartoon.
 

Jack Hannah's Donald Duck cartoons were always fantastic examples of slapstick cartoon comedy at its finest. These were fast paced and very funny cartoons that could hold their own with any comedy shorts from any other cartoon studio. Some highlights were definitely the ones with Chip and Dale. These two Chipmunks always perfectly fit Hannah's slapstick sense of humor and they were never funnier than when directed by him. One of my favorite of these films is Toy Tinkers (1949). 

The next cartoon might be a bit of a cheat, because it is about many holidays instead of just one, but so is Holiday Inn (1942) and that movie is always associated with Christmas. Plus this cartoons stars that near and dear friend to you and me Scrappy. This is the delightful, Holiday Land (1934). Unusual for a Scrappy cartoon this film is in color. In fact this short movie marked the first color cartoon from Columbia. This cartoon played for two weeks at the Radio City Music Hall to a very good response and was even nominated for the Best Animated Short Film Oscar (Disney's Tortoise and the Hare (1934) won). A review in The Film Daily called this cartoon "a generally enjoyable cartoon fantasy." In the 1940's this cartoon would receive a 16mm home viewing release. Speaking about Scrappy and Christmas together in 1936 Columbia had a Scrappy Christmas party where various cartoons (most of which featured Scrappy) were shown to Children in the Hospital For Joint Diseases in New York City. Anyway enjoy the cartoon.




Ending this post is a classic silent short movie from stop motion master, Ladislas Starevich. So enjoy The Insect's Christmas (1913). The animation here is not only impressive for being a film over one hundred years old, but it still looks masterfully done today.




Come back next week for more classic Christmas cartoons.

-Michael J. Ruhland

 

Mickey Mouse and Pluto in "Pluto's Christmas Tree" (1952)

Merry Christmas, my friends. Let us celebrate the season with yet another classic Disney cartoon short. This time we jump ahead a few decades to 1953 to bring you Pluto's Christmas Tree.


This is a very late Mickey Mouse short. In fact it is the next to last (the last would be The Simple Things (1953)) Mickey short to be released theatrically until Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983). However the world's most famous mouse would not be dropping out of the entertainment business during that long period without theatrical Mickey shorts. In 1955 Mickey would become a television star with The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1958) and the host of Walt's latest passion project Disneyland.


Pluto's Christmas Tree was a rare Mickey Mouse cartoon directed by Jack Hannah, who mostly directed Donald Duck cartoons. However this is not too surprising as this cartoon features two of Hannah's creations, Chip and Dale (whom the director most often used as adversaries for Donald). Hannah had directed an earlier Mickey Mouse cartoon that co-starred Chip and Dale with Squatters Rights (1946). Despite Hannah being one of the main directors of Disney shorts during this period, these marked the only two Mickey shorts he actually directed.

Though this was released as a Mickey cartoon, Pluto plays just as large if not a larger role. Not shockingly Mickey and Pluto appeared in quite a few shorts together despite each technically having their separate series. Still these cartoons would technically have to be either listed as a Mickey short or a Pluto short, and Pluto's Christmas Tree was labeled a Mickey short.

At Eitel's Palace in Chicago this cartoon played with the feature film Plymouth Adventure for three weeks. These weeks were the weeks of December 8, 15 & 22, 1952. It played with the feature Million Dollar Mermaid in the Music Hall in New York, the same weeks.


AnimationDan MacManus (Truck in on Christmas card. Snow in falling and girls are humming in b.g., "Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly")

Fred Moore (Mickey coming out of house, calling out to Pluto: "Okay Pluto lets get our tree." They start out to look for tree (split with George Kreisl); Shot of Mickey chopping tree; Chopping tree jostles chipmunks; Mickey falls tree says "Oh Boy!"; Mickey decorating Christmas tree; Pluto comes in and helps Mickey trim tree; Shot of Mickey's hands hanging candy canes; Mickey hangs ball of twig on tree; Mickey finishes decorating and leaves tree stating "Well Pluto that's it" Pluto starts sniffing; Mickey leaves room (split with George Kreisl); Mickey enters room with packages; Mickey puts balls back on tree says "That's better" (Split with George Kreisl); Pluto watches as ball (on Dale) moves up tree (split with George Kreisl); Mickey looks at tree after all has disappeared; Mickey motions that Pluto is nuts; Mickey enters scene whistling; Pluto tries to tell Mickey about Dale on the mantel but Mickey pulls him away and says "Okay I'll light the candle"; Mickey looks at burnt match, puzzled; Mickey walks away from scene whistling; Mickey grabs Pluto's tail and gets pulled into tree, says "Pluto get out of there, whata think you're..."; foliage falls from tree; Mickey shakes Pluto's neck says "You dumb mutt, you..."; "Look what you've done to your … Pluto" Mickey points up to tree in take; Mickey holds chipmunks says "Pluto, after all it is Christmas"; Pluto and Mickey run to window to watch carolers (Goof, Duck, etc.); Mickey, Pluto and chipmunks looking out window)

George Kreisl (Mickey coming out of the house calling out to Pluto: "Okay Pluto lets get our tree." They start to look for tree (split with Fred Moore); Pluto excitedly runs up slope; Chipmunks picking up nuts are interrupted by Pluto's antics - they throws nuts at him (split with Bill Justice); Pluto gets smacked on fanny but nuts; Pluto chases chipmunks down hill; Pluto plows though drift - pushes out snow in form of "Snow Dog"; Chipmunks run up onto tree; Pluto sniffs snow dog -- it collapses; Mickey calls o.s., "Okay Pluto"; Pluto trotting; Dale sees Pluto and zips from scene; Pluto goes into trot; Pluto sniffs tree; Pluto takes at Dale who has landed on Pluto's nose; Chip, with candy cane, pulls Dale away from Pluto's nose. Pluto barks. Pluto catches Christmas balls with paws - ends up in awkward position; Mickey puts balls back on tree says "That's better" (split with Fred Moore); Pluto watches as ball (on Dale) moves up tree (split with Fred Moore); Pluto madly pointing at tree, trying to tell Mickey about the chipmunks; Pluto hears o.s. rattling of nuts; Pluto sneaks up in front of Christmas tree; Pluto makes menacing grin and growls; Pluto watches Mickey leave room; Chip hops onto Pluto's tail; Chip pulls Pluto's tail; Pluto raises Chip up on tail; Chip says thank you to Pluto; Chip puts out fire on Dale's head; Pluto takes - charges after chipmunks; Pluto chases chipmunks up ladder into Christmas tree; Pluto trying to keep balance on shaking ladder; Star lands on Pluto's tail; Pluto goes into tantrum; Pluto dives into tree after chipmunks; Mickey: "Aw cute little fellows!" Pluto in burn pulls back and barks at chipmunks; Pluto hears o.s. carolers singing "deck the halls with boughs of Ivy"; Pluto into chorus with howl; Dale slaps Christmas tree sticker on Pluto's mouth - Do not open until Christmas)

Bill Justice (Chipmunks picking up nuts are interrupted by Pluto's antics - they throw nuts at him (split with George Kreisl); Chipmunks go into act of mimicking Pluto's barking (split with Volus Jones); Chipmunks say "what was that" as tree is jarred by chopping; Shot of the tree being carried off. Dale's legs appear and reach for ground - he lands on ground and brushes his hands as he turns to walk away; Dale sip back into tree; Chipmunks hiding behind trunk in tree, look out and see decorations - Chip say "Hey wake up!"; Chip and Dale look over decorations; Dale looks over ornaments, say "well whatta you know"; Dale says wow and rips off branch; Dale starts to bite Christmas ball; Dale drops twig in wild take and goes out of scene to hide; Dale runs in on all fours -taps ball and makes face in it; Dale runs with ball on twig, comes into scene and crashes ball into Chips head. Door in ball opens, revealing Chip; Dale turning light globe off and on, mistakes Pluto's nose for globe and twists it - is suddenly zipped down out of tree; Dale in imitation, barks at Pluto and sticks Christmas ball on his nose; Dale throws another ball; Shot of dale getting nuts out of bowl; Dale starts towards tree with pile of nuts; Dale poses as one of the Christmas candles on the mantle. Pluto sniffs at him causing Dale to sneeze; Pluto pushes candles off mantle; Carolers singing; Chipmunks sing carol; Chipmunks hear Pluto - stop singing and cover ears)  

Volus Jones (Chipmunks go into act of mimicking Pluto barking (split with Bill Justice); Chopping of tree jostles chipmunks; Dale takes at Chip as ball disintegrates; Chip clonks Dale on head. Dale shrugs sheepishly; Dale looks at Pluto in sick expression. Pluto goes into vicious growl; Chip zips out of scene with candy cane; Christmas ball hanging on Dale's nose; Dale takes at Pluto - throws nuts in his path and scrambles out of scene; Dale runs up onto mantle - Pluto after him, slips on nuts and crashes into fireplace; Dale takes at Mickey's match and blows it out; Mickey takes hold of Dale - lifts him to other candle and lights his hat; Chip looks out of tree -- sees Dale's situation and makes take; Dale shakes ladder leg; Chip loosens brace on ladder; Dale blows on ladder and ladder crashes to floor; Chip drops star from top of tree; Chipmunks laughing; Chipmunks huddled in Christmas tree. Mickey "We've got chipmunks in our tree")

Blaine Gibson (Lights go on and off on tree)

Story: Mickey and Pluto chop down a Christmas tree. However Chip and Dale are living in this tree and end up in Mickey's house. The chipmunks drop a decoration on Pluto. This gets Pluto angry and he gives chase. This causes much destruction throughout the house. Mickey doesn't see the chipmunks and think Pluto is trying to ruin the house. He scolds Pluto until he sees Chip and Dale. He tells Pluto that it is Christmas and they should be friendly to the little guys. Then they all hear caroling outside. It is Donald, Goofy and Minnie. They all enjoy the music until Pluto tries to sing along, after which Chip and Dale cover the dog's mouth with a sticker.


   


-Michael J. Ruhland