Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #200

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

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, today's cartoon selection begins with a true Thanksgiving classic, Tom Turk and Daffy (1944). Unlike Christmas or Halloween, there really aren't a wide variety of Thanksgiving cartoons, which is odd once you think about how hunting a turkey is a perfect subject for a cartoon. However, the idea of hunting a turkey in a cartoon was done to perfection in this film. The cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones, who is often credited with playing a major role in turning Daffy from his early crazy self into a self-centered character bent on self-preservation-ism. While Daffy had not fully turned into that character by this point this cartoon shows that sneaking into the character. In this film Daffy is willing to sell-out his friend he vowed to protect when temptation gets the better of him (Those darn canned yams!). The idea of Daffy simply being too weak to resist temptation is fully in line with the Daffy we would see in later Jones cartoons. Yet he still has the wild energetic streak that characterized the older Daffy Duck cartoons. In an interview with film historian Joe Adamson, Chuck would state, "What you do is multiply your own weakness, I guess, in a character like Daffy. There was no problem after I began to understand what he was all about. My Daffy and Friz's [Looney Tunes director, Friz Freleng] are also a little bit different, Friz was the one you might say, who got him into that cowardly self-preservation. The minute he did it, I understood what that was; I knew how I'd feel. It's that awfulness, when you're on the battlefield, of realizing when your buddy is shot that your basic feeling is one of relief: that it wasn't you. Well Daffy says that. He says, 'I may be a mean little duck but I'm an alive little duck.' or when he gave Bugs up to the Abominable Snowman, he said, 'I'm not like other people: I can't stand pain - it hurts me.' When I'd go home, I'd tell Dorothy [Chuck's wife] a line like that, which just occurred as I was working. I'd say, 'You know what that guy Daffy did today?' and I'd repeat the line and then she'd look at me. She never got used to this, she'd say, 'Well, you were drawing it you did it.' I'd say 'That's not true! It just developed! That's what he said. It was natural for him to say it.'" Despite this cartoon being Thanksgiving themed, Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald's book, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to Warner Brothers Cartoons, lists the film release date as February 12th, 1944. The story credit for this film goes to "The Staff" and as far as I know this is the only Warner cartoon with that credit. I do not know the reason for this if any of you do please let me know. 

Today's cartoon selection continues with Therapeutic Pink (1977). This short film marks the last Pink Panther cartoon to be made for movie theaters. 

Now for a silent movie starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, The Ole Swimmin’ 'Ole (1928).

Our next film has become a holiday classic for many cartoon fans, who watch it every Thanksgiving. The cartoon is Jerky Turkey (1945). Directed by the one and only Tex Avery, this movie is everything anyone could want from a Tex Avery film. This movie revolves around the premise of a pilgrim chasing a Turkey and being a Tex Avery film, every crazy gag around this premise that could be used in 7 minutes appears. Out of all the “Eat at Joe’s” gags in the history of cartoons, this film has my favorite. The following is an exhibitor's review from the Motion Picture Herald, "JERKY TURKEY: Technicolor Cartoons - This is the kind of cartoon that keep audiences laughing. They forget their troubles and feel glad they came to the theatre. We highly recommend this one. - Thomas di Lorenzo, New Platz Theatre, New Platz, N. Y. Small town patronage." 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Now for a fun black and white Terry Toons cartoon, The Mayflower (1935). This film may be crude compared to what Disney was doing at this time but watched in the right mindset, it is a lot of fun. 

Now for our frustrated hero, Donald Duck in Lucky Number (1951). This movie is an oddity among Donald cartoons as it depicts Huey, Dewey and Louie as older than usual (seemingly teenagers). They are at least old enough to drive a car without anybody thinking a thing of it. 

Now to end today's cartoon selection is a special Thanksgiving surprise. It is the TV special, Garfield's Thanksgiving (1989).

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another selection of classic cartoons. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry. 

Resources Used

Chuck Jones: Conversations Edited by Maureen Furniss

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

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

 

Happy Father's Day

Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #134

 Hello my friends and welcome back for another round of classic cartoons. 

Today's cartoon selection begins with a black and white Looney Tune, Porky's Midnight Matinee (1941). This is an early effort from Chuck Jones and is typical of his output at the time. The pace is slower moving than any of Warner Brother's other cartoon directors. Though Chuck Jones would later be known for fast paced slapstick like the coyote and roadrunner cartoons at this point his timing was often deliberately slow. Chuck also tended to rely on pantomime around this time and it was common for him to use characters that didn't talk. The ant here does not speak at all and Porky even receives very little dialogue. The ant also is typical of the smaller size characters (Sniffles, Joe Glow the Firefly, Tom Thumb, The Book Worm) that Chuck seemed to favor at this time. The following is an Exhibitor's Review from the Motion Picture Herald.

Next we join Popeye in Greek Mirthology (1954). 

Next comes a real classic, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953). Though this is a Disney cartoon, it does not visual resmeble what one excepts from a Disney film. The short has a stylized look that was clearly inspired by what the UPA (Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing Boing) was doing at the time. This movie was very much legendary Disney animator (and one of the infamous Nine Old Men ), Ward Kimball. Though C. August Nichols receives a co-director, he soon had little to do with this movie leaving all the creative decisions to Ward. Ward later remarked, "I was the one who did that picture all the way." As well as the high stylized look this short also uses limited animation. This is not limited animation used for budgetary reasons (like so many Saturday Morning Cartoons) but an artistic choice. Ward later commented on this decision stating, "you have to hold drawings. Watch and you'll see that sometimes the mouth just moves or an eye blinks. That is the difference between full animation and limited animation." Some at the Disney studio did not approve of the look or movement in this cartoon, with Ward even stating that for some it was "regarded as sacrilegious for Disney at the time." Iwao Takamoto for instance would state, "I believe that Ward in a sense took advantage of Walt's growing interest in live action during the early 1950's and that Walt was away from the studio more than he had been previous. This is how [Ward] was able to produce things that Walt would have never been in favor of, such as 'Toot Whistle, Plunk and Boom' which … was drawn in that stark, modern UPA style that Walt tended to disparage."  However some were inspired by the short. Director Jack Hannah would even use similarly flat stylized designs in a few of his future cartoons. As this movie was almost finished. Walt Disney got a call from Darryl Zanuck (head of 20th Century Fox) who asked if they had any cartoons to go with his Cinemascope features. Walt said, "Well, I'll look around." Walt approached Ward Kimball about releasing this film in Cinemascope to which Ward replied, "We're almost finished with it but ok I'll go back and redesign some of the gags for the bigger screen." It turned out to be a much more complex and daunting task than this though. Kimball would state about these changes that they "would have to change the size of the celluloid sheet on which we make our drawings and paintings - from 12 1/2 by 15 1/2 inches to 12 1/2 by 31 inches." He also learned the difference between making a cartoon for Cinemascope. He would later state, "In Cinemascope cartoon characters move not the backgrounds. Because there is more space, the characters could move about without getting outside the visual angle … characters could no longer perform in one spot against a moving background but are moved through the scenes." Still Ward was able to meet the deadline. The movie was a huge success winning the Acedmy Award for Best Animated Short Subject. However since a live action Disney nature documentary short was also nominated for an award that night, Walt came up and accidentally thanked the "Naturalist photographers who have played such a great part in making the nature films." This short receives the number 29 spot in Jerry Beck's book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons. 

 

Now it is time for a Garfield Quickie. 

Next comes a delightful Pink Panther short, Pink Punch (1966). This movie was directed by Hawley Pratt, who had been a  layout artist for producer (and co-creator of the panther) Friz Freleng, when Friz was directing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. 

Next comes a classic one shot Merrie Melodies cartoon, Have You Got Any Castles? (1938). This movie is part of a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts that revolved around objects coming to life in a book store over night. These cartoons began with Three's a Crowd (1933) and ended with Book Revue (1946). Have You Got Any Castles? is one of the finest of these films. This movie is directed by Frank Tashlin (who also directed another variant on this theme the same year, You're An Education (1938)), who deserves a place among the finest cartoon director of the 1930's and 40's (he would later direct live action features starring the likes of Bob Hope, Jayne Mansfield and Jerry Lewis). There is little in the way of story here, but plenty of gags, music and fun. The Swing For Sale musical number  features reused animation from a Friz Freleng directed Merrie Melody Clean Pastures (1937). The following is a couple of exhibitor's reviews from the Motion Picture Herald. "HAVE YOU GOT ANY CASTLES: Merrie Melodies —A swell little cartoon in color. Another smash hit, very clever and it impressed me as it did the older people. Kiddish enough for the kiddies. Yet to understand it, it would get a real laugh from the older folks. Running time, seven minutes.—Pearce Parkhurst, State Theatre, Torrington, Conn. General patronage." "Have You Got Any Castles: Merrie Melodies - To sit down and watch these cartoons is like watching something happen in the line of a miracle. You can't beat them. This is a knockout. Running time, eight minutes. - George Khattar, Casino Theatre, Whitney Pier, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. General Patronage."

Next is a silent Mutt and Jeff cartoon, When Hell Freezes Over (1926). 

Now let us close with a song.

Resources Used

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

The 50 Greatest Cartoons Edited by Jerry Beck

The Life and Times of Ward Kimball: Maverick of Disney Animation by Todd James Pierce. 

 

The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)

 

The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie is considered by many to be the best of the Looney Tunes compilation movies . It was also a movie that I watched over and over again as a kid and have firmly embedded in my mind. Watching it again today, I still love it just as much as when I was a kid. 

In the late 1970's animation legend Chuck Jones was called back to once again work with the Looney Tunes characters. This began with a couple of TV specials, Carnival of the Animals (1976) and A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court (1978). This TV specials had enough success that it was decided to have Chuck Jones head a feature film starring Bugs Bunny. The feature would consist of Chuck Jones most popular Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts with new animated scenes directed by Jones (and written by his long time collaborator, Michael Maltese) connecting the shorts. Unlike late compilation movies, The Bugs Bunny/ Road Runner Movie does not try to tie these shorts into a storyline. Rather the movie centers around Bugs giving us a tour through his home and remembering his past adventures (the classic cartoon shorts). Much to the delight of cartoon fans everywhere, these cartoons are mostly unedited (except for the opening titles). The exception to this is a great 15 minute compilations of spot gags from the roadrunner cartoons. This structure works extremely well creating a light, breezy and unpretentious feel to this movie that I find hard to resist. 

This movie includes such classic cartoon shorts as Hare-Way to the Stars (1958), Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century (1953), Robin Hood Daffy (1958), Duck Amuck (1953), Rabbit Fire (1951), Bully For Bugs (1953), Ali Baba Bunny (1957), For Scent-imental Reasons (1949), Long Haired Hare (1949), What's Opera Doc (1957) and Operation Rabbit (1952). There is a reason these cartoons are considered classics. They are comedy masterpieces on the level of anything Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton ever made (and with how much I love their movies that is saying a lot). The timing, the humor and the characterizations are all top notch and couldn't be better. 

The new scenes while not on the level of the classic shorts (what could be?) are delightful. Michael Maltese's writing is still very sharp and witty and these new scenes include some easy and fun to quote lines that delight me each time I watch. Having these scenes have the same director as the classic shorts certainly help them transition very naturally into the cartoons (something later compilation movies would have trouble with). Also helping this out is that some of the classic Looney Tunes animators worked on the new scenes including Phil Monroe, Ben Washam, Virgil Ross, Lloyd Vaughan and Manny Perez.

This film unfortunately only received a limited theatrical release and was not a great success there. However it would have quite a bit of success later on TV and home video. The movie would also spawn 4 more compilation features (The Looney, Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981), Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie, 1001 Rabbit Tales (1982),  Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island (1983), Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988)). 


Resources Used

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

The Animated Movie Guide Edited by Jerry Beck