Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #32

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

We start our cartoons off with a Hokey Wolf cartoon from The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958-1961). This one is called Lamb-Basted Wolf .



Next comes one of the all time classic Merrie Melodies cartoons, A Corny Concerto (1943). This cartoon is very much a parody of Disney's recent animated feature, Fantasia (1940) with the unrefined Elmer Fudd taking over the Deems Taylor role. Earlier the same year this cartoon was released another Merrie Melody parodied Fantasia with an unrefined wolf doing the Deem Taylor role. That cartoon was called Pigs in a Polka (1943). A Corny Concerto was directed by Bob Clampett and written by Frank Tashlin. It is odd to have Tashlin write a Warners cartoon he didn't direct. Tashlin had in fact just returned to Warners after a stint at Disney, making him a perfect candidate to write this Disney parody. This film features another rarity for a Warners cartoon. That is the fact the Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig share the screen. It has been debated weather or not the Duck that appears in the second part of this cartoon is or isn't Daffy. I like to think of him as Daffy, myself. Also notice that Bugs makes Porky and his dog into a couple of boobs.




Up next comes another Warners cartoon from 1943. This one stars Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd and is entitled To Duck or Not To Duck. This cartoon is directed by Chuck Jones. Up until this time Chuck's cartoons had been slower paced and less comedy oriented, than the other Looney Tunes directors' films. While this cartoon is no where near as fast paced as Chuck's later films, it definitely moves faster and has more comedy compared to what he did in the past. Elmer's dog Larimore gets some of the best laughs in the film. It is also worth noting that Daffy had not become a born loser at this time yet. We will not see Elmer shooting Daffy's bill off in this cartoon. Instead Daffy can and does outsmart Elmer.




I am personally a big fan of the underrated Little King cartoons the Van Beuren studio did. I love their gentle pantomime and slapstick, as well as the great imagination in these films. So enjoy A Royal Good Time (1934).

For the most part in the 1930's Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoons starred reoccurring characters, while the Silly Symphonies starred one-shot characters. It was rare for a character from the Mickey series to star in a Symphony. However Pluto did this twice. These cartoons were Just Dogs (1932) and Mother Pluto (1936). Our last cartoon is the first one, Just Dogs. In this film Pluto is teamed with a little pup. While this pup would not appear in any more animated Disney cartoons, he would become a reoccurring character in Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip. One of Pluto's animators in this film was Norm Ferguson, who would help define the character's personality with his animation for Playful Pluto (1934). Burt Gillett the director of this film would soon direct the most famous Silly Symphony, The Three Little Pigs (1933). One of the working titles for Just Dogs was the rather on the nose The Dog Symphony.



For an extra treat to read a 1963 article from Boxoffice magazine about Walter Lantz cartoons plus an advertisement for Terrytoons from the same year click here.

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then Peace, Love and Cartoons.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #17

Hello again my friends and happy Saturday morning. Of course we all know that means time for more cartoons. 

To start off we have a classic Donald Duck cartoon, Donald's Dilemma (1947). This cartoon was directed by Jack King. King was hired as an animator at the Disney studio in 1929. During that time he mostly worked as an animator. He would leave the studio in 1933 and would become a director at Warner Brothers. What is interesting about his Warner Brothers cartoons is that they were less filled with humor than most of the other Warner Brothers cartoons where. A cartoon like Shanghaied Shipmates (1936) starring Porky Pig couldn't be called a comedy at all. What is more fascinating is that when he came back to Disney and became the director for many Donald Duck shorts, his cartoons would become some of the most slapstick filled Disney was putting out at the time. These Donald Ducks took nothing seriously and instead everything in them was just for the sake of making one laugh. This is especially strange considering that Disney made a greater number of serious cartoons than Warner Brothers ever did. This cartoon was written by Roy Williams who would go on to become a regular cast member on The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1956) TV show. In his book The Disney Films Leonard Maltin would describe this cartoon as "Perhaps the best Donald Duck of all..." I don't know if I would go that far, but this certainly is an excellent cartoon. 

Next up comes a Hokey Wolf cartoon from The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958-1961) called Hokey's Missing Millions. The story involves a billionaire giving Hokey a billion dollars. This story makes me think of the Top Cat (1961-1962) episode The Tycoon, in which a billionaire gives TC a million dollars. Interestingly both episodes were released in 1961. Hokey Wolf trying to sneak past a butler to see a rich man, makes me think of the Daffy Duck cartoon, Daffy Dilly (1948). I always love in these Hanna-Barbera cartoons when a character references another Hanna-Barbera character and here Hokey references Snagglepuss.



Next comes one of the classic Bugs Bunny cartoons, Fresh Hare (1942). One thing you may notice quickly about this cartoon is that Elmer Fudd is fatter than we usually see him. This was done for a brief time during the early 1940's. The came from director Bob Clampett, who felt Elmer should look more like his voice actor, Arthur Q. Bryan. This new design appeared in a few cartoons not only directed by Clampett, but Friz Freleng as well (this one was directed by Friz). This cartoon features an impolitically correct gag that has been cut out from TV showings. This cut was done very poorly and left the ending feeling abrupt. For those of you who have only seen it on TV, you can now see how the film actually ends and no this ending would not fly today.

 

I have stated before on this blog that I think Earl Hurd's Bobby Bumps cartoons are some of the finest animated films during the silent era. Well here is another classic Bobby Bumps cartoon, Bobby Bumps Starts for School (1917).







   
Let us end with an episode from The New Three Stooges (1965-1966) TV show. This series would feature cartoons staring the famous trio, where they would provide their own voices and star in live action segments introducing the cartoons. So enjoy, Flatheads.



So stay tooned for more animated treats next Saturday morning. Until then peace, love and cartoons.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning # 13

Hello again my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time to look at some more classic cartoons. 

With Easter being tomorrow where better to start than with Disney's Easter themed Silly Symphony Funny Little Bunnies (1934). Easter in 1934 was on April 1st. The New York opening of the film was at a timely March 29th (at the Radio City Music Hall playing along with the Frank Buck feature Wild Cargo (1934). However the Los Angles opening date would be a post-Easter April 6th (at Grauman's United Artists with the William Wellman feature Looking For Trouble (1934)). According to J.B. Kaufman and Russel Merritt's incredible book on the Silly Symphonies this film is the earliest known work on a Silly Symphony by one of the future Disney's Nine Old Men and the director of such feature films as The Sword and the Stone (1963), The Jungle Book (1967) and The Aristocats (1970), Wollie "Wolfgang" Reitherman. Here he worked as an assistant animator under Ben Sharpsteen (who would become the supervising director for Pinocchio (1940) and Dumbo (1941)). Also animating on this film are such animation legends as Dick Lundy (the sculptor bunnies), Art Babbitt (the blind bunnies), Dick Humeur (the hens, the old grandpa rabbit, and the bunnies with crossed eyes), and Ham Luske (the finale scene). The film was directed by Wilfred Jackson, one of the finest directors of Silly Symphonies. This cartoon would win a Gold Medal for Best Animated Film at the Venice Film Festival that year and would be rereleased to theatres in 1950.

The sponsor for many of the Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons of the late 1950's and early 1960's was Kellogg's cereal. It should come as no surprise then that the studio made various commercials for these cereals featuring their characters. For your enjoyment here are some of those.





Next comes a really earlier Popeye cartoon, Blow Me Down (1933). This is a much rougher and tougher Popeye than the one in later films. He will even punch a man for smiling at him the wrong way. At this time Popeye was voiced by William Costello (no relation to Lou). Costello was the original voice of Popeye, however he could also be a difficult man to work with. So later when they found one of the studio's writers (Jack Mercer) could do a perfect imitation he would take over. Despite being a little rough around the edges this is a great cartoon and the ending gag is fantastic.

Next Up comes one of my favorite Pink Panther cartoons Pink Poises (1967). Following the template set by the Pink Panther's first short film, Pink Phink (1964) our hero tries to turn, the little man's yellow flowers to pink. The Pink Panther wanting to turn everything Pink was an idea used often in the early Pink Panther cartoons, and this has to be one of its best uses in the series.




We end with a classic Porky Pig cartoon entitled Plane Dippy (1936). This is an early Porky Pig cartoon as the character had just made his debut a year earlier. This is also an early cartoon for legendary director Tex Avery. In fact it is his third cartoon for Warner Brothers. As such it has a slower pace than most cartoon fans associate Tex with today. This is not one rapid fire gag after another, but rather a film that takes its time between gags. This does not mean the cartoon is not funny though. There are some really funny jokes here, especially when Porky is going through the tests. Also in this film is little Kitty a short lived character that debuted in the same cartoon as Porky (I Haven't Got a Hat (1935)) For my fellow fans of the old Mickey Mouse comics, is it just me or does Professor Blotz remind you of Professor Ecks? This is also the cartoon where we learn Porky Pig's full name  Porky Cornelius Washington Otis Lincoln Abner Aloysius Casper Jefferson Philbert Horatius Narcissus Pig. -Michael J. Ruhland

Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #9

Hello again my friends, once again it is Saturday morning, and that means it is time to watch some more classic cartoons. So sit back relax and enjoy some cartoons.

First up is a Hokey Wolf cartoon, from The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958-1961).



Next up is a very early Mickey Mouse cartoon, the fourth one in fact, The Barn Dance (1929). Unlike the previous three Mickeys (Plane Crazy (1928), The Galloping Gaucho (1928) and Steamboat Willie (1928)), Walt Disney was not able to supervise the animation very closely. This was because at this time Walt was in New York, while his main animator Ub Iwerks was in California. Though Walt asked Ub to cut corners in the animation, because of a strict deadline, when he received the first of the animation on October 22nd of 1928, he was not happy and wrote Ub a page of criticisms of the animation. However watching this film now, it is actually a very entertaining cartoon and it is hard to see anything actually wrong with the animation. However Walt was working to achieve a level of perfection in his cartoons and this one as good as it is did not meet that requirement in his mind. The gag involving the stretching of Minnie's leg was the type of joke that would soon fade from these cartoons, as Walt would treat the body more solidly in future outings.




Now for one of Frank Tashlin's classic Looney Tune cartoons, Porky Pig's Feat (1943). Tashlin spent much of his cartoon directing career dreaming of directing live action features. Because of this his cartoons are some of the most cinematic of the era, featuring a lot of great camera angles and brilliant cutting and timing. This one is no exception. In fact this is one of his finest Looney Tunes shorts. This film was also released during the same year as the last black and white Looney Tune, Puss 'n Booty (1943, also directed by Tashlin). However cartoons like this make one sad that black and white left the Looney Tunes series. Tashlin's use of black and white here is incredible and the look of this cartoon is simply breathtaking in a completely different way than a color cartoon ever could be.

Next comes one of the best cartoons to ever come out of the UPA studio, this is Rooty Toot Toot (1952) directed by the one and only John Hubley. The UPA studio was known for its brilliantly stylized design choices that looked much more like the modern art movement of the era rather than a typical cartoon short (the closest thing any past cartoon shorts came to this kind of a design were John McGrew's backgrounds for various 1940's Chuck Jones Warner Brothers cartoons). These stylized designs would soon have a major effect on nearly every animation studio out there, but few would use them as brilliantly or artistically as the UPA studio. This stylized modern art look was rarely as radical as what can be seen in Rooty Toot Toot. The incredibly daring background look was created by the one and only Paul Julian, who at Warner Brothers not only as a background artist for director Friz Freleng but also as the voice of the Roadrunner. Him and Hubley were a perfect pair creating some of the most original and all together best films to come from UPA. The animation here while stylized can be deceptively simplistic. This is not at all like later TV limited animation, where great design work and writing covered up for the lack of full animation. Actually the animation here is quite elaborate and no two characters move in the same way, each having a type of movement that fits their personality. This cartoon is based around a jazzy version of the old folk tune, Frankie and Johnny. The jazz was provided by a real jazz musician Phil Moore, who had over the years worked with such legends as Lena Horne, Frank Sinatra and Harry James. He did a lot of film music, but this is a rare time he was actually credited. Hubley later stated that he believed this cartoon was the first time a black composer had been credited with a film score. This cartoon would receive the #41 spot in Jerry Beck's excellent book, The 50 Greatest Cartoons.




Today Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is finally getting some of the attention he deserves. Now that Disney has the rights it is naturally that everybody thinks of him as a Disney character. Many know the history that Walt Disney created Oswald. However distributor Charles Mintz hired away Walt's animators and let Walt know that if he did not give into Mintz's demands Mintz could make Oswald cartoons without him, because Walt had no rights to the character. Walt would leave and create Mickey Mouse. However this is where the character's history ends for many people. However that is not when Oswald's film career stopped. Mintz made a few cartoons with Oswald until Universal took the rights away from Mintz and put another Walt in charge of the series. This other Walt was Walter Lantz, later of Woody Woodpecker fame. From 1929 through 1943 Lantz would produce Oswald cartoons. These are little remarked upon today, but they are often highly entertaining films and here is one of my favorites. This is Merry Old Soul (1933). Many of my fellow old movie buffs will have fun trying to name all the celebrity caricatures they can. So watch this film and see how many you can name.




-Michael J. Ruhland