Andrea/Duck Dodgers here. I friendly welcome every fan of animation at my blog. The goal is to support the love and rediscovery of Classic Theatrical Cartoons from the Golden Age of Animation, keeping meanwhile an eye on Golden Age "Funny Animals" Comics as well as on modern animated productions! Every SUPPRESSED ethnic caricature to be sometimes presented here is just for HISTORICAL and EDUCATIONAL purpose and NOT to offend anyone. Stay Tooned and Enjoy the place !

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Early Terrytoons: Golf Nuts (1930)

Like I promised last week, here's a closer look at an early Terrytoon "Golf Nuts" released in December, 1930. For the sheer unpredictability and dynamics, it is possibly my favorite from the earliest production of this studio. In this cartoon, quite a lot of things happen in just six minutes of duration, and these screenshots are showing only the most important moments. Animation is quite solid for the 1930 standards, though it still shows its basic origins in the '20s style of the silent Paul Terry cartoons. A major leap in the animation and character design of Terrytoons will happen a year later, but these earliest cartoons should not be dismissed. They're quite charming and entertaining.
It's interesting to notice how every shot is nicely composed, with very clean, simple and uncluttered layouts. Characters are perfectly readable in every moment, and they almost never clash with the background details.
Main character of this cartoon is the nameless mouse (called "Placide" in the French prints) that appears in most of the 1930 Terrytoons. Also, watch out for an amusing cameo by Farmer Al Falfa.
Enjoy these screenshots. They are taken from possibly the best surviving print of this extremely rare cartoon.




















































"What's your score?"

"LIAR!"








Next week: a great and rather disturbing World War I theme cartoon "Bully Beef" (1930).

4 Comments:

Blogger Duck Dodgers said...

I still cannot understand why these cartoons are so underrated.
Magnificent post!

10:42 am

 
Blogger Craig D said...

You know, it is so easy to gloss over these Terrytoons, especially when there are s-o-o-o-o many other cartoons that are (somewhat) more readily available!

I say, once you've had your fill of big-budget, Technicolor, 1940s classics search out some of these Terrys. As noted herein, a whole lot of stuff can happen in one li'l cartoon!

(Or go back and watch "King Size Canary" for the billionth time. The choice is your's.)

Thanks for the Terry postings!

7:19 pm

 
Blogger Hammerson said...

Thanks, Craig. Of course, these cartoons are not on the "King Size Canary" level, and many people would dismiss them as primitive. Yet, they have something quite worthy about them, and they deserve to be seen by the larger number of fans, especially those interested in animation history. I'm also presenting them here because they are really hard to find and totally unknown to many visitors of this blog. Some Terrytoons from 1932-33 period are quite interesting to study, because of some really strange and original animation styles that appeared in various occasions. I will talk more about these later cartoons in the future posts.

7:23 am

 
Blogger Unknown said...

I watch all the classic cartoons when I was six years old at the time in the Philippines my favorite is Popeye the Sailor is my idol and number one cartoon hero in the world to be shown in several countries around the world in popular culture in film television animated series comics action figures dolls
and media in animation history. Thanks!
From:Wayne

4:24 am

 

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