Classic Cartoons

The Essential reason to buy "The Essential Daffy Duck"

2011-11-03T20:43:00.007-01:00

A few hours ago I got my copy of “The Essential Daffy Duck”.
I bought it and it was a bet. I was curious if WB would have done it. You know, the people at WB are able of anything. I was scared to find myself with a set full of cartoons I already own plus a computer colorized copy of a classic short I’ve always loved.
Luckily, as you can see, they did it right.

The cartoon appears to be restored in its black and white uncut glory.

As far as I know they tried to restore it for one of the LTGCs but the short required a lot of additional work to be properly restored. And the magnificent results can be seen watching these screenshots.
Highly recommended to “cwazy” animation aficionados that waited years to have this, restored, on DVD.

Best regards,
A crazy darnfool GACer

Classic Cartoons: The Resurrection!

2011-11-01T09:53:00.002-01:00

I guess after the end of GAC I'll have to post again here.
So stay tooned.
Something new will be added.

Half-Pint Pygmy (1948)

2009-07-13T07:10:00.004-01:00

Now here's a truly weird cartoon even by Tex Avery's standards. "Half-Pint Pygmy" (release date: 8/17/1948) is one of Avery's less known and rarely seen works, and it marks the fourth and final appearance of George and Junior.
These characters inspired by George and Lennie from John Steinbeck's depression-era novel "Of Mice and Men" have previously appeared in three very good and entertaining cartoons:

• Henpecked Hoboes (1946)

• Hound Hunters (1947)

• Red Hot Rangers (1947)

Then for some unknown reason, Avery decided to take away nearly all of George and Junior's specific traits. The relationship between characters in "Mice and Men" style has almost completely vanished. The voices were changed too. Most significantly, Irv Spence's excellent and very funny character design was scraped in favor of a new design by Louie Schmitt that depicts George and Junior as relatively bland and generic cartoon bears.

Tex Avery's best cartoons are brilliantly structured and constructed, but "Half-Pint Pygmy" plays almost as an abstract collection of random crazy gags that barely have a connection with each other. There's an odd and somewhat detached feeling about it that I don't have when watching any other Avery's MGM cartoon. However, there are many positive things to recommend about "Half-Pint Pygmy". The animation is top notch, with some especially nice and clear examples of anticipation (if there's interest, I'll post a more complete series of screenshots for some of these scenes). Also, many of the gags are very inventive, unusual and bizarre. In a way, this might be one of the ultimate chase cartoons.

Due to heavy racial stereotypes, this cartoon has been banned from TV for the last few decades, and it was also omitted from French Tex Avery DVD box set (together with "Uncle Tom's Cabana").

Here's a selection of screenshots, taken from "The Compleat Tex Avery" laserdisc box set:

Does this fugitive from Wackyland look familiar to you? Yup, that's the bartender from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".

And that's the end of George & Junior. They joined Screwy Squirrell in cartoon Heaven (or Hell). A moment of silence, please... :)

Finally, here's a whole cartoon in the best quality version that can be currently seen on the net (at Spike.com website):

Betty Boop, M.D.

2009-06-30T11:44:00.021-01:00

Though it never received the same notoriety and recognition as "Snow White" or "Bimbo's Initiation", "Betty Boop, M.D." deserves the place among the best Betty Boop cartoons. This cartoon released on 2nd September 1932 and animated by Willard Bowsky's unit, is certainly one of the weirdest and most surreal entries in Betty Boop's entire filmography. Some people find it rather unsettling and disturbing, especially because of the ending. It's a cult favorite, and definitely not the kiddie stuff :)

Betty, KoKo and Bimbo are having a travelling medicine show, selling Jippo - a miracle cure for every known ailment.

Some of the miraculous benefits of Jippo:

Who wants to buy Jippo?

"If you're feeling wealthy, and want to be healthy,
Now's the time to buy Jippo..."

Now the things are starting to get *really* weird...

Bimbo's song "Nobody's Sweetheart" (with lyrics about a prostitute) is followed by some delightfully deranged "effin" scat singing. This final part of cartoon is a truly amazing marriage of music, animation and crazy gags in the best Fleischers tradition.
There's some debate about a recording artist who performed the singing and vocal effects. For many years, the voice used to be credited to Cliff Edwards aka "Ukulele Ike", known to animation fans also as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Disney's Pinocchio. This was never fully confirmed, and it's now believed that a Cliff Edwards impersonator is responsible for singing. Some sources claim it's William Costello, who will a year later become the first voice of Popeye. That's a very good possibility especially since a proto-Popeye voice is briefly heard during this section.

And now... the infamous ending.

By the way, this is not a racist caricature as some people claim. Baby's transformation is a direct reference to "Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde", a movie adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel with Fredric March in the title role(s). This excellent film released in early 1932 became a huge hit for Paramount, the same studio that distributed Fleischer's cartoons.

Now you can watch the whole cartoon, though the YouTube video quality doesn't really give it a justice:

***

Do you want to see a complete Betty Boop collection released on DVD? "Lions Gate Home Entertainment" is a company that currently holds the video rights for Betty Boop cartoons. Unfortunately, they don't have plans to release Betty or any other Fleischer cartoons in their possession (Talkartoons, Screen Songs, Color Classics). However, there might be a possibility for another company to licence this material from Lion's Gate.
"Shout! Factory" is a very good independent company that made great job with their music, TV and cartoon collections. The company is taking requests and suggestions for the possible future releases, and one thing that you can do is to join their forum, and give a vote for the classic cartoon collections. There are already several threads dedicated to Betty Boop and Terrytoons. This worthy initiative was started at GAC forums two weeks ago.

***

And finally, here's my own tribute to Betty Boop and Fleischer cartoons. It's a drawing I made for The Autumn Society of Philadelphia's upcoming Golden age of Comics and Animation art show. Click the picture to see it in full size on my blog HammersonLand:

Back!

2009-05-10T09:22:00.007-01:00

I was so busy in the last months I almost forgot about my blog.
Here's a good Mighty Mouse story, drawn by one of his animators.
Maybe Carlo Vinci?
Enjoy.

See Ya,
Duck Dodgers

Shots Moment from "The Foghorn Leghorn"

2009-02-08T19:08:00.010-01:00

I've always loved this sequence from "The Foghorn Leghorn". It starts as a consequence of this:

and degenerates into the following:

Foggy is a complete passive character in the fight. Look at him, motionless, sort of a dead body, with the tongue out of his beak, dissacrated by that last kick too.
By the way, it's no mistery now that I'm rediscovering McKimson's first output (the good one), from the beginning to the early 50s. There are some incredibly funny shorts among them, you can notice great timing or funny visual/verbal gags or great animation or marvellous background, rarely all things together. I've rewatched "The Egg-cited Rooster" today: there's some terrific animation of the dog done by Rod Scribner!

Mice Week-Part VII

2009-01-11T11:40:00.003-01:00

The final part of our Gus and Jaq marathon. Hope you liked it.

See Ya,

Andrea

Mice Week-Part VI

2009-01-09T18:10:00.002-01:00

And now...it's time for Carl Barks, in a rare story also starring Pete as villain.

Best,

Andrea

Mice Week-Part V

2009-01-08T18:05:00.003-01:00

Maniacs will appreciate the addition of Daisy Duck wearing a french maid suit in this one. Normal people maybe will just like the story.

See Ya,

Andrea

Mice Week-Part IV

2009-01-07T19:48:00.007-01:00

The very first meeting between Grandma & Gus and Gus & Jaq, again by Riley Thomson!
Ya gotta love his wacky style!!!
This is one of the rare non-Barks stories Don Rosa referred to for his "Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" and, more in general, for his Ducks legacy.

Best,

Andrea

Mice Week-Part III

2009-01-06T17:25:00.007-01:00

A Mickey Mouse Daily Strip epic by Bill Walsh and Floyd Gottfredson!
In an attempt to put emphasis on the release of "Cinderella" the characters of Gus and Jaq were used everywhere, not only opposite Disney's ducks, and happened to encounter even a certain more famous Mouse.
I think this story has NEVER BEEN REPRINTED since the original 1950 release so enjoy and love it!

See Ya,

Andrea

Mice Week-Part II

2009-01-05T19:53:00.002-01:00

Another Riley Thomson story, a beautiful one with marvellous drawing of the Cinderella mice...in thei proper setting!

Best,

Andrea

Mice Week-Part I

2009-01-04T20:34:00.005-01:00

It's time for the second round of my character week!
After the Big Bad Week we had some time ago I'm now devoting seven days of posts to a pair of "obscure" characters: Gus and Jaq, the Cinderella Mice.
We start with a Christmas Holiday-themed story, drawn by Riley Thomson!

See Youse,

Andrea

I Castelli Animati 2008 - Part Two

2008-12-14T11:32:00.007-01:00

Well, they say better late than never, so there you are: as promised, the second and last part of my adventures in Genzano!

One of the main events at the festival was the meeting with some of the veterans of Italian animation, namely Giulio Cingoli, Paolo Di Girolamo, Gibba, Giorgio Castrovillari, and Stelio Passacantando.
Gibba was another one of the guests who didn't come to the festival. Too bad, because not only it would have been nice to meet him in person, but also his films were not screened due to his absence. I would have loved to watch his masterpiece "L'Ultimo Sciuscià" on a big screen!
Luckily all of the other scheduled shorts were screened, including the Castrovillari-Gibba co-production "Il Merlo", a couple of short films by Stelio Passacantando made with animations by grade school children, a handful of Giulio Cingoli productions, including animated commercials, psychedelic segments from live action movies and a narration of the Italian unification in "La Lunga Calza Verde", and Di Girolamo (one of a few European artists who were offered a contract at the Disney studios in California after WWII) presented some of the works of his animation school students.
Lots of interesting exchanges with the artists themselves followed, including a lively argument involving Passacantando and his relationship with the Italian ASIFA.

Among the events at the festival, there were also the presentations of some books: "Il Cinema di Animazione Italiano Oggi" by Sabrina Perucca offers a view on the current state of Italian animation, and followed the screenings mentioned above, offering a link between the past and the future of animation in Italy.
This was followed by the presentation of the book "Capelli Lunghi", a comic book adaptation of a script by the legendary Italian director Mario Monicelli for an unrealized movie, written in the late Sixties, and revolving around the social revolution taking place at the time.
Another featured book was "Viaggi nell'Animazione" by film historian Matilde Tortora. Including essays and interviews with, among the others, Bruno Bozzetto, John Canemaker and Michel Ocelot, the book follows the entire history of animation, from the beginnings to the more recent applications of artificial intelligence and computer technologies to create virtual worlds. It is dedicated to the memory of Simona Gesmundo, who was among the first ones to study the possible uses of artificial intelligence applied to filmmaking and animation, and her name has also been given to an international animation award (http://www.premiosimonagesmundo.com/index.html).

The last event I could attend was Saturday night's award ceremony. The final winner was Dennis Tupicoff's "Chainsaw", which to me still remains a questionable choice. Sure, it is an interesting film, to say the least: a flow of several different stories connected with an almost stream-of-consciousness sensibility, mixing fact and fiction, including chainsaws, love triangles and bullfighting. I still don't think it deserved the honor of the first prize though, among many other interesting nominees. Gladly one of the films that I really loved, the NFBC-produced "Le Noeud Cravate" by Jean-Francoise Levesque, received an award, the Fabrizio Bellocchio Award for Social Content. Mixing stop motion puppet animation and 2D animation, the film is a metaphorical narration of growing up and facing for the first time the responsibilities of a job. It was a visually great short, and it offered a very touching yet entertaining interpretation of work life, alienation and following ambitions.
Among the other award winners were "The Bridge" by Vincent Bierrewaerts, another stop-motion film which I think absolutely deserved a prize, and the amazing production "Muto" by Italian artist Blu, entirely composed of animation made through graffiti paintings on public walls. It really has to be seen to be believed, and I can't help but admire the incredible work behind this short film.

Well, that' all for now! Stay tooned for more posts by yours truly, finally back on the blogging scene!

Brought to you by
mmm...donuts

Snowtime for Woody

2008-12-06T12:35:00.004-01:00

A Woody story (with Andy Panda too!) tailored for December days.
Enjoy it!
It maybe just me but the best things in the "New Funnies" series are the covers though.

Best,

Andrea

I Castelli Animati 2008 - Part One

2008-12-04T07:18:00.014-01:00

Hi everyone! I think it's about time to devote a post to this cool animation festival which lasted almost an entire week, and where yours truly Stefano/mmm...donuts participated as an "ambassador" of everyone's favorite blog, Classic Cartoons!

I won't be bothering you with the details of my odyssey to get to the festival from Milan: lots of snow, wind, rain and typically-Italian-delayed trains involved, but that's another story!

So, back to the main subject, the 13th edition of Castelli Animati was hosted in Genzano, near Rome, and while it started on November 26th, my work duties allowed me to attend only the last couple of days, when luckily most of the festival's coolest events took place.

With its 12 hours of screenings a day, it would have been hard for anyone not to find something to enjoy among the hundreds of films, and it has been no exception for me.

The films were divided into several categories, including the Italian and the International showcases, and the contestants for the International awards.

Highlights included the retrospectives for several international artists, whose films proved to be the most popular with the audience, and that's no wonder when these artists are people like animation greats Bruno Bozzetto (one of my heroes), John Dilworth, and the lesser-known outside of the film festivals circuit Signe Baumane and Gil Alkabetz.

Bozzetto himself had to present the screenings of his works, but unfortunately he was among a bunch of guests that eventually couldn't make it to the event. He had to present a DVD collection of Signor Rossi cartoons, one of his most popular series (which by the way, at the moment has no plans of being released outside of Italy - sorry about that!). Some of them are receiving here the first proper release after years, all restored and remastered!

But first, a little bit of history: the character wasn't intended to be part of a series. It was created for the one-shot cartoon "An Award for Mr. Rossi", and its origin dates back to the late Fifties, when one of Bozzetto's films got rejected from an Italian festival. His answer was this short, intended as a jab at film festival juries (and trust me, after attending this one too, I couldn't help but confirm how Bozzetto was right!). Anyway, like many other times in animation history, the character was popular with the audience, so it stuck and became part of a series. It became so popular that the artists of the studio even "killed" him in the feature "Allegro Non Troppo", just like Avery or Crumb would have done! (with the exception that Rossi survived in comic form)

Wheew! Enough with the history lesson! Back to the main topic, to celebrate the aforementioned DVD set, two Signor Rossi shorts were screened, "Mr. Rossi Buys a Car" and "Mr. Rossi Goes Camping". They both were a laugh riot, and it's amazing (if not kinda scary) to see how true they are even after forty years.

Another short that killed the audience was John R. Dilworth's "The Dirdy Birdy". After over ten years of it making the rounds at film festivals across the world and collecting awards, I think it's safe to say that there must be some sort of subconscious fascination with watching a bird's naked ass. Either that or the fact that, to put it in John's words, it's the love theme that makes it sort of timeless. Or maybe just because, no matter what you think, it is a genuinely funny cartoon.

Israel native Gil Alkabetz discussed three of his award-winning productions: "Rubicon" offers an interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict through the classic "wolf, sheep and cabbage" riddle. "Morir de Amor" originates from the concept of being reminded of a particular moment of your life through a song: with this premise two parrots and their old owner start reminiscing over the past, leading to an unexpected conclusion. A nice little touch is the author's choice of showing the present and past parts of the film with two different visual styles. The last Alkabetz cartoon from the Saturday afternoon screening was the more children-oriented "A Sunny Day", with a nice illustrated storybook feel.

Signe Baumane was the artist with the smallest amount of films that could possibly be shown during the festival's Saturday afternoon family-friendly programming. If you don't know what I'm talking about, let me just say that she came to Castelli Animati to promote her newest production, "Teat Beat of Sex", an outrageously funny (and
explicitly educational, to quote the disclaimer that introduces each episode) series of short films featuring a girl's narration of her sexual experiences. These films were part of the late night screenings on Friday, along with a documentary about the Latvian artist and the hilarious "Five Infomercials for Dentists". Two of her earliest cartoons were chosen for the Saturday afternoon selection, the twisted fairytales "Tiny Shoes" and "The Witch and the Cow" which, more than her later works, have a distinctive Eastern-european feel.

A pleasant surprise from the Saturday afternoon screenings was the premiere of Italian artist Marco Pavone's full-length animated movie "ZeroZero", produced by a small team and with a low budget. At first, I honestly didn't think that the semi-bidimensional computer animation could work well throughout an entire 90-minute movie (I often can hardly stand that kind of animation in a short film), but I was wrong: it was really enjoyable, and I think that the animation was functional to the general tone of the movie, creating some great scenes and atmospheres.

The story itself is pretty simple, it's about a child who learns to overcome his fears and finally makes his dreams come true. In this case, the narration takes place in 1940s USSR, and the child is none other than a young Yuri Gagarin. Try to guess what his dream might be! What I liked the most was the fact that the creator was aware of the limits of this production, and instead of even trying to come up with some pretentious Pixar rip-off, he used the obvious limitations to his advantage. The final result is far from perfect, but it sure proved to be an enjoyable view. I suppose the film is going to be shown at other film festivals worldwide, so if you hear about it, take my word and give it a chance!

That's all for now, stay tooned for the second part of my report!

Brought to you by

mmm...donuts

"I'll murder him for killing himself this way"

2008-11-29T08:41:00.008-01:00

Here's another ultra-rare story starring the Famous' short-lived pairing of Hector and Herman.
So far I miss issues 14 and 16 of "Animal Comics".
Hope Frank or Thad can be of help!
Meanwhile, enjoy this forgotten gem!

See ya around,

Andrea

"Two's a Crowd"

2008-11-14T14:22:00.004-01:00

Time for the first entry in the Chuck Jones' Claude Cat VS Frisky Puppy trilogy.
I love how Claude tris subtle ways to get rid of the dog and then decides to just kill him chasing him around the house with an axe and with an homicidal look in his eyes.
Betwen this and "No Barking" there's one of the most boring cartoons Jones ever made. Hardly a Jones after 1948 was a miss but that was the case.
Anyway let's watch this, a very good entry that also shows how Jones' unit had the best animators!

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Best,

Andrea

"I'll tell those sheep I love 'em like brothers the rats!"

2008-11-09T16:06:00.012-01:00

Both Frank Young and Thad had recently delighted us with a series of ultra-rare comic stories starring beloved unfamous Famous characters Hector the Rooster and Blackie the Lamb so I guess it's my turn.
The choice? Why, what question! A story with Blackie and Wolfie, what else?
Many poses reminds me of the early Blackie and Wolfie shorts and in fact the story was drawn by Tom Golden, a Famous animator.

See Youse,

Andrea

Oswald in "The Prehistoric Egg"

2008-11-09T10:17:00.014-01:00

Enjoy this classic Ozzie story written by John Stanley and notice the abundance of feminine pulchritude, made in the same period Mickey Mouse was starting to interact with pin-ups tout court in his daily strips series.

See ya,

Andrea

"The Bee-Deviled Bruin"

2008-11-02T18:07:00.004-01:00

"The Bee-Deviled Bruin'" is one of the only two Bears short that are not on dvd yet (the other is "What's Brewin' Bruin", which would seriously deserve proper restoration).
It's a nice cartoon, not up there with the ones that are available on the Golden Collections as now, but a good entry.
But you be the judges!

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As a bonus here's a nice comicbook entry featuring our trio.

Best,

Andrea

"Daffy Dilly"....in the comics

2008-10-25T15:31:00.004-01:00

I sure had to post this!
It's a comic version of "Daffy Dilly"....starring Sam in the millionaire role!!!

Sam, in the comics, was almost always drawn as a pirate, while, in the cartoons, his western villain self is the most celebrated and known.

See Ya,

Andrea

Something NEW has been Added!

2008-10-22T13:32:00.003-01:00

Time for something different!
I'm a big fan of the various DC animated series developed by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.
Here you have one great episode from "Batman the Animated Series". The animation here is not good as it actually used to be during the series, and even in that case is nothing spectacular but, ehy, this is from the 90s.
The story is terrific, the main character is a riot, and there are a lot of memorable lines.
Gentlemen, here you have "The Man who killed Batman", in three parts.

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Please let me know if you liked this particular out-of-the Golden Age trip,

Andrea

Big Bad Week- Act VII

2008-10-04T11:11:00.008-01:00

I know this' not from the "Golden Age" but it's a classic nevertheless!
Written by my friend David Gerstein and drawn by "cumpa' from Italy too" Massimo Fecchi, this one celebrates the birthday of Zeke...which does happen to be on the same day of a certain trio of pigs (no wonder, all characters made their debut in "The Three Little Pigs". So we have one of them in-jokes/references only aficionados can understand and that are a beloved trademark in Gerstein's stories).
I'd be delighted if he would want to say something about this story.

Wit this story we end our marathon. Hope you liked it. In the future I may highlight other classic cartoon characters, so....stay tooned!

Best,

Andrea

Big Bad Week- Act VI

2008-10-03T14:15:00.004-01:00

This is another one I have always liked. When I was a child I couldn't believe Zeke's reaction when his son told him that he returned a lost wallet.
How can't you like Turner's graphic style? Just look, for example, at Zeke's avid look in the first page when he'd want the wallet from Li'l Bad Wolf.

Best,

Andrea

Big Bad Week- Act V

2008-10-02T10:51:00.006-01:00

Again another Buettner story (admiring these beautiful pages don't you think that it is a colossal shame that this author is not celebrated as he would deserve?). This has always been one of my favorite Disney stories.
No celebration of BB would be complete without posting this one.

BONUS: "Three Little Wolves", the best short starring BB in my opinion.

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Best,

Andrea

Big Bad Week- Act IV

2008-10-01T15:55:00.005-01:00

This one is from Carl Buettner, an underrated artist who was behind several awesome looking Disney stories in the early 40s. He was also the first artist to draw the Big Bad Wolf for comicbooks too. Notice in fact how the Li'l Bad Wolf looks very much like the three sons Zeke had in the cartoons and sunday pages, still showing a certain, and out of character, villainesque look in his face. Love this detail anyway!

Best,

Andrea

Big Bad Week- Act III

2008-09-30T17:08:00.003-01:00

Time for a Paul Murry story, from WDC&Ss 78!

Best,

Andrea

Big Bad Week- Act II

2008-09-29T14:40:00.008-01:00

This is another of my favorite stories with the Big Bad Wolf, expecially because it includes cameos from some beloved minor Disney cartoons stars, one of them acting Henery Hawk-like!
Enjoy it, right from the first issue of "Vacation Parade" (the one with the longest Barks' story ever!)and from the talent of Gil Turner!

Best,

Andrea

Big Bad Week- Act I

2008-09-27T09:00:00.009-01:00

I hope you'll enjoy an entire week of this blog devoted to the Big Bad Wolf, our Zeke Wolf. His comicbook series has always been a favorite of mine and it was about time to share some of his best stories with you.
We start with a sunday pages continuity from 1936, drawn by Al Taliaferro, courtesy of my friend Klaus Harms.
Enjoy!

Best,

Andrea

"Hare Trimmed"

2008-09-21T08:41:00.002-01:00

I sure love the character of Elmer Fudd and many of my favorite cartoons feature him against Bugs, but I'm also fond of the Bugs vs Sam shorts, with "Hare Trimmed" being one I love to re-watch the most. The timing, as usual for a Freleng cartoon, is superb!

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Best,

Andrea

"Tree for Two"

2008-09-17T20:58:00.004-01:00

Another Sylvester's fine hour, "Tree for Two" is a perfectly timed Freleng effort, with the "Charleston" sequence being my favorite thanks to Blanc's vocal abilities.
Spike and Chester will return, as Alf and Chester, in "Dr. Jerkyll's Hyde", a short that suffers a bit, in my opinion, for the cockney voices given to the two canine characters.

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Best,

Andrea

Tooth and Consequences

2008-09-17T12:24:00.003-01:00

Harvey Eisenberg is in my list of favorite artists and should be in yours too.
Look at the art of this short story from Tom and Jerry 52 and let me know what you think about it.

Best,

Andrea

"A Mouse Divided"

2008-09-16T12:23:00.003-01:00

It's about time to post one of my favorite WB shorts. I'm quite fond of Sylvester's solo shorts and, more in general, of WB's 1948-1953 output, where even the animation in Freleng's and McKimson's units was extremely enjoable.
I sure hope this classic, and a few other favorites of mine of the same period, to be soon available on official dvd releases (A "Sylvester and Twety" two-disc set would be a good idea IMHO).
In the meantime....

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Yours,
Andrea

The Impossible Barney Bear series

2008-08-02T14:38:00.003-01:00

I have mixed feelings about the Dick Lundy Barney Bear cartoons. The shorts are always hybrids, sort of a trait d'union between the Tom and Jerry shorts and the Avery's entries. So, as a whole, the series failed to have its own characteristics.
Barney himself was basically too much passive and didn't achieve to reach even that little of personality Andy Panda or Porky Pig had in their solos shorts, resulting friendly characters on whom solid entries can be tailored. Even if he often acts and reacts in the cartoons, all his actions results in fact out of character.
Despite all this, however, the shorts are enjoable, with some entries being very good.
"Wee Willie Wildcat", for example, came so far to steal two major gags from "Senor Droopy" and "Wags to Riches" (giving Barney, in this last case, a hat, only for the execution of the gag: no comment!) but this does not prevent it from being one of the best in the series, up there with "The Impossible Possum" and "Half Pint Palomino".
I'm gonna show you "The Impossible Possum" today. The highlight is a great sequence in which Barney, using a female possum hand puppet, tries to seduce the title character. The way Barney reacts, at the end, and his closing line to the audience, explain at better his typical passive behaviour.

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See Youse,

Andrea

Be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting....bears!

2008-08-02T09:36:00.004-01:00

Prepare to witness to an historical meeting between Elmer Fudd and Henry Bear (and family)!

See Youse,

Andrea

The Michael Maltese Falcon

2008-08-01T21:27:00.004-01:00

Maltese strikes again!

Come on, which classic short this story reminds you?
Don't you wonna win 600 gallons of genuine Niagara Falls?

See Youse,

Andrea

Tokio Jokio's on You

2008-08-01T12:06:00.002-01:00

Since "Tokio Jokio" will not be on the warti..."patriotic pals" disc, it's time to post this beautiful copy here. This is not a great cartoon, being full of racial stereotypes and corny gags (WW2 references and unfunny jokes were numerous in McCabe's shorts). However there's something to enjoy, expecially the animation by Davis, with chaplinesque Hitler soon coming to mind.

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I'm not having many comments posted recently. Let me know if you appreciated my last posts and what you think about them. I always want to know your opinions.

See Youse,

Andrea

De Betty Boop-arum

2008-07-29T09:42:00.004-01:00

Nuntio vobis habemus summam betty boop-arum!!
This is a post I was working on from months. I've included shots from all the risquè moments in the Betty Boop cartoons. It is unbelievable how many times the underwear of this "little miss" is shown. It seems hardly plausible that she lost her top tens of times revealing her bra. Her "cute legs and miscellaneous" are often shown to the audience and even what kids should not allowed to see pops out frequently. Did you ever dare to count how many gags are built around her garter belt? And almost every character in her cartoons plans to woo (the good guys) or rape (the villains) her.
I've tried to highlight all these moments from all the shorts in which she appears, including the times she has canine of feline forms. I couldn't locate a copy of "Accordion Joe" (which seems unfindable) though. If anyone got a copy (hardly possible) please contact me.
Anyway here you have a visual compendium of the these classic Boop moments, filled with sexuality and pre-Code bravery. Among the most shocking are the shots of her very first cartoon, "Dizzy Dishes".

See Youse,

Andrea

Take this CGI!!

2008-07-28T15:20:00.014-01:00

If you think the facial expressions of your "Kung Fu Panda" can equal the ones of the greatest panda ever on screen, Andrew P. Panda, you don't need to see singing frogs to be escorted to the nearest psycopath hospital.

I'm not showing Marc Anthony's Oliver Hardy-like superb takes to save any computer animation blind follower (if any visit this blog) from additional embarassment.

See Youse,

Andrea

"Way Down Yonder in Corn"

2008-07-27T10:57:00.002-01:00

We end our Fox and Crow marathon with another classic, a remarkable entry, expecially for the use of UPA ante litteram-like backgrounds, while the characters remain fully animated (not unlike Chuck Jones' "The Aristo-Cat").

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And here's the remake of a classic story Thad just posted days ago.

See Youse,

Andrea

"Pipe Dreams"

2008-07-26T16:53:00.003-01:00

I'm not a fan of Harman-Ising's shorts, being them loaded with saccharinous characters the kind moms fall for almost all the time, but how can I not stand in awe watching the beautiful animation and backgrounds of a short like the following one?

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See Youse,

Andrea

Meet the Moocher

2008-07-25T17:32:00.005-01:00

We are almost near to the end of this Fox and Crow Marathon. Let me know in the comments if you have liked the idea (in the future I may highlight other characters).
To (almost) end with a bang today we have a comic and a cartoon.
We start with this story from Real Screen Comics 20 where to "Love Thy Neighbor" becomes impossible when the neighbor is a certain chiseling crow.

And, as a special surprise, another classic: "Mr. Moocher",where the Crow is at his best (that the Ency-Crow-Pedia translates as "worst for Foxie").

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See Youse,

Andrea

"Tree for Two"

2008-07-25T09:56:00.005-01:00

Here you have another classic entry of our heros, presented uncut (the ending is rarely present in the copies that circulate among collectors and was also left out from the copy for the "Totally Tooned In" show)

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See Youse,

Andrea

"You can't catch anything, can ya?"

2008-07-24T11:14:00.005-01:00

We continue our Fox and Crow marathon with another wonderful entry in their series. It's their second cartoon, the first directed by Wickersham and not by Tashlin and the first time both characters are voiced by Frank Graham (the man behind Tex Avery's Wolfie). "Woodsman" also features beautiful backgrounds and some great animation by Emery Hawkins of the Fox singing "Woodsman spare that Tree" and both removing Crow's "poisonal" belongings from the tree.

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The restoration of this one is really good.

See Youse,

Andrea

Flippity Pie?

2008-07-24T08:01:00.007-01:00

Yesterday Thad posted this Fox and Crow story from Real Screen Comics 9. It's basically the same plot of "A Pest in the House", one of the best shorts directed by Jones.
What is unbelievable is that the same issue features a Flippity and Flop story that has more than a thing in common with another animated short, a certain AAW cartoon starring another cat and another canary.
So we can come to the safe conclusion that Maltese, the link between the Freleng short and this comic story, was responsible for two of the best gags in "Tweetie Pie".

See Youse,

Andrea

"Fadder Time" would love this!

2008-07-23T09:53:00.003-01:00

Nice stories in "The Fox and the Crow" issue 26. Among them, this hilarious wacky one.
You can't say it lacks good timing!

See Youse,

Andrea

"Room and Bored"

2008-07-22T16:53:00.006-01:00

"Room and Bored" is my favorite Fox and Crow cartoon. It seems as Wickersham was really living and eating Fox and Crow (them and thanks to) 'cause not only he directed some of their best shorts, he was also the artist behind their first comic stories, as you have already seen on this blog.
This' one's a classic. The contrast between the two never was and will be better, being the Fox a lover of classic music, a gentleman that loves quiet and rest, Sherlock Holmes-like playing his violine, wearing a pinafore through the whole short, and the Crow a jitterbugging jazz-loving "pest about town".
The Crow is indeed a bit reminiscent of Jim Crow of "Dumbo" fame (I love the way he looks in this short) and, yes, you fans of unPC moments, there's even space for a pretty WW2 reference.

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See Youse,

Andrea

Daffy VS Curly: "Woo-Hoo" against "Woo-Woo-Woo"

2008-07-22T13:10:00.004-01:00

Have you ever noticed how this classic sequence from Clampett's "Porky and Daffy" (1938) echoes similar cuts and ideas in The Three Stooges' first real short "Punch Drunks" (1934)?
In both cases we have "a secret way" to tramute the fighters (Daffy and Curly) into sure winners (a metal pan banged on Daffy's head/Larry playing with his violine "Pop goes the Weasel").
The basic structure of the sequences is also the same, with cuts from the ring to Porky/Larry running to find the pan/anything than can play "Pop goes the Weasel".

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See Youse,

Andrea

A Bob Wickersham Moment

2008-07-21T17:58:00.004-01:00

I'm starting a "Fox and Crow" marathon week.
For 7 days I'll upload a cartoon or a comic story with these characters.
Let's begin with this great Wickersham story from "Real Screen Comics" 3.

See Youse,

Andrea

"Will one of you smart looking gentlemen assist me on the platform?"

2008-07-21T15:10:00.001-01:00

If you cannot guess who's the artist behind this Heckle and Jeckle story you have not visited enough this blog.

See Youse,

Andrea

"Toll Bridge Troubles"

2008-07-20T20:06:00.003-01:00

If I remember well this is one of my friend David Gerstein's favorite cartoons so, frankly, I don't need more reasons to post this awesome copy of it.
Notice how in the end the Fox re-thinks at what the Crow caused to him through the whole picture, like in Tashlin's "The Fox and the Grapes".

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See Youse,

Andrea