Marvellous music , gags , incontrollable energy , great animation . Another Clampett masterwork .
Following the success of "Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs", Clampett directed another all-black cartoon, "Tin Pan Alley Cats ", starring a Fats Waller-like cat and dominated by hot music.
I felt in love for this short the first time I've seen it . From the wonderful opening sequence , with a chorus singing " By the Light of the Silvery Moon " to the funny ending sequence ( also highlighted by one of Clampett's wackiest " beeeyooowooop " ever made ) . What follows is the plot for the ones that have not had the luck to watch this cartoon .
A feline version of the popular black pianist and entertainer Fats Waller ( " Wods de madder wid him ? " ), tempted and lured by " Wine , Women and songs " , enters the Kit Kat Klub, even if the preachers of the " Uncle Tomcat Mission " described the place as a den of iniquity .
A trumpet player and his hot music send our hero " out of this world " , in a technicolor version of Wackyland , highlighted by a humanized version of the dodo , caricatures of Hirohito , Stalin and Hitler and the inimitable " Rubber Band " .
The cat finally returns to this world , runs in terror outside the Kit Kat Klub and joins the preachers. " Wods de madder wid him ? "
For your pure entertaiment , I just posted a ton of screenshots from this classic . The original source of my copy is a 35mm print of the cartoon .
I think it is the best available copy ever , even better than the one owned by ASIFA .
You can see how it is possible to see clearly all the details in the face of the Fats Waller-like cat when he is watching the rubber band parade , while in the common copies this is practically impossible .
Yours Truly ,
Duck Dodgers
Blog Founder and Administrator
This is on my list of cartoons to see.
ReplyDeleteThis is a 1943 release in which Clmapett reused some footage from 1938 black and white " Porky in Wackyland " .
ReplyDeleteHere is the plot for the ones that have not seen this cartoon :
ReplyDeleteA feline version of the popular black pianist and entertainer Fats Waller ( " Wods de madder wid him ? " ) , tempted and lured by " Wine , Women and songs " , enters the Kit Kat Klub , even if the preachers of the " Uncle Tomcat Mission " described the place as a den of iniquity .
A trumpet player and his hot music send our hero " out of this world " , in a technicolor version of Wackyland , highlighted by a humanized version of the dodo , caricatures of Hirohito , Stalin and Hitler and the inimitable " Rubber Band " .
The cat finally returns to this world , runs in terror outside the Kit Kat Klub and joins the preachers . " Wods de madder wid him ? "
I wonder if this influenced the music video of the Rolling Stones' version of the "Harlem Shuffle"? The video was made by Ralph Bakshi and John K. You can watch the video at http://www.ralphbakshi.com/media/
ReplyDeleteThe design of the girl in the video , as well as the animation , is inspired by So White .
ReplyDeleteThere is also a Jimmy the Lucky Idiot and Sody Pop pizza comercial in which Sody , after kissing the idiot , jumps in the air in a sequence animated like So White 's similar reaction after black dopey 's kiss .