Saturday, May 03, 2008

The Stupidstitious Cat (1947)

Here's another Noveltoon that's quite well known among the cartoon fans, due to its public domain status. "The Stupidstitious Cat" (rel.date: April 25, 1947) marks the first appearance of Buzzy the Crow, a character voiced by Jackson "Bluto" Beck, as an imitation of Rochester from the Jack Benny show. Buzzy will become a popular character in Paramount cartoons of the next decade, and he debuted in this funny and solid, though not particularly remarkable cartoon.

Some very nice prints of this cartoon are circulating around (take a look at the Archive.org website, for example). However, these screenshots are taken from the rarely seen restored print shown on French TV nine years ago, and it's quite interesting to compare it with the other better known versions.





























































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22 comments:

  1. Martin Juneau1:26 pm

    Great article Andrea! Did this cartoons aire again on Channel 5?

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  2. Duck Dodgers2:32 pm

    Hi Martin,
    the one and only Hammerson did this post!
    Nope, Channel 5 stopped airing these classics years ago, thanks to Hammerson, that recorded them, wer are able to watch them and enjoy the awesome restoration.
    I contacted several people that could let me have these copies without the TV logo, but they refuse to cooperate, not understanding my interest as a collector.

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  3. Anonymous2:49 pm

    hey uhh... I remember hammerson saying that he has a great copy of the cartoon ''The Little Cutup". do you happen to know when he's going to post it??

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  4. classicparamountcartoons2:57 pm

    Why is there some mild pink color schemes on a bright Techicolor print? I've noticed that the PD prints w/ orginial titles don't have this scheme.....

    Is it something to do with the condition of the nitrate prints? The Technicolor dye? Weird color saturuation?

    This would have been a great video post with the English re-dub despite how many dupiclate videos of the Archive.org print there are.

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  5. Anonymous6:48 pm

    Hey Duck! I recently sent a message to Harvey Entertainment saying to reissue there Harveytoons: the complete collection to Noveltoons: the complete collection. if they ever listen to me, here's what's gonna happen

    1.t his set will feature classic famous studio cartoons fully restored with ORIGINAL titles (not the commecial Harveytoon TV titles)

    2. this set will be a COMPLETE collection featuring some non - Harveytoon Noveltoons once owned by NTA And .U.M.M. TV corp and now owned by Viacom and the cartoon's only done in as clips will now be feature as full cartoons

    and if they listen to me by the next 5 buisness days and tell me there gonna do this... it will be sensationel!!!!!!!!!!!
    so CROSS YOUR FINGERS!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Duck Dodgers6:59 pm

    Hi yosemite,

    well, let me know, them would be colossal news. You should add there are thousands of people on animation forums asking for this stuff to be released. The idea of good sales should have to work....

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  7. Anonymous7:54 pm

    I had no idea that Jackson Beck did Buzzy's voice. Wasn't it Beck who did the intros to the Fleischer/Famous Superman cartoons,
    as well as some characterizations?

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  8. Anonymous4:23 am

    Any idea who is doing the voice of the cat?

    I must adnit I've never seen any of these cartoons without the Harvey logo.

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  9. Anonymous10:04 am

    I remember seeing this years ago. A bit sad to see how samey these Famous Studio cartoons would become further down the line.

    BTW, of all the superstitions featured here, the smoking one is kinda new to me. Anyone know what that means?

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  10. Anonymous11:32 pm

    Hi! it's Me Again! sorry if this is a little OT but, look, I've Always wanted to join GAC ever since I first find out about it. I've tried registering into it hundred's of times but, unfortunatly, I can't. why??? because of my stupid age!!!! look, i'm just guessing on this but, you probarbly chose age registeration because you were restricted to, or, you didin't think much kids were big fan's or collector's of cartoons. well there are probrably millions of kids who are just like me who are big fans or collector's of cartoons. so please can you do me a REALLY BIG favor??? can you get rid of age registeration??? (or at least make it optionel) or are you restricted from it by the COPPP???

    ReplyDelete
  11. Duck Dodgers8:18 am

    Hi josemite,
    it's Jon, the webmaster, and not us mods that made that choice.
    Guess there's no other way: let's wait till you are older-----in the meantime, feel free to ask anything about classic animation in this blog!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous2:47 pm

    Christopher said...
    I remember seeing this years ago. A bit sad to see how samey these Famous Studio cartoons would become further down the line.

    BTW, of all the superstitions featured here, the smoking one is kinda new to me. Anyone know what that means?

    Yeah, the cat design doesn't remind me of any of the later Famous stuff.

    As for your question:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_on_a_Match_(superstition)

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  13. Kevin W. Martinez10:53 pm

    Interesting screenshots, guys.

    the colors are sharper and overall more pronounced than the common PD version. Looks almost LTGC-ish.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous11:51 pm

    Hey! it's Me Again hey Andrea, did you happen to get jerry beck's Famous Studio prodject DVD??? are any of the cartoons on those DVD's have their Original Titles???? if so, can you post the screens from them???

    ReplyDelete
  15. Duck Dodgers6:55 am

    I got all of Jerry's DVDs.
    Some of them, which I already owned, got original titles ("Pleased to Eat You", "Saved by the Bell"..), other ones got original titles but are time-coded ("Bargain Counter Attack", "The Mild West").

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  16. Anonymous3:54 pm

    Hey Andrea! it's me Again, this is my last comment on this post but, Do you think you can visit my blog? it's called Animation Iq. just type it in your internet toolbar and you'll find it! and sorry if it's a little messed up but, do you think you can post a comment on any of my posts??? Please! My blog needs alot of attention!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous3:14 pm

    "The Smoking one" is "three on a match"-using the same match to light three cigars, cigarettes, candles, etc.,. which is considered unlucky.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Duck Dodgers2:46 pm

    post a link, yosemite!
    couldn't find it, sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous3:36 pm

    Here's The Link

    http://www.animationiq.com/

    ReplyDelete
  20. Kevin W. Martinez2:06 am

    Andrea and Hammerson,

    I have one question. I know that you guys have posted screenshots of song of the Birds and Tears of an Onion on your blog before, taken from Channel 5 like "Stupiditious Cat". Do you guys have any other Color classics from that station? I'm curious.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hammerson6:04 am

    >Kevin W. Martinez said...
    >Do you guys have any other
    >Color classics from that station?

    Yes. Here's the list:

    - Playful Polar Bears
    - A Cartune Portrait
    - All's Fair at the Fair
    - An Educated Fish
    - An Elephant Never Forgets
    - Hunky and Spunky
    - Snubbed By a Snob

    The last two are probably the only excuse for me to make a post about Hunky & Spunky :)


    >Jim said...
    >Any idea who is doing the voice
    >of the cat?

    Sid Raymond perhaps? Can anybody confirm this?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous5:10 pm

    No idea who did the cat's voice, but no one has pointed out that it is a Jack Benny impression - makes sense with Buzzy's Rochester.

    ReplyDelete