Today we will look at more uses of classic comedy teams in animation.
If you are a fan of both Hanna-Barbera cartoons and Laurel and Hardy films, Laurel and Hardy Cartoons, should hold an interest for you. This TV series premiered in 1966. Unlike The New Three Stooges, or the Abbott and Costello cartoons, both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had died by the time this TV show was created (Laurel just the year before in fact), so neither of them provided their voices for the show. The voices were provided by Larry Harmon (Stanley) , and Jim MacGeorge (Ollie). Luckily the voices were spot on imitations. While they obviously were not as good as playing Stan and Ollie as Stan and Ollie were, they gave great vocal performances that diehard Laurel and Hardy Fans should still enjoy. It is also well worth noting that Larry Harmon was also the creator of the show. The show was produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (for their own studio, Hanna-Barbera). Hanna and Barbera have rightly been called the kings of Saturday morning. In the 1950's and 1960's their company had been putting out the highest quality of TV animation of anyone in America (except maybe the excellent Peanuts TV specials). This cartoon definitely proves that point as this is an expertly made show. This series is also much closer to the original Laurel and Hardy style than Hanna-Barbera's Abbott and Costello show was to Abbott and Costello. The characters are the same Stan and Ollie that Laurel and Hardy fans love from their films. Even with the limited TV-budgeted animation many of their famous facial expressions were captured quite well. So for Hanna-Barbera fans and for Laurel and Hardy fans this show should be a treat, containing just enough of the charm from both to please both sets of fans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aUtaARCvKQ
Next comes a cartoon staring Flip the Frog. Flip the Frog was created by Ub Iwerks. Ub Iwerks was as close of a person came to being a partner with Walt Disney. He had in fact co-created Mickey Mouse with Walt. He was one of the great technical innovators in the history of animation, and one of the most talented animators of all time (animating nearly all of the first Mickey Mouse cartoon by himself in a record time). So it seemed natural that when he started his own cartoon studio it would be highly successful. However that was not the case. What Ub had in technical innovation, he lacked in story telling. While many of his studio's cartoons looked great, they were bogged down by boring stories, uninteresting characters and unfunny jokes. Shamus Culhane in his autobiography "Talking Animals and Other People" told a story about how Ub's idea of a joke was having an irregular number of cylinders under a car's hood. The first series to come out from this studio was Flip the Frog. This cartoon was the last cartoon of the series. Ub would later return to Disney, and make some amazing technical advancements, especially in the area of combining animation and live action. This cartoon features caricatures of three Hollywood comedy teams, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, and Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante. Keaton and Durante may not be commonly thought of as a comedy team, but they were paired in quite a few films at this time (unfortunately ones that were pretty sub-par and below both comedians' talents). So from 1933 and directed by Ub Iwerks here is Soda Squirt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AJKSlZtf2Y
Last for today is a classic Disney cartoon. This one is full of Hollywood caricatures put in positions of classic fairy tale characters. Most of these caricatures are done by a man named T. Hee. T. Hee was a great animator who specialized in celebrity caricatures, and would later work as a writer for UPA. T. Hee had also worked on 6 classic Warner Brothers cartoons, 4 of which are full of celebrity caricatures (The CooCoo Nut Grove, Porky's Road Race, Porky's Romance, Porky's Railroad, Speaking of the Weather, The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos). He was also a writer for Disney's feature films, The Reluctant Dragon, Make Mine Music, and Victory Through Air Power. This cartoon features Laurel and Hardy as Simple Simon and the Pie Man, roles that were considered for the actual Laurel and Hardy in their 1934 film, Babes in Toyland. So from 1938 and directed by Wilfred Jackson, here is Mother Goose Goes Hollywood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2LkRqhp4Zc
_Michael J. Ruhland.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Cat and Mouse Games: The History of Tom and Jerry (Part 5)
In 1975, Tom and Jerry were reunited with their creators, William Hanna and Joesph Barbera. Thiis show was called The Tom and Jerry Show, or The New Tom and Jerry Show. However this reunion was cursed by something called the 1970's. This was not a good decade for television cartoons in America. TV cartoons had now been deemed as strictly children's entertainment, and parents were worried about the violence in cartoons. Why this may have not been a problem for some cartoons, it definitely was not helpful to Tom and Jerry. After all these characters's cartoons elevated cartoon violence to an art form. This was not helped by the way they decided to lessen the violence was to make Tom and Jerry friends. Another problem that plagued the show was TV's limited budget. This meant limited animation, something that worked just fine for Yogi Bear or The Flintstones, but not for pantomime characters such as Tom and Jerry. With all this in mind there still was much of an effort to make these cartoons as good as humanly possible. Therefore they didn't turn out as bad as they could have, but this was still a very disappointing reunion.
If all this doesn't sound bad enough next came the ultimate insult to Tom and Jerry. This was called The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show and premiered on TV in 1980. While on the bright side Tom and Jerry were allowed to be more violent and antagonistic towards each other, that was the only bright side. This TV series was produced by Filmation Studios, who had actually made some very fun and entertaining super hero TV shows(If you haven't yet I recommend checking them out) . The animation in this series was beyond limited. While Hanna and Barbera were able to use limited animation well, and make it part of the charm of their TV shows, here the animation gets no such luxury. The animation looks stiff, unappealing, and cheap. The characters barely move and even more rarely express emotion. The soundtrack was even worse. The music was canned and irritating. On top of that you heard the same irritating musical cues over and over, and the music rarely if ever matched what was going on on the TV screen. The voices felt as if they had been recorded using the cheapest possible technology available. They also were horribly irritating voices as well. Strangely many were done by Frank Welker (Runt on Animaniacs, Nibbler on Futurama, Fred on Scooby Doo) a very talented voice actor who gives some very rare bad performances here (His other voices though should give us more than enough reasons to forgive these very rare misses). This show was an insult to Tom and Jerry and cartoons as a whole, and I feel sorry for all the talent that was wasted (and there was actually some good talent working on this show) on this poor excuse for an animated TV show.
....To Be Continued
-Michael J. Ruhland
If all this doesn't sound bad enough next came the ultimate insult to Tom and Jerry. This was called The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show and premiered on TV in 1980. While on the bright side Tom and Jerry were allowed to be more violent and antagonistic towards each other, that was the only bright side. This TV series was produced by Filmation Studios, who had actually made some very fun and entertaining super hero TV shows(If you haven't yet I recommend checking them out) . The animation in this series was beyond limited. While Hanna and Barbera were able to use limited animation well, and make it part of the charm of their TV shows, here the animation gets no such luxury. The animation looks stiff, unappealing, and cheap. The characters barely move and even more rarely express emotion. The soundtrack was even worse. The music was canned and irritating. On top of that you heard the same irritating musical cues over and over, and the music rarely if ever matched what was going on on the TV screen. The voices felt as if they had been recorded using the cheapest possible technology available. They also were horribly irritating voices as well. Strangely many were done by Frank Welker (Runt on Animaniacs, Nibbler on Futurama, Fred on Scooby Doo) a very talented voice actor who gives some very rare bad performances here (His other voices though should give us more than enough reasons to forgive these very rare misses). This show was an insult to Tom and Jerry and cartoons as a whole, and I feel sorry for all the talent that was wasted (and there was actually some good talent working on this show) on this poor excuse for an animated TV show.
....To Be Continued
-Michael J. Ruhland
Saturday, January 17, 2015
86 years of Americia's Favorite Sailor
86 years ago today in the Thimble Theater comic strip a famous sailor man introduced himself to the American public. This sailor was of course Popeye the Sailor Man. So from January 17, 1929, here is Popeye's first appearance in comics.
http://cdn3.whatculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Popeye_in_Thimble_Theatre.jpg
Of course what many of us know Popeye for today is the classic animated cartoons from the Fleshier Brothers. Popeye made his film debut on July 14, 1933. There was not a Popeye film series at this time. When the rights to use the character were purchased, the contract asked for a trail film before a series could begin. So this cartoon is actually a Betty Boop Cartoon. Betty Boop an original character created by animator Grim Natwick for the Fleshier Studio, was the studio's claim to fame at this time, and had been put in some of the funniest cartoons of the 1930's. Betty however only makes a quick cameo appearance in this film though, so it is much like the Popeye series had already begun. The animation of Betty Boop in this cartoon is reused from her previous film Bamboo Isle from 1932. Popeye's voice at this time was done by a radio comedian named William Costello. This would soon change as I will talk about in my introduction to the next cartoon. As was typical of Fleshier films from this era much of the supporting cast are animals. This is of course something that would change in later Popeye cartoons (Yeah this is a Betty Boop, but Popeye played the main role). So from 1933 and directed by Dave Fleshier, here is Popeye The Sailor Man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QURINUKpWKM
William Costello let fame get to his head. Therefore he became a pain to work with by always showing up late for recording, and other unprofessional things. Therefore he was replaced by Jack Mercer, who had done voices for the studio before. Luckily he could do a perfect Popeye impression. Jack Mercer was also a very funny person, he would often times adlib much of Popeye's dialog. Many times these adlibs would be among the funniest parts of the film. Mercer would later write some Popeye cartoons himself. Popeye was such a popular character that the Fleisher's felt his films could sustain an audience's interest for a longer length. Therefore 3 films were made that were 2 reels in length instead of the usual 1 reel. It was even thought about having him play the title role in the feature film Gulliver's Travels. This however never happened but we do have 3 great 2 reel Popeye films. From 1939 and directed by Dave Fleshier, here is Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtoKDEufmw8
Although character's from the comics other than Popeye, Bluto, Olive Oil, or Wimpy rarely appeared in these cartoons (Even rarer when Famous Studios did the series), their were occasions when these characters were used. Such an occasion was 1938's Goonland, a wonderful cartoon that makes me wish they would have used these characters more. So from 1938 and directed by Dave Fleshier, here is Goonland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geealnaew5Q
-Michael J. Ruhland
http://cdn3.whatculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Popeye_in_Thimble_Theatre.jpg
Of course what many of us know Popeye for today is the classic animated cartoons from the Fleshier Brothers. Popeye made his film debut on July 14, 1933. There was not a Popeye film series at this time. When the rights to use the character were purchased, the contract asked for a trail film before a series could begin. So this cartoon is actually a Betty Boop Cartoon. Betty Boop an original character created by animator Grim Natwick for the Fleshier Studio, was the studio's claim to fame at this time, and had been put in some of the funniest cartoons of the 1930's. Betty however only makes a quick cameo appearance in this film though, so it is much like the Popeye series had already begun. The animation of Betty Boop in this cartoon is reused from her previous film Bamboo Isle from 1932. Popeye's voice at this time was done by a radio comedian named William Costello. This would soon change as I will talk about in my introduction to the next cartoon. As was typical of Fleshier films from this era much of the supporting cast are animals. This is of course something that would change in later Popeye cartoons (Yeah this is a Betty Boop, but Popeye played the main role). So from 1933 and directed by Dave Fleshier, here is Popeye The Sailor Man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QURINUKpWKM
William Costello let fame get to his head. Therefore he became a pain to work with by always showing up late for recording, and other unprofessional things. Therefore he was replaced by Jack Mercer, who had done voices for the studio before. Luckily he could do a perfect Popeye impression. Jack Mercer was also a very funny person, he would often times adlib much of Popeye's dialog. Many times these adlibs would be among the funniest parts of the film. Mercer would later write some Popeye cartoons himself. Popeye was such a popular character that the Fleisher's felt his films could sustain an audience's interest for a longer length. Therefore 3 films were made that were 2 reels in length instead of the usual 1 reel. It was even thought about having him play the title role in the feature film Gulliver's Travels. This however never happened but we do have 3 great 2 reel Popeye films. From 1939 and directed by Dave Fleshier, here is Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtoKDEufmw8
Although character's from the comics other than Popeye, Bluto, Olive Oil, or Wimpy rarely appeared in these cartoons (Even rarer when Famous Studios did the series), their were occasions when these characters were used. Such an occasion was 1938's Goonland, a wonderful cartoon that makes me wish they would have used these characters more. So from 1938 and directed by Dave Fleshier, here is Goonland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geealnaew5Q
-Michael J. Ruhland
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Terry-Toons Time #1
While The Terry-Toons studio has recived the attention that Disney, Warner Brothers Animation , The Fleshier Brothers Studio, or MGM Animation, they have brought us plenty of very entertaining shorts that deserve a good look. Formed by Paul Terry in 1929 Terry-Toons has given us such characters as Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Sidney The Elephant, John Doormat, and Gandy Goose.
Paul Terry and much of the Terry-Toons staff began their careers at the Aesop's Fables studio (Whose cartoons bore little to no relation to the Aesop's Fables stories that provided their namesake). These were shorts from the silent era that were very much a part of that time period. The however have oftentimes not dated as well as the Felix The Cat or Out Of The Inkwell shorts from the same time period. They remained silent for a good year after most cartoons had turned to sound. The early Terry-Toons were pretty much Aesop's Fables with some sound added. The cartoons have not adapted to the world of sound yet though, They are essentially silent films with a little bit of sound added. In fact some of them might have even worked better as silent films. These cartoons however do have their own charm. The following film is a perfect example of an early Terry-Toon. This also features the character of Farmer Alfalfa, who Paul Terry created back in back in 1915 for the short Down On The Funny Farm made for The Thanhouser Film Corporation. He carried this character over into his shorts for Aesop's Fables and to his Terry-Toons. The animation on the mermaid was animated by Disney legend Bill Tytla who played an important role in animating the dwarfs for Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, as well as the Night On Bald Mountain sequence in Fantasia. So, from 1933 and directed by Frank Moser here is Tropicial Fish.
Paul Terry and much of the Terry-Toons staff began their careers at the Aesop's Fables studio (Whose cartoons bore little to no relation to the Aesop's Fables stories that provided their namesake). These were shorts from the silent era that were very much a part of that time period. The however have oftentimes not dated as well as the Felix The Cat or Out Of The Inkwell shorts from the same time period. They remained silent for a good year after most cartoons had turned to sound. The early Terry-Toons were pretty much Aesop's Fables with some sound added. The cartoons have not adapted to the world of sound yet though, They are essentially silent films with a little bit of sound added. In fact some of them might have even worked better as silent films. These cartoons however do have their own charm. The following film is a perfect example of an early Terry-Toon. This also features the character of Farmer Alfalfa, who Paul Terry created back in back in 1915 for the short Down On The Funny Farm made for The Thanhouser Film Corporation. He carried this character over into his shorts for Aesop's Fables and to his Terry-Toons. The animation on the mermaid was animated by Disney legend Bill Tytla who played an important role in animating the dwarfs for Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, as well as the Night On Bald Mountain sequence in Fantasia. So, from 1933 and directed by Frank Moser here is Tropicial Fish.
Next up is an early cartoon in the career of Terry-Toons most famous star, Mighty Mouse(His 3rd cartoon in fact). Here though he is called Super Mouse as he was in his first 7 films. The name was later changed because there was a comic character called Super Mouse at this time and Paul Terry decided that it would not be right to compete with a character with the same name, You can easily see the changes in the style of Terry-Toons that occurred between this cartoon and the last film. This cartoon has stood the test of time better (not that the last one was bad by any means). So From 1943 and directed by Eddie Donnelly, here is He Dood It Again.
Last for today is one of the best and most creative Terry-Toons, The Magic Pencil. This Cartoon stars Gandy Goose and Sourpuss, Terry-Toons was found of giving their characters voices of popular actors of their day. These voices were not done by the actors themselves but were of course intimations. Gandy Goose was given an Ed Wynn voice, and Sourpuss was given a Jimmy Durante voice. Gandy's voice was supplied by Arthur Kay, and I do not know who did Sourpuss' voice. This cartoon was directed by Voleny White, who was an animator for some classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies as well as a director for Terry-Toons. So from 1940 and directed by Voleny White here is The Magic Pencil.
-Michael J. Ruhland
Friday, January 9, 2015
Censored 11 part 2
The next cartoon of the censored 11 is one of the great Hollywood musical films. The great musical performance of "Swing For Sale", written by Saul Chaplin and Sammy Chan and proformed here by The Four Blackbirds and Danny Webb rivals performances from any of the other great Hollywood musicals of the 1930's. This film is another classic from animation legend Friz Freling. Freling excelled at musical cartoons and even after the obligatory song numbers were no longer a mandatory part of the Merrie Melodies series he continued using music heavily in his films. Scenes from this film were later reused in the cartoon "Have You Got an Castles" directed by Frank Tashlin. However that cartoon was not included in the censored 11, and is readily available on DVD. So from 1937 and directed by Friz Freling here is, Clean Pastures.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x98fju_clean-pastures-1937_shortfilms
Up next is a cartoon from another animation legend Tex Avery. Tex Avery had redefined the sense of humor and the style of story telling of Warner Brothers cartoons. Up until he came to Warners their cartoons had been very similar to those of Disney. This is not to say they weren't good (or even great) cartoons but the sense of originality that would later define them was missing. Although this is far from one of his best films at Warners it shows his style. Tex would make some of the funniest cartoons ever made both at Warners and MGM, and would play an important role in the creation of Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, and Droopy. So from 1937 and directed by Tex Avery, here is Uncle Tom's Bungalow.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x98rzz_uncle-tom-s-bungalow-1937_shortfilms
-Michael J. Ruhland
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x98fju_clean-pastures-1937_shortfilms
Up next is a cartoon from another animation legend Tex Avery. Tex Avery had redefined the sense of humor and the style of story telling of Warner Brothers cartoons. Up until he came to Warners their cartoons had been very similar to those of Disney. This is not to say they weren't good (or even great) cartoons but the sense of originality that would later define them was missing. Although this is far from one of his best films at Warners it shows his style. Tex would make some of the funniest cartoons ever made both at Warners and MGM, and would play an important role in the creation of Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, and Droopy. So from 1937 and directed by Tex Avery, here is Uncle Tom's Bungalow.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x98rzz_uncle-tom-s-bungalow-1937_shortfilms
-Michael J. Ruhland
Friday, January 2, 2015
Censored 11 part 1
In 1968 United Artists decided to pull 11 classic Warner Brothers cartoons from distribution to both TV and Home Video. These 11 cartoons were pulled because they were deemed too racially offensive to a modern audience. However these cartoons are an important part of film history and therefore world history. Therefore this author feels these films should not be banned, because our history should not be banned from us.
Our first film is the only one, on the list, released during the Harmon and Ising era of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. As I have mentioned in previous posts at this time Hugh Harmon was directing the Looney Tunes, and Rudolph Ising was directing the Merrie Melodies. This is one of Rudolph Ising's Merrie Melodies. This was the fifth Merrie Melody, and at this time Ising was trying to come up with staring characters for his Merrie Melodies. This idea though he soon abandoned and for a little while Merrie Melodies featured no starring characters. The character who stars in this cartoon is Piggy. Piggy had no personality to speak of, but in spite of that this cartoon remains quite entertaining. This film is also the only black and white cartoon from the censored 11. Those familiar with Disney cartoons will automatically notice similarities between this cartoon and the Silly Symphony, The Skelton Dance. However don't be too harsh on Rudolph Ising, at this time everyone in the animation business was coping Disney in at least some way. So from 1931 and directed by Rudolph Ising, here is Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8IvVXCSZng
Next comes a great musical cartoon from animation legend Friz Freling. The 1930's Merrie Melodies usually featured a musical number. At this time as well The Merrie Melodies were in color while Looney Tunes were in black and white. Later the musical numbers would be dropped for the most part, Looney Tunes would be in color, recurring characters would appear in Merrie Melodies (the same ones that appeared in Looney Tunes), and there would no longer be a difference between Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. However this is a great peak at what Merrie Melodies were like at this time. So from 1936 and directed by Friz Freling, here is Sunday Go to' Meeting Time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-qUqK5LovQ
-Michael J. Ruhland
Our first film is the only one, on the list, released during the Harmon and Ising era of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. As I have mentioned in previous posts at this time Hugh Harmon was directing the Looney Tunes, and Rudolph Ising was directing the Merrie Melodies. This is one of Rudolph Ising's Merrie Melodies. This was the fifth Merrie Melody, and at this time Ising was trying to come up with staring characters for his Merrie Melodies. This idea though he soon abandoned and for a little while Merrie Melodies featured no starring characters. The character who stars in this cartoon is Piggy. Piggy had no personality to speak of, but in spite of that this cartoon remains quite entertaining. This film is also the only black and white cartoon from the censored 11. Those familiar with Disney cartoons will automatically notice similarities between this cartoon and the Silly Symphony, The Skelton Dance. However don't be too harsh on Rudolph Ising, at this time everyone in the animation business was coping Disney in at least some way. So from 1931 and directed by Rudolph Ising, here is Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8IvVXCSZng
Next comes a great musical cartoon from animation legend Friz Freling. The 1930's Merrie Melodies usually featured a musical number. At this time as well The Merrie Melodies were in color while Looney Tunes were in black and white. Later the musical numbers would be dropped for the most part, Looney Tunes would be in color, recurring characters would appear in Merrie Melodies (the same ones that appeared in Looney Tunes), and there would no longer be a difference between Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. However this is a great peak at what Merrie Melodies were like at this time. So from 1936 and directed by Friz Freling, here is Sunday Go to' Meeting Time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-qUqK5LovQ
-Michael J. Ruhland
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