From Scrappy's debut in 1931's 'Yelp Wanted'. I didn't realize what was going on with his teeth until I did the grabs - bizarre!
I like this cartoon even more!
"Thank ...
...You"
It's funny cause he's blind!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Good News and Bad News
I just happened on this tidbit over at GAC
The Good News: Sony Pictures is including a Scrappy cartoon as a bonus feature on a forthcoming DVD box set of Hammer films. This is, I think, the first Scrappy ever to be legitimately released to DVD.
The Bad News: It's 'Merry Mutineers', a Color Rhapsody from 1936. I know not everyone will agree but I think the Scrappy series was pretty solid for it's first four years. This particular cartoon occurs after the departures of Dick Huemer (creator of the character) and Art Davis (his assistant and director after Huemer left) which left less enthusiastic people to churn out the series until it's sad demise in 1940's 'The Little Theater'.
details on the set as a whole can be read here:
Wow, what a weird looking Scrappy!
Yikes!
Monday, April 7, 2008
"Everyone loves Kiko! Kiko the Kangaroo!"
Not really but that's how the theme song went ... ordering audiences to obey. They didn't. Bill Weiss, a business manager from Terrytoons even said the character was "nothing to brag about". Admittedly it is odd that a cartoon series produced in 1936/37 should have sections of animation that resemble Van Beuren cartoons from the early 30's! Actually they are pretty hit-and-miss but there's something about a few of them that I can't help but love ... like a sweet retarded cousin!
For example, every time I see 'Red Hot Music' I feel better. The animation is wildly inconsistent but the general pep of the whole thing (thanks in no small part to Philip Scheib's music) raise it (sort of) out of the usual Terry doldrums.
Of course nothing beats Kiko's first appearance in the 1936 cartoon 'Farmer Alfalfa's Prize Package' where we find out that Farmer Al has a brother named ... Hank?
Only in a Terrytoon would a lead character beat the tar out of a gang of cops ...
and, to top it off, rob them of their watches in time for the iris-out!
Now that's what I call a moral!
More on Kiko in a future post.
*Correction* The correct lyric is: "All the kids like Kiko...". Evidently kids were not expected to love him and grown-ups were not even expected to like him (which they evidently didn't)!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
While on the subject of Iwerks ...
Two images from the Flip the Frog Coloring Book published by Saffield in 1933.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Sickest Man Alive? Thad K!
Over on Thad's sight he's put together a cool video version of 'Hell's
Fire' from the two versions I've been using for grabs! This is as complete as you're gonna see it so go here! Go here now!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Speaking of Cartoons and Music...
I just happened upon this sight which features multiple MP3 audio from 78 RPM recordings of 'Nobody's Sweetheart' as well as some interesting information on the song's history. As you all know this is the song made famous in the Betty Boop cartoon 'Betty Boop M.D.'
Bix and Fleischer
I've been a fan of 20's jazz cornet player Bix Beiderbecke for years. Oddly enough I got into Bix and Fleischer cartoons separately. After a little reading I discovered that Bix's first band The Wolverines had a well known engagement in 1924 at a night club in Times Square called The Cinderella Ballroom. Then I noticed the address: 1600 Broadway! As it happens a great jazz musician was performing only a few floors beneath a great animation studio!
The Wolverines in 1924
I believe (but am not certain) that the Cinderella Ballroom might be pictured in this photo of the Fleischer strike in 1937. By that time I believe the name had changed. According to Richardson Turner who is interviewed in Philip and Linda Evans book 'Bix': "When the Wolverines opened, about ten of us went down to N.Y. the next day and flew right over to the Cinderella, which was a large ballroom a la Roseland, one flight up.". Tragically this building was demolished for condos a few years back.
There were a couple other cartoon connections in Bix's career too. Here pictured is an ad for 'Felix the Cat': a song on which Bix recorded. Also the label for perhaps the best band Bix played with (Frankie Trumbauer) performing 'Krazy Kat'.
According to this famous cartoon the Fleischer Studios moved in after November 1923. The Wolverine engagement ran from Sept 12 - October 11, 1924. According to Cabarga's book 'Vaudeville', 'Vacation', 'League of Nations', and 'The Cure' (all Koko cartoons?) were released in November/December 1924. Assuming the quick turn-around of silent cartoons I suppose these might have been in production. I wonder ....