Here's another reason to give the final batch of Warner Bros. shorts, the Bill Hendricks-produced 1967-69 era, another look. Walter Lantz veteran Alex Lovy, perhaps better known among Looney Tunes fans for his horrendous Daffy Duck/Speedy Gonzales efforts, was actually pretty productive during his brief stint at Warners. Besides the ever-present Robert McKimson, Lovy was the only credited director this late in the game, and managed to be creative and funny despite miniscule budgets. Rather than drag any more of the beloved classic characters other than Daffy and Speedy through the low-budget mud, Lovy opted to try new ideas and characters that fit the more limited style, ultimately creating Cool Cat, Colonel Rimfire, Merlin the Magic Mouse, Second Banana, anf a slew of one-shot characters like Chimp and Zee and a couple of bumbling World War I fighter pilots. While Cool Cat was more of an attempt to cash in on 60's culture and the Pink Panther, Merlin was completely original. A travelling magician with a W.C. Fields-esque voice, (originally performed by Daws Butler and later by Larry Storch) was aided by his sidekick, Second Banana, and always found himself in sticky situations with some joker who stood between him and his latest travel destination.
In this particular cartoon, "Hocus Pocus Powwow", Merlin and Second Banana are thrown off a train in the middle of the desert for misplacing their tickets. They run into "Lo, the Poor Indian", a goofy Native American who looks like something from a Hanna-Barbera TV show, and thanks to veteran gag writer Cal Howard, the resulting battle of half-wits is surprisingly funny. "Lo" was memorable enough that Warner Bros. actually licensed him for merchandise, and he turned up as part of a series of LT-themed brass bells in the 1980's. Unfortunately, the cartoon is now deemed to politically incorrect for television and has never been released on video in any form. It turned up once as part of an unscheduled late-night marathon of "un-PC" cartoons on Cartoon Network over 6 years ago, (ironically, the same marathon featured the pilot for Adult Swim.)
Enjoy "Hocus Pocus Powwow", directed by Alex Lovy, written by Cal Howard and scored by Bill Lava (and for once Lava delivers a good score!)
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Duck Dodgers Valentines
Here's a sure way to impress the ladies this Valentine's Day. Why not give them some Duck Dodgers Valentines?
These are actually a box of those little Valentine cards that kids give out in the classroom. I found this today at the dollar store. Probably leftover stock from three years ago or something (there was no date on the box). It's still interesting since there was very little tie-in merchandise made for the Duck Dodgers TV show.
As you can see, the cards come in "8 intergalactic designs". Some of which deserve some special attention since they make absolutely no sense.
Um... ok. "I promise I sent you one"? Aren't we looking at the Valentine that was sent to us? I don't get it.
Wouldn't this "joke" make more sense if they had a picture of a character actually kicking something instead of just standing there?
These are actually a box of those little Valentine cards that kids give out in the classroom. I found this today at the dollar store. Probably leftover stock from three years ago or something (there was no date on the box). It's still interesting since there was very little tie-in merchandise made for the Duck Dodgers TV show.
As you can see, the cards come in "8 intergalactic designs". Some of which deserve some special attention since they make absolutely no sense.
Um... ok. "I promise I sent you one"? Aren't we looking at the Valentine that was sent to us? I don't get it.
Wouldn't this "joke" make more sense if they had a picture of a character actually kicking something instead of just standing there?
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Rabbit Records
Don't miss this great post over on the Classic Children's Records & More blog (a goldmine of oddball kiddie records from the past) showcasing two vintage Looney Tunes albums.
The first is a 1974 LP from Peter Pan Records titled Four More Adventures of Bugs Bunny which was a reissue of four stories previously released as read along book-and-record sets. Mel Blanc provides all the voices including Elmer Fudd and even the female voices of Petunia and Granny. "Get That Pet" (where Granny finds a new pet (Bugs) to replace Sylvester) and "Porky's Picnic" are the best of the four tales. Plus, you get to see some crazy looking cover art by longtime Peter Pan Records illustrator George Peed of the LT gang.
They also have up the 1961 Capitol Records collection, Bugs Bunny and His Friends which was a compilation of the great Capitol LT records of the 1940s & 1950s including "Daffy Duck's Duck Inn", "Bugs Meets Hiawatha" and others.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Those were @#$%^&#@!* Days
1934 was not a good year for Warner Bros. Cartoons. Harman and Ising had left, Everyone was trying their best to make Buddy interesting, and a team of less-than-stellar directors was at the helm of the Merrie Melodies. My previous post regarding "Sittin on a Backyard Fence" proves that they had some talent. But did they make missteps? Ohhhhhhhh yeah. Even Friz wasn't perfect. Here's a pair of commentaries I did on 2 of the worst Warner cartoons ever: Freleng's "How Do I Know It's Sunday" and Bernard Brown's "Those Were Wonderful Days", both from 1934. Don't say I didn't warn you...
Is It Cool Enough Outside For Some Kool-Aid?
Forget hot chocolate, even though its freezing outside Bugs still loves drinking his delicious "scrump-diddley-ump-tious" Kool-Aid. From 1965, here's a Kool-Aid commercial featuring Bugs and Elmer competing in a ski race. The prize? What else?
Sounds like Hal Smith as Fudd and Paul Frees as the contest judge. Up until a few minutes ago I had never even seen this ad before.
Previous Bugs & Kool-Aid stuff we've covered on this blog: here, here, and here.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Tyco Looney Tunes Action Figures
In 1993, Tyco got the Looney Tunes license and created a whole series of merchandise which included a set of action figures, talking figures, PVC figures, plush dolls, a board game, and probably some other stuff I am forgetting. Here is the back of the package of one of the action figures.
The set consisted of Taz, Marvin, Bugs (with a weird carrot-shooting... thing), the Road Runner and Coyote.
I have always found it amusing how easily the Road Runner figure's head comes off. I imagine it was done so kids could let Wile E. win once in awhile...
The set consisted of Taz, Marvin, Bugs (with a weird carrot-shooting... thing), the Road Runner and Coyote.
I have always found it amusing how easily the Road Runner figure's head comes off. I imagine it was done so kids could let Wile E. win once in awhile...
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
"Sittin' On A Back Yard Fence" (1933)
As long as we're on the subject of rare cartoons, I think it's appropriate to point out another really obscure one that deserves more attention.
First a brief history lesson. After creating and sustaining the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for over 3 years, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising left producer Leon Schlesinger and his studio. They moved off to MGM, taking their star creation, Bosko, and lead animator, Friz Freleng, with them.
Searching for a quick way to get things back on track, Schlesinger turned to animators Tom Palmer, Earl Duvall and Jack King. Since they couldn't use Bosko, Palmer and Duvall came up with Buddy and debuted him in "Buddy's Day Out" (1933). The cartoon got sent back to Schlesinger by Warner Bros., and Palmer got the axe. Duvall managed to crank out three more Buddy films, which weren't bad, but not quite what Schlesinger and Warner Bros. had in mind. Schlesinger re-hired Freleng away from Harman and Ising shortly afterward. Duvall never appeared in the credits of a Warner cartoon again, and I think it was the end of his animation career.
Duvall will forever be associated with Buddy, But in addition to his Buddy cartoons, Duvall also directed two one-shot Merrie Melodies. His first, "Sittin' On A Back Yard Fence", is a standout. It's just as entertaining as the final Harman/Ising cartoons, a nice breather from Buddy, and has great music and animation. Unlike most of the Merrie Melodies, this one has a little bit more plot to it, and a better-than-usual attempt at interesting characters. There are some striking similarities between this and some of Bob Clampett's cat cartoons, particularly "Hep Cat" and "Gruesome Twosome", and this is a full decade prior! The cartoon opens as usual for the 30's...with a song. But unlike most, the song is key to the cats-in-a-love-tiangle plot and provides a nice backdrop for the "objects come to life" interludes. There's a great chase toward the end, between the cats and a bulldog...and some impressive animation of the cats getting tangled up in a rolling pin careening along the power lines, complete with some nifty camera angles. It sure beats the hell out of Duvall's boring second MM effort, "Honeymoon Hotel".
Because it's a musical, and so rarely seen, it didn't seem right to do a commentary over it. So here it is: In my opinion, Earl Duvall's best cartoon. "Sittin on a Back Yard Fence".
First a brief history lesson. After creating and sustaining the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for over 3 years, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising left producer Leon Schlesinger and his studio. They moved off to MGM, taking their star creation, Bosko, and lead animator, Friz Freleng, with them.
Searching for a quick way to get things back on track, Schlesinger turned to animators Tom Palmer, Earl Duvall and Jack King. Since they couldn't use Bosko, Palmer and Duvall came up with Buddy and debuted him in "Buddy's Day Out" (1933). The cartoon got sent back to Schlesinger by Warner Bros., and Palmer got the axe. Duvall managed to crank out three more Buddy films, which weren't bad, but not quite what Schlesinger and Warner Bros. had in mind. Schlesinger re-hired Freleng away from Harman and Ising shortly afterward. Duvall never appeared in the credits of a Warner cartoon again, and I think it was the end of his animation career.
Duvall will forever be associated with Buddy, But in addition to his Buddy cartoons, Duvall also directed two one-shot Merrie Melodies. His first, "Sittin' On A Back Yard Fence", is a standout. It's just as entertaining as the final Harman/Ising cartoons, a nice breather from Buddy, and has great music and animation. Unlike most of the Merrie Melodies, this one has a little bit more plot to it, and a better-than-usual attempt at interesting characters. There are some striking similarities between this and some of Bob Clampett's cat cartoons, particularly "Hep Cat" and "Gruesome Twosome", and this is a full decade prior! The cartoon opens as usual for the 30's...with a song. But unlike most, the song is key to the cats-in-a-love-tiangle plot and provides a nice backdrop for the "objects come to life" interludes. There's a great chase toward the end, between the cats and a bulldog...and some impressive animation of the cats getting tangled up in a rolling pin careening along the power lines, complete with some nifty camera angles. It sure beats the hell out of Duvall's boring second MM effort, "Honeymoon Hotel".
Because it's a musical, and so rarely seen, it didn't seem right to do a commentary over it. So here it is: In my opinion, Earl Duvall's best cartoon. "Sittin on a Back Yard Fence".
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