Old Glory

"Old Glory" (1939) has always been unique in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography. A straightforward U.S. history piece featuring Porky as a youngster learning historic milestones from Uncle Sam himself. This gag-free cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones and obvious it was intended to be a special entry. The commentary track with Jerry Beck and Martha Sigall on Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 2 is a good starting point to learn some of the behind-the-scenes history of this short. Beck recalls reading a press clipping saying how they made many more prints of this short than the typical Schlesinger short (150 prints) and Sigall mentioned how the ink-and-paint department was told that this was going to be a special picture with many different colors being used (they also used all-new cels for this, instead of reusing washed-off cels from previous cartoons).

The picture was announced in April of 1939 (below is a quote from an article titled "Even Porky Pig Goes Patriotic in New Cartoon" from The Milwaukee Journal - Apr 5, 1939):

"Nearly all Schlesinger films are satirical, but "Old Glory" will be played as straight as is consistent with the whimsical notion of Porky sitting on Uncle Sam's knee and listening to stories about Paul Revere, the bill of rights and Yorktown."

While the above article says, "In fact just about the whole cavalcade of American history is being put into a seven minute color cartoon.", a brief blurb in the Theater Gossip section from the May 27, 1939 edition of The Evening Independent seems to suggest that "Old Glory" was going to run longer than that, stating it would be "in two reels and will be a history lesson for children of primary school age." The final cartoon was only one reel, but ran approx. 9 minutes.

However, the longest and most interesting article was a syndicated United Press piece which is excerpted below. Granted I have no idea how much of the following is true and how much is PR hype , but it sounds like Leon Schlesinger himself played the key role in spearheading this short, thinking up the idea for the short in March, 1939. The article claims "Old Glory" was finished in a mere 10 weeks (while the typical cartoon short of the day took 10 months to complete).

First Patriotic Cartoon In Hollywood's History Set for July 4 Release
200 Artists Work 10 Weeks at Full Blast Turning Out "Old Glory"
by Frederick C. Othman
United Press Correspondent

HOLLYWOOD, June 16 --- Leon Schlesinger, the cartoon producer who couldn't draw a picture if his life depended on it, completed today Hollywood's first patriotic cartoon for July 4 release by the brothers Warner, flag-wavers extraordinary.

This is important news for a number of reasons:

1. Schlesinger set an all-time record for speed by producing and photographing 20,000 separate drawings in 10 weeks flat; the average cartoon of the same length takes 10 months to complete.

2. The picture marks an extraordinary turnabout of the old phrase, "From the sublime to the ridiculous." Schlesinger's cartoon went from Porky Pig to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

3. It was an excellent production and included more American history in one reel than ever has been packed together before.
Schlesinger said live actors would have taken a full-length feature picture to tell the same story.

The business of producting a cartoon in 10 weeks, with drawings in full color being made at the rate of 2,000 a week, turned the Schlesinger headquarters inside out. When he thought of the idea in bed one night in March, the boss told his scenarists to write a patriotic story and then he set all his 209 artists working on it. For a full 10 weeks they didn't do a lick of work a merrie melodie or a looney tune, the Schlesinger specialties which he turns out at the rate of 42 a year.

"And it costs me 25 percent more than any other cartoon," he said, "and I'm bound to lose money on it. Only return I'll get is the satisfaction of having made it."

The full story was published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Jun 17, 1939, but I also wanted to include one more quote from Leon from the end of that piece:

"I always figured that I was a business man and that art and business didn't mix. I never saw an artist who could handle his own bank account. And I never saw a business man who was any ready hand with a paint brush. So I merely hired the best artists and writers I could get and let them go to it. It seems to have worked out all right."

Kentucky Fried Foghorn

Poor Foghorn must have been desperate for cash in 1987. That was the year he sold out and became the spokesbird for Kentucky Fried Chicken. We've showcased one or two of these commercials in the past, but below is what may just be the "complete" collection. Foghorn not only co-stars in spots with Henery Hawk, but also Miss Prissy, Egghead Junior, and even El Toro from "Bully For Bugs". Without further ado here's our favorite rooster shilling for Colonel Sanders.

Petunia Pig for President!

This 1986 PSA, one of a series featuring Looney Tunes characters discussing the U.S. Constitution, features Porky and Petunia Pig. Petunia wants to be President someday, and proves to the skeptical Porky that it's possible.

Globetrotting Commercial Break

Bugs and friends in this 1998 French paint commercial, where they visit (and immediately trash) a random woman's house. Why is Sylvester Junior licking the walls?



Bugs sure loved selling Kool-Aid and not just here in the USA. Here are two 1980s era commercials from Mexico.

The Death of Bosko

We've been looking for this Nickelodeon promo for years. Back in 1992, Nickelodeon got the rights to a number of Looney Tunes shorts they had never shown before. Most were popular, well-known cartoons with major characters, or as they put it, "More of the Looney Tunes YOU want!" Of course, it was an upgrade to have more Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other favorites, but it came at the expense of the black and white "Bosko" shorts. If it weren't for Nickelodeon, it's quite possible nobody would remember Bosko at all, and those of us who enjoyed the characters' primitive cartoons never quite got over the unexplained slap in the face this commercial gave us. Here, in all its cruel and unusual glory, is the official death of Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid.

Speedy Goes Broadband

Here in the United States the Road Runner is used as the mascot for Time Warner Cable's high-speed internet service of the same name. Now in the UK, Virgin Media has just started using Speedy Gonzales in their new ad campaign for their super-fast broadband internet service. The first commercial is below and Virgin has posted an "interview" with Speedy here.



UPDATE: Two more Speedy commercials have surfaced for the Virgin Broadband UK campaign. One features Sylvester, the other features Slowpoke Rodriguez.

The Canyon Kiddies

I had always known that the 1940 cartoon "The Mighty Hunters" featuring James Swinnerton's Canyon Kiddies characters was intended to be the first in a possible series. However, it wasn't until recently that I realized just how ambitious the original plans for this series were. Here is a brief write-up from Louella Parsons' Tells About Hollywood newspaper column from December 26, 1938:

Jimmy Swinnerton, cartoonist for 47 years and the creator of the famous "Canyon Kiddies," is headed for the movies. Leon Schlesinger, producer of the "Merrie Melodies" and "Looney Tunes," has signed Jimmie to a long-term contract which calls for 13 one-reel technicolor "Canyon Kiddies" annually.

Interesting that it was Marion Davies, who loves the funnies and reads every one of them, should first have suggested the possibilities of the Swinnerton cartoons to Leon. Jimmie and Mrs. Schlesinger leave Tuesday for New York for the remainder of the holidays.

In Leonard Maltin's Of Mice and Magic, director Chuck Jones warmly recalls of traveling to the Grand Canyon with Swinnerton, on their own dime, for inspiration for the cartoon. Swinnerton himself provided fifty oil paintings of the desert landscapes for use as backgrounds (a departure from the traditional watercolor backgrounds used in the normal cartoons of the time). This trip is confirmed in Martha Sigall's book, Living Life Inside the Lines, which includes an excerpt from the Schlesinger studio's in-house newspaper, The Exposure Sheet:

Due to the unusual backgrounds and customs in the new series of Canyon Kiddies Cartoons, James Swinnerton, Chuck Jones, and his story unit, left yesterday morning for the old Indian ruins of Arizona.

Mr. Schlesinger felt it was quite necessary for the department to be familiar with the general atmosphere of the country.

They took a 16 mm camera with which to capture, in color, the Indian dances, settings, and characters. They expect to gather enough material on the old Indian legends for the entire series of cartoons. (Have you ever heard of a cartoon studio going out on location?)

P.S. --- Tex Avery's story unit swear their next picture will have a Hawaiian background!!!

The one and only Canyon Kiddies cartoon was released in 1940. Why the plans for the ongoing series were abandoned, I can not say. Perhaps it was budget reasons or perhaps the Schlesinger crew were naturally moving away from this type of charming, yet Disney-esque, style of cartoon. After all, 1940 would also mark the birth of a superstar named Bugs Bunny. Enjoy the full cartoon below.



For more information, check out the following links:

The Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery has some background on Swinnerton's career and cartoons based on his work.

Larry T's blog has a post showing off some of the original Canyon Kiddies artwork done for Good Housekeeping magazine.