Russian Rhapsody

I know, it's a little past Memorial Day. But it's never too late to enjoy a great wartime cartoon that's really hard to see these days! Bob Clampett's "Russian Rhapsody"(1944) takes a very UNfunny historical figure and lampoons him in a very funny way. In World War II, Adolf Hitler, angry that Germany can't quite make it into Russia, decides to fly his own bombing mission to Moscow. He soon learns first-hand what's been happening to his German planes! A whole bunch of "Gremlins from the Kremlin" (caricatures of the Warner animation staff) make a mess of the evil dictator and his plane!

Russian Rhapsody

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Kentucky Fried Leghorn

Here are a couple more commercials from Foghorn's (slightly disturbing) 1986-7 stint as KFC spokeschicken. First, Foggy tells Henery Hawk how great Kentucky Fried Chicken is (over existing animation from classic McKimson shorts):



Toro the Bull (from "Bully For Bugs") makes an appearance in this next ad from 1987 (it's the 2nd commercial in this longer video below):



Thanks to Frank (reyfamily) for the videos and Tim Hollis for the image.

Trix Magnets

A Trix cereal box from 1979 promoting a set of Looney Tunes magnets.





As you can see, it's a pretty interesting selection of characters... including Merlin, Slowpoke and even Marc Anthony. Don't ask me what they are doing in those poses. Running? Dancing? Shaking off fleas? I have no clue.




Thanks to Tim Hollis for the images.

1-800 Beep Beep!

Here is a commercial from 1986 featuring the Road Runner for Purolator Courier. Thanks again to Frank ("ReyFamily") at the GAC Forums for this great clip!)

An early "Tiny Toons" classic

As I've pointed out before, "Tiny Toon Adventures" was a much better show than it's given credit for. Take, for instance, this early segment featuring Sylvester, Furball, and Lil' Sneezer. Not only is this one of the first times we hear Joe Alaskey voicing Sylvester, it's also the debut of Sneezer, one of the only Tiny Toon stars patterned after a classic character NOT owned by Warner Bros. at the time. Clearly inspired by Chuck Jones' Sniffles the Mouse, Sneezer never appeared alongside his "mentor", presumably because all of the Sniffles cartoons were then owned by Turner.

Also note that Furball is cast as a young protege of Sylvester here. In later episodes, the character became less derivitive of his mentor and more of an original character. While he occasionally talked in early episodes, that idea was eventually dropped entirely, and he became a completely pantomime character, something then unheard of in made-for-TV animation. He eventually became Elmyra's long-suffering pet, and the host to a family of Italian fleas. He also appeared in a couple of surprisingly touching cartoons as a homeless alley cat in search of a home, which many fans believe were created by Steven Spielberg himself.

I Like Central Park Better!

Time out for a rather obscure 1942 Looney Tune directed by Norm McCabe:

Acme Arsenal

Here's another Looney Tunes-based video game that I will probably never play. Coming later this year, LOONEY TUNES: ACME ARSENAL from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and developed by RedTribe. If you are curious to see more, a website has recently launched: http://www.AcmeArsenal.com/.

If you have ever wanted to see an angry looking 3-D Foghorn Leghorn shooting laser blasters (and who hasn't??), this game is for you...