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The Wearing of the Grin (1951)
Back to Wackyland for Porky's final solo cartoon
This was the final solo cartoon starring Porky Pig, and fittingly, it is also one of his most surreal. The whole thing is a dream (or is it?) where Porky goes into the Daliesque world he inhabited in Bob Clampett's 1938 classic PORKY IN WACKYLAND, only with an Irish bent to it this time around. The short is also satirizing the Hans Christian Andersen story, THE RED SHOES, which had recently been adapted for the screen, in 1948, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger when this cartoon went into production. The Leprechauns popped up later in the audience watching the basketball game in SPACE JAM. Porky would go on to be teamed with Daffy or Sylvester throughout the golden age, but never again as a solo performer.
Bell Hoppy (1954)
Belling the Kangaroo!
This was the 73rd short Robert McKimson directed. Hipperty Hopper, a McKimson creation, only appeared in 14 cartoons during the Looney Tune's Golden Age, but he's one of those characters who have made such an impact culturally that we think of him as being in a lot more. This is an interesting variation on the "Belling the Cat" fable, only in this one the cats are the ones "belling" a mutual enemy, and Sylvester is too stupid to make up an excuse, thus turning the myth from one about executing a plan to one about wanting acceptance at any cost (including getting beat up by a kangaroo). This is one of those cartoons that didn't get much play on television, probably due to the violence.
Plop Goes the Weasel! (1953)
Brrr! Someb... I say, somebody close the door. I feel a draft.
This was the 66th short Robert McKimson directed, and it's one of the greats. This is the debut of The Weasel. This cartoon played a lot when I was a child, so the Weasel just seems to be another essential member of the Looney tunes family to me. He is in only a few cartoons, but he is unique in that he's primal, like many other Looney Tunes adversaries, but pathetically naïve rather than scary (like the Tasmanian Devil), nor is he lovable (like Beaky Buzzard). The beauty of the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons(and Looney Tunes in general)is the way the characters were complete jerks to each other; the opening of this cartoon where Foghorn keeps letting out chicks, and then himself, is a tour de force one character torturing the other.
There Auto Be a Law (1953)
McKimson goes into Tex Avery territory
This was the 65th cartoon Robert McKimson directed. This is a "blackout" cartoon. Where there's a gag and then a blackout before the next gag. Tex Avery was a master at this style of cartoon; McKimson is better with character driven shorts, but there are still some gems here, especially the repetitive gags sprinkled throughout the cartoon. The narration is credited to John T. Smith, who played a few classic Looney Tune one-shot characters, like Bugs Bunny's Master Sargent in FORWARD MARCH HARE, outlaw Nasty Canasta in the Daffy & Porky horse opera DRIP-ALONG DAFFY, Bugs Bunny's wrestling opponent, The Crusher, in BUNNY HUGGED, and Hercules, the construction worker, in HOMELESS HARE ("I'm feelin' mighty low").
Muscle Tussle (1953)
If you're looking for trouble, brother, just start somethin'!
This was the 64th cartoon Robert McKimson directed, and it's one of the essentials. The cartoon features a rare appearance by the fair Melissa, Daffy's girlfriend, who BARELY seems to be be into Daffy. Melissa Duck (played by Bea Benaderet in THE SCARLETT PUMPERNICKEL, and B.J. Ward in THE DUXORCIST) is played here by Gladys Holland, a little known actress who spoke perfect French, due to her parents being Belgium immigrants. and played small French roles in a number of American movies, including THE CARPETBAGGERS, STARGATE and KILLING ZOE. Hunky Duck never made another appearance, but he's one of those characters who made such an impact in his one cartoon (like Pete Puma) which ran in such heavy rotation on television in the 1960s and 1970s, that he seems like a full fledged Looney tune regular. "You all can call me Shorty."
Hoppy-Go-Lucky (1952)
Lenny from OF MICE AND MEN is a cat this time
This is an interesting McKimson cartoon because instead of Sylvester Jr. egging Sylvester on to catch the "Giant mouse" he's been replaced by Benny, voiced by the legendary star of records, cartoons, and classic TV commercials, Stan Freberg. Benny is based on the simple-minded character Lenny from the novel and film OF MICE AND MEN. Lon Chaney Jr.'s performance as Lenny in the classic 1938 Lewis Milestone film adaptation was mercilessly lampooned multiple times in the Looney Tune universe, and then Tex Avery continued the tradition when he moved to MGM. Lenny was used as the inspiration for Bugs Bunny's Abominable Snowman adversary, Hugo, in THE ABOMINABLE SNOW RABBIT (1961) and for Willoughby the Dog in OF FOX AND HOUNDS (1940) to name but a couple of characters. The dramatic climax of the novel, when George is about to shoot Lenny in the back of the head out of mercy, Lenny's line heartbreaking line, "Tell me about the rabbits, George," is often echoed in the Looney Tune universe whenever someone gets hit in the head REALLY hard (with birds and stars orbiting around their heads). I always liked the threat of rubbing Sylvester's hair the wrong way.
Early to Bet (1951)
Punishment for the Joy of Punishment
This was the 44th cartoon Robert McKimson directed, and it's a good one. I love this dog: he's a perfect portrait of an anal retentive S&M dominate, right down to the mounted wheel of fortune and the numbered and filed punishments, like a self-assured version of James Spader in THE SECRETARY. We last saw this team in "It's Hummer Time" (1950) where the dog punished the cat when the cat disturbed him (while chasing a humming bird). Here the dog is not punishing him due to annoyance, it's just the result of a friendly game of chance, which the cat can't help but play due to being bitten by the Gambling Bug. This cat was never named, but is sometimes referred to as "The Tuxedo Cat," "McKimson's Cat." or "The Capistrano Cat" because of his starring role in McKimson's "Swallow The Leader" (1949) where he hunted the swallows at Mission San Juan Capistrano. The cat would only appear in one more cartoon, LEGHORN SWOGGLED (1951.
Bushy Hare (1950)
Unga bunga bunga, Binga binga binga bunga!
This was the 40th cartoon Robert McKimson directed, and it's one of those Looney Tunes that qualify as essential spiritual nourishment. This has the one appearance of Nature Boy, a character that made such an impact that it seems like he was around a lot more (i.e. - they played the hell out of this cartoon when I was a child in the 1960s and 1970s...thankfully!) This is a masterpiece, with the "unga bunga" argument as it's centerpiece, but you also have to love the fight inside Gracie, the mother Kangaroo and the Daliesque landscape when Bugs is bouncing around on the ground by himself. This is the only cartoon where Gracie gets more screen time than Hippety Hopper and the only time Hippety speaks. This is also one of the 12 Bugs Bunny cartoons Cartoon Network did not play in their June 2001 "June Bugs" marathon where they played all the rest of the Bugs Bunny cartoons: it was pulled for being a stereotype of an Aborigine. While he's obviously SUPPOSED to be an Aborigine, I always saw Nature Boy's design as more of a generic wild man with no particular ethnicity (caveman?)
Pink Plasma (1975)
visual cool jazz
Art Leonardi is a legendary animator who worked on the tail end of the Looney Tunes run, on the PINK PANTHER shorts, and on television shows like TINY TOON ADVENTURES, and PINK PANTHER AND SONS. He only directed a few cartoons, and this is his masterpiece. At their best, Pink Panther cartoons work like visual equivalent of cool jazz, and this one has that ease that seems to move with the Henry Mancini score like they're having sex together (I was never sure how involved Mancini was with the music: were they using cues? Or was it variations on a theme of Mancini?). The subtle refrain of "blah, blah, blah" from the vampire (which like all the other voices in this cartoon, is provided by Leonardi) sets the tone for the coolness. EDWARD R, MURROW: "Now what's 'cool?'" LOUIS ARMSTRONG: 'Cool,' in my estimation, is a cat that's playing a trumpet and he's lazy to hit a high note, he's too lazy."
Water, Water Every Hare (1952)
Chuck Jones at his trippiest.
This is one of those cartoons that had an edge to it, even as a child I knew there was something different about it (the same feeling I had about The Beatles' song "I Am The Walrus.") As a child I remember being fascinated by the 3D realism of the robot,the sarcophagus, and the bottle, in contrast to the equally beautiful2D image of the green Evil Scientist, which is a caricature of Vincent Price, and the fire engine red Gossamer, here named "Rudolph." I also thought it was somewhat disturbing with the it-was-a-dream!/"That's-what-YOU-think!" ending, especially after watching Bugs and the scientist drift around on ether to a less famous, slow section of the "William Tell Overture." Trippy. "Come... back... here... you... rab... bit. "
Bewitched Bunny (1954)
A great Halloween classic!
This is the first appearance of Witch Hazel in the Looney Tunes universe. Her voice is patterned after another character named "Witch Hazel" from the 1952 Donald Duck cartoon "Trick or Treat." Because the character was named after a household product, Disney did not have a copyright on the name. Jones originally wanted June Foray, who originated the voice for the Disney cartoon to do the voice for the Warner Brothers' Witch Hazel. At first she refused, thus Bea Benaderet (i.e.- "Kate" from PETTICOAT JUNCTION) is imitating June Foray's voice in this cartoon. One of the most notable things about this cartoon is Maurice Noble's crazy backgrounds, where the furniture seems to be painted onto the background with no rhyme of reason, thus the curtains and windows start on the ceiling and end on the wall and the end table with the lamp is painted on the wall sideways. Also note, Looney Tunes took a shot at everyone, this one includes German stereotypes, but as this cartoon was made just 9 years after the ordeal of WWII, I'm sure the Germans were still fair game in the minds of the Looney tunes writers.
Boobs in the Woods (1950)
Surrealism...Looney Tunes style!
Here we have a classic Daffy/Porky pairing; this was the 31st cartoon Robert McKimson directed. One joke contemporary audiences miss right off the bat is the retro-cool vintage teardrop trailer Porky is traveling with was also called a "canned ham" because of its shape
and Porky is a pig
get it? It's also interesting that while Loony Tunes are famous for their Salvador Dali tributes (not just for PORKY IN WACKYLAND/DOUGH FOR THE DO-DO, but also many of the desert scenes in early Roadrunner cartoons) here René Magritte is referenced in the landscape painting Porky does, where the painting represents exactly the portion of the landscape covered by the painting. This was a common theme in Magritte's paintings (referenced extensively in Douglas Hofstadter's 1979 book GODEL, ESCHER. BACH: THE ETERNAL GOLDEN BRAID) and can be seen in "Les Promenades d'Euclide" and his two paintings entitled "La condition humaine," to name a few. Another joke contemporary audiences don't get is Mel Blanc's virtuosity in sounding like old car motors; he came to fame on radio doing voices and, most importantly, making the sounds of Jack Benny's Maxwell, which he is referencing at the end of this cartoon. The closing scene has been cut when broadcast where Daffy is "choked" over and over while pretending to be the engine, and the "Pocahontas" scene with war woops are also often cut.
Hurdy-Gurdy Hare (1950)
A classic Robert McKimson short
This was the 30th short Robert McKimson directed, and it is one of those essential masterpieces from the Looney Tunes series. This cartoon brings out the worst in all the characters; the little monkey is a cheat and tattle-tale and ends up in business with Bugs exploiting the Gorilla, Bugs picks a monkey and a hurdy-gurdy as a business investment, admits he's just tormenting the gorilla, keeps peaking at the woman in the apartment, and in the end. exploits the gorilla, meanwhile the gorilla is just stupid. I think my favorite part is still the sound of the crashing plane as the gorilla jumps off the ledge. The last line is a reference to James Petrillo, who was the president of the American Federation of Musicians from 1940-1958. He is famous for the "Petrillo Bans", where from 1942-1944 union musicians went on strike and refused to make records until the companies agreed to pay royalties to their musicians (there was a second ban in 1949 due to a disagreement over television royalties.) Petrillo was a common pop culture punch line during the ban, with references to him appearing in radio shows, and movies like the 1945 Bing Crosby vehicle THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S and the 1952 Hope/Crosby film ROAD TO BALI, and even Lord Buckley's riff "The Hip Gan."
The Windblown Hare (1949)
"Holy cow! I haven't even taken care of Grandma yet!"
This was the 26th short directed by Robert McKimson. Here's another classic that include some jaw-dropping moments of comedy; the light switch/steps gag, the speed reading of "Little Red Riding Hood," and a VERY effective use of Johann Strauss' "Künstlerleben Waltz" when the wolf gets clotheslined (the waltz was supposed to evoke the feeling of a carnival, but Looney Tune composer Carl Stalling always used that snippet for when a character gets stuck in the head so hard that he's disorientated). A lot of Looney Tunes from this period take swipes at Disney cartoons, and this is 1 of 3 that is built on the Silly Symphony THREE LITTLE PIGS, which won the 1934 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. However this was not out of spite, as the great Chuck Jones openly marveled at THREE LITTLE PIGS, stating "They were three characters who looked alike and acted differently". The scene where Bugs pokes the wolf in the eyes is sometimes cut when the cartoon is broadcast.
Hobo Bobo (1947)
Weird Looney Tune take on DUMBO
Here we are 6 years after DUMBO with McKimson trying to be sweet like Disney, yet with a Looney Tunes edge and ultimately failing at it. (It seems like Chuck Jones might have been a better choice as a director). It is interesting that the Minah Bird (a Jones character from the "Inky" cartoons) is involved without Inky; this would have been the character's penultimate appearance in the Golden age of Looney Tunes. The voices are by Mel Blanc and Robert C. Bruce (the narration voice for the Looney Tunes)and a young Stan Freberg as Bobo. I also don't remember this one playing very often; it's an odd little one-shot, amusing, but not essential when compared to the other cartoons McKimson did at the times, like the two cartoons that preceded it, ONE MEAT BRAWL, which introduced Foghorn Leghorn, Henery Hawk, and the Barnyard Dog to the world, and the Daffy Duck Classic BIRTH OF A NOTION.
Daffy Doodles (1946)
Daffy Exits Through the Gift Shop
McKimson became a director at Termite Terrace when Frank Tashlin left to make live action films. It has been said that Tashlin started this cartoon that and McKimson finished it.
This was only the 2nd cartoon McKimson directed, and his first Looney Tune, and it is100% essential in the Daffy/Porky cannon if only for it's absurdist/situationist/dadaist premise, appropriated from the most famous of Marcel Duchamp's readymades, "L.H.O.O.Q." where he drew a mustache and goatee on a print of the Mona Lisa.
Here a quarter of a century later, Daffy is somewhere between an O.C.D. vandal and an obsessed street artist, a la Banksy, Ron English or Shepard Fairey, sticking it to corporate America by making it look ludicrous, while Porky plays a working-dog-lackey who attempts to keep Daffy from disrupting the status quo, and ultimately fails.
I would put this in the essential-spiritual-nourishment category of McKimson's work.
And by the way, the jury is made up of multiple Jerry Colonnas, a famous radio comedian at the time whose catch phrases were used in various Looney Tunes during the 1940s.
"Ah, yes! heavy, isn't it?!"
The Hobbit (1966)
More of a contract fulfillment than a cartoon, but an interesting historical document
This is not so much a "cartoon" as it is a rush job to get a "film" made before a deadline.
Producer William L. Snyder bought the rights to THE HOBBIT for a small sum before the revival of interest in Tolkien that came when the books were published in paperback. The plan was to make a feature length film adaptation, but it fell through. Meanwhile the interest in Tolkien started to take off and by 1968 even Leonard Nimoy was recording songs based on THE HOBBIT.
In order to keep the rights for resale Snyder realized he just needed to make A film; the contract did not say the film had to be animated, nor did it say how long it had to be, nor did it say it had to be any good. He had Deitch make a 12 minute film made up of still pictures so he could show it in a theater one time, which he did on June 30th 1966, the day the contract would have expired. The audience members had to sign affidavits that they saw it as proof that the contract had been fulfilled. Snyder got his extension on the rights and soon sold them for $100,000 (in 1966 money!)
The film was presumed lost, but turned up in a vault and its now readily available on YouTube. Deitch added characters, made Bilbo look like a little human boy, and chopped what took Peter Jackson 3 films to tell down to 12 minutes.
It's not a great cartoon by any means; there was NEVER any plans to release it! Howeverit is an interesting historical oddity from a weird meeting where Deitch crossed paths with Tolkien.
Ration Fer the Duration (1943)
Classic WWII Propaganda
Here's a classic WWII cartoon that humorously deals the the frustrations of wartime rationing via Jack and The Beanstalk, where The Giant is a hoarder and The Goose lays rubber tires instead of golden eggs. Disney had planned to do the fairy tale (it eventually become the "Mickey and The Beanstalk" section of the 1947 feature FUN AND FANCY) for a couple of years before this cartoon was released - Famous Studios beat Disney to this classic. It should be noted that the first 4 note of Beethoven's 5th Symphony can be heard in the opening and closing of this cartoon, and also when Popeye snores. The 4 notes' rhythm, "dit-dit-dit-dah," are the same as a "V" in Morse Code. During WWII the "V for Victory" campaign was to have people against the Nazis write or paint "V"s in occupied countries to let them know that their enemies were all around them. The BBC began using Beethoven's notes at the start of all their broadcasts to Europe and it became standard show of solidarity around the world for those oppresses by the Axis powers during WWII.
I Likes Babies and Infinks (1937)
A Surreal and witty variation on the Popeye formula
this is the 52nd Fleischer Studio Popeye shorts. If you survey the first 51 Popeye cartoons, it's obvious the writers were wanting to explore new options after 40+ cartoons that ended with Popeye setting the world right by opening a can of whup-ass (or more poetically speaking, "spinach."). In the last few cartoons before this one we've seen Olive eat the spinach to save the day (NEVER KICK A WOMAN, 1936) Swee' Pea ate spinach to save the day (LOST AND FOUNDRY, 1936) and in one Popeye even fed spinach to Bluto in order to get Bluto to beat him up (to get close to Olive, who was playing a nurse, in HOSPITALIKY, 1937). In this one no one eats spinach. It's a novel variation on the theme. And while the Fleischers' cartoons were certainly not representational of everyday life, this cartoon has a particularly surrealistic edge to is for the impossible acts Popeye and Bluto do to calm down the drying Swee' Pea. It's a great cartoon.
I Never Changes My Altitude (1937)
A very interesting cartoon - and no one eats spinach!
This cartoon is interesting for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that opening 3-D stereo-optical shot that starts off the cartoon. This is also interesting in that I believe it's the first one where Olive is fickled, as the cartoon begins with Popeye reading a "Dear John" letter from Olive where she explains that she's left him for Bluto. As in POPEYE THE SAILOR MEETS ALI BABA'S FORTY THIEVES (which was nearing completion around the time this cartoon was released) ) rather than ravage Olive's body, Bluto puts her to work painting his plane while he flies around in it(the FORTY THIEVES force her to do their laundry). I always took the concept of Olive's various kidnappers putting her to work as the Fleischers way of lampooning how "wholesome" their pictures had to be under the Hays Code, the Hollywood censorship policies, which all but destroyed the Fleischer's earlier iconic superstar & sex symbol, Betty Boop(who had to start wearing longer skirts in the cartoons). Once the Fleischers left the Popeye cartoons (around the beginning of the U.S. involvementin WWII) Olive's whole character became that of a fickled woman who leaves Popeye for Bluto in virtually every cartoon, instead of the fleshed out character she is in these early shorts. I really like the umbrella gag in this cartoon too.