87 years ago today the very first Looney Tunes cartoon Sinkin in the Bathtub was released. This also marked the first appearance of Bosko on cinema screens. While it is true that he had appeared in 1929's Bosko the Talk-ink Kid before, that was just a pilot film and only shown to distributors for the cartoons. Sinking in the Bathtub marks his real birthday. So to celebrate the greatest cartoon series ever made, and the birthday of the first Looney Tunes star, today we are going to look at three Bosko cartoons.
The first we will look at is the second Bosko cartoon and second Looney Tune all together, 1930's Congo Jazz. In Sinkin in the Bathtub Bosko clearly had a stereotypical black voice (provided by animator Max Maxwell), However with this film he was made to sound more like Disney's star character Mickey Mouse with a high pitched voice (now provided by Johnny Murray). A lot of stereotypical black dialogue was originally written for this cartoon but never used. This is not were the similarities to Disney end as this cartoon bares a strong rebalance to the 1929 Mickey Mouse cartoon Jungle Rythym. Despite all this it remains a very entertaining picture so directed by Hugh Harmon and Rudolph Ising here is Congo Jazz.
Hugh Harmon and Rudolph Ising were the creators of Bosko and they also co-directed is earliest films. However when Looney Tunes sister series Merrie Melodies was created, Ising took over directing that series while Hugh Harmon directed the Looney Tunes (all the Bosko films) mostly by himself. This next cartoon took place after that happened and is also one of Bosko's best films. This cartoon shows Bosko in a much more violently funny cartoon. That shows a brief glimpse of what Looney Tunes would later become, despite the still obvious Disney influence. This cartoon bears a passing rebalance to another Disney cartoon, this time Walt's 1927 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Great Guns (for which Harmon was an animator on). So from 1931 here is Bosko the Doughboy.
Last but not least is another one of Bosko's best outings. This cartoon featured another addition to make Bosko resemble more and more Mickey Mouse. That was Bruno the dog, obviously inspired by Pluto. This was Bruno second appearance in a Looney Tunes as he had previously appeared in Bosko's Fox Hunt (released the previous year). This film features some sentimentality, which would figure more into Harmon's MGM work. It is also a film of great energy and a joy to watch. So from 1932 and directed by Hugh Harmon, here is Big Hearted Bosko.
While
these films were quite successful Hugh Harmon (and to a lesser extent Rudolph
Ising) was not happy about the budgets they were made on. He simply wanted more
money to make these cartoons. However Leon Schlesinger refused to raise the
films budget. After this both Hugh Harmon and Rudolph Ising left Warner
Brothers in mid-1933. However learning from their former boss, Walt Disney,
losing the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Harmon and Ising made sure they
owned the rights to the character of Bosko. Because of this the Looney Tunes series no
longer had any star characters (which would lead to the creation of the beloved characters we associate with Looney Tunes today) When at
MGM Harmon and Ising created a series called Happy Harmonies. Though this series
focused mostly on one shot characters and stories, a few Bosko cartoons were
made for it.
-Michael J. Ruhland
Resources Used
Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
80 years ago today one of the world's greatest cartoon characters made his first appearance on movie screens. This character was Daffy Duck and his film debut was 1937's Porky's Duck Hunt. Before this cartoon movie audiences had never seen a cartoon character as wild, crazy and energetic as Daffy. Naturally audiences wanted more Daffy, and of course they got more of him. Today to celebrate his birthday we are going to look at three classic Daffy Duck cartoons.
Our first film is Daffy Duckaroo directed by Norm McCabe. Norm McCabe is one of the most forgotten directors of Looney Tunes cartoons. Part of this is that he spent such a short time as a director. Before becoming a director McCabe had been one of Bob Clampett's main animators, when Clampett was still doing black and white Looney Tunes. When in 1942 Bob Clampett got promoted to doing color Merrie Melodie cartoons, Norm McCabe took over his black and white Looney Tunes unit. However in 1943 director Frank Tashlin had returned to Warner Brothers after leaving it to work at Disney and Colombia. Tashlin was given charge of this unit and McCabe was no longer a director. However Norm McCabe would later return to be director as he directed various TV cartoons. Included among his TV work is a segment in the Tiny Toons Adventures episode Pledge Week entitled Lifeguard Lunacy. Another reason is that you will not see his shorts on Cartoon Network or Boomerang, because they are in black and white, they contain many references to World War Two and they feature a lot of racial stereotypes. Despite all this though his cartoons had their own unique personality all to themselves, and were often very good films. One of the best examples of his work is the following cartoon so from 1942, here is The Daffy Duckaroo.
Next up comes one of the most pure energetic cartoons ever made. This is Friz Freleng's Yankee Doodle Daffy. Despite the title this is not a patriotic cartoon even though there were plenty of those coming out of the Looney Tunes series at this time. The title rather alludes to the famous Michael Crtiz live action feature that had come out the previous year. That film featured James Cagney playing George M. Cohan, who was one of the all time great entertainers. This film on the other hand features Daffy as a talent manager trying to promote his latest sensation, Sleepy Lagoon to a less than enthusiastic Porky Pig, who in this cartoon is president of Smeller Productions (a talent agency). Friz Freleng was a master of comic timing and that shows perfectly here as the film is paced perfectly. It may never really slow down, but never does this fast pace become distracting. So from 1943 here is Yankee Doddle Daffy.
Lastly comes another pairing of Daffy and Porky, this time in a black and white Looney Tune directed by Bob Clampett called Scalp Trouble. Clampett was one of the most energetic and wild directors in the history of cartoons. Since Daffy Duck is one of the most energetic and wild cartoon characters of all time they made a perfect team. The writing credit for this cartoon was given to Ernest Gee. Gee was one of Clampett's friends from high school. He wasn't a writer in the traditional sense. Rather than actually write out a story on a script or storyboard, Gee would join Clampett for a game of Ping Pong. As they played they talked about the cartoon and doing it this way caused him to come up with ideas and gags quickly. Scalp Trouble would be remade by Friz Freleng as a color Merrie Melodie called Slightly Daffy in 1944. So from 1939 here is Scalp Trouble.
-Michael J. Ruhland
Resources Used Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier
Anyone who reads my blogs, knows that I love Laurel and Hardy, and why not? They are hilarious. And on Oliver Hardy's 125th Birthday of course I have to write about some films he appears in.
The first film we are going to look at is called The Paperhanger's Helper (also known as Stick Around)and was before Oliver Hardy teamed up with Stan Laurel. In this film he is teamed up with a forgotten actor named Bobby Ray. The relationship and humor in this film however are very reminiscent of the work he would do with Stan Laurel. There are some distinct differences though. Oliver Hardy plays a mean character here than he would later and Bobby Ray, while talented doesn't have the charisma of Stan. Despite this however the film is very funny, and a delight to watch. So from 1925 and directed by Ted Burnsten, here is The Paperhanger's Helper.
Next up we are going to look at the first film where Stan and Ollie were teamed, Duck Soup (the supervising director was Leo McCarey who would direct the better know Marx Brother's film of the same name). Unlike most comedy teams of the time Laurel and Hardy teamed up on film, instead of some where else, first. Though they had appeared together first in 1921 with The Lucky Do, they were not a team until this film. Interestingly the film was originally going to star Stan Laurel and Syd Crossley. However for unknown reasons Syd did not appear in the film and was replaced by Oliver Hardy. The story of this short was based off a skit written by a British Music Hall comedian named Arthur Jefferson, who just happened to be Stan's father. This story would be used again for the teams talkie short Another Fine Mess. This is a delightful film and it is easy to see why the team would soon become so popular with audiences. It is also worth noting a first the studio didn't realize what it had as Stan and Ollie would make quite a few shorts separately and also both appear in films where they shared very little footage. So from 1927 and directed by Fred Guiol (with supervising direction by Leo McCarey) here is Duck Soup.
Last but not least is one of my favorite Laurel and Hardy shorts, Their First Mistake. This short may be one of the funniest live action short subjects ever made. Along with Stan and Ollie also appearing in this film was Mae Busch (in a returning role as Mrs. Hardy (she had already played Ollie's wife in Unaccustomed As I Am, and would later return to the role for Sons of the Desert and The Bohemian Girl)) and Billy Gilbert (known to my fellow Disney lovers as the voice of Sneezy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves), both giving great performances. Stan Laurel was known for improvising and here he improvised so much that the film went over schedule and budget that the ending was never filmed, leaving the short without a proper ending. However this is not a big deal as the film is so funny, I don't care about the lack of an ending. So from 1932 and directed by George Marshall, here is Their First Mistake.
You know what time it is. Of course you do... It's Keystone Time. Yep we are going to look at some more shorts from the Keystone studio.
First up is A Busy Day, a film staring the biggest name to come out of Keystone, Charlie Chaplin. While Charlie would later leave Keystone and go to make some of the best comedy films of all time, he got his start at the Keystone studio. He worked at the studio only for the year 1914, however a lot happened during this year. He had his first film role, he adopted the Tramp costume, he started directing his own films and he acted in Tillie's Punctured Romance (the first known feature length comedy). When making A Busy Day, he had not begun directing yet, instead this film is directed by the head of Keystone Studios himself, Mack Sennett. Also while he had appeared in the Tramp costume by this time (starting with Kid Auto Races in Venice), he had not truly adopted the costume and the character was far from realized. In this film he does not appear in that costume but rather in drag, actually playing a woman, with Mack Swain (who would later play Big Jim McCay in Chaplin's The Gold Rush). While this is far from one of Charlie Chaplin's best films, it is an entertaining little romp, and a fascinating look into the early career of one of comedy film's greatest masters.
Probably the best teaming of stars at Keystone was the teaming of Mabel Normand and Fatty "Roscoe" Arbuckle. The two had perfect chemistry together and it was always a joy seeing them share the screen. Up next is my favorite pairing of the two, Fatty and Mabel's Simple Life from 1915. This short shows a bit of sweetness in the characters that is unusual in Keystone films, that actually tuned up multiple times in the shorts that teamed these two up. It works in these films because of the talent these two stars had. However this is still a slapstick comedy at heart, featuring much of the typical Keystone sense of humor, and much of it is quite funny. The film was directed by Fatty himself. So enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_T80QoRLIs
By the time this last short (1924) was made, the studio had changed it's name to Mack Sennett Comedies. This short stars the studios latest big star, Harry Langdon, who Mack Sennett felt was the greatest comedian he ever worked with. This is one of Harry's best shorts a mini masterpiece called All Night Long. The film was directed by Harry Edwards and written by Arthur Ripley, two of Harry's best collaborators. Despite Frank Capra often times given himself credit for creating Harry's character, this film was done before he ever worked on a film with Harry Langdon, and it is obvious that the character is fully developed here. While hints of Harry's character showed up in earlier films, this is one of the earliest (and arguably the earliest) times that every thing came together perfectly. This film also has the slower pacing and offbeat humor that is shown in Harry's best work. This may be one of the greatest live action short comedies ever made so enjoy, a lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D4kt55ezsE
It's been a while since I have done one of these. So a quick reminder this is a mixture of trivia and short stories about classic film comedy (1912.-1955). This was inspired by the Animation Antidotes posts on Cartoon research.com to give credit where credit is due.
French cinema and stage legend Sacha Guitry made only one published novel. This novel was adapted by Guiltry himself into his most popular film, The Story of a Cheat (1936). Most of his films were based off his own plays. Another exception to this is his film The Pearls of the Crown (1937). That film was his only story originally written (by himself) to be a movie. Both are fantastic films I highly recommend.
Director Chuck Jones had a set of rules for the coyote and roadrunner cartoons to follow (Roadrunner must stay on the road, No dialogue beyond "Beep Beep", the roadrunner must never hurt the coyote, etc.). However his main writer Michael Maltese was unaware of such rules. Coyote and roadrunner cartoons were the easiest cartoons to make for them, and therefore where often used to fill time when another cartoon was taking a longer time.
Laurel and Hardy made foreign language versions of their own films, by reading the words written phonetically off-screen. Some of these were in fact longer than the original English language version (with extra scenes added) and some combined multiple shorts together. Though it is often written that Pardon Us was the team's first feature (it was their first English language one) the first of their films to reach feature length (at least that I'm aware of) was Noche De Duendes (1930), a Spanish language version of The Laurel and Hardy Murder Case (1930) with scenes from Berthmarks added. This film was 49 minutes, and a feature is any film over 40 minutes.
When working on the film The Kid (1921), Charlie Chaplin would take Jackie Coogan (who played the title character) to an amusement park, for pony rides or whatever every Sunday. The two remained close for many years.
76 years ago today Bugs Bunny first hopped onto movie screens. Since this he has become one of the most famous and beloved cartoon stars in the world. To celebrate his birthday today we are going to look at some great Bugs Bunny shorts.
We are going to start with a classic 1943 cartoon from director Robert Clampett. This film is Falling Hare, and is a short about Bugs fighting a gremlin. The title was originally going to be Bugs Bunny and the Gremlin. However Disney was working on an animated feature called Gremlin Lore (film that would never come to be). Because of this Walt asked if the other Hollywood animation studious could not make cartoons about gremlins. However since this cartoon was already well into production, producer Leon Schlesinger decided instead to change the title to Falling Hare. Similarly another Warner Brothers' cartoon originally going to be titled Gremlins From the Kremlin was renamed Russian Rhapsody. The animators on this film include Robert McKimson, Rod Scribner, Manny Gould, Thomas McKimson, Bill Melendez, Phil Monore and Virgil Ross. This an excellent and very funny cartoon, so enjoy.
Next up is All This and Rabbit Stew. This cartoon was directed by animation great Tex Avery. However Avery had left Warners by the time the film was released. Because of this he receives no screen credit for having directed it. This was the last Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Tex Avery, who had directed Bugs in the rabbit's debut A Wild Hare. Animation of Bugs tricking the hunter with log would be reused in the cartoon The Big Snooze. This film has been declared one of the censored 11. These are 11 Warner Brothers cartoon that have been banned from TV because they have been declared too racially insensitive. This cartoon however is a very funny film and a must watch for all lovers of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. The animators include Robert McKimson, Virgil Ross, Charles McKimson, Rod Scribner, Sidney Sutherland and John Didrik Johnsen.
Last but certainly not least is the 1950 classic Rabbit of Seville directed by Chuck Jones. Chuck Jones and his writer Michael Maltese loved the mixture of high and popular culture and this film shows that perfectly., as it is a slapstick parody of opera, but is also very respectful to opera. Notice a sign with the names Eduardo Selzeri, Michele Maltese and Carlo Jonzi on it. This obviously references Chuck and Michael, but it also references producer Edward Selzer. The animators on this film include Ken Champin, Ben Washam, Phil Monroe, Emery Hawkins and Llyod Vaughan. This is a masterpiece of cartoon filmmaking so enjoy
The popularity of Bugs will never end nor should it so on with the show this is it...
Today we give tribute to one of the greatest comic minds in the history of film. That is Stan Laurel, who was born this day in 1890. Stan Laurel is of course most associated with the team of Laurel and Hardy and this is where he did his best film work. The Laurel and Hardy films remain some of the funniest comedies in the history of cinema. They are something that every lover of comedy should watch however he had a quite good career before he teamed up with his longtime screen partner.
This is where are first film comes in. It is Stan's earliest existing film. Though Stan had appeared in films before this, all of those are considered lost. So we are going to look at 1918's Just Rambling Along. This film was directed by Hal Roach, who produced many of Laurel and Hardy's best films. This film is the first time Stan worked with Roach. Look for also appearing in this film Noah Young (the bully in many Harold Lloyd films) and Bud Jamison (who would often times appear with the Three Stooges). It is also worth noting how little this character has to do with Stan Laurel's later character. It would be a while before audiences would first see that character. Also this film doesn't exist in it's entirety and parts are missing but we are lucky to have it at all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otaFjn7oc3k
Stan Laurel for a short time appeared in a few films of actor/director/writer Larry Semon. What is interesting about this is Oliver Hardy did as well but not at the same time. So the two never worked together on these films. Larry Semon was a very popular comedian during this time. His talents lied heavily in slapstick and stunts, but he often missed when it came to story and characters. Therefore his film output was not very consistent. However this film is one of Semon's best. So also from 1918 here is Fraud and Frenzies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdikSvgU4TY
Next up comes a classic Laurel and Hardy silent short called That's My Wife. Laurel and Hardy teamed up near the end of the silent era, but their contribution to this art of silent film was great. Such films as this, Wrong Again, Big Business and Two Tars are absolute classics of silent comedy. This film was directed by Lloyd French, whose whole career as a director was mostly spent in short subjects (his only feature work was as an uncredited co-director on a Laurel and Hardy feature called Pack Up Your Troubles). He did his best work with Laurel and Hardy directing such classics as Dirty Work and Busy Bodies. One of the writers of this film was Leo McCarey who would later direct such classics as Duck Soup and The Awful Truth. McCarey is also often given credit for the idea of teaming Stan and Ollie. The cinematographer for this film was George Stevens, who would later direct such classic as The More The Merrier, The Dairy of Anne Frank and Shane. This is a fantastic short and I know you will enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6wgHSKvIzk
Next up comes another classic Laurel and Hardy short. The next film is Brats. This film was directed by James Parrott, who was the brother to comedian Charlie Chase. This film features no one but Laurel and Hardy. Though this was done before in Early to Bed, it was very rare. In this film they played their own kids as well as their regular characters. Like many of Laurel and Hardy's talkies multiple versions of this film were made. A silent version, an English langue talkie version (the one you are about to see) and foreign langue versions (for which Laurel and Hardy themselves read off of cue cards with the dialogue written phonetically). This is a great short so enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mxjmf_mIuw
