Any Interest in Animated Cartoons?

Isn't Romantic Comedy redundant?
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ChiO
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Post by ChiO »

jdb1 said:
I was a big fan of Winky-Dink as a kid, but I don't really remember too much about it other than having an excuse to draw on the TV screen.
Ditto. Loved putting that plastic on the TV and loading on the crayons. Don't remember more than that and having a Winky-Dink "connect-the-dots" book.

R&B were revolutionary -- almost conceptual artists. A 4 minute cartoon of cheesy drawing, the occasional pun, some funny voices -- just to get to a groaner punchline. Brilliant! Loved them and their entire crew then, and even more now.

No Tom Terrific, Mighty Manfred (His Wonder Dog), and Crabby Appleton (Rotten to the core. Was he in The Ivory Tower?) fans? Don't tell me I'm the only one here who OD'd on The Captain Kangaroo Show in the mid-'50s.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

I love the Warner Brothers cartoons. Enjoyed "Tom and Jerry" but not as much. Didn't care all that much for the Fleisher cartoons.

Now I loved "Rocky and Bullwinkle" more the older I got. They are really over the heads of kids. Great puns and characters. A few yeas ago I borrowed the box set for the first season and I never realized how much filler there was in that show. By the time you got through the intros into the diffetent segments there was 7 or 8 minutes, or so it seemed, that was lost out of the program. That may have been part of the plan.

Dudley Dooright was great too. Loved Nell. Loved his horse.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

ChiO,
I was a fan of the dear Captain as well, and it just galls me when the younger set says "All righty, then," and thinks they are quoting Jim Carrey (who was merely quoting the Captain). Aarrgggh! I have two moose(s) (one a little rubber one and the other a soft toy) both named Mr. Moose (what else?). They keep Godzilla company on a bookshelf.

When I was running a nursery school, I had a bunch of old records and an old portable "hi-fi." I played the quieter records for the kids at nap time to help calm them down. Among these, I had a Captain Kangaroo recording, musical versions of Kipling's "Twice Told Tales." No - that's wrong - it was the "Just So Stories." The Capt. served as narrator. It was one of the best of the lot, and that's saying a lot, because children's musical records in the 50s and 60s were wonderfully creative, Broadway-musical caliber productions.

The Captain used a recorded song called "The Ill-Assorted Guard," to which puppets or paper cutouts did a little marching dance. I never heard this song anywhere else, but it was a very catchy tune, and I sang it to my classes, I sang it to my daughter, I still sing it now, and hope to sing it to some grandchildren some day. Do you remember it?

"One is fat, and one is thin; one goes out where the other goes in. One has rhythm, and one has none; and one is eating a cinnamon bun . . . . ."
Ollie
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Post by Ollie »

I'm on the lookout for the Fleischer studio POPEYEs - I think there were only two of those 'big extravaganza' POPEYEs - he battles Sinbad in one and there's the giant Roc bird that attacks in the finale with Popeye roasting him like a giant turkey. I can't remember if those are the same cartoon or the two different ones - they're all about the same.

But the quality is still using 6-pane cartoons so there is actual depth to the background artwork.

I've enjoyed the Warner Bros sets but, as commented on, I wish I could figure out the reason for each disc's 'pairings'. It's not by release date, it's not by character. I wonder if someone said, "There's too many for one set - should we give up on organization and just stuff them in, willy nilly?" I guess so.

The ROCKY & B's present a whole other side of tale-telling. I never had much inkling, watching them originally, that they'd have 20-odd episodes to a single tale. Some had more, some had less, but it's rather amazing those folks would attempt cohesive story lines in an almost serialized-effect but without spending much time (a sentence or two) commenting on last week's developments. "In the last episode, we saw..." and that was often it. (As if kids really needed Tolstoy to rehash every page anyway...)
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Dewey1960
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Post by Dewey1960 »

And then there's always this Merrie Melodies masterpiece
called I LOVE TO SINGA, still one of my all time favorite
cartoon classics...
[youtube][/youtube]
MikeBSG
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Post by MikeBSG »

I too am a "Captain Kangaroo" fan. It bugs me that everyone talks about Howdy-doody and Mr. Rogers and acts as if Captain Kangaroo never existed.

I remember "The Ill-Assorted Guards" song and the line about the guy eating a cinnamon bun.

I was listening to NPR a couple of years ago when I suddenly heard the "Captain Kangroo" theme music. They announced it as "Puffin Billy," a British band piece from around 1900.

I also remember "Winky-Dink." oddly, I remember it from the early Seventies. The local UHF channel showed it, probably because it was cheap by then. Of course, there were no "Winky-Dink" sets to place on your TV screen to draw ladders or anything like that. Still, I watched the show.
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ChiO
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Post by ChiO »

Because of the good Captain Kangaroo, Make Way for Ducklings and Horton Hatches the Egg will be forever my favorite works of literature.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
Ollie
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Post by Ollie »

I too remain a Captain Kangeroo fan. I think Churchill was talking about him - "Never have so few done so much with so little". Wasn't that it? I think so!
melwalton
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cartoons

Post by melwalton »

ANYONE interested in cartoons?
LIKETELEVISION has
33 Popeye films.
39 Betty Boop
14 Felix the cat
a couple of Little Lulu
Some others. ...... mel
MikeBSG
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Post by MikeBSG »

Here is a question. Why do you like animated cartoons? Is it for the animation? Or do you like the humor?

I ask this because I have found an attitude in a few books over the years that views cartoons favorably for the technical aspect of their animation rather than their general entertainment value. A good example is the Tex Avery cartoon "The Three Little Pups," which was released by MGM in the mid Fifties.

My kids, my wife, and I love this cartoon which is very funny. However, most books on Tex Avery view it as a tired, going-through-the-motions exercise, not as daring as "Bad Luck Blackie" (which I and my family also enjoy.)

Do you like animated cartoons that aren't funny? Or must an animated cartoon be humorous?
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

Does cute count? One of my favorites is "Bedtime For Sniffles." It is the one where he is trying to stay awake for Santa. There are a couple of jokes but mostly it is cute.

I like them if they are funny. It's not always about the animation but if it is real cheap it is a distraction.

Mostly I'm in for the WB cartoons. I made my kids three full tapes a long time ago. Not too many bad ones in those vaults.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

We watch cartoons for many reasons: They are storybooks come to life; they are our alter-egos, who say and do some awful things we wouldn't dare, but might like to; and they can be very silly, as we would sometimes like to be. They move gracefully and colorfully; moreso than human beings can do in movies. They rarely get injured and even more rarely die. They are supernatural and earthbound at the same time.

I like all kinds of 2D animated movies, the cute, the clever, the beautiful and the naughty. It's taking me more time to get used to the computer-made stuff -- there's a little life spark I see in 2D that's isn't quite right in the practically-3D, but I suppose they will get it eventually.
MikeBSG
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Post by MikeBSG »

Regarding traditional animation vs. computer animation, my children often go back to the traditional animation, not just the short subjects, but also the features. The computer made, mostly Pixar films, never aroused the same level of loyalty in them.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

MikeBSG wrote:Regarding traditional animation vs. computer animation, my children often go back to the traditional animation, not just the short subjects, but also the features. The computer made, mostly Pixar films, never aroused the same level of loyalty in them.
Much of the 3D stuff reminds me of George Pal's "Puppettoons," a phenomenon which many people found a bit creepy. Personally, I'd rather watch Gumby or Davy and Goliath than most of the Pixar stuff. There's a strange lifelessness to them which makes watching them for more than few minutes rather tiresome.
House_of_Usher
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Re: Any Interest in Animated Cartoons?

Post by House_of_Usher »

MikeBSG wrote:Is there any interest in animated cartoons here? And is the Comedy thread the place for such interest?
Would like to find best source (netflix, e.g.) for Disney's Silly Symphonies of the 30's. Recommendations?
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