Any Interest in Animated Cartoons?

[MikeBSG]

Is there any interest in animated cartoons here? And is the Comedy thread the place for such interest?

[ChiO]

I'm always interested in the work of the greatest film actor in history -- Daffy Duck. Le genius!

[movieman1957]

No. "le genius" would be Pepe LePew. And along with Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan and Richard Boone one of the top bad guys has to be Yosemite Sam.

Warner Brothers rules.

[jdb1]

Mais non. Le Genius would be Mel Blanc, n'est-ce pas?

I really miss seeing WB cartoons, and TCM doesn't show nearly enough of them. When my husband and I split up, he took all the WB compilations we had on tape - Grrrrr.

I'm also a fan of the Fleischer Studio, whose 1930s opus, especially, had such a distinct psychedelic, New York ambience. Then there were the manic Terrytoons and Harvey Toons. (Ah, Baby Huey.)

[movieman1957]

Mais non. Le Genius would be Mel Blanc, n'est-ce pas?

"Mais non." Does the mean "No, goofballs"?

I really miss seeing WB cartoons, and TCM doesn't show nearly enough of them. When my husband and I split up, he took all the WB compilations we had on tape - Grrrr

I hope he left you some good stuff.

[Dewey1960]

I'm with Judith on the Fleischer cartoons.
Here's BETTY BOOP in a banned cartoon called "Making Stars"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIxHfwhckcs&feature=related[/youtube]
And here's POPEYE THE SAILOR in "Goonland"
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPulJzMIzck[/youtube]

[melwalton]

Dewey
LIKETELEVISION has a slew of Betty Boop cartoons. .... mel

[Dewey1960]

Mel - that's an incredible site!! Thanks for the tip!
-Dewey

[melwalton]

You're welcome, Dewey. It is a great site. I keep telling everyone. ... mel

[MikeBSG]

I'm another Daffy Duck fan. "Duck Amuck," "Robin Hood Daffy," "The Scarlet Pumpernickle," and "Daffy Doodles" are some of my favorites.

I like Bugs Bunny too, and most of the Warner Brothers stuff.

I like some Tom and Jerry cartoons a lot, and some of the cartoons Tex Avery made for MGM make me roar. (I will never forget the first time I saw "Little Red Rural Riding Hood." I think my eyes bugged out as far as the wolf's eyes.)

Currently, I'm enjoying the Woody Woodpecker set that Universal just released. i remember watching the WW tv show back in the Sixties, but I never saw Woody Woodpecker cartoons after that went off the air.

I don't especially like the Max Fleischer cartoons. Some of this may be due to things not the fault of the cartoons themselves.

Also, oddly, short Disney cartoons played practically no part in my life. They were hardly ever on TV or available in theaters.

One late Sixties Disney cartoon that I saw in a theater was "It's Tough to Be a Bird," which I think won an Oscar, and I also think looked a bit like Monty Python/Terry gilliam animation.

[ChiO]

Don't forget Duck Dodgers in the 24-1/2 Century, my favorite work of sci-fi.

Tom & Jerry never did much for me, but both of my daughters preferred them (albeit just slightly) over Daffy. But as to an entire studio's output, the family is united with Warner Bros.

Max Fleischer Studio is fascinating. While any one of the cartoons may not hold me, there is almost always one or two bits in it that are so over-the-top surreal that I end up howling. Maybe that's where Richard Fleischer got his style.

Any fans of Rocky & Bullwinkle, Tom Terrific or Winky-Dink?

[cinemalover]

ChiO,
I'm actually in the middle of watching the first season of Rocky and Bullwinkle right now (of course I started it a couple of months ago so it hasn't been the biggest priority). There is a lot of humor in the dialogue that can be interpreted differently for kids and adults, which is always fun. I enjoy them, but I'm not crazy about them. The secondary characters don't hold up very well for me (except I find Mr. Peabody pretty funny). There are some good nuggets in there, but they require patience to find.

The one thing I have really appreciated about the DVD "revolutiion" has been the multiple quality collections of cartoons released at reasonable prices. The Warner sets are great (though I would prefer them released and grouped by character), the Disney Treasures have released some fabulous materials. In the last year the Woody Woodpecker set was great and I am still looking to get my hands on the big Popeye set that was released last year. I have a collection of Pink Panther toons on my shelf that I haven't cracked open yet. I guess all this would qualify me as a "Toonhead".

[Dewey1960]

Fan mail from some flounder...?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZEfNYn-5fA[/youtube]
Anyone remember the one about the Kerwood Derby?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UWWVmR_9v0[/youtube]

[jdb1]

ChiO,
I'm actually in the middle of watching the first season of Rocky and Bullwinkle right now (of course I started it a couple of months ago so it hasn't been the biggest priority). There is a lot of humor in the dialogue that can be interpreted differently for kids and adults, which is always fun. I enjoy them, but I'm not crazy about them. The secondary characters don't hold up very well for me (except I find Mr. Peabody pretty funny). There are some good nuggets in there, but they require patience to find.

The one thing I have really appreciated about the DVD "revolutiion" has been the multiple quality collections of cartoons released at reasonable prices. The Warner sets are great (though I would prefer them released and grouped by character), the Disney Treasures have released some fabulous materials. In the last year the Woody Woodpecker set was great and I am still looking to get my hands on the big Popeye set that was released last year. I have a collection of Pink Panther toons on my shelf that I haven't cracked open yet. I guess all this would qualify me as a "Toonhead".

Chris, did you watch R&B when it was first aired? At the time, they really were revolutionary and, compared to the other things we were seeing, they were definitely cutting edge. The tackiness of the animation, for instance, was only party due to budgetary constraints. The other part was trying to look raw and different, so that adults really understood that the content, rather than the artwork, was the key ingredient.

I enjoy Disney's older stuff, which is of a different stripe than WB or the other major studios in terms of cartoon shorts. The beauty of the animation is always a pleasure to see, and you can find some slyness embedded in the cuteness, if you pay attention.

I think I've mentioned before that MGM cartoons (and others of that ilk, like Woody Woodpecker) look and sound much better on the big screen than they do on TV - they were meant to be "big," whereas most WB's, great to see in the theater, translate very well to the small screen too.

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. Whenever I saw Topo Gigio on Ed Sullivan, it made me think of Winky-Dink. Maybe it was the jerky movements, I don't really know why.[/i]

[cinemalover]

Judith,
Rocky first went on the air in 1959 (my year of birth) so I was watching it in the early to mid 60's which would have been second generation. R&B would have been competing in my young mind with all the Hanna Barbara product that flooded the TV (Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, etc...) at that time. Bullwinkle was definitely completely different from HB. A lot of Bullwinkle's puns still hold up today (and elicit the same groans they would of back then) and the voice work is above par.