Faking It On a Game Show

Contestants told they had to be excited when the camera was on. Hosts who didn’t care if the contestant won or lost.

Oh, how game shows aren’t what they appear on camera.

Read more here.

How To Imitate Tex Avery Poorly

There are three imitations in Krazy’s Bear Tale (released January 1939). First, Krazy Kat is doing one of the world’s worst Fred Allen impressions as the cartoon narrator. Mama Bear does one line like Tizzy Lish. And the whole thing is one big impression of a Tex Avery cartoon, where the narrator and the characters interact.

See more here.

You Know The Ending

Other than maybe Duck Amuck, the most famous ending for a Chuck Jones cartoon may be in Chow Hound (released 1951), both written by the brilliant Mike Maltese.

See frames here.

The Serious and Not-So Series Benny Interviews

Newspapers seem to love it when Jack Benny came to town. They got a performance. And I don’t mean the show he put on for the public.

In March 1971, he took his violin out of its case in Florida for a string of performances in various cities. Read what he said here.

Smearing the Vienna Woods

Bob Clampett answered Disney’s Fantasia, A Corny Concerto, released by Warner Bros. on September 25, 1943.

See some smear frames here

Spike Turnaround

How do in-betweens work? Here’s how Spike is turned to see his new “dog” friend in Tex Avery’s Counterfeit Cat.

See the frames here.

What’s New is Old Again

It’s simple marketing. If people want game shows, then networks will broadcast game shows, and then the spin comes.

Read more in this 1946 column here.

Smoke Tricks

Porky Pig meets a tough kid smoking a cigar in Wholly Smoke, a 1938 cartoon from the Frank Tashlin unit.

Read more here.

The Rubber Hose March

It’s Rubber Hose Time at Disney, something the studio got away from because it wanted its cartoons to look “real.”

See the cycle here.

Fred Allen With Guests Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone

Fred Allen’s guests on Town Hall Tonight on February 26, 1936 were Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone, a number of months before the accidental start of the Allen-Benny feud.

Read the script here.

Joe D'Igalo

You’d like to think people who worked hard through the tedium of animation in the age of theatrical shorts lived to be a ripe old age and in good health.

Read the story of journeyman animator Joe D’Igalo in this "Best of GAC" post.

Danger Mice

Mice are destroying the home belonging to the most casual farmer in the world in Van Beuren’s Barnyard Bunk (1932).

See more here. Bonus music in this post!

Shuffle Off the Sternwheeler

Bugs Bunny keeps a steady stream of patter and action while conning Colonel Shuffle off the paddlewheeler in Mississippi Hare.

See more here.

Before Jeannie

Before she was Jeannie, she was Loco.

Read about Barbara Eden's obscure sitcom and a crazy interview here

Turned Down Again

Poor Little 'Tinker (aka B.O. Skunk). He can’t get a date. The frames tell the gag.

See more here.

A Chicken Joke

Long before introducing Woody Woodpecker on a half-hour TV cartoon show, Walter Lantz played himself in silent pictures.

See more here.

New Comedians and Jack Benny

Vaudeville vanished. So how were new comic acts supposed to get better?

Read Jack Benny's feeling about it here.

Flintstones Weekend Comics, September 1964

Four comics this month.

See them here.

The War Against War Cartoons

Mrs. Besa Short has been credited with saving Tom and Jerry from being one-shot characters. She also came to the defence of Bugs Bunny.

Read the story here

Dad's Troublesome Tuba

Yet another child-noise/family cartoon from UPA, Little Boy With a Big Horn.

See more here.

Porky the Tashlin Way

Frank Tashlin sure loved huge eyes on Porky Pig.

See more here.

Gene Rayburn's Career Wasn't a Blank

No answers about tinkling, no Old Man Periwinkle, no Brett or Charles.

Read about the original 1960s Match Game here.

Sachmo on the Run

The head of Louis Armstrong, superimposed from live action, turns into a cartoon head, which turns into a cartoon African native chasing Koko in I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal You (1932).

See more of the scene here.

Red Hot Wolf

The curtains part and camera pulls in on the stage. It’s Red Hot Riding Hood.

See more frames here.

Guests and Gaslights

Imagine a TV show being told “You can’t parody that! We’re suing.”

It’s ridiculous. Especially when it came to one episode of the Jack Benny TV show.

Read more here.

Don Messick Helps Others

Don Messick was Hanna-Barbera’s first major supporting character actor. He talks about his career at a charity event in 1990.

Read about it here.

The Musical Musings of Michael Maltese

It is only appropriate that cartoon series that began their existence to plug Warner Bros.-owned songs should employ writers who showed abilities as lyricists. Such was Mike Maltese.

Read about his tunes here.

Bully For Bullets

Chuck Jones is the master of subtle expression at Warner Bros.

Check out some Bully For Bugs in this post.

Whistling Doesn't Always Work

“If you need me, just whistle,” says a bulldog (Billy Bletcher) to Jerry after the mouse springs him from a dog catcher’s van.

See more from the scene in this post.

A Goat, a Groundhog and a Grauer

Announcers became specialised in the Golden Days, especially at the network level. But Ben Grauer carried on being a jack of all trades, even when network television grew.

Read some of his escapades here.

Roller Skate Rockabye

Chilly Willy leaves wheels a roller skate into place in his battle to get rid of a hungry bear and claim all the blue fin tuna on a ship for himself.

See more here.

Claw Hands

Fingers are pointed like claws in the Ub Iwerks cartoon The Office Boy (1932).

The rest of the post is here.