Shaking a Building the Fleischer Way

There’s a real neat effect that the Fleischer studio used in some of its cartoons in the late ‘30s.

See more in this post.

Boom Boom Backgrounds

Background artists and scenic layout men were never identified for the first dozen-plus years on Warner Bros. cartoons, so the screen doesn’t tell us who is responsible for these settings in Boom Boom, a 1936 cartoon directed by Jack King.

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Chase in Slo-Mo

The sign says “SLOW,” so that’s what a bird and cat do during a chase in Tex Avery’s The Early Bird Dood It (1942).

See more here.

Cheap, Cheap

Have you gone to the store and think “I’m not paying that much for THAT”?

That’s why we laughed at Jack Benny.

Read more here.

Squirrel Animator Sal

There were problems aplenty at Val-Mar Productions, so many that even an heroic flying squirrel couldn’t solve them.

Read more here.

Celebrities Love Scrappy

Scrappy is calling everyone, inviting them to his birthday party.

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Deputy Droopy Swirls

Time to see the drybrush work of the MGM cartoon department in Deputy Droopy.

Check out more here.

Today's Bat Bulletins (Okay, They're From 1966)

Someone who was Batman didn’t want to be, and someone who wasn’t Batman wanted to be.

Bat-Read more here.

Little Boy Blue, Starring Someone Else

Mash together Little Boy Blue, the Big Bad Wolf, Mary and her Little Lamb and a freelance scarecrow and what do you get? An Ub Iwerks ComiColor short.

See more here.

Fingers in the Eyes

A knock at the door. A wolf’s arms twist around before he decides to see who is there.

See more of Frank Tashlin's cartoon here.

50 Years of Laughs

Jack Benny had a very good idea of why he was a success. He expounded on it for years in the press.

Here’s an example from March 10, 1963.

The Sentinels' Fire Brigade

Political cartoons have existed in newspapers for generations. What about animated political cartoons?

Read more here.

Boogie Woogie Man

You can tell Shamus Culhane’s directing things in Boogie Woogie Man (1943). He’s got characters poking heads and other things toward the camera in sudden movement.

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Daffy and the Snow Queen

“Confidentially, folks,” Daffy Duck says to cartoon viewers, “I ain’t goin’ south this winter. I’m goin’ to stay around and check up on this winter business.”

More in this post.

Combating Bigots Via Radio

Old-Time radio wasn’t merely Bing crooning, Fibber McGee opening a closet, H.V. Kaltenborn with the news, or someone on Ma Perkins getting amnesia. Issues were addressed in a number of ways, issues that still haunt us today.

Read more here.

Watch For Walt

Smiling pocket watches are about to open and close in time to the music in The Clock Store. But there’s an inside joke here.

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Makeshift Stone Age Gun

Dinosaur Dan, the first Texas Bad Man, runs out of bullets. No matter. He uses his finger to fire at the posse chasing him.

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Good Night, Joanie

Jack Benny had a little message at the end of his broadcasts when he was out of Los Angeles in the late ‘30s and early ’40s.

Read more here.

Another Background Gag Mystery

Painting sets for cockroaches isn’t probably very satisfying.

See more here.

Jim Tyer is Cat Happy

Was Jim Tyer on catnip when he animated Cat Happy?

See frames here.

Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet

The pairing of director Friz Freleng and writer Mike Maltese worked so many times, including the 1944 cartoon Little Red Riding Rabbit.

There is more in this post.

Klemperer Klinks

A Jew playing a Nazi? That’s just what Werner Klemperer wanted to do.

Read more here.

Spike Likes Girls

Droopy rescues a hot babe from a burning cabin in Droopy’s Good Deed.

See Spike react here.

Ya Drunken Cow!

Molly Moo Cow decides to taste some ale in the Van Beuren cartoon Molly Moo Cow and Rip Van Winkle (1935) but is warned against it by a ghost-like conscience that comes out of her body.

See more here.

Jack Benny of the Radio, 1929

The claim has been debunked that Jack Benny made his radio debut on Ed Sullivan’s radio show on March 29, 1932, though we’ll concede this was the broadcast which led to Canada Dry signing him for the show that began his radio career.

Read more here.

Cartoon Odds and Ends

There are times when you run into information and wonder “What am I going to do with that?” There isn’t enough for a full post so it sits in a lonely file, half-forgotten.

Let’s fish a few of these out of the folder.

How to Make a Horse Leap

Bob Clampett looked to be on his way to a great career as a movie cartoon producer. He signed a multi-picture deal with Republic and made one cartoon.

Read more here.

Fish and Flies

Why, oh why, won’t someone restore the Fleischer Talkatoons?

See frames from one short here.

It's Not Corn, It's Golonka

What was the appeal of Mayberry R.F.D.?

Maybe it was because of Arlene Golonka.

Read about her here.

Colour Change For Impact

Want to add violent impact into your cartoon? Use a solid color background, kind of like it’s a flash of light.

Here’s an example from a 1942 Tom and Jerry cartoon.