Felix and the Spider

Felix battles a spider in Sure-Locked Homes (1928). I’m presuming Otto Messmer animated this short and is responsible for the great shapes during the fight.

See some here.

Writing a Jack Benny Radio Show

During his 23-year career on radio, Jack Benny used three sets of writers. Benny, of course, was the unofficial head writer as he sat in on sessions and yea’d or nay’d every word.

Read more here.

Happy Days For the Hungry Wolf

“I haven’t got a daddy,” says the cute but oblivious little creature to a wolf that wants to eat him. “Will you be my daddy?” he asks.

Read about a Hugh Harman MGM cartoon in this post.

Painting With Crashcup

One part of The Alvin Show was worth watching—the segment with Clyde Crashcup, the inventor of things that had already been invented.

See frames from one segment here.

Cock-A-Doodle Dog

Obsessiveness? Insanity? Well, what else would you find in a Tex Avery cartoon?

See more here.

The Life and Times of Yowp

Before he played a cowardly Great Dane that solved mysteries (I’ve forgotten the character’s name, Scrubby or something), and before he portrayed Astro on The Jetsons, what was the first dog Don Messick voiced at Hanna-Barbera?

Read more here.

Crosby on Crosby

The year was 1946. It was the year Bing Crosby changed network radio for good.

See more here.

Under the Sea, 1929 Style

The Fleischer studio had to give a name to its new series of sound cartoons, so it (or Paramount) came up with “Talkartoons.”

See frames from the first one here.

Today's Animation Question

You know this gag if you’re a fan of Warners Bros. cartoons; it’s quoted all over the place.



See today's question here.

On the Road With Don Wilson

Don Wilson wasn’t network radio’s first sidekick/announcer, but he soon became the most popular.

Read more here.

Ozark in Florida

If you have a favourite animator in the Golden Age, it may be almost impossible to trace their careers.

Read more here.

Dino's Serenade

Can anyone explain to me just who the intended audience was for UPA’s Hamilton Ham series?

See more here.

Spike Cracks Up

Tex Avery wasn’t above re-using gags, and he did it several times in The Chump Champ (1950).

See frames here.

The Lady With the Zonks

She made a career on television without saying a word.

Read about her here.

Beaky Takes His Turns

Why does Bob Clampett have a flying dragon in a cartoon? Well, why not?

See more here.

Periscopasaurus

A brontosaurus hunts for a meal in The Cave Man, a 1934 Willie Whopper cartoon.



See more here.

Getting Into the Mood to Laugh

You’d think people would already be in the mood for laughing when they seat themselves down in front of a stage to watch a comedy.

Read more here.

Clean Getaway

“What are you doin’ with the soap?” ringmaster Huckleberry Hound asks Pixie and Dixie, in one of those little cartoons between the cartoons.

See more here.

Romeo in Rhythm

Think about it for a minute. How many cartoons take place on a low-budget theatre stage inside a scarecrow? I can think of a grand total of one—MGM’s Romeo in Rhythm (1940).

Read more here.

Two in One Animals

Tex Avery and gagman Heck Allen try out an impossible gag in Half-Pint Pygmy (1948). During a seemingly endless chase, George and Junior run after the aforementioned African, who tries to escape up a giraffe’s neck.

See more in this post.

And the Mystery Animal Is...

A few early Disney sound cartoons had characters back away from the camera to reveal themselves.

See more here.

The Dashing Joker

The main villains on the Batman TV show were all quite different from each other, and I think the variety helped the series.

Read more here.

Auntie Angela

Mention Angela Lansbury’s name and many will think of Murder, She Wrote. Some will think of her warbling in Disney film. But fans of show tunes the world over will talk about her performance in the title role in “Mame,” even if they’ve never seen it.

Lansbury is dead at 96. Read more here.

Expressive Pooch

So I’m watching this scene in Squirrel Crazy, a 1951 Terrytoon, and wondering if Jim Tyer animated it. Suddenly...

See more here.

Surprising the Weasel

Bob Clampett got a chance to direct a couple of colour cartoons with his original unit in 1941 before taking over Tex Avery’s crew later in the year and leaving black-and-white shorts behind.

See more here.

Tralfaz Sunday Theatre: Match Your Mood

The ‘60s were, well, the ‘60s.

See this groovy post.

Mel and Jack

No, not everyone who works together in radio hangs out with their boss, though it sounds like they’re close buddies on the air. Take Jack Benny for example.

We talk about Mel Blanc here.

The Impatient Patient

This blog has neglected Norm McCabe’s career as a director at Warner Bros. It hasn’t been totally deliberate.

See something about Norm here.

The Kill the Wabbit Cartoon

This blog has not touched What’s Opera, Doc? during its 11 years on the internet because the cartoon has been written about to death and there really isn’t anything new to say.

Read what isn't new here.

Stop! Go! Stop!

You won’t find wild takes in a Friz Freleng-directed short, but you’ll find a lot of laughs and incredible timing in his best cartoons.

Read more here.

Radio's Mrs. Terwilleger and a Cartoon Parrot's Mother

There’s an undeniable link between the Golden Ages of Animation and Radio.

Read more about one Warner Bros. cartoon actress here.

Gold Diggers Pan

Before Screwy Squirrel (1944) and A Wild Hare (1940), with its woodsy opening, Tex Avery loved to start his cartoons with a long left-to-right pan over scenery.

See more here.

They Love That Pagan Moon

There’s such a similarity among the Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies, something seems familiar in all of them.

See a crowd cycle here.

Morale Boosting Benny

Summer vacation? Not for Jack Benny in 1943.

Read about Jack and the troops in this post.

Boo Boo's Revenge

Hanna-Barbera cartoons rarely made fun of themselves in the olden days, but it happened in one of those little cartoons between the cartoons on either The Huckleberry Hound Show or The Yogi Bear Show.

See more here.

Bugs' Dream is Yours

Bugs Bunny wasn’t exactly a feature film star, but Warner Bros. took him out of shorts for a couple of movies. He was featured in animated sequences of Two Guys From Texas and My Dream is Yours, both starring Jack Carson.

See more here.