The Gambling Freelancer From Tacoma

It would appear the only time Art Gilmore’s radio broadcasting was silenced was because of clumsiness.

Read about it here.

Knight-Mare Hare Backgrounds

Knight-Mare Hare (1955) was put into production not long after the Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng units returned to work at the Warner Bros. studio following a six-month shutdown.

See more here.

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The Movie Life For Me

Maybe he was frustrated and just spouting off.

Jack Benny talked about quitting radio.

Read more here.

Quick Draw McGraw, the Psychological Release

The first Hanna-Barbera cartoon series were not only hits with viewers, but with critics and even watchdog groups.

Read more here.

How to Make Oswald

One of the best things on The Woody Woodpecker Show—even better than some of the cartoons—was the little segments where Walter Lantz would show how cartoons were made.

It would appear this kind of thing was in Lantz’s blood.

Read a 1939 article and see photos here.

Rhapsody in Bird

Is there some kind of cartoon law that studios must use Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2?

More on it here.

The Sheepish Wolf Backgrounds

A new background artist for the Friz Freleng unit was announced in the February 1940 edition of the Leon Schlesinger studio’s internal newsletter.

Read more here.

The Peacock Man

You heard his voice about as often as you saw the NBC peacock unfold its feathers.

Read about him here.

Now This Commercial Message

Name the cartoon that you see below.



Find out here.

Let's Get a Better Look at That

Characters had to stand out on the screen in Tex Avery’s mind. There couldn’t be any potential distractions in the background art.

See more here.

Tralfaz Sunday Theatre: The Great Rights

Readers here are familiar with Daws Butler. His voice appears in obscure places, and one may be a cartoon he made with June Foray and Bill Scott.

See it, and read some background, here.

Ernie Pyle Talks To Jack Benny

Before World War Two, Ernie Pyle travelled the world writing the same kinds of they’re-just-regular-folks war stories for newspaper syndication.

Read more here.

Colonel Bleep Blasts Off

Once upon a time, there was a company in Florida that made animated commercials. Soundac Productions decided to try for something bigger—a cartoon series for television.

Read more here.

Today’s Changing Lesson

You’ll sometimes see in cartoons when a character has an expression and then the director cuts to a different shot and the expression isn’t the same.

See more here.

Endless Woody Chase

Ed Love animates a good chunk of the middle part of Walter Lantz’s Wet Blanket Policy (1948).

See more here.

Robert Clary

The Nazis gave him and his family ten minutes to get their belongings before being loaded into a cattle car and transported to a concentration camp where children were killed by gas.

Read the story of the late Robert Clary in this post.

Allen Swift

He uttered the immortal phrase "Dicky Moe!" (from the cartoon of the same name) but, fortunately, that is not what actor Allen Swift is noted for.

Read more about him here.

Tex's Other Rabbits

You all know about Tex Avery and Bugs Bunny. Tex had another couple of rabbits who weren’t as lippy but were still fun.

See them here.

Hyde and Go Tweet Titles

Theatrical animation studios were slowly winding down as 1960 approached, but there were still plenty of creative people working in the business.

See more here.

Roy Glenn

Eddie Anderson’s Rochester was such a popular part of the Jack Benny radio show, they gave him his own straight man.

Read more here.

Moo-re on Early Animated Commercials

A study of theatrical cartoons is only scratching the surface of the animation business in the Golden Age. There were many other companies that made animated educational and institutional films and even commercials on both coasts.

Read more here.

Jazz Is Born, Columbia Style

Yes, I’m a sucker for cartoons where inanimate objects sprout hands and feet, then carry on with some bit of business.

See more here.

A Freleng Remake

Friz Freleng used great gobs of animation from Bob Clampett’s 1939 short Scalp Trouble to make Slightly Daffy five years later.

See the differences here.

The People of Coronet Land

There’s something fascinating about social guidance films of the late ‘40s and early ‘50s.

Read here about Dick York and all of his short film friends (like Woody on the right).

Before There Was a Rock-'Em, Sock-'Em Robot, There Was...

Dystopia isn’t just for 21st century superhero movies. Battling, out-of-control robots populated cartoons 90 years ago.

See some frames here.

Wolfie Flips For Red (Cinderella)

Wolfie lands on the ground in a clump and has to straighten himself out in Swing Shift Cinderella (1945).

See some frames here.

Rochester and Albuquerque

A stroke of genius wafted over the radio airwaves on March 28, 1937.

Read about it here.

Making Those Warners Cartoons

When Tweety Pie won the Oscar in 1948 for the best cartoon, producer Eddie Selzer admitted “I’m afraid that my family was more excited about it than I was.”

Read more here.

Dinner Time For Woody

Dry brush makes the characters move faster, or at least it kind of looks that way.

See some frames here of Woody Woodpecker.

Why, It's a Piano!

Let’s see, there was the jungle picture, and the underwater picture, and the stormy night/horror picture, oh, yes, the Egyptian picture.

See more from Van Beuren here.

Warners' One-Shot Crow

Just because the voice credit on screen reads “Mel Blanc” doesn’t mean Blanc is the only person heard in that particular Warner Bros. cartoon.

Read more about one actor here.

The Narrator Was Right

If you want proof that times change, consider the fact that old cartoons I saw on TV 60 years ago are withheld from DVD release today because they’re “offensive,” but ones that were censored back then are seen without editing today.

Read more here.