Practical Pig Warns Against Nazi Wolf

Daily Variety told readers on January 16, 1942 about a cartoon. “Fred Avery will supervise production of ‘Blitz Wolf,’ cartoon subject at Metro.”

Read more about the short here.

Barbara Walters

It seemed like she was on the fast track in the early 1950s.

Read this 1950s interview with Barbara Walters, who has died at age 93.

How To Uncrush a Dog

A dog gets crushed by a barrel of...Roman Punch? Well, that’s the name of this 1930 cartoon from Terrytoons.

See more here.

It's Not Doing the Backstroke

How far back does the “Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup” joke go?

Read more here.

Frankie

There were two Frank Sinatras.

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Laff at This One

Once upon a time, there was a radio show called “Hobby Lobby,” where host Dave Elman would bring on people with unusual pastimes or accomplishments. Also once upon a time, director Norm McCabe and the writing staff at the Leon Schlesinger studio decided to parody it.

See more here.

That Felix is a Character

The silent era Felix the Cat can morph into all kinds of things, and he has a unique evolution in Japanicky (1928).

See more here.

Christmas Comedy in Little Rock

Where was Jack Benny 100 years ago today? On stage, where else?

Read more here.

The Christmas Gift of Guilt

No, sir, you won’t catch me falling for that Christmas cartoon sentiment. Not me.

I say this every year. And then I watch ...

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Give the Gift of Wolf-Pelt

Tex Avery had Christmas scenes in several of his cartoons (A Gander at Mother Goose, Holiday Highlights), and an appearance by Santa Claus in another (Who Killed Who?), but he really only made one Christmas cartoon—One Ham’s Family at MGM (1943).

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Loads of Christmas Cheer

Three directors at Warner Bros. had a crack at making a cartoon with Cecil Turtle outsmarting Bugs Bunny. They all have a different tone, but they’re all good.

See more here.

Santa Claus Meets Gene Deitch

Gene Deitch wasn’t very happy with me.

I dislike Deitch’s Tom and Jerry cartoons. I told him. But there are things Gene invented which I like.

Read more here.

Tralfaz Wednesday Theatre: Santa and the Fairy Snow Queen

Some Christmas specials are television evergreens—A Charlie Brown Christmas, Alastair Sim’s version of A Christmas Carol, that one about the kid getting his eye shot out. Doubtless you can name others you annually look forward to once a year.

Then there are others that don’t quite make it.

See more here.

Twirling Edible Leg

Woody Woodpecker pretends to be Santa (70 days before Christmas, according to the calendar) in an attempt to chow down on the food at Wally Walrus’ ski lodge in Ski For Two (1944).

See more here.

Hair Raising Gnome

Here’s a cute gag from Disney’s Santa’s Workshop (1932), where gnomes stand at Ford-like assembly lines and do their little job to put together toys for kids.

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Tralfaz Sunday Theatre: King Calico

There was a time when puppet shows were big on TV.

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A Brief Profile of Rochester and Eddie Anderson

Eddie Anderson’s character on the Jack Benny show worked so well because he was supposedly put upon, but he always got the better of his employer.

Read more here.

Mickey's Going to Sing

Walt Disney and his musical director Carl Stalling seem to have mastered sound on film pretty quickly.

Read more here.

Now, Our Tea Time Movie

Love spot gag cartoons? Love stereotypes? Love bad puns?

You’ll get your fill of all that in the Columbia/Screen Gems short Wacky Wigwams (1942). See more here.

What's in the Bag, Dad?

Half-Pint Pygmy (1948) contains all kinds of impossible characters, such as a camel with a head at either end of its body, or a giraffe with two bodies and no heads.

See more here.

Ruff and Reddy at 65

Who would have thought a dog and cat that barely moved on screen would be the start of a TV empire?

Read more here.

The Man of Television Firsts, Dennis James

You only needed one hand to count the number of television stars there were 80 years ago.

Read more here.

Golfing With TNT

Shamus Culhane ends The Loose Nut (1945) with an explosion effect he used in other cartoon.

See it here.

The Cat Man

Newspaper cartoonist Feg Murray had a daily syndicated feature where he drew and profiled a celebrity.

Who would have guessed one of his subjects was...

Read more here.

I Get a Kick Out of a Kick

Porky Pig dreams of marrying Petunia in Porky’s Romance (1937).

See Porky’s satisfaction here.

No Rochester In Rochester

Rochester, the butler, was connected with Jack Benny for so many years. I wondered if Rochester, the city, had a connection with Jack as well.

Find out here.

A Tour of UPA

Movie critics got sick of fairy tales and lippy animals beating up someone. And they got tired of seeing the same characters they watched a decade earlier. So when UPA came along with its different (and human) designs and cinematic effects, they embraced the studio.

Read about it here.

You Are Now Entering Coldernell

If a gag works, use it again.

See more here.

Police!

Julius the cat uses a turtle with an extended neck to steal a pie from a third storey window sill in Alice The Jailbird (Disney, 1925).

See more here.

Protuberant Eyes and the Greasepaint Race

Eddie Cantor was hugely popular for several decades, but always struck me as someone who didn’t necessarily want to entertain you.

Read more about it here.

How'd He Do That?

After 28 years on the screen, Jerry Mouse suddenly develops, in the mind of Chuck Jones, a malicious sleepwalking habit in Jerry, Jerry, Quite Contrary (1966).

See more here.

Home Front Opening

Pan shot from Home Front, a 1944 Snafu cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin.



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Writing and Reading With Jack Benny

When Bill Morrow and Ed Beloin left the Jack Benny show during the war, they were replaced with five different writers (which dropped to four within weeks when Cy Howard left).

Why did Jack double the number of writers?

Find out here.

The Series That Lasted One Cartoon

Leon Schlesinger had big plans for a new cartoon series, one that died after one cartoon.

Read about it here.

Chinese Jinks Backgrounds

One of the good things to come out of restoration of cartoons from B-list studios like Van Beuren and Iwerks is you can get a better look at some of the artistry.

See more here.

The Fish Gag Gets Canned

Tex Avery’s travelogue spoofs at Warner Bros. are hit-and-miss, sometimes in the very cartoon.

See more here.