As you’re reading this, I’ll be in Columbus, Ohio at the Columbus Moving Picture Show — Thunderbean has a table here. But I’d come here, table or not. It’s a great little convention with collectors and film enthusiasts. with lots of films all shown in 16mm, and a dealer’s room that serves as a good place for conversations as much as outside the ‘theatre’ room. There used to be shows all over, but they’re few and far between now— but happily this one still exists. If you’re in the area over the weekend and love these sorts of events, come on by!
And — this week’s topic: What are your best “years” in cartoons?
I thought it would be interesting to see what people’s favorite years are in animated films. Knowing the crown here, I’m sure there will be a lot of overlap in terms of people’s favorites. After chatting with our host, Mr.Jerry Beck, I thought it might be fun for both Jerry and I to list some of ‘Our’ favorite years to kick off the post — then let you folks take over.
Here are a few of my favorite years, and why:
1937
After teaching animation history for a bunch of years, I’ve found that 1933 to 1937 hold such an important place in the history of character animation, with The Old Mill as a good milemarker, reaching a new type of American animated short. It’s also the year Snow White was completed of course. Warner Brothers cartoons started to come into much sharper focus in their humor and direction as well. Porky’s Duck Hunt, Porky’s Garden and Porky’s Railroad are some of my favorites for interesting direction and great gags. Columbia’s Let’s Go also gets a mention here — it’s such a bridge between the old and new styles about to emerge.
1951
This year is a favorite of mine because of one film: Rooty Toot Toot. It’s an unlikely watershed moment in the history of animated shorts, and I think a nearly perfect film. The reason the year is important is that so much influence comes from this short — mainly, at first, influencing design at UPA and commercials, then lot in the late 50s in TV and commercial animation. Seeing this film and year as revolutionizing cartoons would be wrong though- influential, not a turn in what cartoons looked like or story work. I think it still remains unique in so many ways.
Ok— Jerry — YOUR turn — and, make sure to put YOUR years in the comments.
Jerry here: Okay Steve – I’ll take you up on this challenge.
My problem is that I can find a lot to admire in almost any year between 1928-1958. But if I narrow it down to two… I think I’d pick…
1941
What a year. Every studio strikes gold. Look at what came out: The first two Fleischer Superman cartoons, the Raggedy Ann and Andy two reeler, and the feature length Mr. Bug; Over at Disney you got the drunk Mickey’s The Little Whirlwind and The Nifty Nineties. The Goofy “How To” films begin with The Art of Skiing and The Art of Self Defense (not to mention How To Ride A Horse); my favorite Disney feature Dumbo – and a personal fave, the entire feature, The Reluctant Dragon; At Warners they’ve finally established their trademark humor – and nail the personality of Bugs Bunny – in such classics as Wabbit Twouble, Hollywood Steps Out, Rhapsody In Rivets, The Heckling Hare, Tortoise Beats Hare, Joe Glow The Firefly, and so many more. At MGM Tom and Jerry gain their footing in The Night Before Christmas and The Midnight Snack. Barney Bear in the magnificent The Flying Bear, Rudy Ising’s Dance Of The Weed, Hugh Harman’s The Little Mole. Even the low-budget studios come through with some of their best. Tashlin’s at Screen Gems introducing The Fox & the Crow (in The Fox and The Grapes), while Scrappy says goodbye in The Little Theater; at Lantz, a new series commences with Woody Woodpecker; and even Paul Terry’s films hit a new height in production quality. Cartoons like What Happens at Night, Good Old Irish Tunes, and The Bird Tower have better than Terry average character animation, Mississippi Swing is particularly lively (unfortunate racial stereotypes keep this one from public view). 1941 – everyone is operating on all cylinders. A great year.
1957
If I had to pick another outstanding year – I would go to the other end of the spectrum: 1957. UPA had fully entrenched the look of animation. There was a sophistication to the art – and it permeated every studio. Let’s start at the bottom: Terrytoons is in the midst of the Gene Deitch takeover with Topsy TV, Gaston Le Crayon and Clint Clobber introduced in CinemaScope. And Flebus. Paramount’s shorts are particularly handsome: look at the backgrounds (and angular character designs) in Spooking About Africa, Fishing Tackler, Ghost Of Honor, Jolly The Clown, Boo Bop. Even Lantz released some outstanding cartoons: The Bongo Punch, The Plumber of Seville, Goofy Gardner to name but a few. At Warners you have What’s Opera Doc?, Birds Anonymous, The Three Little Bops. Need I say more? I will: Ali Baba Bunny, Boyhood Daze, Greedy For Tweety and Show Biz Bugs – classics all. UPA has some great Magoo’s, and MGM’s scope Tom and Jerry’s (and the Mike Lah Droopy’s)… all-in-all, a very good year for all the studios.
As Steve asked… it’s YOUR turn. What was animation’s best “golden age” year – in your opinion?
