These have been really pivotal weeks here – the school has been taking a lot of my time (as it should since it’s my full time job!) but the Thunderbean world has bee crowded as heck as we try to get all the final tweaks for the Rainbow Parade, volume 2 set done before sending it off to be replicated.

For this week’s post, I thought it would be a good time to share one of the films we’ve prepared for the Blu-ray.

Trolley Ahoy (1936) is the second of the three produced Toonerville Trolley cartoons, based on Fontaine Fox’s famous comic strip. The Van Beuren Studio was familiar with adaptations from earlier efforts, as well as the Rainbow Parade Felix shorts.

This enjoyable little short (directed by Tom Palmer and supervised by Burt Gillett) is entertaining in animation and gags, with a great Winston Sharples score. The studio is enjoying a new maturity in all aspects of production, and the best of the Rainbow Parades from this Technicolor period are easily the best produced films the studio ever made. Despite the studio’s tumultuous production environment the year before, the studio’s output was well-reviewed and received by audiences in its last year of existence.

Their second effort shows new considerations when compared to the first, especially in personality animation. Their version of “Powerful Katrina” now has pupils, matching the Skippers as well as Mr. Bang. The color palette (on this film as well as the first) is a beautiful mix of softer watercolors that work well with the character palette. In addition, the short has ambitious shot after ambitious shot, all well-animated and executed. It’s easily one of the most extravagant films the studio ever made.

Note that this is a model sheet from “Toonerville Trolley”, with the earlier version of Katrinka. For the two animation drawings, say “Animation drawings from Trolley Ahoy, featuing the new version of Katrinka.

The original negative on this short is long gone, so, as with all but one film on the set, this was scanned from the 35mm Technicolor print master that Blackhawk films has stored at UCLA. We’ve been working hard on the set for a while, and right at the end have been paying special attention to getting the color just right. So, that said, let me know what you think in the comments of the cartoon and the restoration.

A special thanks to Mark Kausler, who lent his excellent Kodachrome print, allowing a color comparison as well as confirmation of the picture and soundtrack to use at the beginning of the print (since this nitrate element on Trolly Ahoy was missing the first part of it’s titles due to nitrate deterioration). We confirmed the title and music used- the same as ‘Toonerville Picnic’ released later that year.

I’ve uploaded the UHD (4k) version of the film, so make sure to watch it in as high of a definition as you’d like.

Have a good week all!