I find myself today without one of our regular contributors posts – so that gives me room to note a few things, and plug a few things, all by myself.

AN “OOPS” ADDENDUM

Back in late November/early December our Wednesday “Animation Trails” column by Charles Gardner ran a four part series called “Oops!” which recounted little production boo-boos in many of our classic cartoons. You can read the first one here.

One thing about those boo-boo’s that should be remembered. I’ve said this in previous posts. Back in the 1920s, 30s and 40s (and through the mid-50s), producers of animated cartoons released during that time, never thought anyone would ever watch these cartoons again. They were ephemeral, only meant to be seen the month or two of release – and then no more. They were the screen’s equivalent to newspaper comic strips. The old ones were yesterday’s news.

A little camera mistake, a production boo-boo, a painting error… they could let it go. No one might notice. No one would ever see these again, right?

Then came 16mm and 8mm home movie sales… Blue Ribbon theatrical reissues, repertory theaters, Film Festival retrospectives, Museum showings, sales to television, VHS tapes, laser discs, DVD and blu ray… cable television, 24/7 cartoon channels, streaming services…

… or ‘animation history courses’ at Universities all over the world. That brings me to my own little list of “Oops”. Things I notice, year after year, as I screen shorts in my various classes; a few little teeny-weenie things that may only be noticed after repeated viewings – things that make me wince.

Again – these are nothing. Really not worth noting. But since Mr. Gardner brought the topic up I feel compelled to get these off my chest:

1. FEED THE KITTY (vacuum cord up the dress)

This shot in “Feed The Kitty” from 2:31-2:47.

Chuck Jones’ FEED THE KITTY (1952) is an absolute masterpiece. And I delight in watching it in class on the big screen, year after year. Every pose, every shot – comic perfection. But then I noticed this shot and can’t ‘not see it’ every time. You can rewatch the whole film here – the shot a 2:31-2:47. Why is the vacuum cleaner hose going up the lady’s dress? I’m hoping my students don’t notice it – I have no answer to this mystery.

2. MARVIN DIGS (a Line read)

I enjoy Ralph Bakshi’s films. They aren’t perfect – but it’s the big ideas he was going for – made at a time when the industry itself was falling apart. I show MARVIN DIGS (Paramount 1967) in my class to represent a rare 1960s studio-produced cartoon short that actually reflected the times it was made in. There were only a few such cartoons (DePatie-Freleng’s Roland and Ratfink Hawks and Doves, was another). By 1967 the studios were aware these cartoon shorts had an afterlife on TV – so topical references were rarely used.

After 25 viewings, THIS line stood out to me as an “Oops”. It’s just bad vocal direction. The line-read steps on the “joke”… writer Eli Bauer made a “funny”, but it’s thrown away. Hippie #3 says that “yesterday we had two “Swing-In’s, three “Walk-In’s”, one “Stand-In”, an “In-In” and an “Out-In” and today (here’s the punchline) …nothin”.

The last word should have been punched to emphasize the word “IN” – “Noth-IN!”. Get it? A Noth-In… No? Hippie humor… I guess you had to be there.

3. SUPERMAN (The bending building)

I love the Fleischer Superman cartoons. I’ve declared the first one to be in my personal top ten. But I still wince at that shot (7:01-7:21 above) of the Daily Planet building bending like butter due to the mad scientists’ Electrothunasia (SP?) ray. The series was as realistic as they could make it – keeping the non-fantasy elements somewhat rooted in the real world. But in the first one (which I think is tremendous) has two elements that they never repeated in the other cartoons: this rubberized building – and the scientist’s pet raven.

Somehow they get away with the raven – even I don’t mind it that much. But you’ll not see such a cartoony character in any of the subsequent films in this series. They were probably inspired by the evil queen in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, who had an equally nefarious feathered friend.

But that bending building…

Two Quick Plugs I’ve been meaning to mention.

If you happen to be in Los Angeles this week – I’m moderating a panel introducing a screening of UPA cartoons at the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo, California (next to the Los Angeles Airport – LAX) on Thursday night (January 15th). The panelists will include the legendary Bob Kurtz, animation directors David Silverman, Jorge Gutierrez and Tom Sito, documentary filmmaker Kevin Schreck (of the must-see Richard Williams doc Persistence Of Vision) and Stephen Bosustow’s grand daughter Sylvie. This tribute was originally planned to be in 2025, to celebrate the 75th anniversary Gerald McBoing Boing winning the Oscar (and changing the face of animation), as well as the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the company name, United Productions of America (The company was actually established in 1943 as Industrial Film And Poster Service). Several of the great UPA classics will be screened – the whole shebang begins at 7pm – click this link for details and tickets.

And finally, I don’t do this often, but I’d like to plug (or remind) that I still maintain a very nice little news, reviews and interviews web-blog: Animation Scoop. It mainly covers whats-going-on in current animation – features, shorts and series; reviews, obituaries and events. Occasionally even posts on animation history (but not too often – that’s for Cartoon Research).

Over the last few months we redesigned the website – and we are still working on it to bring even more features. I invite you to take a look – and if anyone still “bookmarks” blogs, I hope you will consider doing so – and checking it out on a regular basis.