Hello my friends and happy Saturday Morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with a unique Mickey Mouse short, Minnie's Yoo-Hoo (1930). The title song was written by Carl Stalling (later of Looney Tunes fame) for an earlier Mickey cartoon entitled Mickey's Follies (1929). This was the first original song from the Disney studio and it would become the theme song for the series with an instrumental version beginning every Mickey cartoon. This short presents a sing-a-long version of the song. The version heard here includes a second verse, that was not heard in Mickey's Follies but did appear on the song sheet that was published later the same year that it first appeared inn that cartoon. This short was made for The Mickey Mouse Clubs that appeared around the country. These were created by theatre owners and were gatherings of movie loving kids who were fans of Mickey Mouse. Walt loved this idea and while he did not start it he did all he could to expand it across the country. He also made this short so that club members could sing along during their meetings. There is very little new animation here. There is reuse of animation of Mickey and friends performing the song at the beginning that comes from Mickey's Follies. The animation of the curtain opening and closing was lifted from Fiddling Around (1930)
Next comes my personal favorite Pink Panther cartoon, Dial "P" For Pink (1965). Like all Pink Panther cartoons Henry Mancini's musical theme for Blake Edward's feature film, The Pink Panther (1963). However this cartoon also uses theme from its sequel, A Shot in the Dark (1964).
Next comes a pretty darn good, later day Looney Tunes short, Duck Dodgers in Attack of the Drones (2004). This is one of a series of Looney Tunes cartoons planned to be released in theaters following the feature film, Looney Tunes Back in Action (2003). However when that movie disappointed at the box-office, it was decided not to release these shorts theatrically. That is a shame because these shorts were quite good and deserved the theatrical release. Futurama fans will recognize Dr. Zoidberg in a cameo. Rich Moore this film's director had also directed episodes of that TV series.
Up next is the Van Beuren, Rainbow Parade cartoon, A Waif's Welcome (1936). The Rainbow Parade series was started by Burt Gillett. The Van Beuren studio was no receiving the same success that the Disney or Fleischer studios were and it was felt that brining in a successful director in to head the animation studio was the best solution. So Burt Gillett who had directed the most popular cartoon short at that time, Disney's The Three Little Pigs (1933) would become the head of the whole cartoon studio. There were however constant riffs between him and those who had worked at the studio for a long time. Animator Jack Zander would later say, "He worked like Walt did. We'd do pencil tests. Of course when we were working at Van Beuren, nobody ever heard of a pencil test. We'd just animate and they'd ink and paint it and that's all there was to it, He initiated pencil tests and movieolas. We'd have to animate this stuff and look at it; he'd look at it and then he'd make changes. It was a very stimulating thing. The only ones who had any trouble were the real old animators, animating for years in a set manner. They found it to difficult to adjust." Animator I. Klein went much further on the last comment stating, "The people who were there before him felt, 'why the hell did they take this swell-head from Disney?' They often took that attitude, you know; very seldom did they say, 'Gee that's great - a good man came in,'" However one can't argue that some of the animosity was partly Gillett's fault. Klein also stated, "He was constantly firing people. There was a swinging door all the time, people coming and going." The following is an exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald, "A Waif's Welcome: Rainbow Parade Cartoons - Just a colored cartoon and not so hot. Why not stay by Molly Moo Cow. C.L. Niles - Niles Theatre, Anamosa, Iowa. General Patronage."
Now it is time for a Garfield Quickie.
Up next is a classic Tex Avery one shot cartoon for MGM, Doggone Tired (1949). This short shows Tex Avery doing what he does best taking a simple one joke idea, but still getting more laughs out of it than any other cartoon director could.
Let us finish with a song.
-Michael J. Ruhland Resources Used https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-other-disney-cartoons-minnies-yoo-hoo/ Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
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