Lately I've been thinking "what are my favorite looney tunes of all time. It's really difficult to pick a top ten because in a way most anything released after 1940 is an all time favorite to some extent. When I was kid I never really understood the history behind these cartoons. I really didn't know anything about them other than they were really funny. Bugs Bunny was my hero, Yosemite Sam was my favorite bad guy and Elmer Fudd was, well Elmer Fudd.

Today we go back to 1953, June 20th to be more precise. It's Yosemite Sam out to steal a sweet old lady's money and Bugs Bunny to the rescue in Hare Trimmed. It's amazing how a simple thing like greed can make for a great cartoon. Really, the whole concept of this cartoon is simple, that's the genius behind it. Those so many great inside jokes here that you kinda have to close attention or you might miss one.

Of course there's the so called mistakes which you never notice. For example, When Sam watches Bugs chase Granny around the house while he is sitting down on the couch, you can see that there is a small mirror on the wall behind him, but when Sam gets off the couch to confront Bugs, the mirror has changed into a picture of Granny. I must admit I've seen cartoon hundreds of times and never noticed that until it was pointed out to me. I believe things like this example were done on purpose and are not really mistakes. There's others here too, but I'll let you find those on your own.

One little interesting side note is that I believe this is the only cartoon where Granny has a name. She goes by Emmy and I'm pretty sure this is the only time she has a name other than Granny. Another thing that should be noted is some of the footage was reused in 1981's Friz Freleng's Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie. 

A Mutt in a Rutt

Today's post is dedicated to one of my all time favorite cartoons, 1959's a Mutt in a Rutt. Staring Elmer Fudd and his dog Wover. The plot is based around Wover believing something that has no base in truth. However, through the power of suggestion it manages to become reality to Wover. I think what I like the most about this short is that Elmer takes on a bit of a different role here. He gets the chance to take a much needed break from chasing Bugs Bunny.

I haven't seen this cartoon in a very long time. Watching it again reminds me of how fortunate I was to grow up in an era when they showed cartoons on Saturday mornings. I can only imagine kids today know nothing but the internet and cell phones. They have never experienced Saturday morning cartoons and they never will. I feel sorry for them. 

I really don't want to get too far off the beaten path because this blog is about classic cartoons. There's plenty of websites dedicated to the nonsense of today's world. I want this blog to be an escape from something that seems like there is no escape from. That's really all I have to say today. I'm gonna sign off and say enjoy this cartoon be it the first time you've ever seen it or the one millionth time.

Nothing but the Tooth

Today's feature short is  Nothing but the Tooth, which was released on May 1st, 1948. The short features Porky Pig who was the only survivor of the original Looney Tunes characters from the 1930's. He was the first true star character of the Merry Melodies/Looney Tunes series and an icon of animation. He has starred in the second most cartoons in the franchises, with 159 appearances in the original theatrical cartoons, second only to Bugs Bunny's 168 short lineup and ahead of Daffy Duck's 129 short lineup (although he shared 42 shorts with Daffy).

His stardom was short lived though as the 1940's brought in other stronger stars. In 1940 Warner Bros. released a total of 15 cartoons featuring Porky with no costar. In 1941 Porky found a costar in Daffy Duck and Porky's days of flying solo were basically over. By 1947 Porky was starting to become something of an after thought. Porky was in only two cartoons that year, One Meat Brawl and Little Orphan Airedale.

Porky was created to be a sidekick for what was thought to be Warner Bros. next big star "Beans the Cat". Beans and Porky made their debuts on 1935's "I Havent' Got A Hat" While he barely had over a minute of screen time in said short, Porky was an immediate hit with audiences. However, the studio seemed to think that Beans the Cat was going to be their next big character, so they tried a second cartoon, "Gold Diggers of '49", with young director Tex Avery at the directing helms, starring Beans and a heavily redesigned Porky as his sidekick. Once again, the pig won out as the next big thing, thus establishing him as the official mascot of the studio, while Beans quickly faded away soon after.

This is one of "There's no way in hell we're showing this on TV" cartoons. I can honestly say I don't ever remember seeing it on TV either. It was kinda strange watching this because Porky has almost always been the one who ends up on the short end of the stick. This time it was the other way around with Porky getting the best of the Indian.

The whole thing revolves around one gag, The Indian trying to scalp Porky. Why he's trying to scalp a bald pig is beyond me but hey that's just me. The cartoon was directed by Arthur Davis who I'm not real familiar with. Personally I'm not a big fan of the one gag cartoons. Variety is a good thing and you don't get that here. It's not a bad cartoon but it's not great either. I do find the Indian stereo type pretty funny though. I've run out things to say so just go watch the cartoon and form your own conclusions.

Hyde and Go Tweet

As the 60's approached it was evident that the original Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons were in their last days. MGM had shut its doors three years earlier in 1957 and released the last of their Droopy Dog and Tom and Jerry cartoons in 1958. Warner Bros. closed its animation department in 1964 thus ending the Golden Age of cartoons. The original Looney Tunes Theatrical series would last until 1969 with the shorts  produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (1964-1967) and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (1967-1969).

In 1960 (May 14th to be exact) Warner Bros released Hyde and Go Tweet which offered a totally different take on Sylvester chasing Tweety. The story was written by Michael Maltese. It was directed by Friz Freleng and the voices of course belong to the legendary Mel Blanc. When watching this cartoon I can't help but think that Michael must have been looking for a different twist on the predator-prey relationship. Maybe he asked himself, How can we turn the tables on Sylvester and have him be the one who's getting chased?

If one stops and thinks about it the idea of Tweety falling into a bottle of liquid that turns him into a giant monster is loosely based on the 1946 Bugs Bunny short Hair-Raising Hare. At least in my mind it is! I can almost see Michael Maltese thinking to himself, remember when Bugs got chased by that big red monster way back in '46? Well, how about turning Tweety into a monster and having him chase Sylvester for a change? Of course, this is all hypothetical and I don't know if this was Michael's line of thinking or not.

One thing I do know is that Michael Maltese was never credited in the cartoon because he had left for Hanna-Barbera before its release.The reason why he left is unknown. Michael Maltese, was in my opinion (and many others too) one of the unsung heroes of animation, and  the best cartoon writer to emerge from the golden age period. (again that's my opinion). He understood that an inseparable connection existed between perennial antagonists like Tom and Jerry, Sylvester and Tweety, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam (or Elmer Fudd). One could not work without the other.

The whole idea behind this cartoon is pure genius. It’s the very literal inversion of the predator-prey relationship that really makes this cartoon tick—watching Sylvester get chased around by a giant bloodthirsty canary is not only funny, but really it's the whole idea from the name of the cartoon to the story itself. The bottom line is there will never be another Friz Freleng, Mel Blanc or Michael Maltese. These men had real talent and for a brief period in time we were lucky enough to have them share that talent with us.

Shifting gears a bit, it should be noted that the sensors did get their dirty hands on this cartoon. When this aired on ABC's The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, Sylvester's line "I'll jump! I've got a choice?" between the parts of him looking down to the street and jumping off the window is muted out due to allusions of suicide. As far as I know it aired unedited on other networks, such as CBS and Cartoon Network. I've posted the unedited version here, so if you're feeling brave go ahead and watch it. For all you sensitive Democrats out there, you might want to pass on this one. I wouldn't want you to be scared for life.

I'm Young and Healthy

On January 12, 1933 Bing Crosby recorded a song called Young and Healthy. On March 4th, 1933 Warner Bros released the cartoon I'm Young and Healthy based around Mr. Crosby's song. I don 't feel like this cartoon was taking a shot at Bing Crosby as they did in later cartoons but it probably pissed ole Bing off just the same that they used his song.

As for the cartoon itself, I don't like cartoons from this era. No great characters and too much singing. It's difficult for me to talk about a cartoon like this because I don't get it. There's seem to be no point to many of the cartoons from this era. The king featured here is anything but young and sure as hell isn't healthy. In my world it doesn't make much sense to have some fat guy running around singing he's young and healthy.

With that being said, this was 1933 and Young and Healthy reached #45 on the hit music charts. What was considered entertainment in 1933 is considered nonsense by many today. Which more than likely explains why I don't get cartoons from this period.  I'll leave it at that and sign off for now. If you really feel the need to punish yourself you can watch this cartoon.

The Leghorn Blows at Midnight

I started this blog back in 2010 and I have never featured a cartoon with Foghorn Leghorn so I figure it's about time to do so. The Leghorn Blows at Midnight features not only Foghorn Leghorn but also Henry Hawk and Barnyard Dawg. The title is a play upon the 1945 Jack Benny film, The Horn Blows at Midnight.

Released on May 6th 1950, The Leghorn Blows at Midnight was the fifth of twenty-eight cartoons to feature Foghorn Leghorn. Foghorn was inspired by a character from the radio program The Fred Allen Show. The characters name was Senator Claghorn a blustery Southern politician played by Kenny Delmar. The rooster adopted many of Claghorn's catch phrases, such as "That's a joke, ah say, that's a joke, son." Delmar had based the character of Claghorn upon a Texas rancher who was fond of saying this.The leghorn is a breed of chicken and the foghorn describes his loud, overbearing voice.

Something that's a bit unusual for this cartoon is that Foghorn is not the initial instigator. Barnyard Dawg starts the trouble by approaching Foghorn from behind with two large crash cymbals, striking them together twice, once over Foghorn's head and the second time with Foghorn's head in between. In most of the other cartoons Foghorn is the instigator and Dawg the poor victim.

The Foghorn Leghorn cartoons were always a Saturday morning favorite of mine. I think it was the way Foghorn and Dawg fought with each other. It was usually a pretty even fight unlike Sylvester and Tweety or Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. A nice break from the one-sided battles that took place in the other cartoons.
It's really a shame that cartoons are not shown on Saturday mornings anymore. Replacing them with pointless drivel otherwise known as network news seems like a sin to me. The present and future generations will never know the joy of waking up on Saturday after a long week of school to watch your favorite characters battle it out. That's all for now. Enjoy this classic!

Uncle Tom's Bungalow

Uncle Tom's Bungalow was released on June 5, 1937. It is a parody of the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which was released in 1852. It is also a parody of the movie "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which was released in 1927. 

The cartoon features a white girl (Little Eva) and a black girl (Topsy) who rescue Uncle Tom from the clutches of greedy slave owner Simon Simon Legree (pronounced SeeMoan SeeMoan). 

Playing this cartoon for a gathering of your Democratic friends is probably not a good idea. There's so many politically incorrect bits in this cartoon that it's hard to keep track of them all. This cartoon goes where other no other Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoon ever went. There's a scene in the beginning where the characters are introduced and Little Eva says "I've got lace on my panties" and pulls up her dress. While I might be mistaken, I cannot remember seeing any Warner Brothers cartoon have a character do something remotely close to that. 

There's other scenes like releasing the hounds on Uncle Tom or Legree whipping Uncle Tom which are kind of over the top. Then again to some folks, the whole damn thing is over the top. It's amazing how much the world has changed. What was acceptable at the time of this cartoons release would give certain individuals a heart attack today. Whether it be smoking, racially intensive or just about anything really, they seem to take offense. Here's an Ad from the 1940's. 

Can you imagine if a magazine were to print this Ad today? CNN and MSN would throw a fit like no one has ever seen. It would definitely be the end of the world to those media outlets, but lets back on track. 


I've seen two versions of this cartoon out there in Internet Land. One was a black and white version and another was a colorized version posted on YouTube. The knucklehead who posted the colorized version on YouTube talked over the whole thing with pointless commentary. I downloaded the colorized version, muted the audio and synced it the audio from the black and white version. I posted it on YouTube and others have posted it on various sites.

Overall, the cartoon is OK. I wouldn't say it's great, but it does a good job of pulling of the parody of the book and movie. It goes without saying that this is one of the censored 11 and was banned from TV in 1968. Brief segments did appear in the 1989 VHS release "Cartoons for Big Kids".

Boom Boom

It has been a very long time since I've posted so the way I see it I'm long overdue. Today we're gonna leap  back to February 29th, 1936 (pun intended) when Warner Brothers released Boom Boom starring Bean the Cat and Porky Pig.

Beans the Cat was the third Looney Tunes cartoon character star after Bosko and Buddy. He was created by Leon Schlesinger. Beans is most likely modeled after Waffles, a feline from the Van Beuren Studio, as both characters are black-furred cats in overalls.

Beans made his first appearance in the 1935's I Haven't Got A Hat, along with Porky Pig who would have a much longer run in the series. He then made a cameo in The Country Mouse, another Merrie Melodies release that year.

Finally, six months following his debut film, Beans starred in A Cartoonist Nightmare which would be his first solo cartoon, followed by Hollywood Capers. Beans then began appearing with characters from the cast of I Haven't Got a Hat.

Featured on screen in only a couple of years, Beans appeared in just 9 shorts. His swan song was Westward WHOA in 1936. Before being retired completely, he made a brief appearance in Plane Dippy.
Beans was voiced at first by Billy Bletcher and sometimes by Tommy Bond.

Porky Pig's first appearence was also in I Haven't Got A Hat, but unlike Beans the Cat, Porky would go on to be the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power. While Beans appeared in only 9 shorts, Porky appeared in 153.

Porky was designed by animator Bob Clampett and named after animation director Friz Freleng's childhood friends who were nicknamed Porky and Piggy. Porky was first voiced by Joe Dougherty, who actually did have a stuttering problem. Because Dougherty could not control his stutter, however, production costs became too high as his recording sessions took hours. Mel Blanc became the voice of Porky in 1937 and carried on the stutter although to a much lesser extent. 

As I was watching this short I wondered why did Porky become such a success while Beans met his demise after just 9 cartoons. The Porky we see in the short Boom Boom is not the Porky everyone came to love. Porky was developed over time. Beans never developed into anything and I'm guessing the animators felt it wasn't worth the effort to develop Beans. To be honest they were right. There's just nothing that stands out about Beans. Porky had the stutter but he needed time to be developed and be drawn correctly. The early versions of Porky aren't very good in my humble opinion.

                                  
Seeing that it is Easter weekend what better way to celebrate then by posting the short Easter Yeggs. This short was originally released on June 28, 1947. The title is a play on "Easter eggs" and on "yegg", a slang term for a burglar or safecracker.

This was the 500th cartoon short released by Warner Bros.: they would release exactly 500 more after this.

The cartoon starts out with Bugs finding the "Easter Rabbit" sitting on a rock crying. I'm not sure why he is called the "Easter Rabbit" instead of the "Easter Bunny" but the name doesn't change throughout the entire short. This is one of those times were Bugs good nature gets him suckered into something he ends up not wanting to do.

The Easter Rabbit takes advantage of Bugs and suckers him into delivering Easter eggs because his feet are sore. In reality the Easter Rabbit does this sort of thing every year so he doesn't have to deliver the eggs.

The first house the bugs visits belongs to the dead end kid, a mean little red-haired kid who throws an egg at Bugs' face, bites him in the leg and beats Bugs up before body slamming him on the floor. Bugs loses his cool and grabs the kid's arm. Unfortunately, Dead End Kid screams and three huge thugs rush in on Bugs while aiming guns at him. Bugs barely escapes the hail of bullets. When Bugs rushes back to the Easter Bunny telling him he quits, the Easter Bunny gets him to "try once more".

From there, Bugs pays a visit to Elmer Fudd and the cartoon turns to the usual Bugs/Elmer antics. I can honestly say I can't remember Elmer's face turning a bright a red as it does in this cartoon when Bugs does something to make him mad. He looks like juicy red tomato.

Anyway enjoy the short and Happy Easter to all! 

Quack Shot

Quack Shot was released on October 30th 1954 and features Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd in a dispute over Elmer hunting ducks and Daffy trying to prevent him from doing so. Elmer Fudd had many classic battles with Bugs Bunny but with that being said he also had his share of battles with Daffy Duck. The only difference is Daffy tricks usually ended up back firing on him were as Bugs was usually successful in his attempts to frustrate Elmer in his hunting adventures.

Quack Shot opens with Elmer Fudd duck hunting at a lake when he shoots a young duckling which falls into his boat. As Elmer examines it, Daffy Duck pops out of the water and grabs the duckling from Elmer. Daffy then bandages the duckling and places it into the lake. Daffy then warns Elmer "If you sthhoot one more duck, justht one more duck, you will be in trouble!!" Elmer then proceeds to shoot Daffy at point-blank range, which removes Daffy's scalp. 

Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips

In 1944 the United States was at war with (among others) The Empire of Japan. This cartoon reflects the United States attitude towards Japan at that time. The cartoon's title is a play on the verb "nip" as in "bite" and "Nip", a then-widely used slur for Japanese people, based on the fact that the Japanese word for "Japan" is "Nippon".

This cartoon is so full of racial slurs and racial stereo types that it could drive the politically correct to the brink of insanity. Which may or may not be a bad thing depending on your point of view. While I wouldn't sit down and watch this with my Asian friends (for fear of offending them) I do understand that this short was made during a different era. Japan committed an act of terror against our country, the politically correct didn't exist, and the whole countries attitude was "lets get these guys". 

It should be noted that this cartoon was not one of the censored 11 and was  occasionally shown on TV in syndicated package's. It was however one of the 12 cartoons pulled from Cartoon Network's June Bugs 2001 marathon by order of AOL Time Warner due to stereotypes of Japanese people. In reality, AOL knows that people of Asian decent spend money on their products too and there is no way hell they would be willing risk offending customers and losing all that money over some cartoon.

Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips debuted on home video in December 1991 on the first Golden Age of Looney Tunes collection. The niche market format did not cause a stir, but when the 5 disc set was later issued in the more accessible VHS format on 10 separate tapes, Japanese rights groups protested its distribution, and both releases were withdrawn. Reissues for both formats replaced the cartoon with Racketeer Rabbit. The VHS reissue combined volumes 4 and 7 of the 10 tape set.

Hare Force

Although the title is an obvious play on Air Force, this cartoon's plot has nothing to do with the military. Hare Force may not be appropriately named but it is indeed a classic.

On a cold and snowy night, Bugs is stuck outside looking for a warm place to rest his head. Granny has just tucked Sylvester her dog in for the night when she hears a knock at the door. She opens it and sees a half-frozen Bugs Bunny, who is exaggerating his sorry plight for effect. Bugs manages to wangle his way into the good graces, and more importantly, the house, belonging to the old lady. Granny lets Bugs sleep right next to Sylvester in front of the fireplace and even though Granny tells Sylvester to be nice to the bunny, Sylvester takes an instant dislike to Bugs. As soon as she leaves the jealous dog throws Bugs back out in the cold. Bugs plays on the dog's pity to get back in but can't resist a dirty trick and Bugs and Sylvester take turns throwing each other out into the night.  Finally they get into a schtick where they are each throwing the other out the front door in turn, in quick succession. The old lady, fed up with all the bickering by now, intervenes (out of frame) and tells them both to get out, when suddenly she is thrown out, startled and indignant. Bugs and the dog have made peace, and are lazing by the fire. Bugs turns to the audience and says, in typical fashion, "Gee, ain't I a stinker?"

The version of this cartoon that aired on TBS cut the part where as Sylvester the Dog is sobbing over melting the snowman likeness of Bugs, believing he killed him. Bugs says to Sylvester, "You're really in a jam now, Doc. It's the hot seat for you, sure."

    

 

The Penguin Parade

In 1938 most of the Looney Tunes popular characters either hadn't been created, were on the verge of being created, or were in their infancy. Through out the 1930's the shorts relied heavily upon music because they had only a few strong characters.

The Penguin Parade is story about the grand opening of a nightclub called The Club Iceberg. All the local penguins show up to drink and dance to jazz music. First up we have the penguin's version of Bing Crosby crooning "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" before his backup trio belts out a hot "scat" chorus. Fats Walrus coolly riffs out his hot piano solo.

The music track is as important as the animation in The Penguin Parade. Songwriter Byron Gay appropriately composed the words and music - while Carl Stalling's handiwork burns up the soundtrack.
Unfornately, I wasn't able to find a print of this short without the "Cartoon Network" logo on it.      

Cat - Tails for Two

Today's post is another Robert Mckimson directed cartoon. Cat - Tails for Two was released in 1953 and marked the debut of Speedy Gonzales. This early Speedy was a meaner, skinnier, rattier-looking creation with a sizable gold front tooth. Speedy would get a complete overhaul in 1955 and go on to star or be featured in 45 more cartoons. Later on, this original version of Speedy is used as an unnamed background character a couple of times.

The name Speedy Gonzales derives from a joke about a Mexican man nicknamed "Speedy" either because of his premature ejaculation or quick copulation, though the name of the character was not intended to be derogatory. One thing to note is that Speedy's last name was given as Gonzalez in Cat - Tails for Two. It ended with an S in all of his other cartoons.

Cat-Tails featured Speedy outwitting a smart-and-stupid pair of cats named George and Benny aboard a ship. Later on Sylvester the cat would be Speedy's main rival.

Unfortunately our friend Speedy has suffered from censorship. In 1999, the Cartoon Network ceased to air Speedy Gonzales. In an interview with Fox News on March 28, 2002, Cartoon Network spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg commented, "It hasn't been on the air for years because of its ethnic stereotypes." This is widely believed to refer to Speedy's fellow mice, who are all shown as being very slow and lazy, and sometimes even appear intoxicated. However, fan campaigns to put Speedy back on the air and lobbying by the League of United Latin American Citizens saw the shorts return to air from 2002.

Speedy Gonzales remains a very popular character in Latin America. In Mexico, the Speedy Gonzales show has been on and off part of the regular programing of Televisa's Canal 5 national channel ever since it was created.

The Mouse-Merized Cat

Robert Mckimson directed this 1946 cartoon. This was the third appearance of Babbit and Catstello based on the popular comedy duo Abbott and Costello. They had earlier appearances in A Tale of Two Kitties (1942) and A Tale of Two Mice (1945). The voices were performed by Mel Blanc and Ted Pierce. I personally think they did a remarkable job of imitating Abbot and Costello.

The plot centers around Babbit's desire to rid the house of the cat . He's not willing to do this himself, he is however willing to hypnotize Catstello into thinking he's a dog and telling him to chase the cat away. Catstello refuses, but fails and finds himself acting like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Rochester, and then a chicken, and a dog.

The scene where Babbit is hypnotizing Catstello to act like Rochester receiving a telephone call from Jack Benny is usually eliminated from this short. It's included here because as I have stated previously, I think it's important to show the work in it's original form.

Sunday Go To Meetin' Time

Sunday Go To Meetin' Time was released to theaters on August 8th, 1936. The plot follows the misadventures of a black man as he sneaks out of church and tries to steal a chicken. Instead, he ends up getting knocked unconscious and dreams he has gone to hell for trying to steal the chicken.

This cartoon along with 10 others was deemed to feature racist depictions of African Americans that were too integral to the films for simple cuts to make them palatable for modern audiences. Distribution of it and the 10 others has been suppressed since 1968. In October 2010 it was announced that all Censored Eleven cartoons would finally be available for release on DVD in 2011 on the Warner Archives collection of DVD sets.

Rabbit Romeo

Today I'm posting one of my all time favorite's in "Rabbit Romeo". The thing I like the most about this one is that they put a different take on the Elmer Fudd Bugs Bunny battle. Usually Elmer is trying to shoot Bugs. This time however all he wants to do is set Bugs up with a fat Slobovian female rabbit.

So what your seeing here is one of the few times Bugs isn't hunted by Elmer and one of the few times he has a romantic encounter. Like many of the other looney tunes this one was censored too. On CBS and the syndicated Merrie Melodies show, the part where Bugs uses a goldfish to shield himself from Millicent's kisses was cut to remove the part where the goldfish is put back in the fishbowl, the goldfish takes out a pistol, returns inside his toy castle, and shoots himself (implied by the bubbles surfacing and making a gunshot sound when popped). On The WB!, the part where Bugs uses an electric fan to protect himself from Millicent's kisses, but her mouth destroys the fan, and then Millicent says, "Mmm, not bad for a beginner!" was cut.

Those of you who are Rocky and Bullwinkle fans should recognize the voice of Millicent as the same voice actress who voiced Natasha. That would be June Foray who was also the voice of Rocky. I have many favorite scenes in this cartoon but the one I like the most is where Millicent says Come snuggle my little bunny boo. Elmer with a shotgun in Bugs' back says Go on bunny boo... snuggle.

The Fighting 69½th

This is the story of red ants and black ants and their inability to get along. A simple picnic is what starts all the trouble. A red ant and a black ant both spot an olive from said picnic at the same time. This leads to war between the two colonies. The black ant even steals bugs bunny's famous "Of course you know this means war" line.

I've always felt that this cartoon was under rated. I love the plot and how it pokes fun at man's seemingly endless need to make war with one another. The voices were performed by Mel Blanc and Kent Rodgers. This cartoon was written by Jack Miller. What I have posted here is the unedited version. I don't believe in posting edited versions of cartoons. I'm not trying to offend anybody, I just think it's important to show the work the way it was originally presented.  

Saps In Chaps

Saps in Chaps was released on April 11, 1942. I can honestly say I have never seen this cartoon on TV. It appears to be pretty obscure. The director was of course Friz Freleng. It was written by Dave Monahan.  Mel Blanc was the voice of  the vulture, traveler, cat, villain, and horse. Billy Bletcher was the voice of Cactus Pete. Both men were uncredited.

The plot revolves around settlers moving west and towns springing up overnight. The only bit I saw worth mentioning in this short was when the villain enters a saloon, approaches the bar and repeatedly shoots a cowboy who laughs as if being tickled and says "Stop! You're killing me!,".

Dog Gone South

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Charlie's search for a master leads him to a plantation down South where Charlie tries to force himself on the owner, a Confederate Colonel. Unfortunately, the Colonel already has a pet bulldog named,  "Belvedere".

 As far as cartoons go, "Dog Gone South" is an all time favorite of many. Here is just a sampling of the many memorable quotes from this cartoon.

Charlie Dog: Plantation? Are you from the South?


Colonel Shuffle: Ah'm not only from it, sir. Ah'm in it.

Charlie Dog: Well shut mah mouth an' stuff me full o' chitlins! Ah'm from the South, too!

Colonel Shuffle: Oh, Belvedere. Come heah, boy.

Charlie Dog: Goodbye, Belvedere. If you're ever up dat way, say hello to my aunt in Boston.

Colonel Shuffle: Boston? Why you cotton-picking Yankee...

Charlie Dog: South Boston, Alabama.

Charlie Dog: You keep out'a this! You an' your 'Southern hospitality'!... and besides, my aunt lives in NORTH Boston - Massatuchetts!