Gumbasia (1955)
Article 5853 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-27-2020
Directed by Art Clokey
No cast
Country: USA
What it is: Abstract animation

As a jazzy score plays, clay molds itself into various shapes.

I haven’t covered anything as of yet from animator Art Clokey, largely because he mostly worked in television; he was responsible for the Gumby series, as well as “Davey and Goliath”. I originally thought I wasn’t going to review this as well, as my copy of it was nestled in the middle of a set of Gumby shorts, but a quick look at it as well as a quick check on IMDB cleared up that it was not made for a TV series; it was, in fact, a student film. It’s another of those abstract animation films (such as you’d expect from Norman McLaren) where images pass by as music plays, only in this case, Clokey’s chosen medium to animate is clay. As such, it’s about average for this sort of thing. It was striking enough, though, that it won Clokey the contract to do the Gumby series. I’m not sure who performs the score; no one is credited, and if some of the notes on IMDB are correct, it was shot without the score, which was added later.

The Great Experiment (1934)
Article 5852 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-23-2020
Director unknown
Voice cast unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Scrappy cartoon

A mad scientist is trying to concoct a potion, and Scrappy is his unwilling test subject.

This cartoon falls roughly into two parts. In the first, a mad scientist performs experiment on Scrappy and Baby. During the second, the action shifts to the 1990s, where Scrappy and Baby experience the world of the future where everyone wears working beanie-coptors. There’s plenty of fantastic content here to go around, but it doesn’t appear that much effort really went into concocting the story. It’s a little scary, a little humorous, a little whimsical, and has a little sense of wonder, but not enough of any of these qualities to make it stand out. Chalk it up as another cartoon obscurity.

The Great Cognito (1982)
Article 5851 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-21-2020
Directed by Will Vinton
Featuring the voices of John Morrison, Tim Conner, Brian Bressler
Country: USA
What it is: Claymation comedy

An impressionist not only can imitate the voices of people from World War II, but his face can change into them as well.

What we have here is a Claymation short where an impressionist gives a rapid-fire monologue in which he imitates historical personalities from the WWII era not only with his voice, but his face transforms as well. The transformations get more bizarre and outrageous as the short progresses, even to the point where he’s imitating whole groups of people (like The Andrews Sisters) as well as inanimate objects (like battleships). It’s pretty amusing, and it reminded me a little of some silent special-effects shorts in which clay would transform itself into famous people (I remember one involving Teddy Roosevelt). Will Vinton was one of the founders of Claymation, and coined the term as well. I’ll probably be covering a few other items of his before I’m all over.

The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg (1936)
Article 5850 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-19-2020
Directed by Burt Gillett and Tom Palmer
Featuring the voice of Walter Tetley
Country: USA
What it is: Van Bueren cartoon.

Felix the Cat has the goose that laid the golden eggs, and he’s using the riches it provides to help the poor and destitute. However, Captain Kidd the pirate discovers Felix’s secret, and makes off with the goose. Can Felix recover the goose?

My favorite Felix cartoons are from the silent era, where his reality-twisting tricks were highly entertaining. I don’t quite feel the same spirit in his sound era cartoons; though Felix does use some of his old tricks for a short time in the cartoon when he’s trying to figure out how to get aboard the pirate ship, for the most part he’s no different from the other run-of-the-mill cartoon heroes of the period. Still, this is a solidly made cartoon, and there are some fun moments, especially when Felix figures out how to take the pirate’s crew out of the action.

Goo Goo Goliath (1954)
Article 5849 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-19-2020
Directed by Friz Freleng
Featuring the voices of Mel Blanc, Bea Benaderet, Norman Nesbitt
Country: USA
What it is: Looney Tune

An inebriated stork is tasked with the job of delivering a giant’s baby. When the baby is misdelivered, an ordinary-sized family has to cope with a giant baby.

Though the giant baby does show a certain resemblance to Elmer Fudd, this is a one-off cartoon that at least partially serves as a parody of an educational film about the care and maintenance of a baby. Though it’s not one of the studio’s better entries, it does have a few good moments; my favorite is the scene where a giant tries to change a diaper on a normal-sized baby. The fantastic content is represented by the whole “stork delivering the baby” cliche, plus the existence of giants (living at “the top of the beanstalk”. It’s an okay entry from the studio.

Good Morning, Eve! (1934)
Article 5848 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-16-2020
Directed by Roy Mack
Featuring Leon Errol, June MacCloy, Vernon Dent
Country: USA
What it is: Musical comedy short

Adam and Eve take a walk through time.

Well, there’s Adam, Eve, a talking snake (such as it is), some cavemen, the Roman god Mercury, King Arthur and some time travel; at least it doesn’t stint on the fantastic content. Still, at heart it’s just basically a comedy musical short; at each period of history there’s a dance number. Given the raciness of some of the costumes, I’m guessing this is pre-code, but the color photography is truly stunning. It’s a moderately entertaining bit of fluff, but nothing more.