There’s Good Boos To-Night (1948)

There’s Good Boos To-Night (1948)
Article 5614 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-28-2018
Directed by Izzy Sparber
Featuring the voices of Frank Gallop, Jack Mercer, Sid Raymond
Country: USA
What is it: Casper again

Casper decides to recycle THE FRIENDLY GHOST.

This is only the second Casper cartoon I’ve covered, and I’m already ready to summarize the basic Casper plot. It’s night, and the other ghosts have gone out to scare people, but Casper wants to make friends rather than scare. His first encounters only result in frightening his targets, and just as he’s about to lose all hope, he encounters someone who isn’t afraid of him. Then, tragedy strikes, and Casper is in danger of losing his newfound friend, but fate steps in and every one lives happily ever after, until the next Casper cartoon and he has to go through it all again. Now that you know that, you don’t have to see another one of these. Well, I’ll throw in two observations. One: given the way this one ends, why didn’t Casper befriend a pre-existing animal ghost in the first place?, and Two: what happened to these earlier friends Casper made? Where are they? Why did they mysteriously vanish? Could they have come to some horrible end? Could Casper have been the one responsible? Could Casper really be a… ahh, nah, I doubt it, but I will admit I had more fun speculating on this than I did watching the cartoon.

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The Friendly Ghost (1945)

The Friendly Ghost (1945)
aka Casper: The Friendly Ghost
Article 5613 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-27-2018
Directed by Izzy Sparber
Featuring the voices of Frank Gallop, Jack Mercer, Mae Questel
Country: USA
What it is: Casper cartoon

Casper doesn’t want to scare people; he wants to make friends. But will people accept him even if he’s a ghost?

Oh, there’s a few laughs to be had here, usually involving the reactions of several characters to meeting a ghost. But let’s face it; some of these Casper cartoons are primarily tear-jerkers. As such, they can get pretty dark; even though we know he can’t be hurt, it is still pretty troubling to have the hero of your cartoon story attempt suicide. I remember seeing some of these as a kid, but I don’t remember how I felt about them. Nowadays I have to admit I don’t like them that much; they’re just a little too depressing, and the surrounding attempts at humor don’t sit well with me. And, of course, I’ll probably be covering a lot of them, because he is a ghost, after all.

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Wolf! Wolf! (1944)

Wolf! Wolf! (1944)
Article 5612 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-27-2018
Directed by Mannie Davis
Featuring the voice of Tom Morrison
Country: USA
What it is: Mighty Mouse cartoon

Wolves capture a stray sheep. Can Mighty Mouse save it?

As you may have guessed, I’m watching a collection of public domain cartoons at the moment, and this seems to be the only one with Mighty Mouse that qualifies for it. I’m covering it because Mighty Mouse has superpowers. As for the cartoon itself, it’s a pretty forgettable entry in the series; it mostly uses the premise for a series of unmemorable gags and action sequences. It’s certainly not the series at its best.

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A Tale of Two Kitties (1942)

A Tale of Two Kitties (1942)
Article 5611 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-27-2018
Directed by Robert Clampett
Featuring the voices of Mel Blanc and Tedd Pierce
Country: USA
What it is: Tweety cartoon

Tweety must contend with two conniving cats known as Babbitt and Catstello.

Babbitt and Catstello are obvious parodies of Abbott and Costello, and though I’m fans of the original duo, I do find their cartoon counterparts here a bit annoying; they may have appeared in another cartoon, but they didn’t last. Tweety is making his first appearance here, and he would have a long career, mostly paired with Sylvester the cat; some of the best gags in this early cartoon would be recycled when Sylvester came on the scene. The best scene here has Catstello bouncing up to Tweety’s nest on springs, only to suffer a series of painful retributions. The best moment that wasn’t repeated in a later Tweety cartoon shows what happens to the landscape when an anvil falls off of a barn and hits the ground. It’s not a bad starting cartoon for Tweety, but later ones would be better. As for the fantastic content, we’re stuck with only the talking animals and comic exaggeration.

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A Corny Concerto (1943)

A Corny Concerto (1943)
Article 5610 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-27-2018
Directed by Robert Clampett
Featuring the voices of Arthur Q. Bryan and Bea Benaderet
Country: USA
What it is: Parody of FANTASIA

Conductor Elmer Fudd introduces cartoons made to two famous classical pieces.

Before deciding whether to review a cartoon, I always double check to see if it’s listed in Walt Lee’s “Reference Guide to Fantastic Films”; if it’s listed, I definitely review, and if it’s not listed, I make a judgment call. In this case, I’m reviewing it because it’s listed; had I made a judgment call, I wouldn’t have reviewed. That’s because the fantastic content seems to be no greater than that of your average cartoon. In fact, it might be even less, given there are no talking animals here, only anthropomorphic ones and ones holding up signs. Still, I did notice an angel shows up at one point, and I suppose a buzzard angel isn’t something you see every day. As for the cartoon itself, it’s pretty much a parody of FANTASIA done in the classic Warner Brothers style; the first half, done to “Tales of the Vienna Woods” has Porky hunting Bugs, and the second half, done to “The Blue Danube”, is something of an “ugly duckling” variation. The bigger laughs are in the first half, though my favorite gag is in the second, when the little black duck revives the mother swan who has fainted in the river.

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Pencil Mania (1932)

Pencil Mania (1932)
Article 5609 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-27-2018
Directed by John Foster and Vernon Stallings
Featuring the voice of Margie Hines
Country: USA
What it is: Tom and Jerry (you know who they’re not) cartoon

Tom has a magic pencil that can create things that come to life… or is it Jerry who has the pencil..?

You know, I just realized that after sitting through several of these cartoons, I don’t know which of the characters is Tom and which is Jerry. Not that it matters; in terms of personalities, they’re nonentities, and only exist as catalysts for the gags. The magic pencil is the extra level of fantastic content here, making this cartoon a bit more on the level of a “Felix the Cat” cartoon, which is a marked improvement of the proceedings; in fact, I’ll go so far as to say that it’s the best of the T&J cartoons I’ve seen so far. The second half of the cartoon is mostly a parody of mellerdrammers, though things do get pretty surreal, especially with a train that vanishes into the Twilight Zone. If you’re really curious about this series, this is the one to catch.

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Barnyard Bunk (1932)

Barnyard Bunk (1932)
Article 5608 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-26-2018
Directed by John Foster and George Rufle
Country: USA
What it is: A Dick and Larry cartoon

A failing farm is about to be taken over by mice. Can Dick and Larry turn things about with their magic saxophones?

What’s the difference between a Dick and Larry cartoon and a (not cat and mouse) Tom and Jerry cartoon? The answer is – a title card; otherwise the characters are the same, and since no one mentions their names, the difference is of no consequence. I almost skipped reviewing this one until I realized that the saxophones were supposed to be magical. I almost didn’t notice this because I was expecting it to turn into a variation of “The Pied Piper”, with Dick and Larry leading the mice away with their toodling; this doesn’t happen, though the appearance of a walking skeleton emerging from an outhouse does add a bit more to the fantastic content. For all that, this is admittedly one of the better cartoons of the series; some of the gags are a bit creative, including a running gag in which a mouse holds up a “danger” sign anytime some one is about to get hurt. Not a word is spoken in this one.

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Plane Dumb (1932)

Plane Dumb (1932)
Article 5607 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-26-2018
Directed by John Foster and George Rufle
Featuring the voices of Aubrey Lyle and F.E. Miller
Country: USA
What it is: Tom and Jerry (NOT the cat and mouse) cartoon

Tom and Jerry take a plane trip to Africa, and plan to blend in by disguising themselves as natives.

As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, these early Tom and Jerrys are not the famous cat and mouse, but a pair of humans, one tall and thin, the other short and fat. And, as you might have gleaned from the plot description, this cartoon is far from politically correct as they disguise themselves in blackface. As if that wasn’t bad enough, their having done so makes them feel it is necessary to talk like Amos ‘n’ Andy. If this didn’t make you want to skip the cartoon, then the fact that it’s another dose of subpar lowbrow slapstick should give you another reason to keep away. The fantastic content includes an encounter with a giant octopus, several monsters (I think they’re supposed to be wild animals, but they look like nothing I’ve ever seen), and a scene in a creepy cave that has a giant bat and some singing skeletons.

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Case of the Missing Hare (1942)

Case of the Missing Hare (1942)
Article 5606 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-22-2018
Directed by Chuck Jones
Featuring the voice of Mel Blanc
Country: USA
What it is: Bugs Bunny cartoon

After he is humiliated by a stage magician, Bugs Bunny vows revenge and gets it during the magician’s stage act.

For the record, at this time I’m not covering cartoons in which the only fantastic content is talking animals and/or comic exaggeration; I regard these as “cartoon conventions”, and a cartoon has to have an element beyond these to make me consider it for review. This one throws a magician into the mix, thus making it qualify. Chuck Jones had a preferred rule for Bugs Bunny cartoons, and this one qualifies – Bugs is most effective only if his antagonist strikes first (usually prompting Bugs to say “Of course, you realize this means war!”), and such is the case here. Most of the jokes play around with the usual stage magician tricks, such as pulling a rabbit out of a hat and sticking swords through a wicker basket. This one is pretty solid, and my favorite moment has the magician trying to tempt Bugs with a carrot (as per Bug’s suggestion).

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Falling Hare (1943)

Falling Hare (1943)
Article 5605 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-21-2018
Directed by Robert Clampett
Featuring the voices of Mel Blanc and Robert Clampett
Country: USA
What it is: Bugs Bunny wartime short

Bugs Bunny finds himself doing battle with a gremlin intent on destroying a military plane.

Here’s one of my favorite of Warner Brothers’ wartime Bugs Bunny cartoons. Outside of the usual cartoon fantastic content, we also get a supernatural character in the form of the destructive gremlin. Bugs is a bit out of his element here in that he’s the tormentee rather than the tormentor; it’s the gremlin that remains cool, calm, collected and in control. The gags come fast and furious, with my favorite being the reason the plane didn’t crash, though that one is followed up by one of those now obscure wartime references that you won’t get unless you know something about the era.

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