"Old Smokey" - The Captain and the Kids (1938)

These cartoons are new to me so I will be posting all 15 of them; one each Saturday as I discover them. I watch one a week and then post it. Hey, don’t knock it - if you were doing this blog every day you’d be strung out for ideas, too!

This week’s episode actually doesn’t feature the kids at all. It’s the story of a man and his horse. When Smokey, the local fire department horse, is replaced by a new fire engine he is heartbroken. He leaves the firehouse with an old man and pulling the old hand pump tuck. His future looks bleak.

The Captain meantime is busy with polishing his new engine, thinking he is the luckiest guy in the world. Then the first fire call comes in. Rushing to the scene the Captain loses control of the rig and the truck is severely damaged.  Smokey; who meanwhile is plodding along with the old man; smells the fire and hauls himself; the old man; and the pump truck to the fire, putting out the blaze with a torrent of water.

The Captain; taking a page from the Little Red Lighthouse, realizes the value of loyalty and service, quickly reuniting with hid old partner. This is only the 3^rd of the 15 Captain and the Kids cartoons I have seen. I like them, not only for the fact that they are new to me, but also because of the quality of the animation and the presence of a coherent plot, capped off with a moral lesson.

"School Days" with Flip the Frog - MGM UB Iwerks (1932)

In this MGM cartoon from the early 1930's school is in session once again. One of the local kids seems to have a problem with getting his dog to stay at home alone. When the dog continues to follow him the boy ties him to a steamroller for the day. At least he thinks so...

Arriving at school the boy is greeted by an overflowing playground with seemingly more children than can possibly fit in the one room school house. When class is called into session the children all go inside and meet their very old and not so personable teacher. They engage in all the usual activities associated with school and things seem to be going well in class.

But what about the dog? Remember the dog? He has grown tired of being tied to that steamroller and manages to tow it towards the school. Somehow he becomes untied from the machine as it rolls along on a path of destruction, depositing our canine friend just outside of the schoolhouse where his master studies inside.

Naturally the dog enters the schoolhouse to "sniff out" the location of his master. This serves to enrage the teacher, who promptly throws him outside. There the unfortunate dog meets a skunk, which starts a chase that winds up back inside of the classroom. It is there that the skunk does what skunks do best, necessitating the evacuation of the entire schoolhouse.

But all is not over until the dog, with the aid of his master, is able to shed his tainted skin. This is a very simple and fun cartoon with no real hidden meanings to it. Just fun in black and white.

Ubbe Eert Iwwerks  was an American animator born in 1901. His first job was working for an advertising company in his home town of Kansas City.  He was just 18 years old. This was also where he met Walt Disney. They bonded instantly.

During the 1920’s,  while working together, UB came up with the idea for Mickey Mouse, who Mr. Disney wanted to name Mortimer Mouse instead. UB won out and did most of those early cartoons by himself, frame by frame. By the time the 1930’s arrived UB had grown fed up with Mr. Disney; who was a very demanding boss; as well as not getting the credit he deserved for his accomplishments. (To this day many people credit Mr. Disney with the creation of Mickey Mouse, upon whom he built an empire.) And that’s how UB ended up at MGM. Flip the Frog was the first character he created there, followed by many others.

For more information about this often overlooked artist, use this link;

http://www.thegreat1930s.com/ubiwerks/ 

"The Tuba Tooner" with Tom and Jerry (1932)

 

 

I did not know that there was a Tom and Jerry cartoon previous to the cat and mouse I grew up with. Hanna-Barbera began their series of Tom and Jerry in the late 1940’s. This cartoon is one of several that were circulated by RKO as part of their Van Bueren series; the cartoons themselves were the work of John Foster and George Stallings.

Much as Max and Dave Fleischer produced and directed the Popeye series, along with Betty Boop, these guys really had something going. The cartoons were very well received in their time, with several becoming cult classics, such as “The Piano Tooners”, which is pretty much a replication of the theme in “The Tuba Tooner”, and “Plane Dumb”.

Black and white cartoons were the first ones I ever saw. The “Farmer Grey” series from the 1920’s used to play on TV early in the morning. They were silent, as they were produced before the advent of sound films. For the most part the soundtracks on TV consisted of classical music, handpicked to fit the tempo, and theme, of the cartoon being shown.  It was kind of a neat way to be indoctrinated to classical music without realizing it.

Pay attention to the detail of the cartoon as it seemingly sways to the music. This was a hallmark of the Fleischer Brothers, as well as the team of Foster and Stallings. Some of it had to do with the process used at the time; drawing the cartoon frame by frame; but a lot more of it was in the expertise of the artists themselves. Enjoy the cartoon and I’ll see you tomorrow.