"Duck Amuck" with Daffy Duck (1951)

This year was the 100^th birthday of Charles M. Jones; famed animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of literally hundreds of cartoons. Born on September 21, 1912, he began his career in animation sometime around 1933 when he went to work for Leon Schlesinger Productions. That was the independent studio which produced the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros.  Cream rises to the top, and by 1935 Mr. Jones was working as a full-fledged animator.

The 1940’s saw him working closely with Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, in creating Army educational cartoons. The “Private Snafu” series was used to educate soldiers with humor about subjects as diverse as spies and venereal disease. As they say, this was the beginning of a lifelong friendship, and Mr. Jones collaborated with Dr. Seuss on many of his film adaptations, most notably on “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” in 1966.

In this 1951 cartoon, which was released in 1953, Daffy Duck finds himself at the mercy of a clueless animator, and so ends up directing the cartoon from the drawing board. Genius comes in many forms, leaving something magical in its wake. Along with the voiceovers; done by the incomparable Mel Blanc; Mr. Jones created a parallel world behind the scenes of creating a cartoon when he thought of this one.

"Holiday for Drumsticks" with Daffy Duck (1949)

In this 1949 Daffy Duck cartoon celebrating Thanksgiving, Mel Blanc is at his all-time best providing the voiceovers, as Daffy finds himself the unwitting center of attention after helping a turkey avoid becoming Thanksgiving dinner for a hillbilly family.

When the patriarch of the family throws the turkey out in the yard to fatten him up, Daffy is incensed that he will be sharing his food with him. So, he explains to the turkey that in order to avoid being eaten for the holiday, he must lose weight. Of course this leaves all of the food for Daffy, who soon becomes as plump as a turkey, while the turkey becomes emaciated.

But when the holiday rolls around, and the turkey is found to be unsuitable for a feast, all eyes turn to a fattened Daffy for sustenance. Lots of laughs and a clever ending make this cartoon the gem that it is.

"Carrot Blanca" with Bugs Bunny (1945)

This Warner Brothers cartoon from 1945 is a comedic send-up of the 1943 film "Casablanca". The plot is pretty much true to the movie, with a little bit of fun thrown in. With Bugs Bunny playing Rick; Daffy Duck as Sam the piano player; Tweety taking on the Peter Lorre role as Ugarte, and Sylvester Cat as Victor Lazlo, this is a very clever satire of the film. Even Dooley Wilson singing "Knock on Wood" is covered in this 8 minute cartoon.

Rounding out the cast of characters is Porky Pig as Signor Ferrari; the owner of Rick's rival cafe, The Blue Parrot; along with Pepe Le Pew as the suave Captain Renault. And, of course, Yosemite Sam plays Major Strasser, the Nazi in search of "stolen documents." It's amazing at how much of the movie is captured in this cartoon, which is actually featured with the bonus materials on the DVD of the original film.

There are many of these classic cartoon send-ups of some very famous movies. The studios, like Warners, who originally released the films, also owned the rights to them, and were determined to make every last buck off of them. Hence the cartoon versions. Amazingly, they are all equally good, and entertaining as well. Below is the trailer for the original film, just for a little comparison.