Reviews of books that have held my interest. And things that happen along the way.
I have made it simpler to leave a comment. Just hit the comment selection and choose anonymous at the bottom- Or at my yahoo;
robertrswwilliams@yahoo.com
And let's not forget my friends at the Public Libraries!Most of my selections come from the Libraries listed on my sidebar. They are a great resource and a wonderful use of our tax dollars.
Have you hugged a Librarian today?
When Mickey Mouse sets off for vacation with his two
buddies, Goofy and Donald Duck, they make one big mistake; they let Goofy do
the driving. You can expect the unexpected as Goofy takes the trio on a hair
raising adventure to their destination. But, as usual, in the end everything
seems to come together. Hey, like they say, half the adventure is in getting
there….
I’m not exactly sure of what Max Fleischer had in mind when
he produced this cartoon, but it’s really quite good. It seems to involve our
gal Betty trying to get some sleep on a cold winter’s night. She shivers herself
to sleep; dreaming that she is surrounded by fire and warmth; only to discover
that she is in hell.
But devils and demons, along with a few dancing flames,
prove no match for Betty’s cold shoulder and icy stare. And you know what?
Before she wakes up, hell freezes over. About the only thing missing here is
the devil ice skating.
Here's fanciful version of Betty Boop as "Alice in Wonderland" by Dave Fleischer. I love the fluidity of these old cartoons. They seem to have a life of their own.
As always, these cartoons are posted in the hope that my 4 granddaughters, Aliyah, Trinity, Molly and Julia will enjoy them. Well, I can hope. After all, these old cartoons are up against Dora the Explorer. That's rough competition, though I still prefer the old ones.
The direct benefit to me is of course; and not really having to think too hard about what to post on a lazy Saturday in July.
I hurt my hand and cannot blog for a few days - Please excuse me while I heal and enjoy a couple of my old favorites...
What could be more entertaining than a classic cartoon
featuring 2 of the most recognizable feature cartoon characters in it? In this
8 minute classic, Popeye the Sailor finds himself ashore after an ocean voyage.
He elects to take Olive Oyl to the Carnival with predictable results, as he and
Bluto compete in their never ending quest for her affections.
When the Hula Hula dancer (Betty Boop) makes her appearance
and Popeye jumps on stage to perform with her, Bluto sees his chance and takes
it; or rather, Olive; and kidnaps her with the intention of making her his wife
whether she likes it or not.
By the way, while Popeye is dancing, at about 5 minutes into
the cartoon, he encounters a snake on stage, and places his pipe under the
serpents nose, quickly neutralizing the snake and calling into question just
what was in that pipe? This is not the first time I have sensed that Popeye was
a “smoker.” In several other cartoons he uses his pipe as a blowtorch to open
the can and then inhales the “spinach” through the pipe.
Once Popeye realizes that Olive is gone and in danger, he
jumps into “high” gear; and the chase is on to save the woman of his dreams. As
in all of the old cartoons, everything works out in the end for Popeye and
Olive. This is a unique cartoon in that it is the first one for Popeye and the
only one in which he appears with Betty Boop. He also sings the entire theme
song, which was composed by Sammy Lerner in 1933 for this cartoon. It was also
a hit for Hoagy Carmichael, which I play in my car, much to most people’s
disbelief.
Until this cartoon’s release in 1933, Popeye had only been
in the funny papers since January of 1929, drawn by E.C. Segar for the Thimble
Theater series. Segar had been working with King Features Syndicate since 1919.
Riding the wave of success surrounding the Betty Boop cartoons, Max Fleischer
decided to animate the cartoon strip, He chose a Betty Boop cartoon to do it
in, figuring that if it failed to gain any traction, it wouldn’t be noticed for
long.
Of course, Betty Boop may have remained a staple in the world of classic
cartoons, but Popeye went on to greater success in the 1950’s when King
Features re-vitalized him in a new format featuring Brutus in Bluto’s place.
Those cartoons never did measure up to the “trippy” style which rolled out of
the studios during the 1930’s, making them a delight to watch even today, 80
years later.
In this 1954 cartoon Donald is a happy bachelor looking for
love and finds that true love is more than he bargained for. But before he
realizes that truth, he must go through all of the “honeymoon” phases attendant
to any loving relationship.
With the standard cast of Donald, Daisy and Huey, Dewey and
Louie it is hard to imagine that this was the last feature which would have
Daisy Duck in it. She is, after all, the main character in this cartoon, which
is a wonderful send up of a typical marriage.
The cartoon begins in what appears to be San Francisco, with
Donald strolling the hilly streets in search of love. Daisy hears him whistling
down the street and dons a beautiful dress in the hopes of snaring a mate. She
does all of the atypical things that women in the movies do; she drops a
handkerchief; goes into a faint; even pretends to drown, but Donald seems
oblivious to her. But Daisy has a few tricks up her sleeve and the two are soon
dating.
Their courtship consists of all the usual things; a drive-in
movie; eating at a diner; and they even carve their names on a tree trunk. (The
trunk actually has all of Daisy’s previous prospects names on it.) It is at
this point that they kiss and “fall in love.”
The next logical step is for Donald to meet Daisy’s family.
Huey, Dewey and Louie play Daisy’s brothers and they give Donald the welcome
you would expect in a Donald Duck cartoon. He then meets her deaf mother, who
is an exact replica of Whistler’s classic painting. After meeting her father, a
crazed photographer, Donald is entranced with the idea of entering the state of
Holy Matrimony.
He goes to the jewelry store and buys the requisite ring
in order to propose to Daisy. He arrives back at the house and the stage is set
for him to pop the question. But, while Daisy is upstairs getting ready; which
takes several hours; Donald falls into a deep sleep, dreaming of married life.
After Daisy accepts his proposal in the dream the two
start out life as a happily wedded couple. But happiness seems to elude Donald
at every turn as he deals with his in laws and all of the responsibilities
which go along with wedded bliss. Clearly, Donald has made a mistake.
When Daisy comes downstairs to wake him up, expecting him
to propose, Donald screams in horror and runs out of the house screaming,
leaving a hole in the door which he neglected to open while making his escape.
The wedding is, apparently, off.
When we next see Donald he is sitting in a sparsely
furnished room writing in his diary. As the cartoon comes to a close Donald
writes his summation of what he has almost been through. “"It was a narrow
escape. Though I was born when I kissed her, I died when we parted."
A bugle is then heard playing in the background and he
rushes out the door to take his place along the ramparts of a desert fort
flying the French tricolor. The last thing he says as the cartoon comes to a
close is, "But I lived for a little while".
This is the original 1954 movie poster for "Donald's Diary"
It’s the dead of winter and everyone is hibernating except
for the baby bear. When he runs away from home he finds that Old Man Winter has
some wicked things in store for him. But, by chance; or maybe something more;
Jack Frost comes to his rescue, saving the little bear from the ravages of the
cold.
Cartoons like these were a mainstay when I was a kid. You
actually learned something from them. In this one the lesson is clear; don’t
bite off more than you can chew. But if you do, it’s okay; there is someone who
cares enough to help you.
Is that unrealistic? I don’t know; perhaps in some ways it
is. But the greater good is in the hope that these cartoons engendered in the
hearts and minds of those who watched them, heeding their siren like call. And
these lessons, once learned, never leave the mind, holding one in good stead
during the darkest of times.
How do I know this for a certainty? Easy; when I was a kid
my Mom was very ill; frequently in the hospital for months at time. There was
never a year in which this did not occur. That was my “Old Man Winter." Cartoons, books, movies and music; these things all became my own personal “Jack
Frosts’.” That’s why these cartoons were so special to me then, and continue to
be so now.
Once again I am going to post a cartoon from Christmas past
in the final days leading up to the holiday. I always loved this old classic
cartoon in particular, and I posted it last year. I’m posting it again because
it’s a great example of the quality of the animation in the 1930's. And, Max
and Dave Fleischer were two of the best.
They often worked separately on
various projects, though their best works are probably the collaborations they
produced with the Popeye cartoons and Betty Boop series. They also made a
boatload of feature cartoons like this one, which is a wonderful little story about
an orphanage on Christmas morning. If you have seen this before, I hope that
you enjoy it again this year.
Note: A Very Happy Birthday to my friend Eddie Ray. He's the youngest person I know …
_____________________________
A Picture from Israel
This is a photo of the moon setting over Massada in Israel the other morning. It was taken by my daughter who is on a trip to the Holy Land. She's 26 years old, exactly the same age I was when I made my first "aliyah". Forgive me for being so proud of her...
It seems there is a never ending treasure trove of Max and Dave
Fleischer cartoons which I have never seen. All I have to do is browse You Tube
for them. In this classic from 1939 the vegetables have all gone to sleep for
the night, with mama Carrot laying her babies to sleep on a bed of lettuce.
The Potato Cop has just left the potato sack Precinct and
has a free beer form the mouse hole saloon before he begins his patrol. It isn't
long before things start to go wrong on what should be an ordinary night.
Some of the vegetables have been menaced by what appears to
be a giant cockroach and the Potato Cop is at his wits end. But, when the baby
carrots fall victim to a kidnapping all hands pitch in to solve the crime,
fearing the worst for the little ones.
In classic Fleischer form the mystery is soon solved and the
answer to the puzzle concerning the giant cockroach is revealed. A very clever
and fun cartoon, this offering is a good example of just how far the Fleischer
studios were able to push the boundaries of imagination.
We all tend to think of Felix the Cat in terms of the 1950’s
cartoons we saw on television. But Felix had a long life before that
incarnation. He actually dates back to the days of silent films. He is also the
first cartoon character to ever have a fan base of his own, preceding even
Mickey Mouse in that regard.
Felix’s real background is somewhat obscured, with ownership
being claimed by an Australian
cartoonist named Pat Sullivan. He claims to be the original creator of Felix. An
American animator named Otto Messmer, who worked for Mr. Sullivan, has also been
created with Felix’s birth. But, since Sullivan did have the Felix character in
a newspaper comic strip prior to the partnership with Messmer, so I suppose he
is the original, although even in that endeavor he had a partner named Joe
Oliolo.
Felix was so popular during the 1920’s that he spawned a
whole line of products, ceramics, postcards and even stuffed toys. He was also
the subject of several jazz songs of the time, the most notable being Paul
Whiteman's "Felix Kept on Walking".
When sound arrived in the theater, Sullivan was at first
against giving his character a voice, but within a year had caved into the
change. For whatever reason, the cartoon failed against the newer characters
coming from Disney and others. There was a short time in the 1930’s when Felix
enjoyed a short resurgence, and this cartoon is from that period with the Van
Beuren Studios.
The Felix cartoons on American TV in the 1950’s, with
which most of us are familiar, were the product of Sullivan’s old partner Joe
Oriolo. He reintroduced Felix in an altered form with new characters, and a
"Magic Bag of Tricks". And of
course there was that theme song…
In this 1936 offering, Felix decides that his fish is
lonely and goes in search of a companion for it. A delightfully silly plot and
great animation make this one a keeper, as well as a doorway into Felix’s past.
Donald Duck gets a hard lesson from his nephews Huey, Dewey
and Louie when he tries to cheat them out of a bit of candy for Halloween. We
all had neighbors like this when we were kids. They’d either not answer the
door, or throw a penny or two in your bag at best. Chalk was invented for
people like that.
Of course my favorite Halloween memory involves hurling an
egg 5 stories up from the center of Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn, where it sailed
perfectly into an open kitchen window. No one stuck their head out to yell, and
maybe nobody was even home. If not they must have wondered how the egg got out
of the refrigerator in the first place. But, I digress.
With the aid of a witch, Donald’s nephews literally are able
to make their Uncle dance to their own tune. And before it is over he will
learn to respect the yearly tradition of trick or treating. The cartoon was
produced by Disney Studios and released via RKO in time for Halloween 1952.
There was even a poster for the release, which I have shown below.
Jack Hannah directed this cartoon. The title song, “Trick or
Treat” was written by Paul J. Smith and is performed in that perfect 1950’s
harmony by a group called the Mellowmen. Clarence Nash is the voice of Donald,
and his nephews; while the voice for Hazel is provided by June Foray.
Here's a perfect example of the quality in the old cartoons. Millions of baby boomers grew up watching these things on television, introducing us to classical music and everything else, including some jazz and swing music thrown in. If you listen to this cartoon you can here the orchestra riffing on such classics as Beethoven's "Eroica" and Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", which was later used in the film "Apocalypse, Now" in the 1970's. If it sounded familiar yo your ears, you probably first heard it in this cartoon.
Mixed in with the classical music are a myriad of popular tunes of the day, all performed by the same orchestra in one continuous piece. The characters in this cartoon speak only in musical tones, with each one being based upon a particular instrument. This made the cartoon was very educational in introducing young children to the different musical instruments in an orchestra.
The actual plot concerns the Land of Symphony, and what happens when the Violin Princess gets bored and sneaks out to the Isle of Jazz, located just across the Sea of Discord. The place is a veritable Jazzland, with dancing and partying all night long.
The Alto Saxophone Prince, who goes looking for the Princess, arrives in Jazzland, but is bored with it all. When war ensues, and the Prince is locked in a tower, all stops are let loose his father, a Tenor Saxophone enlists the aid of his friends to free his son.
The Princess rises to the occasion, calling for an end to the war. Her efforts are rebuffed, and after she falls into the ocean; with the Prince quickly following to save her life; the two sets of parents are forced to accept the love of the two youngsters and let the two be wed. The wedding takes place on the Bridge of Harmony which connects the two islands for ever after.
Supposedly, the cartoon is based upon the dilemma of the 1930's, when parents were despairing of their children's choice of jazz over the classics. The cartoon is meant to show that the two genres are closely related, separated only by tempo and timing. The same thing happens with each generation; out goes the old, and in comes the new. But, you have only to look at the basics of any genre to see that all music; and all generations; are really very closely related. It's in "how you swing that thing."
I have a lot to learn about being a grandfather to 4 girls.
I post cartoons here each weekend, thinking that they might enjoy them. It
turns out that I have been picking some of my favorites; like Popeye, or the
Road Runner, and Betty Boop; thinking that my granddaughters would of course
like the same cartoons which I enjoyed as a kid. Man, was I ever wrong!
So, I went looking at the Dora the Explorer cartoons, but
just couldn’t even understand them, let alone want to post them. You’ll have to
look elsewhere to see what I mean. In my mind; which is quite a disordered
place, I admit; these aren’t even cartoons at all.
Stuck for an idea I googled the phrase “classic cartoons for
girls” and came up with this character, Little Audrey, and I actually remember
seeing a few seconds of these on TV when I was a kid. They were the ones that
came on when I went to get a snack. Being a boy I wasn’t interested in Little
Audrey, but now that I’ve taken a look at one of these cartoons, I’m a bit intrigued.
Little Audrey is actually based upon the Little Lulu comic
strip character created by Marjorie Henderson Buell. These cartoons came about
between 1947 and 1958 when Paramount decided not to renew the Little Lulu
series. Little Audrey’s voice is done by Mae Questel, who also did almost all
of the other major female cartoon characters for Paramount, including Betty
Boop and Olive Oyl.
The plot of this cartoon, which was the first of the Little
Audrey releases, is fairly simple. Audrey can’t stop eating candy and her Nanny
is at her wits end concerning what to do about it. In desperation she finally searches
the entire house, discovering Audrey’s hidden stashes everywhere and destroying
them all. When Audrey discovers her candy missing, she goes into shock and
enters a dreamland of; you guessed it; Candy!
But even enough of a good thing can become too much and
Audrey ends up locked in a dream world where the very things which she craves
all seem to turn against her, singing out their warnings to her in a very
clever song “Tummy Ache Blues”, written by Winston Sharples and Buddy Kane. When
Audrey finally comes to, she is met by the face of her Nanny; who thought she
was dying; but now holds out a box of chocolates, telling Audrey that she can have
all the candy she wants.
These cartoons were the product of Seymour Kneitel and
illustrators Al Eugster, Bill Hudson and Irving Spector. Though the Nanny
character is a stereotype; just as the character of Little Audrey is; the Nanny
is clearly the wiser of the two. Now, I wonder how this one will stand up next
to Dora the Explorer?
This is a “Stereoptical” cartoon, which was the name of a
process meant to give greater clarity to the cartoons of the era. Max and Dave
Fleischer had been toying with this process for a few years, and they produced
some wonderful cartoons with the process. This is one of those.
Basically the plot revolves around Tommy Cod, who decides to
play hooky from the A.B. Sea School, after being thrown in the closet for
misbehavior. While out on his own he meets a pretty little worm whom he invites
to play “hooky” with him. She readily agrees, but there’s a hook to it, as she
takes the term literally. Tommy, predictably, soon finds himself “hooked” and
in a struggle for his very life.
Using all the tricks he can think of to elude capture, he
soon finds himself in the boat with the fisherman who caught him. But, slippery
as he is, he manages to get away, flopping back into the ocean where he makes a
beeline for the A.B. Sea School. Once there, he vows to never be a problem
again. And even to this very day, I have
never heard a bad word about him.
___________________________________________
Seamus Heaney
"Digging" by Seamus Heaney 1939–2013
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.
Under my window, a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down
Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked,
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.
By God, the old man could handle a spade.
Just like his old man.
My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner’s bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
For the good turf. Digging.
The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
I love this cartoon. But be careful, it just might make you
cry. The story concerns 2 poor children who live with their mother. There is no
father in evidence. The children’s lives are chiefly concerned with gathering
the necessities of life; wood for fire, and anything edible. Their mother does
all she can do to provide for them, but with limited resources, there is not
much that she can do.
As the children go gathering firewood one day, they are
mesmerized by all of the things in the shop windows of the town in which they
live. But, they realize that none of these beautiful, and delicious, things are
meant for them. They were for other, more fortunate folks. Remember, this
cartoon was created during the middle of the Great Depression, so there were
likely many kids who saw this cartoon and identified with the plight of the two
children.
That night they go home and give their Mother the firewood
they have gathered and she serves them a very sparse meal. They allude to all
of the things they have seen that day, which only breaks their Mother’s heart,
as she cannot afford to feed them well, let alone provide them with such
luxuries. The children reassure her of their love and then turn in for the
night, singing the song “I’ll See You Tonight in Dreamland.”
Their dreams are filled with every sight and smell which
they have coveted for so long. They play in their dream with all of the toys
they don’t have, and eat of the foods that they can only wish for. And then it’s
morning.
Waking up and looking at their tattered clothes, they
realize that it was all a dream; until they look out from their bedroom and see
everything that was in their dreams assembled in the usually sparse living
room. It seems that all of the town’s merchants have been watching these two
children as they toiled daily to help provide for them-selves and their mother.
And, as the children slept, these same merchants were preparing a veritable
Christmas for them. This is a beautifully crafted and wonderfully conceived
cartoon from the Fleischers. The message is pretty clear; every day is
Christmas if you just help it along.
One of the most remarkable things in this cartoon is the performance by Cab Calloway of “St. James Infirmary Blues.” The story is about
Betty; who finds herself having to deal with her evil step-mom, the Queen. The
Queen spends her time gazing into a looking glass, assuring herself that she is
the most beautiful woman around. That is, until Betty shows up.
When the Queen’s magic mirror, along with all of the
servants, declare that Betty is the “fairest in the land”, the Queen is
horrified and orders Betty put to death. But the royal subjects all have other
plans for Betty, and they fake her execution and burial, much to the delight of
the Queen. But where has Betty really gone?
With the help of the Queen’s knights, and even the tree to
which she is bound in a snowstorm, Betty is frozen into a block of ice and
placed in a coffin constructed by the Seven Dwarfs. But the Queen grows wise to
the deception and goes after the culprits, which now include her mirror, which
has turned against her. KoKo and Bimbo accompany her on her journey to
find Betty, and destroy her for good, to the tune of “St. James Infirmary”, swung
by Cab Calloway and his famous orchestra. (That's a pun, not a typo.)
A very imaginative cartoon like this, with a fantastic performance of
the old blues standard by one of the greatest jazz musicians of his time, make
this one worth watching; or even listening to; a real treat.
A very special hello to Aliyah and Trinity in Texas. This is an extremely funny cartoon which, in the end, pokes fun of it's own theme; keeping in style; when everybody takes Ms. Boop's advice to heart. The results are satirical as everyone from man to woman, and even beasts, attempt to "keep in style" with the latest whimsical fashion.
These old cartoons are so well made, and the messages in them still so applicable, making them all the more worth while watching. With the usual direction of Dave Fleischer and his team, the cartoon flows like no other cartoons; including Disney's "big screen" epics, ever have, or will.
With the usual combination of wit and art, along with a bit of song, Betty has everyone filling the movie house for the show; a one week engagement from May 31st through July 31st; and then afterward, trying to live out their fantasies through the "style" she has displayed. Gee, sounds like real life...
In this 1932 classic from Dave Fleischer, Betty is the
waitress at a mining camp. The cartoon begins with real life band leader Don
Redman and His Orchestra performing the soundtrack for this entirely musical
cartoon.
Great animation, as always with a Fleischer production, make the
machinations of the mine almost life like. And, at the end of the shift, the
workers all repair to Betty Boop’s Saloon for some food and entertainment.
Through the
dumbwaiter, Betty finds herself down in the mine where she sees not only the
workers in action, but runs across some other worldly creatures in the process.
With the assistance of Ko Ko and Bimbo, along with some dynamite, she is able
to escape the mine, while at the same time planting these other wordly
characters back where they truly belong; in the grave and not just underground.
The delightful soundtrack of this cartoon is pure swing,
with that big band sound, lending even more fluidity to Mr. Fleischer’s visual
efforts. These cartoons are like gems. There is really nothing like them around
anymore. That’s why I love You Tube.
In this 1937 release Popeye continues fighting the good
fight against classical villains such as Sinbad in 1936. This story has him in
the Middle East where he meets up with Ali Baba and his Forty Thieves. The
battle is on for our intrepid hero, as he seemingly waltzes his way through the
swords and knives, armed with only his can of spinach and a wry sense of humor.
They always seem to save the day for him, so he must have known something we
don’t. Or maybe it wasn’t really spinach? Just athought…
So many of the early cartoons, as well as films, were based
upon classical literature, which is not as common these days. The box office
demands something new each week, devouring millions, but imparting very little
of really classical variety; the occasional “Merchant of Venice” with Al Pacino
excepted. But, those films are rare these days.
Even the earliest of the silent cartoons were set to
classical music when we were kids. TV had to have soundtracks, so they largely
used classical recordings without copyrights. No matter, they gave so many of
us kids in the 1950’s an ear for music. No point to this post, just more
ramblings from the past for consumption by others in the future. Enjoy the
cartoon, and listen to Popeye closely. He says some funny stuff.
