Saturday 10 October 2015

Cartoons of 1949, Part 1

If you leaf through this blog, you’ll find a series of posts featuring cartoon news and reviews from 1928 to 1948. We stopped because...

a) the news came from The Film Daily, which is not available on-line for research past 1948,
b) news about theatrical cartoons was becoming scarce due to a lack of interest by the paper,
c) it took incredible amounts of time (I don’t have) finding screen grabs to post with the stories,
d) coding the posts is a pain.

Well, a while ago, I found time to try to search Daily Variety for 1949 for cartoon news. Variety’s search engine misses all kinds of stuff, but I’ve managed to find enough information, coupled with reviews from Boxoffice magazine to put together some posts.

If you want to hunt for a big story, it would be the continued expansion of television. By the 1948-49 season, all four networks had a skeleton structure of daily programming and more stations were being put on the air. They needed programming. Slowly but surely, cartoons began to appear on the small screen. “Crusader Rabbit” pioneered animation for television, Rudy Vallee’s company was trying distribute what later became the “NBC Comics” series, and Walt Disney and George Pal eyed the medium. In the meantime, Disney and Lou Bunin were battling each other over “Alice in Wonderland.”

Walter Lantz’s studio seems to have been on hiatus; I suspect Lantz felt it wouldn’t be good publicity to say he had stopped operating so the trades don’t really report when it happened. Lantz only shipped one season’s worth of cartoons to United Artists, then stopped. And Republic’s short dip into the cartoon pool was soon about to end. And we start to see the stirrings of UPA, which was now supplying shorts to Columbia.

Unfortunately, the reviews aren’t really reviews. They’re short plot summaries.

January 4, 1949
VALLEE VIDEO ASKS $7,500 WEEKLY FOR TELEPIX SERIES
Vallee Video has wound its first in a series of 15-minute cartoon films for television and is offering the five-a-week layout to sponsors for 7,500 a week. Titled "Tele-Comics," films consist of a quartet of three-minute cartoons, with another three minutes left open for commercials.
Individual segments are "Brother Goose," drawn by Cal Howard; "Sa-Lih," Arabian nights novelty, by A. J. Metcalfe; "Joey and Jug," clown series by Arnold Gillespie, and "Rick Rack, Special Agent," by Miles Pike and Pete Burness. Voices for cartoon figures are supplied by Jack Kirkwood, Lillian Leigh and Bill Grey.
Joe Parker, production chief for Vallee, starts second in a series of 12-minute musical shorts starring Steve Gibson and his Red Caps today. Out At, which has a five-year lease on its newly remodeled studio on Santa Monica boulevard, is also open for rental deals to other tele producers.

January 10, 1949
FINAL ANIMATION on last two reels of Arko's "Mr. Joseph Young of Africa" was completed over weekend, and picture now will be rushed through Anal scoring and dubbing, expected to take about another week. Rest of picture previously had been scored and dubbed. Film has been prepping for two full years, with camera work on live action and animation requiring one year.

January 12, 1949
French ‘Wonderland’ Made At Double Cost Over Prod Hurdles
Although the Gallic spirit of hospitality and cooperation is not lacking, it still costs more to make pictures in France than in any other foreign film producing center, according to Lou Bunin, who recently completed his full-length color and music production of "Alice In Wonderland" in Paris and Nice.
Bunin left Hollywood yesterday for New York following a series of conferences with executives at Eagle-Lion, distributor of the picture in the United States and Latin America. With the finish of his "Alice," Bunin beats Walt Disney to the barrier by at least two years. Disney studio has begun work on its animated version of "Alice," all in cartoons, and the project will not be ready until 1950.
"We had splendid cooperation from everyone in France," Bunin said. "But the setup there is such that picture-making costs more. To make a picture in France you have to collaborate with a French producer, in addition, you are required to make a French version with a French director.
"Further complicating matters is the fuel shortage, which necessitates cutting off all power two days a week. There is no advance notice of what day the newer goes off. Which means that if you call people to work on Wednesday and that turns out to be a day when the power isn't working, you still have to pay salaries for the day."
Bunin's English version of "Alice In Wonderland" cost a little more than a million dollars. The French version cost about a half million. The Union Generale Cinematographique put up about two-thirds of the total amount, 180 million francs, into the project. Bunin decided to make his "Alice" in France when he had to wait two years for a Technicolor commitment.
"Ansco film was obtainable in any quantity in France." Bunin said, "German technicians during the war constructed an excellent Ansco laboratory in Paris."
Bunin took a staff of 26, and their wives and children, with him to Paris in June. 1947. Carol Marsh, 16-year-old British actress under contract to J. Arthur Rank, plays the title role in the picture. She is the only live character in the film with the exception of the prologue and epilogue.
The other characters are puppets, made of rubber with concealed metal joints. This construction permits manipulation of the figures into positions required by the action so that the same puppet can be used throughout.
When Bunin first announced his project two years ago, Disney had also announced bringing "Alice" to the screen in full-length color cartoon form. Disney has the rights to the Tenniel illustrations used in the traditional publications of the famous book. Bunin has not copied these illustrations in any way, he says, in making his puppet characters.
J. Arthur Rank interests will distribute Bunin's film after "Red Shoes."

January 14, 1949
18 MGM CARTOONS ARE IN PRODUCTION
Metro's animation department, under direction of Fred Quimby, has 18 cartoons in various stages of production. Ten of the group are of the Tom and Terry series, and all 18 are in Technicolor. Entire 1949 release schedule will be filled by these cartoons, and Quimby is readying plans for 1950's animated promotion list.

FAIRBANKS TO GUN FIRST CARTOON SERIES FOR TV
Jerry Fairbanks Productions starts shooting Monday on a series of five minute cartoon serials for television consumption. Pix will be the first cartoons presented in serial form on film.
Titled "Crusader Rabbit" the vid-pix will be slated into juve market. Fairbanks organization will handle the distribution of the open-end cartoons.
Newly developed teletoon animation technique will he used in filming the series. Method eliminates many of the costly features of theatrical animation, yet retains the illusion of movement and life, according to Fairbanks. Backgrounds will be kept to a minimum and closeups featured in the pix.
Animation for "Crusader" will be handled bv Television Arts Productions. Editing, voice dubbing, narration and scoring will he added at Fairbanks studios.

Terry Says Vid Will Lure Back Oldsters
New York, Jan. 13.—Television will reawaken interest in motion pictures among older people and they will also be lured back to patronizing film houses after seeing movies at home, according to Paul Terry, producer of Terry-toons. Terry made his statement before 85 members of the east coast previewing committee of the MPAA. He also says that television, in his opinion, will not reduce present theatre attendance among persons 15 to 28 years of age.

January 18, 1949
RICHARD JONES
Funeral arrangements were being completed last night for Richard Jones, 60, head of the Walt Disney machine shop, who died at his Burbank home yesterday of a heart attack. A daughter survives.
Jones, a native of England, came to Disney in 1939 after many years at Technicolor. Well known for his work on special background projection equipment, he was also co-developer of an optical printer combining live action and animation in Technicolor. The device was used on "Song of the South" and "So Dear To My Heart." Fillbach's Mortuary in Burbank is in charge of arrangements.

January 19, 1949
'Alice' Print Ready
Hollywood, Jan. 18.
Arthur Krim, Eagle Lion prexy, received a print of Lou Bunin's "Alice in Wonderland," combo live-action and cartoon feature, produced in Paris last year. Print was planed in from London, where the film was processed. Film will be distributed by Eagle Lion in U. S., going into general release after a New York preem.

18 MGM CARTOONS ARE IN PRODUCTION
Metro's animation department, under direction of Fred Quimby, has 18 cartoons in various stages of production. Ten of the group are of the Tom and Jerry series, and all 18 are in Technicolor. Entire 1949 release schedule will he filled by these cartoons, and Quimby is readying plans for 1950's animated promotion list.

January 24, 1949
WALTER LANTZ, working on plans for his first feature cartoon, has nudged estimated budget down to $500,000 or under, something of a record for cartoon-making. Feature cartoons in past have cost anywhere from $1,000,000 upwards to $2,500,000, with several of Disney's understood to have exceeded latter amount. Lantz, one of the pioneers in cartoon production, has hit upon a formula which can cut costs considerably and yet be turned out without any loss of quality. Producer has been huddling with United Artists on idea, with distribution officials reported to be much interested in project.

January 25, 1949
‘Rabbit’ Hopping
Filming of the first five programs in the “Crusader Rabbit” video film series was completed yesterday at Jerry Fairbanks Productions and scripts for 13 more tele cartoons were finished. Dubbing of the initial five releases is slated for this week.

January 27, 1949
VID NETS BID FOR DISNEY
500 SHORTS, 18 FEATURES OK FOR TV
Armed with comprehensive video surveys made during the past year, Walt Disney is currently in NY ready to talk television deals with various network toppers and prospective sponsors. Disney now has a backlog of more than 500 cartoons and between 15 and 18 feature length films which he could make immediately available by the nick of a pen to a contract.
For past two years Disney has been besieged by eastern televisers who have vainly tried to get the Disney signature on a contract. Disney product is considered a number-one package by all tele execs who have had innumerable propositions from big league sponsors who would like to program the cartoon subjects.
Less than a week ago NBC's veepee-tele top John Royal was in Hollywood and tried to con tact Disney at that time. When he learned Disney was in middle west on preems of his "So Dear to My Heart," Royal had studio execs get in touch with Disney and request him to drop around to NBC when he got to NY.
DISNEY DOOR POUNDED
Other video toppers have been pounding on the door, along with commercial sponsors, who have approached Disney directly for aver a year. Disney is expected to talk with toppers of ABC and DuMont networks while in east, as well as confab with Royal. It is known that Disney has felt up to the present time that programming of video was insufficient to make tele a paying proposition for his product. Too, Disney has felt that his cartoons would be of more value when color tele hit the airwaves; of course the FCC bars arc still down on teletint. Recent spread of coaxial cable network from Boston to St. Louis is said to have revived Disney's interests in teevee. It is said he feels video will be nationwide in a few years.
COLOR REMOVED
For a long time, Disney has been quietly experimenting with his cartoon subjects as video fare and is said to believe found them excellent, although reducing the color reels to black-and-white is not completely perfect as yet. Experiments to improve the black-and-white quality adapted from color continue. Local Disney execs merely say that Disney is, and has been, listening to all video offers without giving any indications of his own plans.

January 28, 1949
DISNEY SEZ ALL FILMS MAY BE MADE FOR VID
New York, Jan. 27.—Walt Disney wants to study the television medium more thoroughly before making any deals. As yet he hasn’t formulated definite plans but feels that "television must be satisfied with old films for the time being," since it can't afford the quality pix demanded by the public.
Declaring that "we may be making everything for tele yet— who knows?" Disney expressed particular interest in using tele trailers to ballyhoo his pix. He expects to work on video trailer angles as soon as he returns to coast.
Disney, who says he's here to publicize his feature “So Dear to My Heart,” admitted he had been bombarded by broadcasters for both old and new telepix.
He revealed that his feature, “Two Fabulous Characters,” had been set for release next fall. Film is an all-animation one that combines the English classic, “Wind and Willows,” which Basil Rathbone narrates, with the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which Bing Crosby narrates. Pic packs a $2,000,000 budget.
He hopes to have another $2,000,000 film. "Cinderella," ready for 1950 release and will follow that with "Alice in Wonderland," which he'll send out in 1951.

January 31, 1949
Lantz Off on 2nd Lap of UA Pact
Walter Lantz has delivered first series of 12 cartoons to United Artists and is now working on second year's product of his three-year deal with distribution company. Producer and his writers have already finished complete working scripts on seven of his new year's program, and have started balance.

February 8, 1949
Walter Lantz Polling Cartoon Reactions
Walter Lantz today leaves for Honolulu, on first leg of a junket which will take him in April to Europe and afterwards to South America. Cartoon producer will contact exchange men and exhibs on type of cartoons public wants.

February 9, 1949
Fairbanks' New Low Rental Pix
Hollywood, Feb. 8.
New series of five-minute film shows, titled “Crusader Rabbit,” is being produced by Jerry Fairbanks for sale to stations and advertisers at one of the lowest prices yet for pix made especially for TV. Rentals for a five-times-a-week show will range from $75 weekly up to $150, depending on the size of the market area, for all but the key metropolitan centres.
Fairbanks was able to bring the films in at a cost permitting the low rentals through use of a new simulated animation system, in which much of the animation is effected through varying camera angles. Minimum of actual animation is also employed.
Producer is now mulling whether to sell them himself or turn them over to NBC for distribution. His contract with NBC, which was renewed for a second year last month, provides that everything he turns out for television must be turned over to NBC if he doesn't release them directly.

February 17, 1949
Visatone Marketing Walt Disney Cartoons
Phil Goldstone has set a five-year deal with Walt Disney whereby producer will make available for rental one cartoon a week to be used on Goldstone's Visatone machine, which projects talking pictures off a record. Negotiations are progressing with other studios for product, to be used mostly in homes, schools and recreation halls.

February 21, 1949
ACAD MEMBERS WILL VOTE FOR SHORTS WINNERS THURSDAY
Final screening of Academy Award nominees in the short subjects division will be held Thursday night at Academy Award Theatre. Fred Quimby, chairman of short subjects exec committee, announced actual voting for final winners will take place at the screening with reps of Price, Waterhouse and company, CPAS, accepting ballots after final short has been shown.
Total of fourteen nominees will be screened covering the one-red subjects, cartoons, and two-reel subjects classifications. Contending pix are:... Cartoons: "Mickey and the Seal," Walt Disney, RKO, Walt Disney, producer; "The Little Orphan," MGM; Fred Quimby, producer; "Robin Hoodlum," United Productions of America, Col, United Productions of America, producer; "Mouse Wreckers," WB, Edward Seltzer, producer; and "Tea For Two Hundred," Walt Disney, RKO, Walt Disney producer.

March 3, 1949
Rep Releasing Short
"Beyond Civilization to Texas," one of four Trucolor cartoon shorts made for Republic for Impossible Pictures, will be released March 15, according to James R. Grainger and Leonard L. Levinson. Remaining three in the cartoon series, "The Three Minnies," "Bungle in the Jungle" and "Romantic Rumbolia," will be released at monthly intervals following the first one.

March 8, 1949
Sutherland Making Pix for GE, Ford
John Sutherland has started extensive production schedule on commercial shorts for feature and television presentation. Cartoon producer has just inked deal with General Electric for series of 26 combo animation live-action briefies which will he filmed in Technicolor for theatre use and black-and-white for video. Deal also has been signed for trio of shorts for same dual purpose with Ford Motors. Two in animation and one in live-action.

March 9, 1949
Disney Keeps His Doe
Buenos Aires, March 8
Walt Disney's rights to "Bambi," a cartoon doe created by him, were upheld here last week in an infringement action tried by a local court. Court held that the manufacture and sale by Amadeo H. Allocati of cloth Bambis was a fraudulent practice. An injunction and $400 damages were granted the cartoon-maker.

March 16, 1949
Capitol label and Warner Brothers Cartoons, Inc., have renewed pact, giving plattery long-term rights to Warners' cartoon characters.

March 17, 1949
CARTOON TECHNIQUE employing locales for background purposes is currently being used at Metro by shorts producer Fred Quimby. Instead of the usual hand-painted backgrounds, photographs are now made of the desired locations, which are blown up and tinted. First two cartoons to employ the time-saving treatment will be "Texas Tom" and "Droopy's Good Deed," with "Tom and Jerry."

March 25, 1949
WINNERS OF ACADEMY AWARDS
Short Subjects (Cartoon) "THE LITTLE ORPHAN," Metro. Produced by Fred Quimby.

March 30, 1949
METRO TO RELEASE 20 CARTOONS IN TECHNICOLOR
Metro this year will release 20 Technicolor cartoons, greatest number ever to be put out in a single season by Culver lot. Sixteen of these will be regular issues, with four reissues of animated shorts made seven and eight years ago.
This is first season since 1943-44 that Fred Quimby's department has released 16 new cartoons. Studio regularly has made this number each year, but due to Technicolor limitations could not release the full complement. Last year, studio put out 11 new cartoons and six reissues, for total of 17.

Three-Color Plans For Rep
Republic will have its own three-color processing plant in Hollywood by mid-summer. Studio thus joins Metro in the race to develop a closer approximation to Technicolor than has hitherto been possible. System will utilize the new DuPont tricolor print stock. Metro uses Ansco. Rep's Consolidated Laboratories is now being geared to handle the method.
Process is an extension from company's present Trucolor, a two-color system. First Rep picture to utilize it will be "Beyond Civilization To Texas," Impossible Pictures' one-reel cartoon for Rep release. It will be processed at Consolidated's Fort Lee. N.J., labs, in race to get it into distribution as quickly as possible. The Hollywood layout will be ready in about four months, it was learned. [rest of story has nothing to do with cartoons]

March 31, 1949
LANTZ WILL MAKE CARTOON IN BRITAIN WITH ICED COIN
Walter Lantz is formulating plans to make number of cartoons in England, utilizing frozen coin for group. Producer will attempt to make deal with one of British cartoon companies for use of its artists and facilities, on flat rate basis, with Lantz to supply script and all advance preparations for actual art work. It will be first time an American cartoon producer has made films in Britain.
Project will comprise one of two types of short, either all-animation or combo animation and live-action. In either event, Lantz intends to take with him certain key personnel from his studio here, providing British government will admit them for production purposes.
Lantz goes to New York middle of April for confabs with Universal and United Artists home offices on amount of coin he has impounded in England and other European countries. UA has been distributing his cartoons only about a year and one-half, with Universal having released all former product for years.

April 4, 1949
In the Soup
Telefilm has been set to him eight combined animation and live action commercials for Ranch Soups. One minute commercials are budgeted at $12,000.

April 6, 1949
Real Shorties
John Sutherland Productions, expanding its activities in commercial spot television field, is winding up group of 26 briefies for General Electric, which run variously in time from 30 to 80 seconds. Footage is used for commercial spots in television, and is composed both of animation and live-action. JSP also is doing similar reelage for Goodyear, United Fruit, Kellogg and Alexander Smith Carpet Co.

April 7, 1949
UNIVERSAL and United Artists are prepping exact accounting of coin frozen in every European country belonging to Walter Lantz, to be ready for him when he arrives in NY end of month. Cartoon producer whose pictures before inking UA deal were distributed by Universal, and who has healthy credit of impounded funds in Europe built up by both companies, is planning to make several shorts in England, and may broaden his horizon when he goes to Europe on survey to include films in other countries as well. Producer very likely will combine live-action with animation in films to be made abroad.

April 11, 1949
ON THE TOWN NUT SLICED BY METRO
Studio is now talking about insertion of cartoon characters, Tom and Jerry, as one of production numbers [in “On the Town”]. This hasn't been decided, however, and is still in discussion stage.

April 13, 1949
Pal Doing Puppetoon Series for Television
George Pal has started making Puppetoon series for television and has given distribution to Eddie Sherman agency. Pal has made one pilot cartoon in the projected series of 15-minute subjects, each of which will cost between $5,000 and $6,000. A national sponsor is being sought and, if landed, Pal will sew cartoonized commercials into the footage.

Realm's New Technique For Cheaper Vidpix
Hollywood, April 12.
Stanley Rubin, president of Realm Television Productions, left for New York to demonstrate to prospective sponsors a newly completed sample television film package. Presentation film, which runs 15 minutes, is in cartoon form, and has been created by means of a newly-devised animation technique to bring cartoons within financial grasp of tele sponsors.

John Sutherland Productions has wound up a group of 26 briefies for General Electric, which run variously in time from 30 to 80 seconds. Footage is composed both of animation and live-action.

Milton Syde puts the first of a new series of five-minute cartoons for television before the cameras Friday. Drawn and directed by Harry Love, "The Funnyside Stories" star Chubby Bear cartoon character, and each episode will be shot with two endings. One ending makes each five-minute spot complete in itself, while the other makes each cartoon part of serial.

April 22, 1949
Disney's ‘Song’ Cited
Wall Disney yesterday received India Film Journalists' Association 1948 award for "Song of the South," deemed "the world's best cartoon play and classic entertainment for the international market."

Screen Cartoon Guild is preparing to organize graphic artists at local television stations. Ray Macomber, business agent for local, related yesterday that directors at stations have been contacted and have approved guilds plans for organizing staff artists.

May 6, 1949
Disney Has Six Features With $15 To $18 Million Nut in Work
Walt Disney teed off development work yesterday on "Peter Pan." Start of the picture brings features at work to a total of six. With budgets on each pegged between $2,500,000 and $3,000,000, total outlay will run from $15,000,000 to $18,000,000.
This is the most product Disney has had at work since the war years, when studio was doing government training films in addition to its own pix. Remaining quintet consists of "The Adventures of Ichahod and Mr. Toad," "Cinderella," "Alice In Wonderland," "Treasure Island" and "Hiawatha."
All with the exception of "Treasure Island" are animated. They will be released in order listed here, with "Ichabod" slated for release in October and "Peter Pan" late in 1951. Rate of release is expected to be two a year for the next three years.
Basil Rathbone is narrator on "Ichabod," it was revealed yesterday. His final recordings have been completed and Bing Crosby has finished the film's three Gene DePaul-Don Raye tunes, “Ichabod,” “The Headless Horseman” and “Katrina.” Edwin H. Morris Music will publish the songs, instead of Disney's regular pubbery, Santly-Joy. This is because Crosby's arrangement with Disney called for him to have publication rights to the melodies, and Crosby's publisher is Morris. Record release date is Aug. 15.
"Cinderella" is 40 percent completed and should wind before the end of the year, for Christmas pre-release and general release early in 1950. Picture, for which score was written by Mack David, Jerry Livingston and Al Hoffman, started through animation last October.
"Alice," with tunes by Sammy Fain and Bob Hilliam, has been in animation several months but won't be finished until latter part of next year. Disney is angling some top film names for narration stints in this one, including voices for the Mad Hatter, Red Queen, White Rabbit, March Hare, Mock Turtle and the Walrus and the Carpenter. Ilene Wood has been inked for the voice of "Alice."
"Hiawatha," in animation also, will be ready for release in '51. "Treasure Island" starts shooting in England in July, 90 percent financed by frozen funds. Most of the troupe is in England now, including associate producer Perce Pearce, director Byron Haskin. production designer John Morahan and studio manager Fred Leahy.

May 11, 1949
‘Pan’ Start Gives Disney Record 6 Features Lensing
Hollywood, May 10.
Production activity on the Walt Disney lot hits a postwar high with the start of "Peter Pan," making a total of six features with a combined budget of more than $15,000,000.
Other productions on the Disney agenda are "Treasure Island," live-action picture, and four animations, "Hiawatha," "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad." "Cinderella" and "Alice in Wonderland."

May 16, 1949
Par Slates 52 One-Reelers
3 COLOR CARTOONS ON FIRM'S 1949-1950 PRODUCTION SLATE
Paramount short subjects and newsreel program for 1949-50 will consist of 52 one-reel shorts and 104 issues of Paramount News, Oscar A. Morgan, general sales manager of shorts and newsreel, announced yesterday.
Shorts will include three series of cartoons in color, including 8 “Popeye” cartoons, 12 “Screen Songs” and 10 “Noveltoons”; “Paramount Champions,” brought back to the program by popular demand; 6 “Paramount Pacemakers.” and 10 “Grantland Rice Sportlights.”
Three series of shorts, “Popular Science,” “Unusual Occupations” and “Speaking of Animals,” have been dropped, reducing the current season's releases of 70 shorts to 52 in the new releasing season.
All shorts and newsreel production will be under the supervision of Russell Holman, Far Eastern production manager, with Bernard Goodwin as business manager of short subjects and A. J. Richard as editor of the reel. The cartoons will be produced at Famous Studios, NY, under management of Sam Buchwald.
“Popeye” tops the cartoons, Morgan said, with 18,000 bookings.
“Paramount Pacemakers,” featuring outstanding screen, stage and radio personalities, will be produced and directed by Justin Herman. The “Grantland Rice Sportlights” will be produced by Jack Eaton.

May 17, 1949
DISNEY REPORTS 29G LOSS FOR 1ST HALF
Wall Disney Productions, during first half of the 1949 fiscal year, the 26 weeks ended April 2, suffered a net loss of $29,245. For the 27 weeks ended April 3, 1948, the corresponding period last year, the company had a net profit of $68,128, equal after providing for preferred dividend payments, to eight cents a share on the 652,840 common shares outstanding.

John Sutherland will adapt 22 one-minute Technicolor shorts originally made in animation for United Fruit Co., to television, in black-and-white. Due to Petrillo ban on telepix, new background music is being sewn in.

May 19, 1949
Disney Giving 10 Tongues To ‘Wonderland’, ‘Cinderella’
Foreign language versions of "Alice In Wonderland" and "Cinderella," Walt Disney's two up-coming all-cartoon features, will total 10. In addition to English, they'll be dubbed in French, Dutch, Italian. Swedish, German, Danish, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindustani and Japanese. John W. Cutting will be in charge of the new dubbing department, headquartering in Paris.
Disney will use top performers in each country as voices for the cartoon characters, just as he does in the U.S. Paris offices was set up in order to save time on Technicolor prints, which will be processed in the lint outfit's expanded Irish plant. Black-and-white prints will be shipped to European centers along with copy sound tracks, to facilitate re-recording.

May 25, 1949
‘Robin Hood’ on TV
Realm Productions has completed initial tele film in a proposed series titled "Adventures of Robin Hood." An animated cartoon, it is tailored to 15-minute slot, and cost $4,000 to make.

May 29, 1949
BIRTHS
Twins, boy and girl, seven pounds each, to Mrs. Richard Hogan at the Good Samaritan hospital yesterday. Father is writer in Metro cartoon department.

June 1, 1949
Anti-Prejudice Cartoons
Series of one-minute public service cartoons aimed at combatting prejudice will be sent to all tele stations throughout the country on a cuffo basis under sponsorship of the Advertising Council.
Council is filming the series, which has already been "sneaked" for New York viewers on both the "Howdy Doody" and "Small Fry" programs. Spots were evolved by Milton Krents and turned over to the Advertising Council for distribution. Musical background for the series is furnished by Oscar Brand.

June 9, 1949
UI Reissuing 13 Lantz Cartoons
Walter Lantz has closed deal with Universal to reissue 13 cartoons this year. Lineup will be drawn from those he turned out for valley studio before he left there nearly two years ago for a United Artists release. Plan is henceforth for U to reissue 13 of Lantz' oldies each year.
11-Year Old British Girl Wins 'Alice' Voice Role
Kathryn Beaumont, 11-year-old daughter of Kenneth Beaumont, British actor-singer, will be the voice for Walt Disney's "Alice In Wonderland." She replaces Margaret O'Brien, who walked out on the deal over the weekend.
Moppet was brought over from England by MGM talent scouts two years ago. Metro has her under contract and she will be loaned to Disney for the film. Her first test yesterday was with Richard Haydn, who plays the caterpillar in the Lewis Carrol classic. Today she'll do the mad tea party scene with Ed Wynn and Keenan Wynn. Her chief virtue, according to Disney, is that her voice will be suitably agreeable for the Carroll heroine, but not too British for American audiences. Signing of Miss Beaumont steps up production on the cartoon classic. Disney leaves Saturday for England, accompanied by Mrs. Disney and their two daughters, Diane and Sharon.

June 23, 1949
DISNEY LOT AGOG; CROSBY CLAN, WYNN CHECK IN FOR JOBS
Production at Walt Disney studios hit its peak for the year yesterday with arrival of Ed Wynn on the lot for off-screen stint in "Alice in Wonderland" and Bing, Philip, Dennis, Gary and Lindsay Crosby for soundtrack work on "Ichabod and Mr. Toad." Studio has one shooting and three in animation, in addition to its regular short subjects agenda. Also, Disney himself is in England, where he'll get the live-action "Treasure Island" rolling at Denham studio July 4. Wynn is doing live action as "Mad Hatter" in "Alice," with animators working from his action in developing human motion for cartoon characters. Kathryn Beaumont, who replaced Margaret O'Brien as voice and model for "Alice," is working with him.
"Ichabod," for which the Crosbys showed up, is now slated for general release in October. Quintet made a string of spot announcements yesterday. "Cinderella" is moving through animation at an accelerated pace and is expected to reach Technicolor Nov. 1, with first "answer print" about Dec. 15. "Peter Pan" is two thirds through its story form, and presentation form for "Hiawatha" will be ready for a yes-or-no-sign from Disney when he returns to the studio in September. Meanwhile, production chief is in touch with the studio via semi-weekly phone calls from London.

CARTOON REVIEWS

January 1, 1949
Pantry Panic
U-I (Walter Lantz Cartune) 7 Mins.
Very Good. A reissue of one of the best and most original Woody Woodpecker cartunes which should be more popular than it was originally because of the recent Woodpecker song hit. In this, Woody disregards all the warnings about the approach of winter and stays in his little tree while the other birds and animals go south. But the ferocious winter winds get into his tree home and leave him a sorry little bird.

My Bunny Lies Over the Sea
Warner Bros. (Bugs Bunny Special) 7 Mins.
Good. A clever cartoon in which Bugs Bunny burrows underground and comes up in Scotland. There he crosses swords with a wily little Scotsman who is suspicious of screwball rabbits. They settle their differences by playing a game of golf which, of course, winds up in disaster for the Scot.

January 8, 1949
Out Again, in Again (Heckle and Jeckle Terrytoon)
20th-Fox 7 Mins.
Good. The two obstreperous magpies, Heckle and Jeckle, are the stars of a comic cartoon adventure. The birds escape jail with a vicious prison guard in close pursuit. The birds climb a railroad trestle and then get on the train and proceed to confuse both the dumb dog conductor and the pursuing guard. A terrific explosion finally blows them back inside prison walls.

January 22, 1949
The Funshine State
Paramount (Screen Song) 8 Mins.
Good. A musical trip to Florida, filmed in the new Polacolor process, which shows the state’s beaches, fishing and, of course, beautiful girls. It starts off with a cartoon of Ponce DeLeon landing in Florida in search of the fountain of youth. After running into an orange juice fountain, he retrogresses into babyhood. Then comes the song “Tallahassee” which the audience joins.

Tea for Two Hundred
RKO (Disney Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. Donald Duck has plenty of unexpected company while picnicking. An army of ants joins him and helps finish the meal. There are a number of amusing scenes as Donald tries to outwit the hungry insects, but they are more than a match for him and his tricks. In Technicolor.

Wynken, Blynken and Nod
RKO (Disney Cartoon Reissue) 7 Mins.
Good. This short, based on a poem by Eugene Fields, has beautiful Technicolor effects. It will appeal to the youngsters with its pleasant fantasy of three children who sail through the sky in a shoe-like boat.

January 29, 1949
Mickey and the Seal
RKO (Walt Disney Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. Mickey Mouse returns to the cartoon field after a short absence in a clever and amusing short. The squeaky-voiced rodent brings some fish to the zoo to feed the seals. One baby seal jumps into Mickey's basket and makes a mess of his home. Finally all his big brothers follow him and dive in and about Mickey's bathtub.

Scaredy Cat
Warner Bros. (Merrie Melody) 7 Mins.
Good. Porky Pig is entranced with an eerie old house and decides to rent it despite the protests of his cat, Sylvester, who has been given just cause to believe that danger lurks all about. A gang of tough mice who have long tenanted the place play havoc with Sylvester but Porky never sees them and scolds his cat for being afraid of his own shadow.

February 5, 1949
Bad Luck Blackie
MGM (Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Very good. Blackie, a jet black cat, befriends a white kitten being tormented by a bulldog. Every time the dog crosses Blackie's path, practically everything falls on him out of the sky, from bricks to pianos. When the dog finally removes the spell on him by painting Blackie white, the kitten goes in for black paint, and assorted articles as large as airplanes rain down on the dog. Well drawn and really funny.

Goggle Fishing Bear
MGM (Technicolor Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. Barney Bear dons goggles and tries some deepsea fishing with a spear. He is having a wonderful time until a shark of enormous size and appetite has designs on him. He has many narrow escapes, assisted by a trained seal, until the two of them finally manage to harness the shark to the rowboat and reach land.

The Little Cut-Up
Paramount (Noveltoon) 7 mins.
Good. A tuneful and comic version of the little fellow in Colonial days who goes beserk and chops down a cherry tree with his little axe. The animals of the forest are amazed at this destruction and the boy's father proceeds to scold him. But youngster looks his father in the eye and gives the famous statement that all school children know— the youngster, of course, is George Washington.

Hare-Do
Warner Bros. (Bugs Bunny Special) 7 Mins.
Very good. Elmer Fudd, the hunter, pursues Bugs Bunny into a theatre with disastrous results. Bugs manipulates the intermission signal so that Fudd is constantly being trampled on by patrons rushing out for a smoke and back to see the show. In the end, Bugs, posing as an usher, leads Fudd to his seat in the dark, which turns out to be a bicycle on a tight wire that takes him down into the jaws of a lion on the stage. In Technicolor.

Holiday for Drumsticks
Warner Bros. (Merrie Melody) 7 Mins.
Good. Two mountaineers start fattening a turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. Daffy Duck warns the turkey to lay off the food and keep thin through constant exercise, but plunges into the food himself. Then he barely escapes becoming the Thanksgiving dinner. This is well drawn and has some good gags.

February 12, 1949
Triple Trouble 20th-Fox (Terrytoon) 7 Mins.
Good. Mighty Mouse has another cartoon adventure which resembles the action in an old-time serial. Oil Can Harry, sinister fiend and masher extraordinary, has Pearl Pureheart imprisoned on top of the Empire State building while her missing papa is suspended by his heels by a frayed rope over the crocodile-infested waters from Brooklyn bridge. Mighty Mouse eventually escapes being eaten by hungry vultures and vanquishes Harry and rescues Pearl.

Wise Quackers
Warner Bros. (Merrie Melody) 7 Mins.
Good. Daffy Duck bargains for his life after being caught by Elmer Fudd, duck hunter. In his eagerness to serve as personal slave to Fudd, Daffy thoroughly upsets the family routine, causing his master to suffer wounds galore. In the end it takes a caricature of Abraham Lincoln to save Daffy from winding up on the dinner table.

February 19, 1949
The Magic Slipper
20th-Fox (Terrytoon) 7 Mins.
Good. A mouse prince dances with a lovely rodent Cinderella who flees the ballroom at the stroke of midnight but leaves her slipper behind. A scheming wolf attacks the prince and dons his princely garments to call on Cinderella. The girl soon realizes her visitor is a real wolf and she gets in contact with Mighty Mouse who arrives in time to save Cinderella's honor.

March 12, 1949
Wooden Indian
20th-Fox (Terrytoon) 7 Mins.
Fair. Mildly amusing account of the vanishing Redskins and how one member of a tribe becomes a wooden Indian. The Technicolor effects of western scenes are pleasing.

March 19, 1949
Comin 'Round the Mountain
Paramount (Screen Song) 7 Mins.
Good. A film in Polacolor showing all the little varmints gathered to welcome a new schoolteacher. While waiting, they sing "Comin' 'Round the Mountain" and invite the audience to join in with the aid of the bouncing ball. When the teacher shows up, she proves to be a skunk and the party breaks up in consternation.

The Emerald Isle
Paramount (Screen Song) 7 Mins.
Good. This starts out as a travelog to the land of the shamrock with stops for humorous observations about the country and its people. We see Killarney's lakes, the Rocky Road to Dublin, the Irish sweepstakes and then finish up with a clever parade to the tune of "McNamara's Band."

Hep Cat Symphony
Paramount (Noveltoon) 7 Mins.
Good. An amusing battle, via Technicolor cartoon, between long-hair and swing music. Hep Cat, a swing fan on Tin Can Alley, is thumping his big bass fiddle when he is interrupted by classical music being played by a troupe of mice in the next room. He tries to silence the symphony but the mice turn on him and achieve a rhythmic victory for long-hair music.

The Lost Dream
Paramount (Noveltoon) 8 Mins.
Good. A charming cartoon about Little Audrey who insists on reading by moonlight though warned it causes bad dreams. She helps a dream child who has missed the early morning dream boat to find its way up a path of moonlight, but winds up by encountering strange and threatening creatures, and is only too glad to wake up and find it all a dream.

Popeye's Premiere
Paramount (Popeye Cartoon) 11 Mins.
Very good. A skit that is about tops in imagination, humor and art in Technicolor. Popeye and Olive get interested in the story of Aladdin and the lamp and Popeye of course meets up with the genie. All his wishes come true until Bluto messes up things and swipes Olive, when Popeye resorts to his spinach and beats a flock of dragons into submission.

March 26, 1949
Beyond Civilization to Texas
Republic (Jerky Journeys) 8 Mins.
Very good. The firs: of a new series of cartoons produced by Impossible Pictures is an amusing short extolling the virtues of Texas in kidding style. Subtitled "Little Known Visits to Lesser Known Countries by Completely Unknown People," this has the voice of radio's Senator Claghorn issuing from a caricature of a southern senator who makes a motion to have the United States moved into Texas, which has everything anyone could want. It's a novel idea and gets many laughs. Photographed in Trucolor.

Porky Chops
Warner Bros. (Technicolor Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. A clever little cartoon in which a tiny squirrel gets the best of the stubborn Pork Pig. The latter is a lumberjack who is chopping down all the trees in the forest until he decides to tackle one in which a Brooklyn squirrel is spending a quiet winter vacation. The squirrel tries to persuade Porky to let the tree stand but the pig persists in hacking it down. A vicious bear finally appears and settles matters.

April 2, 1949
Spring Festival
Columbia (Color Favorite) 8 Mins.
Good. When the groundhog leaves his home on ihe appointed day and doesn't see his shadow, he arouses all his woodland friends with the news that spring is coming. There is great rejoicing among all the little creatures, and frolicking and romance take over. It should especially please children. In Technicolor.

The Blue Danube
MGM (Gold Medal Reprint Cartoon) 8 Mins.
Good. This should prove a delight to children and adults who like fantasy. While an orchestra plays the Johann Strauss melody, the cartoon shows birds, insects, animals, tiny children and a water sprite collecting the essence of flowers and berries to pour into the Danube and turn the river its famous blue color. The Technicolor is perfect and all the quaint and beautiful little creatures are the product of real artistic skill and imagination.

Symphony in Spinach
Paramount (Popeye Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. Another good cartoon in the popular Popeye series in which the little seaman and his long-time rival, Bluto, learn that Olive Oyl needs a musician for her band. Bluto, who arrives first, goes on the classical beam and tickles the ivories quite artistically. Popeye, on the other hand, swings it with his bass fiddle. In the fight that ensues, Popeye eats his spinach and knocks out Bluto.

The 3 Minnies, Sota, Tonka and Ha Ha
Republic (Jerky Journeys) 8 Mins.
Fair. The second Trucolor cartoon made by Impossible Pictures is only mildly amusing and not up to the laugh standard of the first. Labeled an authentic travelog about imaginary places, the short tells of the three daughters of Minnie Waters who are lonesome for male companionship until a handsome brace is washed up on the river shore. But their mother wins his love so Minnie Tonka becomes a lake, Minnie Ha Ha becomes a waterfall and Minnie Sota gets into a state.

Awful Orphan
Warner Bros. (Technicolor Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. A clever cartoon in which Porky Pig orders a canary from a pet shop and gets a stray mutt instead. Porky tries to get rid of the dog, but the latter has made up his mind to remain as the pig's pet. He tries every possible trick and finally finds a permanent home.

April 9, 1949
A Boy and His Dog
Columbia (Color Favorites) 7 Mins.
Good. A delighliul Technicolor fantasy in which a young boy, who has mistreated his puppy, goes to bed and dreams that his dog has grown to great dimensions. The puppy now returns his master's mistreatment with more of the same. When the boy awakes, he realizes his wrong and decides to treat his puppy with the proper care. This points a moral for all youngsters.

Polka Dot Puss
MGM (Tom & Jerry Cartoon) 8 Mins.
Good. This Technicolor subject tells very amusingly how the mouse paints the sleeping cat's face to make it believe it has the measles, then, consulting medical tome by Dr. Quack, puts the cat through a number of drastic treatments that include freezing in the refrigerator and baking in the oven. In the end both animals fall victim to the measles. Drawing and animation are of top quality.

The Swooner Crooner
Warner Bros. (Blue Ribbon Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. A re-release of one of the best of the Porky Pig cartoons. A rooster with a Frank Sinatra voice stops the egg production in Porky Pig's egg factory by transforming the hens into idolizing fans. Porky, not to be outdone, hires a Bing Crosby rooster to get them back to laying eggs. The ensuing battle of the baritones results in a laugh-provoking climax.

April 16, 1949
Pueblo Pluto
RKO (Disney Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. An engaging Mickey Mouse cartoon in Technicolor. Mickey and his dog, Pluto, are taking a trip across the desert and Mickey decides to buy a souvenir for his dog. It turns out to be a buffalo bone and Pluto is delighted until the bone is stolen by a tiny puppy. Mickey goes in pursuit and is lost in a cactus growth and falls over a cliff before he gets it back.

April 30, 1949
Little Red School Mouse
Paramount (Noveltoon) 7 Mins.
Good. Baby mice undergo a course of instruction in cat identification until the dunce brings a real cat into the schoolroom. There is panic and pandemonium until the dumb mouse realizes its mistake, calls on the others for concerted action and gives the cat a pretty rough time of it. Amusing and well drawn.

The Stork Market
Paramount (Screen Song) 8 Mins.
Very good. "Pretty Baby" is the theme song of this community sing in Polacolor, but before the singing there are some charming scenes of production methods employed in a baby factory. Everything has been modernized, of course, except the distribution system, which still involves direct deliveries by storks to chimneys. Extremely well drawn and entertaining.

Bungle in the Jungle
Republic (Jerky Journeys) 8 Mins.
Good. Third in the series of cartoons made by Impossible Pictures is a clever conceit about an excursion into the wilds of a jungle. The party of six starts out full of courage and hope but the terrors of the wild soon whittle them down to two. The narration by Frank Nelson adds many laughs.

May 7, 1949
Mouse Wreckers
Warner Bros. (Merrie Melody) 7 Mins.
Good. Replete with imagination and rich in laughs. Hubie and Bertie, two mice, locate a home they like, but it is occupied by a cat. The rest of the film shows how they get rid of the cat without its knowing what is happening. The main method is dropping various solid objects down the chimney. In the end the cat goes nuts when the mice reverse the position of the furniture.

Mississippi Hare
Warner Bros. (Bugs Bunny Special) 7 Mins.
Good. The annoying little cottontail rabbit becomes a tough river gambler who plies his trade on a Mississippi river steamboat with amusing results. He also mixes up with some plantation cotton pickers and does his best to keep his head above water. He finally emerges as victor as only Bugs Bunny can.

May 14, 1949
Pluto's Sweater
RKO (Disney Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. The climax of this film is good for a big laugh. All the dogs snicker at Pluto when he has to wear a sweater knitted by Minnie Mouse, and he hides out in a park, meanwhile trying to get rid of the sweater. After tieing himself into knots, he falls into a lake. Back at home, with the family cat laughing at him, it is found the sweater has shrunk to the cat's size and Pluto has the last laugh.

Winter Storage
RKO (Disney Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Very Good. Anyone who doesn't roar at this has a hopelessly sour disposition. Chip and Dale, the chipmunks, are busy storing acorns for the winter when Donald Duck begins planting acorns as a reforestration measure. As fast as he plants, they unearth the nuts. Donald stations himself with a hockey stick at the entrance to the storehouse, but the chipmunks, also with hockey sticks, prove he is a poor goaltender.

He Was Her Man
Warner Bros. (Blue Ribbon Hit Parade) 7 Mins.
Good. Well drawn and amusing. 'Frankie' Mouse has to sell apples on a street corner to support her lazy husband but adores him nevertheless. The purchasers are various animals and birds. However, when Johnny leaves her to take another female mouse to his favorite poolroom, "Frankie" gives him a going-over. At the end Johnny sells the apples and his wife loafs.

High Diving Hare
Warner Bros. (Bugs Bunny Special) 7 Mins.
Good, Bugs Bunny is always funny and is in this, though the single gag in it is a little overplayed. Bugs is master of ceremonies of a variety show in a western. When he fails to produce a high-diver, a gun-toting citizen elects Bugs for the stunt. The citizen, however, is repeatedly finessed into making the dive himself.

May 21, 1949
Hatch Up Your Troubles
MGM (Tom & Jerry Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. This Technicolor subject has real quality as to imaginative story, art work and direction. It is one of the best of the series. Tom and Jerry meet up with a baby woodpecker with an appetite for house furniture. When Tom and Jerry engage in a battle, the woodpecker's sharp bill breaks it up. One of the funniest scenes is that of the bird doing mathematical calculation before felling a telephone pole.

The Little Orphan
MGM (Tom & Jerry Cartoon) 8 Mins.
Very good. This Technicolor subject was produced by Fred Quimby and is the latest Academy Award-winning cartoon. It has everything a cartoon should have and a little more than some other "greats" in the field. The story revolves around the appetite of a baby mouse that, with Jerry's aid, helps itself to a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner. When Tom, the cat, intervenes, the utensils on the table become deadly weapons which rout the enemy.

Pluto's Surprise Package
RKO (Disney Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. Pluto receives a most disturbing package in this amusing Technicolor cartoon. Four legs pop out and the box starts to head lor the river with Pluto after it, dropping the other mail as he runs. Both the turtle and Pluto land in the water and the letters float out of reach. But the turtle retrieves them and gets back into his box before Pluto heads back for the house.

May 28, 1949
Senor Droopy
MGM (Cartoon) 8 Mins.
Good. Senor Droopy is a mild fellow who falls in love with a picture of Linda Romay and enters the bullring to distinguish himself. Pitted against him is the foremost matador of Mexico who also likes Romay's looks. Droopy is out of the running until the painting of mustaches on his would-be love's picture enrages him to the point of heaving the bull out of the arena, and he wins the gal.

Donald's Happy Birthday
RKO (Disney Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. A very clever cartoon which deals with Donald's mischievous nephews. They need money to buy Donald a birthday present so they tidy up the yard and then present a bill for their services. Donald makes them put the money in a piggy bank, but they steal it and buy a box of cigars. Donald makes the little ducks smoke the whole box before he sees the birthday card—he then shrinks to the size of an insect.

Romantic Rumbolia
Republic (Impossible Pictures) 8 Mins.
Good. The fourth of the new series of Trucolor comedy cartoons produced by Impossible Pictures for Republic continues in the kidding vein set by the other three. The narration by Frank Nelson reviews the history of a mythical Latin American island called Rumbolia. The gags are corny but humorous and the parody on conventional travelogs is obvious.

Ace in the Hole
U-I (Lantz Cartune) 7 Mins.
Good. Woody Woodpecker is training for the army air corps but runs afoul of a tough sergeant. A flare in Woody's flying suit ignites and deposits him in a plane which promptly takes off. The sergeant joins him and crashes with the plane while Woody parachutes to earth. Woody is assigned a clipper job—clipping an endless line of army horses.

Hop, Skip and a Chump
(Blue Ribbon Hit Parade)
Warner Bros. 7 Mins.
Good. One of the best of the Technicolor rereleases about the two dumb crows. The birds decide to go hunting for a grasshopper, but the latter is too smart for them and makes chumps out of the crows. When the grasshopper starts bragging about how smart he is, however, he is finally captured by the two crows.

June 4, 1949
A Haunting We Will Go
Paramount (Noveltoon) 9 Mins.
Good. In this an appealing little ghost who doesn't want to haunt and scare anybody is the central figure. He goes around among the animals and birds trying to make friends only to have them flee in fright. The ghost is very despondent until he sits by chance on an egg and hatches out a duckling too young to fear him. From then on the two have lots of fun.

A Mutt in a Rut
Paramount (Noveltoon) 8 Mins.
Good. Dogface has a penchant for getting into trouble without half trying. This time he becomes jealous of a kitten that Olga, the maid, adopts, and proceeds to tear the house apart. Threatened with eviction, the pooch quiets down and goes to sleep, only to imagine himself in a canine gehenna. The horrible dream leads him to reform.

Spring Song
Paramount (Screen Song) 7 Mins.
Good. The classic Mendelssohn melody furnishes the theme for a film that shows woodland creatures, flowers and trees greeting the arrival of spring. It is nicely conceived and well drawn. After the colorful introduction, audiences are invited to join in community singing, and it is difficult to see why any would miss the opportunity.

Daffy Duck Hunt
Warner Bros. (Merrie Melody) 7 Mins.
Good. This time Daffy Duck plays dead so that a dog can get into his master's good graces by retrieving a duck. But Daffy, still playing his part in the hoax, is put into a deep-freeze cabinet. The dog double-crosses Daffy by not releasing him but the duck effects his own escape and gets even with the perfidious dog.

Paying the Piper
Warner Bros. (Merrie Melody) 7 Mins.
Good. Porky Pig, playing the part of the Pied Piper, finds he cannot collect his reward because there is still one big rat that lives in town. The big rat is actually a cat, dressed up in a rat suit, who has resented the Piper's successful elimination of the rats. Alter many failures to snare the disguised cat, Porky finally manages to trick him and collect the reward.

June 11, 1949
Magic Fluke
Columbia (Fox and Crow Cartoon) 7 Mins.
Good. An amusing and novel cartoon. The Fox deserts his long-time buddy, the Crow, for a job as conductor for a huge symphony orchestra. The cleverly-drawn opera habitués wait for the Fox to raise his baton but the Crow hands him a magic wand, swiped from a local magician. As the Fox begins to lead, the strangest things take place which nearly wreck the opera house.

Sufferin’ Cats
MGM (Tom & Jerry Cartoon) 8 Mins.
Good. Once again Jerry Mouse devotes himself to the special task of making life a problem for his perennial foe, Tom Cat. He leads the cat a merry chase and once again brain outsmarts brawn as Jerry emerges triumphant.

June 18, 1949
Goodby, Mr. Moth
(Lantz Cartune) 7 Mins.
Good. Not too full of gags but amusing. Andy Panda is a contented tailor until a hungry moth appears and begins eating everything in sight but a rubber raincoat and skunk fur. Even the fur on the cat and the feathers off the cuckoo in the clock go to satisfy its appetite. Andy tries everything, including a shotgun, to kill the moth but only succeeds in increasing the devastation in his shop.

Jukebox Jamboree
Univ.-Int'l (Lantz Cartune) 7 Mins.
Good. Funny and imaginative. Muzie Mouse tries to stop a cafe jukebox disturbing his sleep but it tosses him into a glass of "Zowie." He drinks the liquid to save his life and begins seeing things. Odd ghosts rise out of bottles and do a hot rhumba while all the furniture and Muzie dance. The mouse finally falls asleep, unconscious of the music. In Technicolor.

3 comments:

  1. "THE TELECOMICS" were successful enough in first-run syndication for a second season on NBC's late afternoon schedule [as "NBC COMICS", with different characters: "Johnny and Mr. Do-Right", "Kid Champion", "Danny March" and "Space Barton"] in the 1950-'51 season....which were later syndicated.
    Nowhere are Jay Ward and Alex Anderson's names mentioned in the "CRUSADER RABBIT" item- Jerry Fairbanks was their "producer" because NBC wanted an "experienced" producer handing the series {and Fairbanks was "supervisor" of all filmed programming for the network at the time}. The series, of course, was never seen on NBC, but they allowed Fairbanks to handle distribution of it for their affiliates and any local station that wanted it. The first five episodes were "previewed" at a special party Jerry threw for several "influential" people- and the press- in March 1949. However, after several "test market" showings {including New York's WNBT}, it wasn't until August 1950 that KNBH in Los Angeles, began telecasting "CRUSADER" for the first time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Animation for "Crusader" will be handled by Television Arts Productions.

      AKA Alex Anderson's garage.

      Delete
  2. I have to wonder what went through the minds of post-war audiences while they viewed a reissue of what is clearly a Depression-era cartoon,He Was Her Man. Warners was dipping a little too deep in the vault for this particular "Blue Ribbon".

    Yowp, I know its tremendous drudgery transcribing all this material, but I, for one, appreciate it, as will future fans and researchers.

    ReplyDelete