tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37380126389047627392024-03-19T01:48:48.966-07:00TralfazCartoons, old time radio Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.comBlogger4738125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-37720245123163520492024-02-25T11:22:00.000-08:002024-03-12T04:55:47.621-07:00Eddie Marr<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzzCRwj9fuweQiENuyTONLOyyF__etr2jegDnoy7koZoM3xsbsTnB241oD7ZGibYG-CPaGhuhunow7Qa7frC48KsqkerB7QB-yYn9Xn5bGGQazjf4E6VuwCDiXZkj9gcqgq5S85hAj_TQDlkin1lpSw8FWRJMyfkOb2Gb5A9x7uLAC3ZHxYm8Q2lo9jHL3/s480/EDDIE%20MARR.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzzCRwj9fuweQiENuyTONLOyyF__etr2jegDnoy7koZoM3xsbsTnB241oD7ZGibYG-CPaGhuhunow7Qa7frC48KsqkerB7QB-yYn9Xn5bGGQazjf4E6VuwCDiXZkj9gcqgq5S85hAj_TQDlkin1lpSw8FWRJMyfkOb2Gb5A9x7uLAC3ZHxYm8Q2lo9jHL3/s250/EDDIE%20MARR.png"/></a><b>Robber</b>: Look, bud, I said “Your money or your life.”<br>
<b>Jack Benny</b>: I’m thinking it over!
<br><br>
That may be the most famous bit of dialogue on the Jack Benny radio show, heard on March 28, 1948.
<br><br>
Everyone knows who spoke the punch line. Very few people will know who played the crook who threatened Benny.
<br><br>
It was Eddie Marr.
<br><br>
Marr was mostly a supporting actor, but he did get some chances to star on radio. He hosted a five-minute afternoon affair <i>Fun and Mirth with Eddie Marr</i> in 1945 and the nightime quiz show <i>Win, Place or Show</i> the following year, both on ABC. In 1950, a late-night show was built around him on KECA Channel 7 in Los Angeles. <i>Eddie Marr’s Medicine Show</i> was on for an hour three nights a week and involved Marr doing the carnival pitch-man routine he made famous on radio (eg. “You say you want a job? You say you want it now? Tell ya what I’m going to do....”).
<br><br>
In a lovely coincidence, Marr was born on Valentine’s Day, just like Jack Benny. They were six years apart (which would make Marr a permanent 33 years old, I guess). And while his World War One registration card in 1918 says he worked for the Public Service Electric Co. of Jersey City, he already had show biz experience. And, as it turned out, his routine came to him quite naturally.
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Zuma Palmer of the Hollywood <i>Citizen-News</i> wrote a two-part profile of Marr, published June 18 and 19, 1945.
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;">"I’ll tell you what I'm going to do” was first used on the air by Eddie Marr of the Kay Kyser show when he made a guest appearance with Bing Crosby [see note below]. This, however, was not his first employment at the expression which goes back to the days of the first Americas pitchmen and “medicine” men. When work in the theater was slow Marr was a pitchman. He learned the “business” from one at Palisades Park where he was an announcer over a public address system. Marr, who sold pen and pencil sets for 50 cents (they worked a little while), spot eradicator and graters at street corners in various places, still has his "keister” (suitcase) and “tripe" (tripod). "You never know,” he said.<br>
Marr always took out a "reader" (license) as soon as he reached a town so there would be no police trouble and he said he is glad he never resorted to some of the tricks sometimes used by pitch-men. At one time he was with “Doc” Hilliard who sold "snake oil” and "Mexican diamonds.” A monkey was a member of this medicine show company. One day he sampled the spot eradicator and was no more. The “Doc” made good money from his “snake oil” and “Mexican diamonds because he retired and built a five-story garage in New Jersey.<br>
“When a person stopped to listen,” Marr said, “he was half sold right them. When to stop talking was one of the important things I learned as a pitchman. You were through when people began walking out on you. Fred Allen was right when he said announcers were ‘high’ pitchmen (they sold from the back a wagon while ‘low’ sold on the sidewalk) and that radio programs were medicine shows.”<br>
Marr receives letters from pitchmen and medicine show men all over the country .Some of the writers recall day on Canal St. in New Orleans, the Bowery in New York. If he gets around to it, Marr may write a book based on this material and his own experiences. He built a radio program on the medicine show idea but could not make a sale became of the word "medicine." Prospective sponsors shied away afraid, the public would think they were selling a curative property.<br>
The actor met his wife, Maybelle Austen, when he was trying to sell her series of transcribed programs he had made entitled “Romance.” He and the manager of the Paulist Brothers station had a terrific argument, but she bought the series. She came to his office later and saw five coffee pots and five small electric plates on a shelf. She had no electric plate. He gave her one with the suggestion she invite him to dinner did. He went. They married. Last Summer they canned 100 quarts of vegetables, fruits and poultry.<br>
* * * <br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-mWVbEp6FGotoGoEBSjmCDAHhqFEbdZ9ceeGwqoRttUQYA5tyw0dl1hWX36dNVF_PRlyfuc-NmYPGSuTNKb-HGCSoErtU19EREwoU8fipsIZTApnCRd8KbfQz7GeK8AY8g4a-E6tIDwzzh4R5tfhqzU8Rep1MeZmh-n2u4aNEhG6BV76XU6xsqLbHr7aL/s682/EDDIE%20MARR%20MOVIE.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="614" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-mWVbEp6FGotoGoEBSjmCDAHhqFEbdZ9ceeGwqoRttUQYA5tyw0dl1hWX36dNVF_PRlyfuc-NmYPGSuTNKb-HGCSoErtU19EREwoU8fipsIZTApnCRd8KbfQz7GeK8AY8g4a-E6tIDwzzh4R5tfhqzU8Rep1MeZmh-n2u4aNEhG6BV76XU6xsqLbHr7aL/s320/EDDIE%20MARR%20MOVIE.png"/></a>
Mrs. James Marr thought Eddie, her 14-year-old son, was at a boy friend’s home studying his lessons. He wasn’t. He was dancing professionally at Shanley's, where the Paramount Building in New York now stands. Eddie had never taken a lesson. He was drawing down $450 a week when he was hurt. He did not know a new rug had been laid. It was slippery. Eddie came out doing a half back split, fell and badly tore some ligaments. He was in bed seven months then had to use crutches.<br>
When his sister came into his room one day, Eddie told her to look under his sweat shirts and catcher’s mitt, but not to tell his mother what he saw. Virginia lifted the articles and saw many bills Girl-like she let out a shriek and cried out, "Mama see what Eddie’s got!” Mrs. Marr came running and saw her daughter holding handsfull of bills—Eddie’s earnings about which he had said nothing. He had over $4000. His mother thought he had stolen the money and said she would call his father who was away on tour. The bills went into a bank.<br>
Marr and his sister went as juvenile and ingénue respectively with a respectively with a repertory company headed by Kitty and Matt McHugh, parents at Frank McHugh. On their arrival in Homestead, Pa., for their appearance, Marr was told to walk a goat bearing a sign reading “The Manhattan Players." His sister, at a distance, followed up one street and down the other making remarks. Marr phoned his father he was quitting. His parent, one of the founders of the Theater Guild, told him he had to stay. Stay he did, walking that goat around towns for three weeks performances with his sister trailing making comments.<br>
The actor's first stage entrance was made at six months—in the arms of his father in a melodrama starring Coarse Peyton, who advertised himself as "The world's worst and was, according to Marr. The actor has since played on Broadway in “Kitty’s Kisses," "Irene," “The Comic Supplement," in “Greenwich Village Follies" and in vaudeville with Mark Hellinger and Gladys Glad.<br>
Marr went into radio in 1924. He was paid $50 whether it was a 15 minute, a 30 minute or an hour show. That was higher pay than actors received here at that time. Marr said New York talent always has been paid more money for local programs because of the size audience a station there has.<br>
The “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do" man thinks Kay Kyser the finest person for whom he has ever worked. “He is never interrupting my act to tell a joke of his own," he explained. ”If I don't go over, it is my fault. My spot is short so people will ask for more.” Marr also is heard in “Murder Will Out,” KECA, as detective Nolan</span>
<br><br>
There was more than one Eddie Marr in Hollywood (the second was much younger than Money-Or-Your-Life Marr) so it can get tricky doing research. But an ad for a local radio station in the July 11, 1945 edition of the <i>Fresno Bee</i> said he has arrived in California in 1937 and appeared in <i>Ceiling Zero</i>, <i>Dead End</i> and <i>Moon Over Mulberry Street</i>, among other films. In 1931, he produced, wrote and starred in a one-act comedy skit given by members of the St. Joseph’s Dramatic Society in Hoboken. In the last few years of the decade, he was a member of the Galvin Players in Ottawa, where he also opened a dancing school.
<br><br>
There was more television; he was a regular on the Hank Penny variety show on KHJ-TV in 1955.
<br><br>
Among his many radio roles was Rick in a serialised version of <i>Casablanca</i> NBC’s <i>Star Playhouse</i> and Front Page Fink on Jack Carson’s show in 1943, where he pulled off his “Tell ya what I’m going to do” routine about two years before joining Kay Kyser. Cartoon fans may have heard the sales patter bit in the Andy Panda short <i>Scrappy Birthday</i>, released in 1949. That’s Marr.
<br><br>
But he had an unusual sideline. Glenn Ramsey wrote about it in the <i>Louisville Courier-Journal</i> of December 12, 1948. You will recognise another name from the Benny show in his column.
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;">Yes, sir, there’s something different in bow ties!<br>
The chief difference between the new bow tie and the conventional bow is the size and the jaunty look that is given it by a crushing hand.<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2GNIbfz6Gnzw9A5_OE8h9rcTY-Kh1KGNAs6SmAui88Dz-iJtMT5SOkIuo6jsFRPf6Wflx0RMTf76KoU35ZvXkzzCPKeV8sdG4Gj7yRKquK92G4kE5ugOmDpccqOMbxvn0GIgOUAsI-zeIgTwfqD6NfB3qixRrgONIvjR6SjhxMubQvlNi6-dPqnybuAF8/s670/EDDIE%20MARR%20TIE.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="670" data-original-width="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2GNIbfz6Gnzw9A5_OE8h9rcTY-Kh1KGNAs6SmAui88Dz-iJtMT5SOkIuo6jsFRPf6Wflx0RMTf76KoU35ZvXkzzCPKeV8sdG4Gj7yRKquK92G4kE5ugOmDpccqOMbxvn0GIgOUAsI-zeIgTwfqD6NfB3qixRrgONIvjR6SjhxMubQvlNi6-dPqnybuAF8/s320/EDDIE%20MARR%20TIE.png"/></a>Regular bows are 32 to 36 inches in length and about an inch and a half wide on the wings; the new bows are 41 inches long and 3 ½ inches wife at the widest part, and they do not have the usual padding—just two pieces of cloth sewed together.<br>
Unlike the intricate operations necessary to perfect the Windsor or the four-in-hand knot, all that is required for the new tie is that you know how to tie a conventional bow, then apply the crushing hand. Honest, that's all there is to it. The new bow comes from Hollywood.<br>
It was dreamed up by a veteran screen and radio actor, Eddie Marr. He frequently appears on radio shows and has been heard with Jack Benny. Earlier in the year, the Associated Press sent me to Los Angeles to attend the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters. An old friend of mine, L. A. "Speed" Riggs, one of the tobacco auctioneers heard on the air, now has a Palomino horse ranch near Hollywood and I visited him for a day. At dinner that evening Eddie Marr and his wife were among the guests.<br>
Eddie had a number of the ties with him and I brought back a modest personal supply. I haven't seen them on sale any place in the East, but I created a bit of a sensation by wearing them in Florida a few months later. [...]
And in closing—I don’t have ties for sale and neither do I know the address for Eddie Marr.</span>
<br><br>
As television work dried up (there was a final appearance with Jack Benny on Nov. 20, 1962), Marr found another career. The <i>Citizen-News</i> of July 24, 1967 reported he was a travel agent.
Marr died in Studio City on August 25, 1987.
<br><br>
Here's Marr on the Feb. 10, 1946 edition of the Philco Hall of Fame on ABC. Stooges were celebrated. Besides Marr, you'll hear a routine with Mel Blanc.
<br><br>
<audio id="audio_with_controls" controls>
<source src="https://otrr.org/OTRRLibrary/jukebox/Radio%20Hall%20of%20Fame%2046-02-10%20(115)%20Guest%20-%20Jerry%20Colonna.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" /></audio>
Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-79591052164792565542024-02-18T07:19:00.000-08:002024-02-20T14:46:51.037-08:00JOT<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkNgWZ-Af-_Vdqu4TKAbgikW7t2kCWMuyi74bUx4jIqjIqpCi1UZcRA2bWfiA1oU9O2dNE_ahuFZSOzNSfktt1eiJHcKEZzGuOy-CNhmTjnJrpRwVxbOWgvyq_Gdk8wqSQQGbcxBgXlb3iu4-Omvd7riu8AS2fDJmiw699ChyphenhyphengUjXzXRw3kDOkplLGzFFx/s622/JOT.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="622" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkNgWZ-Af-_Vdqu4TKAbgikW7t2kCWMuyi74bUx4jIqjIqpCi1UZcRA2bWfiA1oU9O2dNE_ahuFZSOzNSfktt1eiJHcKEZzGuOy-CNhmTjnJrpRwVxbOWgvyq_Gdk8wqSQQGbcxBgXlb3iu4-Omvd7riu8AS2fDJmiw699ChyphenhyphengUjXzXRw3kDOkplLGzFFx/s260/JOT.png"/></a>There are plenty of byways in the world of animated cartoons. One of the best places to learn about them is the <a href="https://cartoonresearch.com/" target="false"><i>Cartoon Research</i></a> web site.
<br><br>
Recently, there was a post mentioning one of those byways I hadn’t thought about for a long time. It was post about JOT.
<br><br>
JOT starred in a passel of syndicated cartoons I don’t have a particular interest in, but it did get a fair share of ink in the newspapers of the 1960s, secular and otherwise.
<br><br>
Here’s an early review from the <i>Tulsa World</i> of September 20, 1964. Television columnist Chuck Wheat got a look at it.
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;">Recently in Dallas I ran across a new type of religious program for children. Or maybe it is a church-sponsored non-religious program for children.
In any case its name is “Jot.”<br>
The production company of Keitz and Herndon has turned out the first few of a 13 program order for the Southern Baptist Convention. The Baptists tried a Spanish film maker and were dissatisfied with the results so they turned to Texas and got “Jot.”<br>
“Jot” is a brief cartoon creation.<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsrJdkWTaPhoTcjtFq_A7_a1gk5KnDOWGkdsNtbZyVfDrnDN6NU7wSlVnWZGBTebNMBCGUe-iFsZvAiqVpgSI6mZHzWnWmWXPwEKtB7tXi00I9CsdQHU7ffPbVY7qrhER3sP0nRH79XfyhMMjedQBZn-ZGFKeAwoCUlUjMkCnLoFsmmPelfG0lJpxFHZPI/s756/JOT%20LETTERS.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="756" data-original-width="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsrJdkWTaPhoTcjtFq_A7_a1gk5KnDOWGkdsNtbZyVfDrnDN6NU7wSlVnWZGBTebNMBCGUe-iFsZvAiqVpgSI6mZHzWnWmWXPwEKtB7tXi00I9CsdQHU7ffPbVY7qrhER3sP0nRH79XfyhMMjedQBZn-ZGFKeAwoCUlUjMkCnLoFsmmPelfG0lJpxFHZPI/s320/JOT%20LETTERS.png"/></a>The color productions combine cartoon central characters and some wild actual pictography of such things as swirling oil paint in water for backgrounds.<br>
The problem was to produce a program that would give the Baptists something for their money yet keep kiddies watching. “Jot” is aimed at very little children but just like the sometimes cynical Stan Freberg and always wacky Jay Ward, “Jot” hits adults in the eye as well.<br>
JOT IS A DOT, A WHITE DOT. Jot’s playmates become stylized little boys and girls, but Jot remains essentially a blob of white amid the bright colors of his cartoon universe.<br>
There is a glorious little tune for Jot’s theme. It is a lilting, almost jazzy little number that permeates the program with delight.<br>
In each show, Jot learns a lesson in conduct. The first program had Jot telling his mother a fib. He said “No ma’am.” That “no ma’am” haunts Jot, trailing him through a morass of suddenly strange surroundings that had seemed so certain and friendly.<br>
Jot runs back to his mother to recant and feels so much better.<br>
Those pale words don't do any justice at all to the sweet cleverness of the little adventure Jot goes through, an adventure in a world of abstract designs which had been playground equipment, with everywhere—like a tiger peeking through the vines of the jungle—that frightening fib, “No ma’am.”<br>
The point for theologians and psychologists is that there is no point-of-view moralizing in “Jot.” The story unfolds and points the moral with its viewers making the point.<br>
For instance, since Jot is a white blob why did I invest him with masculinity? He reminded me of my son Jack, that’s why. My wife, however, who saw it with me, saw Jot as a little girl.<br>
THE VOICE OF JOT INCIDENtally belongs to a model in Dallas whose name I did not get but who, I am told, is a remarkably well-endowed young woman with an off-mike vocabulary that might shock the good Baptists. On mike, however, her voice is the epitome of wonderful childishness.<br>
Each segment of “Jot” will send its hero through another adventure in learning morality. The Baptists will make “Jot” available to televisions stations free of charge, I believe, so we may get to see it here some time after Jan. 1.<br>
This whole business of applying show business movie to matters of religion, morality and principle fascinates me. Beth Macklin, the World's youth and religion editor, is going into it in far greater detail beginning this very day. <br>
I urge your attention.</span>
<br><br>
The series wasn’t test-marketed until January, 1968. It was so successful, it received a thousand letters a day, according to a story in one newspaper in 1970. A paper in Fort Worth reported in August 1968 that the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission had been overwhelmed with 22 thousand letters the month before. The same paper reported in June 1970 that the series was being expanded to 100 stations and the National Association of Broadcasters had presented the Commission with a “Life Achievement Citation,” saying JOT was an “outstanding contribution to the moral and spiritual life of America.”
<br><br>
The Associated Press looked at the series in 1967, and how much it took out of the church collection plates.
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Jot Cartoon Introduced By Baptists</span></b><br>
<b>By MIKE COCHRAN</b> <br>
FORT WORTH, Tex., Mar. 17 (AP)—He’s a dot named Jot, and the Southern Baptists are gambling that he'll touch the hearts and personalities of millions of children.<br>
They've already plunged $200,000 into the pot. That's only a starter. Jot is the key figure in a series of animated cartoons being produced in Fort Worth by the Southern Baptists' Radio-Television Commission.<br>
The five-minute color presentations are designed to carry nonsectarian messages, not necessarily Biblical, to children ranging in age from 5 to 10. Based on Biblical principles, they draw moral or spiritual conclusions.<br>
The adventures of Jot being offered free to television stations and are expected to make their first appearances in the fall. <br>
The Rev. Edward Shipman, spokesman for the commission, said finances pose the only restriction.<br>
"We could be on 400 or 500 stations simultaneously," he said. "But we just don't have the money." <br>
The commission estimate that the production, six years in the planning stage, will eventually cost between $100,000 and $150,000 annually. Each episode costs from $5,000 to $15,000.<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHrIKw9Rucc6DXf6904BSuzCOX64FAiH5zjOo4Z1Ge49B5DVH2U3K_IhCE8OOci_Dg0eEvdwehGKMTd3a5CjOvakSMCtiUFFVLUVPvuFT5zrrDTBGnKL_fcP778RjqWtoTqTkQrEDTePxjFO9Fve_FVunp3t-E4uoeA4Vf6gyhZCPpOMxzDJgvpMLHB0A/s1356/JOT%20BYERS.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1356" data-original-width="1112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHrIKw9Rucc6DXf6904BSuzCOX64FAiH5zjOo4Z1Ge49B5DVH2U3K_IhCE8OOci_Dg0eEvdwehGKMTd3a5CjOvakSMCtiUFFVLUVPvuFT5zrrDTBGnKL_fcP778RjqWtoTqTkQrEDTePxjFO9Fve_FVunp3t-E4uoeA4Vf6gyhZCPpOMxzDJgvpMLHB0A/s300/JOT%20BYERS.png"/></a>Ruth Byers, director of Dallas Children's Theater, writes and produces the show, aided by a Dallas production firm. <br>
"This is a tremendously expensive venture, but one so significant we feel we had to go ahead, no matter what the cost," said the Rev. Mr. Shipman. <br>
Jot is a white dot which sprouts arms and legs, flies, sings, runs and jumps and performs a wide variety of animated duties, speaks with the voice of a small boy.<br>
"Jot represents the child personality most characteristic of the greater moral and spiritual community in America," the Rev. Mr. Shipman said.<br>
"His problems and experiences lead him to a realization of the importance of a right relationship with God, with himself and with his fellow man."<br>
Commission members feel the need for such a series was illustrated recently in the remarks of a Los Angeles psychiatrist, who said:<br>
“Tens of millions of children in this country are spending more time with the television set than in school—and are getting very little for this expenditure of time.”<br>
The new approach was conceived several years ago by Dr. Paul M. Stevens, director of the Radio-Television Commission. He initiated a study that culminated with the creation of Jot.<br>
“It was written to give children something concrete, to teach them, to give them a moral or spiritual value,” the Rev. Mr. Shipman said. “It had to be something construction in the life of a child, not just entertaining.”
Scattered showings of the pilot films won favor with children and provoked interest among parents and teachers, he said.<br>
Truett Myers, director of television, said the commission aims for “good animation,” creating cartoons that will catch and hold the youthful viewer.<br>
Children are astute critics, he said. Once they lose interest, they react swiftly.<br>
“They don’t even bother to turn the set off,” he said with a smile. “They just walk out of the room.”</span>
<br><br>
Here’s one more JOT-ting. This is from the <i>Scrantonian Tribune</i> of June 16, 1969.
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><i>‘JOT’ MAKES APPEARANCE</i> <br>
<b><span style="font-size: medium;">Kids’ Religious Show With Plenty of Bounce</span><br>
By J. D. NICOLA </b><br>
FORT WORTH, Texas—A bouncing ball once helped movie audiences stay together in theater sing-alongs, and now another bouncing ball is teaching their children and grandchildren how to stay in touch with God.<br>
“Jot" is the name of a TV creation, variously described as bouncing ball that sprouts arms and legs and as an "animated dot," which teaches moral lessons to children in 4 ½ minute cartoons.<br>
Produced by the Southern Baptists’ Radio and Television Commission but non-sectarian in content, "Jot” has been described by "Newsweek" as the first genuinely entertaining and effective use of television for preaching moralily to pre-teen children." <br>
The roly-poly "Jot" cheerfully bounces across the TV screen and stars in little dramas in which he comes up against moral problems similar to those faced by the 5-to-10-year-olds for whom the program is designed. <br>
When "Jot" does something wrong—like stealing a cupcake from his mother's table or getting angry with a playmate—he changes shape and even his color turns sickly, to show the young viewers that "Jot’s” behavior is distorted and to reflect “Jot’s” suffering conscience.<br>
The “Jot” character, created by a specialist in children's theater, Mrs. Ruth Byers, is supposed to represent "a child personality sensitive to an inner conscience," according to Paul Stevens, executive director of the Southern Baptists' Radio and Television Commission.<br>
"Jot is also supposed to be an effort to offset the harm that some TV programs do to children," he added.<br>
"Those of us who work in the medium," he said, "realize the tremendous pressures brought to bear on our boys and girls by television. In the midt of these pressures, words from parents about honesty, morality, fairness, and spiritual values often go unheeded.”<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdorKU0qfh6go-oK4-7VP9GYf7DrVZ4dOcbvmXmP6eOAZgA-AmFHbRvaB6XmEtB6urhiZIB5kgKnlav5QfebHxqkgs4TAeIwjLjopJcqzMtV09ga84PlcoiO8WPEBgHvFilQgNRk3alGFp-N0-sLtBKc60YoWiuNVqiJbivDR0wZmkFfYAkat7xBD9xJP/s1096/JOT%20MEXI.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="920" data-original-width="1096" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdorKU0qfh6go-oK4-7VP9GYf7DrVZ4dOcbvmXmP6eOAZgA-AmFHbRvaB6XmEtB6urhiZIB5kgKnlav5QfebHxqkgs4TAeIwjLjopJcqzMtV09ga84PlcoiO8WPEBgHvFilQgNRk3alGFp-N0-sLtBKc60YoWiuNVqiJbivDR0wZmkFfYAkat7xBD9xJP/s300/JOT%20MEXI.png"/></a>The “Jot” series, which began 18 months ago on seven Southern stations but which is now seen on more than 40 stations through the country and still expanding, is frequently scheduled on such programs as “Cartoon Carnival," Sunday Morning Cartoons," "Popeye, Bugs Bunny and Friends," "Romper Room" and "Captain Kangaroo.”<br>
And though the series is designed to entertain children, “through this entertainment they are led to serious thoughts about God, themselves, and others,” according to the Southern radio-TV commission.
The story lines are uncomplicated, and to the point. <br>
In one episode, "Jot" becomes fascinated with a playmate's new toy, and when the boy absent mindedly goes off and leaves it behind in a schoolyard, "Jot" runs off to his treehouse with it. But aware that he has done something wrong, he can not enjoy the toy, especially when it emits a rhythmic sound that seems like "thou shalt not steal . . . thou shalt not steal." Suddenly ashamed, "Jot" asks God's forgiveness, returns the toy to its owner and is glad that he has done the right thing. The boy forgives him, and the two go off happily, playing with the new toy together. <br>
In another episode, "Jot" is in a library and is impressed by a sentence which reads: “Trust in the Lord and do good." Impressed, he finds the courage to tell a bigger boy to stop marring a library book, but "Jot" suddenly finds himself accused of damaging the book and is barred from the library. He goes home, disgusted with himself for putting trust the scriptural advice. But his mother greets him and tells "Jot" the librarian has just called to say she has learned who the real culprit was and to apologize to "Jot." <br>
"Do good,” he repeats courageously now, “and trust in the Lord!" <br>
In an episode titled "The Birthday Party, "Jot" haughtily displays a new roller-toy before another boy in the neighborhood. As "Jot" struts with pride and confidence, his head grows larger, until he realizes the other boy is wearing ragged clothes and has no toys of his own. "Jot" is suddenly ashamed of himself, and his head deflates—until he gives the boy a toy to keep.</span>
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In late 1972, the Baptist publication <i>Word and Way</i> announced JOT would be getting a companion series, starring a girl character named SASH. This cartoon “was developed to reach the audience that had outgrown ‘JOT’,” Stevens said, and was aimed at young people up to 14. A pilot of some kind was sent to the stations airing JOT. Keitz and Herndon were out of the picture by then, the owners having sold their 19-year-old studio to a corporatio in 1969.
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As for the aforementioned letters, one second-grader in Phoenix wrote: “JOT I like you very much. What are you JOT. Are you an egg? Are you a baseball? Are you a boy?” The Opelousas, Louisiana paper reported other letters were more poignant. One went: “JOT I don’t have any friends. I haven’t had any friends for 3 years. I hope you will be my friend JOT.”
<br><br>
While comparisons of JOT to Jay Ward cartoons or Stan Freberg may seem odd, it would appear JOT connected with his young viewers. And that was the intention all along.
Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-28975016068739236462024-01-23T07:07:00.000-08:002024-01-23T07:07:00.126-08:00Raffy Daffy RiffsCartoons from the Art Davis unit had some pretty solid animation. Here’s a fun scene from <i>Riff Raffy Daffy</i> (1948). Policeman Porky has conked vagrant Daffy on the head. He’s upset that he’s hit the duck too hard.
<br><br>
Porky is very expressive here, animated on twos and threes. He closes his eyes and scrunches his face before he goes into his next expression. He curls his lower lip. But Daffy’s okay. There’s some dry brush work by the ink and paint department as Daffy “wakes up.”
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href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhba1g_Xey8IFbETzqfLV0DQgAa0plbIa1R2gE3ERTKhIheqJ1JtT4Y1tz8eU_4DV_DBdDGCgzj5hiBJriNtOKFjeZF8xUrDr2z88TZaQAa7hWz63U_PCsfD03XtHw8VLXEQXHoQcy6RV57A68i4cH6deKSwlLTq-uKgmjk9xEhaV7MizjmVx_fd3HOG3Az/s720/RIFF%20RAFFY%20DAFFY%20%2814%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhba1g_Xey8IFbETzqfLV0DQgAa0plbIa1R2gE3ERTKhIheqJ1JtT4Y1tz8eU_4DV_DBdDGCgzj5hiBJriNtOKFjeZF8xUrDr2z88TZaQAa7hWz63U_PCsfD03XtHw8VLXEQXHoQcy6RV57A68i4cH6deKSwlLTq-uKgmjk9xEhaV7MizjmVx_fd3HOG3Az/s400/RIFF%20RAFFY%20DAFFY%20%2814%29.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7h1q2isxYN-DeDS-R-3Bl7uidaYEf95zhHeQo3FrjkRMCdy05xToJB7jOt93IXt2Rv1etMBTMGCFViGPmhiBEzZunxIcWfniCKV4ws3lPKz3KoPJB-MIVoxTphWxUqTXr6k6sWD-Jj8kSR0cpsi0L9Rj-YO8RCbznTPsxbVlHknJKSMprmobla14Ai3wr/s720/RIFF%20RAFFY%20DAFFY%20%2815%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7h1q2isxYN-DeDS-R-3Bl7uidaYEf95zhHeQo3FrjkRMCdy05xToJB7jOt93IXt2Rv1etMBTMGCFViGPmhiBEzZunxIcWfniCKV4ws3lPKz3KoPJB-MIVoxTphWxUqTXr6k6sWD-Jj8kSR0cpsi0L9Rj-YO8RCbznTPsxbVlHknJKSMprmobla14Ai3wr/s400/RIFF%20RAFFY%20DAFFY%20%2815%29.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXJZALPs-xDSBnECbRpSu8b0TVoPtQfNabh45L_YcCYcHFXvJe-xofl0yhx3cC54Dfl4znQU6KH6-FHb7fQ9Yo2Kzz2PytjW8og4OmVs3_mm6hdoFBZtVj2bVk8tvDuV3eh8x0yx52efbIw22HjRBQq53S-QHjQRVjdbs4vFMgW7fz6YV7OsA1raoXsRkT/s720/RIFF%20RAFFY%20DAFFY%20%2816%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXJZALPs-xDSBnECbRpSu8b0TVoPtQfNabh45L_YcCYcHFXvJe-xofl0yhx3cC54Dfl4znQU6KH6-FHb7fQ9Yo2Kzz2PytjW8og4OmVs3_mm6hdoFBZtVj2bVk8tvDuV3eh8x0yx52efbIw22HjRBQq53S-QHjQRVjdbs4vFMgW7fz6YV7OsA1raoXsRkT/s400/RIFF%20RAFFY%20DAFFY%20%2816%29.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiLE_PXD9m2-ZfTQd_Pf_BszPHILoQhCTDT29ne73KA0XTxlWaJi6-BpPDcI54TMmQc2XDXJ80_iiKa_t3BK5Ru-4imH0AahTcG6naWNmS4P9Pm-cQY54A7V-kheu7RbQACKzKlz1iN_LyfI9cCQgrIpq6FY8VgRAlMmxfO0KCNPpStmsqEeb7jTUL9FPz/s720/RIFF%20RAFFY%20DAFFY%20%2817%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiLE_PXD9m2-ZfTQd_Pf_BszPHILoQhCTDT29ne73KA0XTxlWaJi6-BpPDcI54TMmQc2XDXJ80_iiKa_t3BK5Ru-4imH0AahTcG6naWNmS4P9Pm-cQY54A7V-kheu7RbQACKzKlz1iN_LyfI9cCQgrIpq6FY8VgRAlMmxfO0KCNPpStmsqEeb7jTUL9FPz/s400/RIFF%20RAFFY%20DAFFY%20%2817%29.png"/></a>
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There’s a lot of enjoyable animation in this one, with Don Williams, Emery Hawkins, Basil Davidovich and Bill Melendez getting the screen credit; there's a Hawkins scene where Daffy develops rings around his pupils. Bill Scott and Lloyd Turner give Daffy some wit (the cuckoo clock gag feels like something Scott would come up with) and an ending out of nowhere. I love Davis' timing in the tent gag.
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During the above scene, Daffy shouts “I love you Hortense!” Before someone rushes to Wikipedia and writes that Porky’s real name is Hortense, let me point out this is more than likely a radio reference. <i>The Henry Morgan Show</i> on ABC had a recurring sketch involving Gerard (Arnold Stang) and his girl-friend Hortense (Betty Garde and others) and that likely inspired this line of dialogue.
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Layouts are by Don Smith and backgrounds by Phil De Guard.
Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-77477667627493653222024-01-22T16:40:00.000-08:002024-01-23T00:01:37.472-08:00More Tex and More Obscure StuffYes, this blog is retired but, like the Yowp blog, it seems I end up posting periodically (Yowp will have posts once a month for the next few months).
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Some things in animation caught my interest today so I’ll pass them along.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJK9-kofDgJA7sePBlJK37isoaNOrVKeSpMsScJWIvOHQZKzqZfBGhVD4c5IT-4Uu7SFT_EoO0KSCcUPNCUU5B1PFIO5fHdXjb8SO93z2VzDHG4PDRdLmzxk8xU8rhkQScJ5W7uJOpScjOmRE2l98dBvAJ1iJGGFgsgJ2YEz95gJmx1B2vQ1AEflEHiayv/s1364/WARNERS%20BLU%20RAY.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="1364" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJK9-kofDgJA7sePBlJK37isoaNOrVKeSpMsScJWIvOHQZKzqZfBGhVD4c5IT-4Uu7SFT_EoO0KSCcUPNCUU5B1PFIO5fHdXjb8SO93z2VzDHG4PDRdLmzxk8xU8rhkQScJ5W7uJOpScjOmRE2l98dBvAJ1iJGGFgsgJ2YEz95gJmx1B2vQ1AEflEHiayv/s400/WARNERS%20BLU%20RAY.jpg" title="More Tex Avery please"/></a>
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I’m pleased the Warner Archive people are coming out with Blu-rays featuring some of the old Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoons. Volume 3 of the “Collector’s Choice” (which “collector” chose these, anyway?) will be out March 12. There are 25 cartoons, and Warners fans should enjoy, well, most of them. Provided, of course, on how they look and sound.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSTtUAYSki6GlOr5AEJCqwhMkuCPlyAPbtvcPcNw2tvwY0APPAqhg233gj8bgnUU7wM3MCjhavzBMpkrdu2l5rz3tZBtz5zf3ApzF4vNGigEOyt3yYB5siwi2B-1JgxsZeEkKtLQEhHGefOgIU6U0wo19dJFpftiOfGMKyk4h0i_WWaC5-ECNqWCu-lrWY/s717/ONLY%20HAVE%20EYES.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="717" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSTtUAYSki6GlOr5AEJCqwhMkuCPlyAPbtvcPcNw2tvwY0APPAqhg233gj8bgnUU7wM3MCjhavzBMpkrdu2l5rz3tZBtz5zf3ApzF4vNGigEOyt3yYB5siwi2B-1JgxsZeEkKtLQEhHGefOgIU6U0wo19dJFpftiOfGMKyk4h0i_WWaC5-ECNqWCu-lrWY/s250/ONLY%20HAVE%20EYES.png" title="Unrestored T. Hee caricatures" /></a>Four of them are by Tex Avery. <i>A Feud There Was</i> with Egghead as Elmer Fudd, has only been released on laser disc. <i>Cinderella Meets Fella</i> stars Egghead (Danny Webb) and Cinderella (Berneice Hansell) as Tex and his writers made fun of the old fairy tale, ending with the pair in a theatre about to watch a newsreel. <i>Egghead Rides Again</i> features Mel Blanc instead of Danny Webb doing his best Joe Penner impression. And there’s <i>I Only Have Eyes For You</i>, with an iceman (Joe Twerp) in love with crooner crazy Katie Canary (Elvia Allman) but who gets stuck with an old crone (also Elvia Allman). “At least she can cook.” It would be great if the original titles had been found for this.
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There’s an upgrade to the historic <i>Honeymoon Hotel</i> (1934), the first colour cartoon (Cinecolor) released by Warners. Hey! It shows a man and a woman in bed together. Okay, they’re bugs. But still...
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjcT_QxSUzddBeXvXQu88t-4TBiQ4CsFW5xQqvAipAGv4lWDS-RsTVuYiAeQ0x4NNw4GSnDe7MDZfidxIlyNU4MBDHlvKbgyRptfnbNG6bUFesoDMRWoFYvvcvQrZKbl4NV19Bp-PZAGYv6ikG7N2BGrJVg34rDbet-NH91tBsUS5xtcLnGpADwzK-ziA_/s720/RIFF%20RAFFY%20DAFFY.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjcT_QxSUzddBeXvXQu88t-4TBiQ4CsFW5xQqvAipAGv4lWDS-RsTVuYiAeQ0x4NNw4GSnDe7MDZfidxIlyNU4MBDHlvKbgyRptfnbNG6bUFesoDMRWoFYvvcvQrZKbl4NV19Bp-PZAGYv6ikG7N2BGrJVg34rDbet-NH91tBsUS5xtcLnGpADwzK-ziA_/s250/RIFF%20RAFFY%20DAFFY.png" title="Unrestored Don Williams animation"/></a>Happily, Art Davis is represented in this release with two cartoons he directed. Davis did a good job with Daffy Duck (my favourite Davis cartoon is <i>What Makes Daffy Duck?</i>) and two Daffys are here: <i>Mexican Joyride</i> and <i>Riff Raffy Daffy</i>. Does anyone except Eddie Selzer and some Warner Bros. bean-counters think the Davis unit should have been disbanded?
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For fans of Bugs Bunny with a weird voice, there’s Chuck Jones’ <i>Elmer's Pet Rabbit</i> from 1941.
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There are some “eh” cartoons in this volume, and we can be thankful we’re spared the adventures of Daffy and Speedy or Cool Cat. But there’s one real stinker in this collection, and that’s <i>Pre-Hysterical Hare</i> (1958). I don’t know what’s worse, Tedd Pierce’s story, Dave Barry as Elmer Fudd or the Yogi Bear music (the Warners cartoons are about the only place I don’t like the Capitol Hi-Q library).
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The other interesting news item comes from Devon Baxter, maybe the best and most dogged of the young animation researchers out there. Devon is working on finding out about the Daffy Dittys series of stop-motion animated shorts produced by Morey and Sutherland. Frank Tashlin left Warners after his final go-around there to work for the company. Six shorts were released by United Artists. <a href="https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2012/02/daffy-dittys.html in this point. " target="false">We wrote about them</a> a good 12 years ago.
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Devon has far more patience and time than I do in hunting down information, and is willing to talk to people to find out what he needs to know. In this case, he’s been in contact with the son of Rev Cheney, an uncredited Warners animator who went to work for Morey and Sutherland in 1945. These frames are from <i>The Cross-Eyed Bull</i>, released before Cheney arrived. The film apparently doesn’t exist.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCh8iabZPCmeprGpdW2WA1i3BOgeqsPzDhja65Ho7THHT_vOEzpz0y-rp7Or-c8deVORrhCF4OniNOgnoW_Bldjkut8DLAHlKk682LKNBbgxDKeCUy2WLwovC62NKQJzZoKbiR9xat5tDq4fPZdy55SvNxk5rgwlBNmiXMAdH6IeG1LD8k9Z-oylddZ7VD/s1228/DAFFY%20DITTIES%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="921" data-original-width="1228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCh8iabZPCmeprGpdW2WA1i3BOgeqsPzDhja65Ho7THHT_vOEzpz0y-rp7Or-c8deVORrhCF4OniNOgnoW_Bldjkut8DLAHlKk682LKNBbgxDKeCUy2WLwovC62NKQJzZoKbiR9xat5tDq4fPZdy55SvNxk5rgwlBNmiXMAdH6IeG1LD8k9Z-oylddZ7VD/s310/DAFFY%20DITTIES%201.jpg"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKQiZnSsyjv7eDk7IW7PzyHkn3KsIwubslcmZGW1MfWj7R6Mxh028DnoM8tUfsxi4V-KbRGWdU0nQ_DDLqjBNZ-OuSxFrbp-nteaCSsFdzQ-GfoG-Wo1x-qKeqVEozkEvDnDELr88dvcTuiO-Nllr6IhnFNvxCVqZdbVZCxmMwBqHHOvVuAPnaZMXsMRS/s1524/DAFFY%20DITTIES%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="1524" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKQiZnSsyjv7eDk7IW7PzyHkn3KsIwubslcmZGW1MfWj7R6Mxh028DnoM8tUfsxi4V-KbRGWdU0nQ_DDLqjBNZ-OuSxFrbp-nteaCSsFdzQ-GfoG-Wo1x-qKeqVEozkEvDnDELr88dvcTuiO-Nllr6IhnFNvxCVqZdbVZCxmMwBqHHOvVuAPnaZMXsMRS/s310/DAFFY%20DITTIES%202.jpg"/></a>
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Cheney continued working for the company when Morey left and it became John Sutherland Productions. Rev was involved with the Harding College propaganda cartoons like <i>Make Mine Freedom</i> and <i>Meet King Joe</i>. I hope Devon will delve into that in a future post on the <i>Cartoon Research</i> blog. The Sutherland cartoons are probably my favourite of the industrial animated shorts.
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Devon’s also acquired some other odds and sods, including artwork from <a href="https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2023/09/cartoon-commercials-of-1960-and-ray.html" target="false">Ray Patin’s</a> commercial studio. I am anxious to read about that. He also has some cards from Five Star Productions. One of them is below.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpejeZwHY1Wy86h7_1-CJc1yp4nNvOJ7wTiOUB0k0IZq2v6eWrF_WwMRpey9P-Vl5LJhDCN9PHmudsUkOMqzWDyFVVGXsvbRhBHwU1iE23i3QqdbwJ-evVeIX6qng5LyhO88NWYO7nwhXj1nh6D743TbhmpvHG8ImyluFaoxlmyEYWzxThJ4utxpkr_4X4/s2048/FIVE%20STAR.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1554" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpejeZwHY1Wy86h7_1-CJc1yp4nNvOJ7wTiOUB0k0IZq2v6eWrF_WwMRpey9P-Vl5LJhDCN9PHmudsUkOMqzWDyFVVGXsvbRhBHwU1iE23i3QqdbwJ-evVeIX6qng5LyhO88NWYO7nwhXj1nh6D743TbhmpvHG8ImyluFaoxlmyEYWzxThJ4utxpkr_4X4/s400/FIVE%20STAR.png" title="Don't call me Elsie"/></a>
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Five Star is the answer to the question “What happened to Norm McCabe after Warner Bros?” He replaced Howard Swift in August 1952 when Swift opened Swift-Chaplin Productions.
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I’m always pleased to read new information about old cartoons, even commercial and industrial ones, and I look forward to seeing what Devon has discovered.
Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-63291925115907559042024-01-14T11:42:00.000-08:002024-01-14T21:40:28.990-08:00The Last Honeymooner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWv3fguIu5UYkDUkJwikJudfkMCN_02phZV1N9SJgQac7Ks-AeWokcmoDa9NCp4X5sl0c-710kzBfnaRBBOcYVReYvuWWN4eE73kO_hGCoYmUpg9PX9U-SSmlD1zzzHJSySxLTp5E_BuM-/s1600/TRIXIE+AND+ED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWv3fguIu5UYkDUkJwikJudfkMCN_02phZV1N9SJgQac7Ks-AeWokcmoDa9NCp4X5sl0c-710kzBfnaRBBOcYVReYvuWWN4eE73kO_hGCoYmUpg9PX9U-SSmlD1zzzHJSySxLTp5E_BuM-/s280/TRIXIE+AND+ED.jpg" data-original-width="1250" data-original-height="1600" /></a></div>Joyce Randolph was the fourth wheel on <i>The Honeymooners</i>. Unfortunately, that made her the fifth wheel.
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Jackie Gleason was the star. Art Carney played his buddy so they did routines together. Audrey Meadows played his wife so they did scenes together. Randolph played Carney’s wife so there was no real need for them to interact a lot.
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<i>The Honeymooners</i> began as one of a number of sketches on Gleason’s <i>Cavalcade of Stars</i> show on the Du Mont Network. Randolph was cast after Gleason decreed: “Get me that serious actress.” But when Gleason revived the characters during the 1960s and ‘70s, Randolph was not asked to return. Gleason never explained why (Gleason, I suspect, felt he owed explanations to no one) and if Randolph knew, I don’t believe she ever told anyone. She once remarked she wouldn’t have commuted from New York to Florida to do the ‘60s version, though announcer Johnny Olson did just that.
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Still, Randolph became burned into the minds of the American television audience when the same 39 episodes of <i>The Honeymooners</i> went into constant reruns beginning in the late ‘50s. The show became a magnet for nostalgia and Randolph started doing interviews again in the 1980s.
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Here are a couple of interviews, the first before the Honeymooners became a series and the second after when Gleason went back to a variety format for one year. First, a feature story from the <i>Albany Times-Union</i> of June 12, 1955.
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<blockquote><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>TV’s Loveliest ‘Straight Man’</b><br>
Joyce Randolph Finds Fun and Profit as No. 4 On the Gleason Show</span><br>
<b>By Reg Ovington</b><br>
FOR years now, Mama, who lives in Detroit, has been sending scolding letters to her daughter, Joyce Randolph, a lovely young thing with green eyes, blonde hair and a lusicious shape that the millions who see her on television don't even suspect, on account of the thing's she's been doing since she came to New York.
The letters have changed in the past few years, however.<br>
“They're still complaining letters,” says Joyce, “but nowadays Mama is complaining about something else. Her chief gripe these days is because I play the wife of a sewer worker. 'Can't your husband be somebody with a fancier job?' Mama keeps writing, because the neighbors and her friends make jokes about a girl who had to leave home to go to New York just to get married to a man who works in the sewers.”<br>
Miss Randolph slugged her pretty shoulders. “Can’t you just see me saying to Jackie Gleason, 'Instead of having Art Carney play the part of a sewer specialist, make him a bank president, or something, because Mama doesn't like me to be married to a sewer worker.'<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxuKbuvwq77pe5nJ3HGiXZIvoriRQ5xXyu3K1gY7v5aB_yRfyZtmPnbmBqpDsjgfFftxdZetvN2yhnW9jRkoqfvX9sKhaVuinz4S2jP80bqMgBy4u4yi-hwI1bDFXOdbs6sCxBs93qwqKm/s1600/JOYCE+RANDOLPH.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxuKbuvwq77pe5nJ3HGiXZIvoriRQ5xXyu3K1gY7v5aB_yRfyZtmPnbmBqpDsjgfFftxdZetvN2yhnW9jRkoqfvX9sKhaVuinz4S2jP80bqMgBy4u4yi-hwI1bDFXOdbs6sCxBs93qwqKm/s270/JOYCE+RANDOLPH.png" data-original-width="714" data-original-height="620" /></a></div>“Also, Mama says that if I wasn't married to a sewer worker, I would get a chance to wear nicer clothes on television, and she complains that whenever my name is mentioned in a newspaper or a magazine, I'm always called 'The Fourth Banana.' Mama says that being called a banana is just as bad for a girl as being called a 'tomato.'”<br>
Mama may complain about having her daughter called a banana, and a fourth one, at that. But not Joyce Randolph. For she finds fun and profit in being fourth on the stalk in The Jackie Gleason Show on CBS-TV. First banana, a term born on the burlesque circuit, means top comic in a show, and that position, of course, is held by proprietor Gleason. Second banana is Art Carney, and third, Audrey Meadows who plays Jackie’s wife in The Honeymooners.<br>
“Playing straight man on a comedy show,” says Joyce, “with stars like Gleason and Art Carney means that your part isn't a top one, but there are compensations. They are all great people to work with. And the work is steady. Most actresses consider themselves lucky if they get one job a month on television, and I'm on almost every week.<br>
Another advantage in working with Jackie Gleason is that the star of the show tries to get an air of spontaneity into his performance and into the work of everyone in his cast. “We've got to keep on our toes all the time,” she says, “because we can never be sure of what Jackie will do. We get our scripts, generally, on Wednesday and then we have a camera rehearsal on Thursday. On Saturday we start rehearsing at about noon, and we work through until show time, with just a break to eat. That's a lot less than most shows rehearse. We do it that way because Jackie believes the show will be more spontaneous if it isn't rehearsed too much. And then, sometimes, in the course of the show, Jackie will do something altogether unexpected, or say something that isn't in the script, or drop a couple lines of dialogue, to make up time lost for unexpected laughs. Art Carney, of course, is a master at ad libbing and he can keep up with Jackie without any trouble. So can Audrey. And after three and a half years on the show, so can I.”<br>
Joyce has been playing Trixie, the sewer specialist's wife, in all but the very first sketch of The Honeymooners. “Before that,” says Joyce, “my mother had another complaint. I played in every TV crime and horror show, and I was always being killed. In one year I was killed 24 times.”<br>
Joyce was shot, she was stabbed, choked, strangled and. hanged, and had her pretty skull bashed in with fire pokers, miscellaneous blunt and even sharp weapons.<br>
“Always,” she says, “I was killed by my boy friend. I was killed so often by my television boy friends that I always expected my real life boy friends to take a gat, a shiv or a poker to me any time. That's what Mama used to complain about.<br>
“ 'It's just terrible,' she used to write to me, 'what they're doing to you all the time. It's a terrible way to make a living, getting killed all the time.'
“Playing a straight man is much more relaxing, and a lot steadier,” said Joyce, “than being slammed around and being killed. Even if it does mean playing Fourth Banana.”</span></blockquote>
This story was in the <i>Detroit Free Press</i> of April 21, 1957. I think it’s funny the paper felt it had to explain who the writer was.
<br>
<blockquote><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>‘I’m Not Drab,’ Says Detroit’s Joyce (Ed Norton’s Wife)</b><br>
Now She’s Aiming At Glamorous Roles</span><br>
<b>By EARL WILSON</b><br>
<i>Widely Known Broadway Columnist</i><br>
NEW YORK—"I am not dowdy!" says Detroit's Joyce Randolph, who plays the wife of sewer-worker Art Carney on the Jackie Gleason show and she gets almost belligerent about it. <br>
"Next year," she announces, "I'll prove it!"<br>
Joyce, the daughter of the Carl Sirolas of 16853 Stansbury, has been playing Carney's TV wife, "Mrs. Ed—or Trixie—Norton," for six years. <br>
And she's darned determined to get a divorce next season from the drabness and plainness that Gleason’s writers have forced upon her. <br>
With Gleason abandoning "The Honeymooners," Joyce hopes to find herself something slightly more glamorous—and truthfully, she's got the equipment.<br>
SHE WAS SEDUCTIVELY stretched out on a black divan, blond, slim and sophisticated in tight turquoise velvet toreador pants and matching satin top cut Chinese style. <br>
She looked more like Eve Arden than Trixie, and conversed more in refined Detroit than the idiom of a sewer man's wife. <br>
"It wouldn't be so bad," she said passionately, "if people didn't recognize one. But I'm always being stopped in the supermarket or on the street, 'Why, you're so-o-o much younger and prettier than on TV.' I don't know whether to be flattered or hurt." <br>
IT ISN'T THAT Joyce is trying to bite the hand that feeds her. Being almost a folk heroine to millions of TV viewers throughout the county, she admits, is very flattering, indeed. <br>
"But no actress likes being typed," she explained. <br>
"It's gotten so that when my agent submits my name for a dramatic show, the producer sneers, 'Oh, you mean Trixie? Nah, she ain't the type!" <br>
JOYCE'S DECISION to plug sophistication next season has been precipitated by Jackie Gleason himself. There won't be any "Honeymooners" and there won't be any Jackie Gleason Show next Fall. <br>
Even this year when he returned to comedy-variety "live," he was planning to abandon the “Honeymooners” altogether, and Joyce was promised more versatile roles. <br>
It didn't work out that way. The Kramdens and the Nortons were firmly established in the affection of the television audience, and Gleason had to bring them back. <br>
JOYCE ADMITS that since the television script has taken the families on a junket to Europe, she's had better clothes to wear and an occasional song to sing. "But frankly," she confided, "as long as I'm on this show, I'll always be second fiddle to Audrey Meadows, and I dearly love playing leads." <br>
JOYCE IS THE gal who even in Cooley High School was known to her teachers as a potential prima donna who could get temperamental if offered supporting roles. She never was. <br>
"Things did go rather well for me," she acknowledged. <br>
From leads at Cooley High, Joyce went right into the Wayne University Civic Workshop after graduation in 1944.<br>
SHE HAD HER Actors Equity card at 13, and over her parents' objection, joined a touring company of "Stage Door." She was one of six local gals taken on by the company while it played in Detroit. <br>
She later toured with "Abie's Irish Rose" and "Good Night, Ladies," did a Broadway play that closed almost overnight, did stock in Hollywood, started doing "early" television in New York, and settled down as Trixie in 1951. <br>
Joyce is grateful to Trivia for giving her security. <br>
"Much as I wanted a career," she said, "I was always afraid of the uncertainty in the theater." <br>
BUT HER DESIRE for security has been competing for some time with her ambition. Alice Kramden and Trixie Norton are friends on the screen. In reality, Audrey Meadows and Joyce are friendly rivals.<br>
Undercover battles are fought every week, as the two ladies jockey for position. <br>
REHEARSALS GO something like this: <br>
The director calls for song. Joyce and Audrey oblige. Joyce's voice is Mermanesque, Audrey's rather soft and sweet. Audrey is drowned out. <br>
"Softer," she cautions Joyce, and the latter obediently puts the damper on. <br>
“Comes the night of the performance," Joyce finished the tale, "and suddenly I notice Audrey's soft voice has become remarkably strong. In fact, she now is louder than I am. <br>
"Naturally, I pull out the stops, and so we both end up shouting. It's kind of funny, really, because in a way it goes with the characters we portray, and I suppose the audience never knows." <br>
JOYCE THINKS her ambition was beginning to flag a couple of years ago.<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsE8SVxn1p9KQs2_w24nxIXax3G5RVYb_mALfCpJW75DfqJtSaOvUJmpWaQz2F5IzSpWDeGNy66-GBqs38JeqOetcFrVN8F26w1xbjIuxm7z1HgNJFl9AkCX7YAjLABIDLm38Fkq1VZWzf/s1600/RANDOLPH+WITH+GLEASON.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsE8SVxn1p9KQs2_w24nxIXax3G5RVYb_mALfCpJW75DfqJtSaOvUJmpWaQz2F5IzSpWDeGNy66-GBqs38JeqOetcFrVN8F26w1xbjIuxm7z1HgNJFl9AkCX7YAjLABIDLm38Fkq1VZWzf/s280/RANDOLPH+WITH+GLEASON.png" data-original-width="606" data-original-height="732" /></a></div>“I'd be wifely on the screen, and then I'd trot home to an empty apartment. A career can be lonely." <br>
A year and a half Joyce decided a career was fine, but marriage was better. She married a handsome actor turned stock-broker, Richard Charles.<br>
"MARRIAGE, strangely enough, has been good for my career," said Joyce. <br>
She explained that since her husband is an ex-actor he en joys living the theatrical life vicariously. <br>
"He keeps prodding me when sometimes I'd just as soon take it easy," she smiled. <br>
Dick also pastes up her clippings and answers her fan mail. <br>
SHE GETS FAN letters from all over, including—and this has Joyce shaking her head in amazement—Brazil. <br>
"We've all been wondering whether they get the Gleason Show in South America, whether they can understand it if they do, and why they took a particular delight in Trixie. <br>
"As far as I know," says Joyce, "I'm the only one on the show who got requests for autographed pictures."<br>
JOYCE ALSO HAS fan club now. "About 73 members," she boasted. <br>
Originally, she confessed she was rather bewildered having a fan club. <br>
"What in the world does one do with a fan club?" she had asked her husband. "Relax, and enjoy it," he had counseled. "After all, Audrey has one, too." <br>
THE MOST CONCRETE thing her fan club has done so far has been to write letters to all the womens magazines, clamoring for stories about Joyce and Trixie. <br>
In return for their efforts, Joyce invites members to her home whenever they are in New York. <br>
“The nicest thing about fans," she declared, "is that they like me better than dowdy Trixie." </span></blockquote>
The fans liked her even until her death, which happened yesterday at the age of 99.Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-79075124321662884812024-01-12T10:30:00.000-08:002024-01-12T10:45:14.230-08:00Radio's Dix Davis<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVPxkvvfKDa0g13E_cjkQkdkOTDW2a-NCq3Q2oIh8tm-qMAH2Oy2mdUeSIaKvVJ5lH3M8IM2q7wdE-qRf7RH09AMvfBFIJxavW3RgY2Brt27csjRZqv8I37sgfRl74p_QTtMu4lyW-juZNhl1_IBnpXtDFE5KZ5cvr2t3wR9E00bkC_E7dzHDF1jflkZd/s742/dix%20davis.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVPxkvvfKDa0g13E_cjkQkdkOTDW2a-NCq3Q2oIh8tm-qMAH2Oy2mdUeSIaKvVJ5lH3M8IM2q7wdE-qRf7RH09AMvfBFIJxavW3RgY2Brt27csjRZqv8I37sgfRl74p_QTtMu4lyW-juZNhl1_IBnpXtDFE5KZ5cvr2t3wR9E00bkC_E7dzHDF1jflkZd/s320/dix%20davis.png"/></a></div>Someone in Hollywood once warned about the perils for actors of working with children or animals, as they will steal any scene.
<br><br>
Jack Benny ignored that. He knew that it didn’t matter who got the laughs on his radio show, it was still HIS radio show, and he’d get the credit for the hilarity.
<br><br>
He employed a number of boys and girls on his show—toward the 1950s, he and his writers came up with a Scouts-like boys club—and Jack trusted their talents enough to give them whole scenes on their own. They were a success.
<br><br>
Jack tried another boy character before that in 1941. For me, it didn’t work. “Belly Laugh Barton” was supposed to be a child prodigy comedy writer. Precocious boys were a staple of radio comedy, but Barton behaved like a complete jerk to Benny for absolutely no reason. The character was soon dropped.
<br><br>
It was no fault of the actor, a young man who turned in fine performances on radio as Randolph on <i>A Date With Judy</i> starting in June 1942, the bellhop on <i>The Ransom Sherman Show</i> and Pinky on <i>One Man’s Family</i>, and appeared in the 1940 movie version of <i>Our Town</i>. His name was Dix Davis.
<br><br>
Word has come from people specialising in the old-time radio field that Dix passed away earlier this month at the age of 97 in Dorset, Vermont.
<br><br>
Davis had begun his acting career a few years before being tapped by Benny. A blurb in the May 26, 1938 <i>Hollywood Reporter</i> mentions his casting in “Breaking the Ice” for a company called Principal, followed a year later with “Singing Cowgirl” for Grand National. But he found a home in radio, starting on a broadcast with Rudy Vallee in 1939, not only in comedy, but performing on <i>Lux Radio Theatre</i> and in the 1942 version of Lionel Barrymore’s acclaimed “A Christmas Carol” on NBC.
<br><br>
Like seemingly every kid actor, Dix’s age was fudged to make him younger and, therefore, more employable. He was born September 12, 1926. His profile in the July 1940 edition of <i>Radio and Television Mirror</i> declares he was “not quite ten.” The arithmetic doesn’t add up in this story from the <i>Sacramento Bee</i> of June 27, 1942.
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;">DIX DAVIS, boy actor on the Ransom Sherman show, is doing his own homework from now on. And there’s a lively story behind that action.<br>
It was only a few weeks ago that the 13 year old actor brought his grammar and mathematics assignments to work on between his radio rehearsals. Immediately, Ransom Sherman, Actress Shirley Mitchell and Songstress Martha Tilton volunteered to assist Dix. The next time Dix came to rehearsal with another batch of homework, the three again offered to assist him.<br>
Dix thanked them politely this time, and firmly refused their offer. Pressed for his reasons for refusing, Dix finally admitted that when they helped him the first time, his assignments were returned to him mostly graded less than fifty. It turned out the adult touches were too apparent to the teacher.</span>
<br><br>
The March 1, 1942 edition of <i>Radio Life</i> reported on an unusual occupational hazard:
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;">Dix Davis, who played little Alvin Fuddle on the "Blondie" show, created a problem when he showed up wearing a pair of squeaking huaraches which amplified to proportions of a forest fire over the mike. He had to act in stocking feet and hope the cold bugs wouldn't see him.</span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioikBB5Mq7I_9KQ928LTD6S6Wokodb0J63tVAuKRfg7HCJW9Cxa6KC07yGYJoV-W_dr7enQsOB8Qr9pvsn2mBjegpHgmlNCUDky0_AW8AU5-tDuOKbT7qYY5fLCM87X6vrLbqb6tEHMlPvOqlEZkk119MWIo835X7qWuuTHsmw7jj7NpL-sS8-sSbiNifz/s550/DIX%20DAVIS%20NYT.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioikBB5Mq7I_9KQ928LTD6S6Wokodb0J63tVAuKRfg7HCJW9Cxa6KC07yGYJoV-W_dr7enQsOB8Qr9pvsn2mBjegpHgmlNCUDky0_AW8AU5-tDuOKbT7qYY5fLCM87X6vrLbqb6tEHMlPvOqlEZkk119MWIo835X7qWuuTHsmw7jj7NpL-sS8-sSbiNifz/s320/DIX%20DAVIS%20NYT.png"/></a>He had attended the Mar-Ken farm in Van Nuys, which also included Jimmy Lydon and Gloria De Haven among its student body. Virginia Vale’s syndicated column on June 2, 1944 stated that Davis was a freshman at USC—and had “just turned 16”!
<br><br>
Dix’s acting career went into hiatus. The <i>Valley Times</i> of March 28, 1946 reported he had been inducted into the army that day at Fort MacArthur. He returned to radio acting when he was discharged but, like many child actors, he was at an age where he moved on to other things. The time to play an obnoxious pre-teen comedy writer was over. The July 1948 <i>Radio and Television Mirror</i> informed readers:
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;">Dix Davis, who plays Randolph Foster on the Date With Judy show, has sadly turned down a summer stock bid. He'll be graduated from the University of Southern California this June and is going to get to work on winning his master's degree with some courses during the summer session. He's majoring in foreign trade, which sounds like a forward looking idea</span>.
<br><br>
Regular acting jobs more-or-less ended for him the following year, as the <i>Reporter</i> mentioned Dix had taken a year’s leave of absence from <i>One Man’s Family</i> to tour Europe.
<br><br>
In November 1942, Davis began a role as the son on CBS’s replacement series <i>Today at the Duncans</i>, which starred long-time supporting actor, “Mr. Yeeeeeeees,” Frank Nelson. The show was written by Fred Runyon, who later became a columnist for the <i>Pasadena Independent</i>. He has a sad tale in the paper’s edition of August 4, 1954:
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;">SOME years ago the writer did a radio show for the Columbia Broadcasting system which featured the travails of a young married couple with a precocious 10-year-old son. The kid’s name was Dix Davis. He was a teriffic [sic] little actor and during rehearsal breaks or before going on the air he would regale me with tales of all the things he wanted to do and be when he grew up. “I wanna be in the foreign service and travel all around the world,” he would say, following it up with a prodigious recitation of geographical knowledge highly uncommon for a small squirt.<br>
Yesterday he dropped in the office. Didn’t recognize him. The moppet had turned into a grown man. <br>
“Where’ve you been?” I asked.
“Around the world.”<br>
“You mean you . . . ”<br>
“Sure. Remember I used to tell you some day I wanted to enter the foreign service? Well, I did. And I’ve sure been around.”<br>
WHEN I was 10 years old I knew what I wanted to be but a kindly fate intervened. I wanted to be the fellow who fearlessly swept out the lion cage in the Golden Gate Park zoo. While still handling a more or less related product the contact is figurative rather than literal.<br>
Recalling the poet who mused: “A boy’s will is the wind’s will and the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts,” I marveled that this former youngster had been able to fulfill a childhood dream.<br>
“Very few are fortunate enough to pilot such ambitious determinations through puberty,” I reminded my visitor. <br>
I looked for a confirming smile to light his face but a frown appeared instead. He waited some time before he spoke.<br>
“I quit,” he blurted. <br>
“You what?” I couldn’t believe what I had heard.<br>
“I quit, the foreign service. Resigned. Couldn’t take it.”<br>
“Too strenuous?”<br>
“No. Too disappointing.”<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_UM3K8q88wPG_g_VA_m8X54szDh3_tIvtpFcwN80sSoydNxWGY9MFPn-tcqFYEAvMGFhv8hRCVSCR6iPU7alG7hH3bpImJfVZBcq5tH-7D8Wup-Y5cIbZh6p0CYPTSuYcOxOQ6yLkbKZsdsFr_ItSvToWJk4MsYiquk8NM5M5SDIAD3Z11-pHvUgXK1I/s505/DIX%20JUDY.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="505" data-original-width="389" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_UM3K8q88wPG_g_VA_m8X54szDh3_tIvtpFcwN80sSoydNxWGY9MFPn-tcqFYEAvMGFhv8hRCVSCR6iPU7alG7hH3bpImJfVZBcq5tH-7D8Wup-Y5cIbZh6p0CYPTSuYcOxOQ6yLkbKZsdsFr_ItSvToWJk4MsYiquk8NM5M5SDIAD3Z11-pHvUgXK1I/s270/DIX%20JUDY.png" title="Dix Davis on 'A Date With Judy'"/></a> LITTLE by little it came out. This young man’s disillusion. He has just returned from his last tour of duty with the United States Information Office in Pakistan. <br>
For me his revelations were particularly significant because they bore out what I have been trying to say in this column for some time—that we are NOT telling the story of the real America to the people of foreign lands. We, the people, are not getting through to the human beings we would like to help. Only we, the politicians, are getting through. Only we, the careerists, are speaking. In other words, the real story, the convincing story, the true story upon which peace could securely stand, is being muffed not told. <br>
SO a young man, who dreamed from the age of 10 of a chance to do a job, has picked up his homburg and walked out of government service. <br>
“I think the real job for me is not there,” he confessed, “but here. Here, telling Americans the size of the opportunities we are missing. The big job to be done right now is not in foreign countries but on our own soil.”
THE child I once knew, while not an embittered man, is far from a happy one. I, too, probably would have gotten tired sweeping up after lions.</span>
<br><br>
There’s a little happier post-script, provided by <i>Oakland Tribune</i> columnist Robin Orr in the Dec. 30, 1970 issue, who did a “Where are they now” piece on the cast of <i>One Man’s Family</i>.
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;">Dix Davis, who played Pinky, one of Hazel’s twin sons on the show, speaks Russian, French, Pakastani [sic] “and maybe Chinese by the this time,” travels the world over for the State Department and has just returned from two years in Paris with the Vietnam peace talks.</span>
<br><br>
Child actors from the Golden Days of Radio are still out there—Harry Shearer of Jack Benny’s show comes to mind—but when it comes to those who were on the air in the 1930s, Dix Davis must have been one of the last.
<br><br>
Here is his debut with Jack Benny, October 19, 1941.
<br><br>
<audio id="audio_with_controls" controls>
<source src="https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Jack_Benny_Singles_1941-1942/JB%201941-10-19%20On%20the%20train%20to%20Los%20Angeles.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" /></audio>
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Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-50088263465236366822023-12-31T12:18:00.000-08:002023-12-31T12:18:00.145-08:00With This PostWe conclude our broadcast for now. Thanks for reading.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAuvbgftfnC9AHbKJVfAqMPKsHFnRi4c9OSQ2Z0rfYkRzlk4dOAufi2XZOlpx68ZL6cLj8p13sec49u-5sZ1ck-l77GB6VsK07KxW_Z21WuIfsLZvWB3pELToPnIhzI6WEsfEv8LK8Ubc/s1600/MGM+LION+HAZELTON.jpg" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAuvbgftfnC9AHbKJVfAqMPKsHFnRi4c9OSQ2Z0rfYkRzlk4dOAufi2XZOlpx68ZL6cLj8p13sec49u-5sZ1ck-l77GB6VsK07KxW_Z21WuIfsLZvWB3pELToPnIhzI6WEsfEv8LK8Ubc/s400/MGM+LION+HAZELTON.jpg" width="400" /></a>Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-92184802159222513282023-12-31T07:08:00.000-08:002023-12-31T07:08:00.131-08:00Those Big Red Letters<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRMb61DGpETfG79AiYUdNu1uWesQSZ5F0-lHfR_eeRlHYWTZ14DekBlyioqpeel-YLQZZcHaKP73_RHfJCzeZiLkp0DvKJY2KO5-4Y2E0LSCLGhtWUTRDK6Ela_nrwV_obYGFmjIUwByJetavIfoMxh4tm2O3CbQD2v2AqPKZ4vbRnv30INP2zLFAWcFDF/s776/JELLO.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="182" data-original-width="776" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRMb61DGpETfG79AiYUdNu1uWesQSZ5F0-lHfR_eeRlHYWTZ14DekBlyioqpeel-YLQZZcHaKP73_RHfJCzeZiLkp0DvKJY2KO5-4Y2E0LSCLGhtWUTRDK6Ela_nrwV_obYGFmjIUwByJetavIfoMxh4tm2O3CbQD2v2AqPKZ4vbRnv30INP2zLFAWcFDF/s320/JELLO.png"/></a>Ask a radio fan the product that Jack Benny sponsored, the answer you’ll likely get is Jell-O.
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Sorry, F.E. Boone and Speedy Riggs.
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In fact, a case could be made that it was the most popular sponsor connection of all time. Witness this video snippet, and how Don Wilson gets prolonged applause when he launches into one of his most famous commercial lines. More than 30 years after last plugging the “six delicious flavors” on radio, he doesn’t need a script to name them. In order. I’m a little disappointed he didn’t tell us to “Look for the big red letters on the box.” (General Foods engaged in as much overly-repetitious sloganeering as George Washington Hill did for Lucky Strikes).
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AKjNKRxxjRs?si=FqIsgsOoZOHMGliX" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
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What Jack Benny did for Jell-O (and, perhaps, vice-versa) was part of a feature story on the wobbly gelatin in the December 1950 edition of <i>Modern Packaging</i> (there seems to have been a magazine for everything at one time). Here’s most of the portion which mentions Benny, who was not being sponsored by the company at the time.
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<span style="font-family: Varela Round;">General Foods participated in one of the first [radio] advertising campaigns when it joined with the Borden Co. and others in 1928 in sponsoring the Radio Household Institute. By 1933 Jell-O had its own program—the Wizard of Oz series, for which it paid NBC a modest $51,214. Then came Jack Benny.<br>
The association of Jell-O with Jack Benny was one of the most famous in radio-advertising history and, along with progressive packaging and merchandising policies, is considered by trade observers to have been perhaps the greatest factor in recent years in building Jell-O sales to their present staggering total.<br>
Jell-O sponsored the Benny program for 10 years, from 1934 to 1944. In literally millions of American homes, over hundreds of Sunday evenings, listeners settled back with a smile of anticipation at the familiar greeting “Jell-O again! This is Jack Benny,” and they stayed to chuckle over Don Wilson’s exuberant banter about the “six delicious flavors,” and the quartet’s merry jingle ending with a crescendo “J-E-L-L-O!”<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2tvhmQgc4jYMJ8g7grxj60OvNiv2X3Z-c_yQVwbJGepDpKkDXJRuTCu1ObcUs6JfQA7NHQTgugq4CE4B39-Wx5wI6tUYS0srEkx3aImolSg1P0rkpR8gGFe43Tpidt4Jz682szrC87-rXPMoKZSFNV-K4ekFBtCCARN9vpwuFgN1cw7SS40XPqz-JdTiP/s450/jack%20jello.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2tvhmQgc4jYMJ8g7grxj60OvNiv2X3Z-c_yQVwbJGepDpKkDXJRuTCu1ObcUs6JfQA7NHQTgugq4CE4B39-Wx5wI6tUYS0srEkx3aImolSg1P0rkpR8gGFe43Tpidt4Jz682szrC87-rXPMoKZSFNV-K4ekFBtCCARN9vpwuFgN1cw7SS40XPqz-JdTiP/s230/jack%20jello.png"/></a>The charm of the Jack Benny touch is hard to define, but it has kept him at or near the top in listener ratings for close to 20 years and made him the star salesman of the air waves. As between Jack Benny and Jell-O, it is a question who did most for whom. Jack was certainly instrumental in keeping Jell-O the best-selling gelatin dessert during the period of its toughest competition and, on the other hand, the General Foods people were instrumental in developing the good-humored, easy-to-take, tuneful touch on commercials, which has since become recognized as the Jack Benny style. Benny and Jell-O were linked in the public mind as a pleasant experience, a happy time. When Benny finally shifted to another sponsor in the fall of 1944, people were heard to say that it didn’t seem quite right; they missed that familiar “Jell-O, again” greeting.<br>
It was an amicable parting when Benny and Jell-O went their separate ways. There was no official explanation and the advertising trade has been able to adduce only two logical reasons for the break: (1) that Benny and his large cast were becoming excessively expensive at a time when most advertisers were turning to the popular and inexpensive quiz shows and (2) that after 10 years of Benny it seemed to General Foods that a change to other media might be equally or even more effective.<br>
According to the New York Times, General Foods in 1940 was devoting more than three-quarters of its Jell-O advertising appropriation to Benny, paying him about $630,000—in addition to the network cost—for 35 half-hour appearances. When Benny signed for his eighth year with Jell-O, in the spring of 1941, <i>Newsweek</i> estimated that he had an audience of 40, 000,000 listeners. But in the seasons starting in 1941, ’42 and ’43—which also coincided with the start of World War II—Benny’s listener rating dropped from 1st to 5th or 6th and this may have had something to do with General Foods’ decision to change.</span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD8kaIPyeiMfnncyvRsqaXQOx0BaBIy8PAQh0qm0N5XUl1p4fIwL3jGAuuXPl7gv9MJh46TIXWALctKHoosrak7eZkk5t6RZJwg0mMdCsJdux9_oK8trvHACsOGxLSAmyw_X6vxnTBtUz86inXRC3JYsS5qRJsBBpDveuDyxdB4I5okETuvOfrtCFKpCya/s712/jack%20comic.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="544" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD8kaIPyeiMfnncyvRsqaXQOx0BaBIy8PAQh0qm0N5XUl1p4fIwL3jGAuuXPl7gv9MJh46TIXWALctKHoosrak7eZkk5t6RZJwg0mMdCsJdux9_oK8trvHACsOGxLSAmyw_X6vxnTBtUz86inXRC3JYsS5qRJsBBpDveuDyxdB4I5okETuvOfrtCFKpCya/s320/jack%20comic.png"/></a></div>There are several bits of information the article omits. Show biz trade publications in the late ‘30s and early ‘40s reveal General Foods tried to get Jack off Jell-O and onto another of its many products, but Jack refused. Finally, the wartime sugar shortage, coupled with the expense of mounting the show, resulted in General Foods plugging Grape Nuts Flakes for the start of the 1942-43 season. The switch made economic sense, but it hurt the show in my opinion.
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Setting aside the sometimes ridiculous ad copy Don Wilson was forced to read, the double plural in the product has always bothered my ears, and telling people to “Eat a better breakfast, do a better job” is, frankly, insulting. Listeners likely thought they were already working hard, especially if they were involved in the war effort. And, to be honest, Jell-O is a lot more fun than some dried flakes. Jell-O provided one of the biggest laughs ever at the end of the Benny show on Dec. 13, 1936 when Andy Devine screwed up the name of the product on the West Coast (second) show. Even the KFI announcer is laughing.
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<audio id="audio_with_controls" controls>
<source src="https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Jack_Benny_Singles_1936-1937/JB%201936-12-13%20Buck%20Shot.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" /></audio>
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Shows from bases aimed mainly at the military and not listeners, cast changes (eg. adding insurance salesman Herman Peabody and Minerva Pious with her “I’m not talking to you!” catchphrase), Jack’s month-long absence due to serious pneumonia, Dennis Day’s departure, all of that certainly didn’t help maintain ratings, especially with newer talent like Bob Hope and Red Skelton coming along. In June 1944, General Foods got out of the Benny business until years later on television.
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The relationship between the Benny show and Jell-O could be odd at times. Some grocery stores didn’t advertise Jell-O in newspapers. They advertised “Jack Benny Jell-O.” General Foods, as you may know, also advertised in newspapers with some excruciatingly bad-looking “comics” with Jack and Mary plugging the stuff. And my understanding is Jack never ate Jell-O.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGpJoz0etTadKxAW8hCZsXLZtocQd_ArnYFKxx9Ns8q2GTzdzqM0szg76tHJCjYNyKnA6hqFSpyb719CwN2N5T1a78vAgrcgKkBOETAtlPg1WoghshKzEcbJ-ZGe1AILsfaa8so66YMXhzdHFmCYXy-7i0ADK9rhLTGPSNLxpAq3IiV5kWtKzCcPw0F-ak/s529/JACK%20JELLO%20SIGN.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGpJoz0etTadKxAW8hCZsXLZtocQd_ArnYFKxx9Ns8q2GTzdzqM0szg76tHJCjYNyKnA6hqFSpyb719CwN2N5T1a78vAgrcgKkBOETAtlPg1WoghshKzEcbJ-ZGe1AILsfaa8so66YMXhzdHFmCYXy-7i0ADK9rhLTGPSNLxpAq3IiV5kWtKzCcPw0F-ak/s230/JACK%20JELLO%20SIGN.png"/></a>The people who appeared on Jack’s show, when making their own personal appearances, were connected with Jell-O in newspaper ads. I don’t think it was contractual, because Don Bestor wasn’t employed by General Foods when the ad below came out, and Dick Hotcha Gardner was only on Jack’s show when it was sponsored by Canada Dry.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXwPlpN8BlKDNzBkOg4CIIw7R_eiJJ1QSLucJx3EOCaoCM5O7P-nFG-VVdAJL3Sm0XiMRsCi_F6rfsQKqFZX4PCl9dP3TKo_FdXUPMpULOBdu-MX4cV8EMBmtzd3v-ljvBU1pisfGisnLoqLVX2qOWZbozMzV4zr0zSh3GYBZ7hpmPTbiUsMEyAeoOcRAP/s1248/JACK%20HARRIS.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="575" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXwPlpN8BlKDNzBkOg4CIIw7R_eiJJ1QSLucJx3EOCaoCM5O7P-nFG-VVdAJL3Sm0XiMRsCi_F6rfsQKqFZX4PCl9dP3TKo_FdXUPMpULOBdu-MX4cV8EMBmtzd3v-ljvBU1pisfGisnLoqLVX2qOWZbozMzV4zr0zSh3GYBZ7hpmPTbiUsMEyAeoOcRAP/s400/JACK%20HARRIS.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPzAL0MXTtDGf8sH65oGTyq0kIQG_M_mg9rzDSajEHyhdiY6vW3QUYqcSJC4Yto64JN8EpZ2ax1-eJmTRSjslkYL77SKb1EKjgkW8K4TuJgxHsj5J5u2WWGtyF7afEcG0_3oA_FG4feiDffvi3kPCYa4taRE-svsL_nzKQMxk0bOj6YyLREuDcTyyzT64/s1012/JACK%20ROCHESTER.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="1012" data-original-width="726" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPzAL0MXTtDGf8sH65oGTyq0kIQG_M_mg9rzDSajEHyhdiY6vW3QUYqcSJC4Yto64JN8EpZ2ax1-eJmTRSjslkYL77SKb1EKjgkW8K4TuJgxHsj5J5u2WWGtyF7afEcG0_3oA_FG4feiDffvi3kPCYa4taRE-svsL_nzKQMxk0bOj6YyLREuDcTyyzT64/s400/JACK%20ROCHESTER.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD0fUttkQeNJ2gAJepUdzdoaDpASidRFQ81YZDK7JDO9AVl4J04ga4kFxvbpR81iAdOthO2h-qQT2zZXuskISTM-y8yrJlkfdzgjtsk75W5bRsuHXoZ0DFGJvg6XXe317AGGpH4AYZdl_pF577KDIHysBPSRto8xXgFGimpBGjnt5SgJvxvqRXDOgsaAnG/s1368/JACK%20SCHLEP.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="1368" data-original-width="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD0fUttkQeNJ2gAJepUdzdoaDpASidRFQ81YZDK7JDO9AVl4J04ga4kFxvbpR81iAdOthO2h-qQT2zZXuskISTM-y8yrJlkfdzgjtsk75W5bRsuHXoZ0DFGJvg6XXe317AGGpH4AYZdl_pF577KDIHysBPSRto8xXgFGimpBGjnt5SgJvxvqRXDOgsaAnG/s400/JACK%20SCHLEP.png"/></a><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlPlW4aJJnirv9_uKB4RxXMrIWCNRMD-6ZGHwXl2kunhNOJJaAFErZSUdyL45gC3QcAJhv9Y96WOM4OJI0T2Tv5du5FOcWppoPHGON6RQb39WYrzkIcZFxw-YEawh3_feldkyIaZyuwUlKirxQcRxxxl_22UzbDASyV3Bd_bzDxM6v_-lqdX7ZUReKDoWj/s1005/JACK%20BARTLETT.png" imageanchor="1" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1005" data-original-width="864" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlPlW4aJJnirv9_uKB4RxXMrIWCNRMD-6ZGHwXl2kunhNOJJaAFErZSUdyL45gC3QcAJhv9Y96WOM4OJI0T2Tv5du5FOcWppoPHGON6RQb39WYrzkIcZFxw-YEawh3_feldkyIaZyuwUlKirxQcRxxxl_22UzbDASyV3Bd_bzDxM6v_-lqdX7ZUReKDoWj/s380/JACK%20BARTLETT.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1CuwN0RH_I4g9sC1AANgvLlk9S6cGd9tdhg7sOkWEOlrPpfw8VjBiYCpQYY7DilKl38xUPjg4VGJpnfiXAWjfhrBmtXEWp90u_zzIWSXIwcWAdFixaAxq60Ltw08dGdDFiB3-N8_oPzf58YyPe24ptgBr94E9e6HSOpgCL6hoE3-YolK20GBR5IYl5NGR/s788/JACK%20KENNY.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1CuwN0RH_I4g9sC1AANgvLlk9S6cGd9tdhg7sOkWEOlrPpfw8VjBiYCpQYY7DilKl38xUPjg4VGJpnfiXAWjfhrBmtXEWp90u_zzIWSXIwcWAdFixaAxq60Ltw08dGdDFiB3-N8_oPzf58YyPe24ptgBr94E9e6HSOpgCL6hoE3-YolK20GBR5IYl5NGR/s380/JACK%20KENNY.png"/></a><br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz4WNdZ0Ki7KVuQk-i33ZtUJwNwBjMedC_q_ra6m5ulpwXRgkNhDGJ54zTfibM4k-dUAKJSnrp6EJ9R7Dnzsos9icbCK_vY4vSQGnNJV64B-EnnBP-4ouorUhMW8H6jpLfRBp6ip1xN6ofcyQEg4JY4sO0bpbZRbTzw1c-SQocmOdJ8MVNis5nHeZofPvs/s1612/jack%20hotcha.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="1612" data-original-width="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz4WNdZ0Ki7KVuQk-i33ZtUJwNwBjMedC_q_ra6m5ulpwXRgkNhDGJ54zTfibM4k-dUAKJSnrp6EJ9R7Dnzsos9icbCK_vY4vSQGnNJV64B-EnnBP-4ouorUhMW8H6jpLfRBp6ip1xN6ofcyQEg4JY4sO0bpbZRbTzw1c-SQocmOdJ8MVNis5nHeZofPvs/s400/jack%20hotcha.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOl6mz7SLV0nsdBtg8reZBemtoJvvcMLq949ZpklKqgaSCyNOtJ1obCdL1ZW8DnFIhb5oRhsIKNEjm4W8GPrhfkX0uGpfEJN3qNmyJvBdF3dROYs2DdP627Co58RBS2HDZtwcWTX9i6h9xhyphenhyphenoOQvGe4haxjJ8bxV51ZJGcY6QEjIPRYYCNyaBYYReJBAr/s1282/JACK%20PHIL.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="1282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOl6mz7SLV0nsdBtg8reZBemtoJvvcMLq949ZpklKqgaSCyNOtJ1obCdL1ZW8DnFIhb5oRhsIKNEjm4W8GPrhfkX0uGpfEJN3qNmyJvBdF3dROYs2DdP627Co58RBS2HDZtwcWTX9i6h9xhyphenhyphenoOQvGe4haxjJ8bxV51ZJGcY6QEjIPRYYCNyaBYYReJBAr/s400/JACK%20PHIL.png"/></a>
Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-32148778668229028532023-12-30T07:05:00.000-08:002023-12-30T07:05:00.127-08:00Paul FennellAnimated television commercials were still popular with ad agencies and clients as 1960 drew to an end. Small production houses continued to make them on both coasts and in a number of other cities, including Albuquerque.
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Below are some far-too-low resolution frames taken from the pages of <i>Television Age</i> for November and December 1960.
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A bit of a key if you haven’t caught these compilations before—
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Ray Fatava was a former animator for Gene Deitch at Terrytoons. Elektra was fronted by Abe Liss, ex-UPA animator. Ray Patin was an ex-Disney and Warners animator; his art director was John Dunn. Lars Colonius had been a Disney man, who later made the favourite fallout paranoia film <i>Duck and Cover</i>. Film Fair was run by Gus Jekel. Playhouse Pictures was owned by Ade Woolery with Bill Melendez as one of his top creative people. Animation Inc. was led by Earl Klein, who was a layout artist for Chuck Jones in the war years. Fred Crippen was the president of Pantomime. Pelican was the company started by ex-MGM animator Jack Zander. And Joe Oriolo was in charge of the Felix the Cat TV cartoons made at Paramount and distributed by Trans-Lux. In what looks like a promo frame below, Felix is doing a send-up of Ed Murrow's <i>Person to Person</i> TV show, complete with lit cigarette and ashtray.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0HJtLK7BVzkLXN6uU_RZ7Aao4hRbOzPSkySwx4lkzFxrMEkyIjNeZuRwByfVpn3DYRMukZhUaT2SG-IRwQSN9_a3nNoh_31DSRe_YoQX5Kc88VVuG5ROKMwGV9D7rJwzGhsd-4gG4J__besbRt-OgKb9dwFwST_AaDaWgx0D1GpgkUJf1HjXY7xeTQo_u/s1888/1960%20SPOTS%201.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1888" data-original-width="728" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0HJtLK7BVzkLXN6uU_RZ7Aao4hRbOzPSkySwx4lkzFxrMEkyIjNeZuRwByfVpn3DYRMukZhUaT2SG-IRwQSN9_a3nNoh_31DSRe_YoQX5Kc88VVuG5ROKMwGV9D7rJwzGhsd-4gG4J__besbRt-OgKb9dwFwST_AaDaWgx0D1GpgkUJf1HjXY7xeTQo_u/s510/1960%20SPOTS%201.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimNMVaOOk9JQtg8h1hUtc2RjHMJuRhIvxLAAx6qoNukZTb8-nLRIbKqXXzeCLToZREQ2UATMJMstqjgkFhIXztFyicfuScbpoIWf6Ye608pLLyJYppa1bfaqTAFdXYFRoGD2KdgZdxsrVEAk0tYOCJD6dLzWIkjzUDZcVbzI-c9Bv5rb1AtAsrqXrk2m5p/s1888/1960%20SPOTS%202.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1888" data-original-width="728" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimNMVaOOk9JQtg8h1hUtc2RjHMJuRhIvxLAAx6qoNukZTb8-nLRIbKqXXzeCLToZREQ2UATMJMstqjgkFhIXztFyicfuScbpoIWf6Ye608pLLyJYppa1bfaqTAFdXYFRoGD2KdgZdxsrVEAk0tYOCJD6dLzWIkjzUDZcVbzI-c9Bv5rb1AtAsrqXrk2m5p/s510/1960%20SPOTS%202.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ebPjUNh5pPgZ94Cnma72pby8du2QvsDg0FaZ9UXD7l52mPU4XjKjhJIXVaWThXbaZrTR9cwzVPudAVbarRp4LTojOsthE0Ae46kpMOhdfMK3alJhxjZBlK-jjGR8qwhlQmyONt-lYhrcGKLnFaS6RWHjR5j0BaAZAXNNzduPJfyIwbIjr9CaGT928cy6/s1840/1960%20SPOTS%203.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1840" data-original-width="736" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ebPjUNh5pPgZ94Cnma72pby8du2QvsDg0FaZ9UXD7l52mPU4XjKjhJIXVaWThXbaZrTR9cwzVPudAVbarRp4LTojOsthE0Ae46kpMOhdfMK3alJhxjZBlK-jjGR8qwhlQmyONt-lYhrcGKLnFaS6RWHjR5j0BaAZAXNNzduPJfyIwbIjr9CaGT928cy6/s510/1960%20SPOTS%203.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjozZ41cTsqEs0bpjnkGjBoO8KYOd33y25VWgYzjHHYDpMMtWzB8rZe9eNUrsaV_WAHpF7epBo-1nohbat8CgAzRJA7FQy7y1eZ06cQD-kub4ZfkDkHwJvoSQv6tCO328YPABrHmpDhglQwM7P8gbUlDltS6v25GlbgD0MZL4PMZSfU9yyBJ6JTtD0IYVKT/s1840/1960%20SPOTS%204.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1840" data-original-width="716" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjozZ41cTsqEs0bpjnkGjBoO8KYOd33y25VWgYzjHHYDpMMtWzB8rZe9eNUrsaV_WAHpF7epBo-1nohbat8CgAzRJA7FQy7y1eZ06cQD-kub4ZfkDkHwJvoSQv6tCO328YPABrHmpDhglQwM7P8gbUlDltS6v25GlbgD0MZL4PMZSfU9yyBJ6JTtD0IYVKT/s515/1960%20SPOTS%204.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSq_HuiC18zCrQSxdPoOrusF0FS7CmEzh3jhbM2g0QzZ5KVBeM5nqMa-ExV81BeICnNHI9cG0m3XjlYjOzd-02Rk8rhQbXpdhzLx7CyLQuk5jK4vQhwLgtockxKvnZo7d5FVJl7SIpj4BCBVBGqb8XVGukn3hxSlU3pwN6Wc-2aADbKdJkczOtNRneIykT/s1868/1960%20SPOTS%205.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1868" data-original-width="724" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSq_HuiC18zCrQSxdPoOrusF0FS7CmEzh3jhbM2g0QzZ5KVBeM5nqMa-ExV81BeICnNHI9cG0m3XjlYjOzd-02Rk8rhQbXpdhzLx7CyLQuk5jK4vQhwLgtockxKvnZo7d5FVJl7SIpj4BCBVBGqb8XVGukn3hxSlU3pwN6Wc-2aADbKdJkczOtNRneIykT/s515/1960%20SPOTS%205.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTTeFzyYmRTBHdhXUBpFrsdsr2naVAOCS6ex5NZPVdL_ot7MrKNiR2VT_w_cfUatjrA38mAXDXINRdhubEILCIKNfTnkVRpv5VNsxOQiJ4zKfBOcIUA5ukzCgXt9fKf0oe937v3DB_VZEKqX_bNH3KlqypZ8Ho172x0BFYeKGytH9ohR9bIh_fzsjwM_lc/s1868/1960%20SPOTS%206.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1868" data-original-width="712" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTTeFzyYmRTBHdhXUBpFrsdsr2naVAOCS6ex5NZPVdL_ot7MrKNiR2VT_w_cfUatjrA38mAXDXINRdhubEILCIKNfTnkVRpv5VNsxOQiJ4zKfBOcIUA5ukzCgXt9fKf0oe937v3DB_VZEKqX_bNH3KlqypZ8Ho172x0BFYeKGytH9ohR9bIh_fzsjwM_lc/s515/1960%20SPOTS%206.png"/></a>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuw8IdMMYERslHlcCIiAUdAlGs233VJ0XdYb9OJ5cBtV3rzJoo34U534mGfFMWSJNcXzwPfugiI0FJrSoSxYZVwavSDYv6ieOsLVFXjnZlALnOc43RTfCzdAyZyGKCgCa0E7n88g7hUyGB9JBg5T7cyDFfRKpSTKAkFqowpBteX7GXCkz0LDVqttZcXFPg/s1872/1960%20SPOTS%207.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1872" data-original-width="724" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuw8IdMMYERslHlcCIiAUdAlGs233VJ0XdYb9OJ5cBtV3rzJoo34U534mGfFMWSJNcXzwPfugiI0FJrSoSxYZVwavSDYv6ieOsLVFXjnZlALnOc43RTfCzdAyZyGKCgCa0E7n88g7hUyGB9JBg5T7cyDFfRKpSTKAkFqowpBteX7GXCkz0LDVqttZcXFPg/s510/1960%20SPOTS%207.png"/></a>A number of studios aren’t represented in the frames above, including Quartet Films (Art Babbitt, Arnold Gillespie, Stan Walsh and Les Goldman), Grantray-Lawrence (Ray Patterson, Grant Simmons), Cascade Pictures (Tex Avery and Bill Mason), Herb Klynn’s Format Films (gearing up to produce <i>The Alvin Show</i>) and Paul Kim and Lew Gifford out of New York.
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One other name missing from the list is Paul J. Fennell, who seems to have wound down his studio on North La Cienega Blvd. and accepted a job as a director at Hanna-Barbera before being hired four months later in July 1959 as an associated producer by Larry Harmon Productions, makers of Bozo the Clown TV cartoons and sub-contracted to make some of the Popeye cartoons for Al Brodax of King Features, as well as Dick Tracy and Mr. Magoo TV shorts for UPA. An ad in <i>Billboard</i> in its Dec. 16, 1957 issue marks the studio’s 12th anniversary with a list of clients, including Campbell Soups, Kellogg, Philco and U.S. Rubber, makers of Keds running shoes. The company animated Kedso the Clown. The studio’s art director was Ed Benedict before he went to MGM.
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But Fennell went back long before that and was one of the veterans who stuck around animation for decades. Chuck Jones says his first job at Leon Schlesinger’s studio in 1933 was assisting Fennell, who had been hired from Disney to animate when Schlesinger parted with producers Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising earlier in the year.
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Fennell was born November 9, 1909 in Grafton, Nebraska. The 1930 Census reports he was a private at the U.S. Naval Air Station near San Diego. In April the following year, his career took a large turn as he was hired at Walt Disney. After his stint at Schlesinger, he was employed by Harman and Ising on their MGM cartoons; Bill Hanna said he was the uncredited co-director of <i>To Spring</i>. Hugh and Rudy were bounced in 1937; by December that year, Fennell was hired at Ub Iwerks’ newly refinanced Animated Cartoons, Inc., which was renamed Cartoon Films, Ltd. Through some set of circumstances, Iwerks returned to Disney and Fennell took over the operations, making animated commercials for movie theatres and the Gran’ Pop Monkey cartoons originally intended for British cinemas. Among his animation staff were Rudy Zamora, Don Williams, Tom McKimson and Ed Benedict.
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We’ll allow the Los Angeles <i>Tidings</i>, a Catholic newspaper, of October 1, 1954 to fill us in about Fennell’s biography and his post-war studio.
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Inside TV Commercials</span></i><br>
When those little figures in the cartoon commercials dance across your TV screen, do you flip to another channel while Junior howls: “I want to see the funnies?" <br>
Or do they "get" you as they must be getting millions of others?<br>
These little creatures of crayon are big business in TV today. Yet few persons realize the time, effort, and hard cash that go into the making of each single, one-minute cartoon. <br>
According to Paul J. Fennell, one-time Disney animator, who now operates his own studies at 404 La Cienega Blvd., it takes staff of about 20 talented artists, technicians and ideas experts from 10 days to two weeks to turn out a commercial cartoon you'll see on your TV set in one minute flat.<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2X2Sa4xwW6zuWx8fCo38C0g2pLklsHHK-2tqg5fFLqm8p06g2ufSXE5bXTgxbi84RefAqgOP0LKpd9X0mbNYmLxyx27Kl_ed9ctMLfcUlCT6t-uHZYavvYN9ReYw5pNmyItMO2G9r3-tisLJWRhBknn3exz_Lpsor6aCSCYN7n1Kjc85Iinmw1Cz6h0E/s528/PAUL%20FENNELL.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2X2Sa4xwW6zuWx8fCo38C0g2pLklsHHK-2tqg5fFLqm8p06g2ufSXE5bXTgxbi84RefAqgOP0LKpd9X0mbNYmLxyx27Kl_ed9ctMLfcUlCT6t-uHZYavvYN9ReYw5pNmyItMO2G9r3-tisLJWRhBknn3exz_Lpsor6aCSCYN7n1Kjc85Iinmw1Cz6h0E/s300/PAUL%20FENNELL.png"/></a>At the Fennell studio, equipment and processes are just the same as at the vast Disney plant. The scale is smaller, but the objective is the same. And Paul Fennell is quick to point out that the inspiration behind the commercial cartoon had its source in the fertile land of Walt Disney. <br>
<b>Told It to the Marines.</b> <br>
Back in 1931, Fennell, "always able to draw a little," joined the Disney staff. He was there 3 1/2 years. He worked too for Schlesinger’s cartoon department at Warners and for Paramount in New York, where he drew some of the early caricatures of Popeye. <br>
Paul Fennell himself was a marine. He joined them first when only 19 and got into that Nicaragua jaunt. His second hitch, during World War II, found him at the photo-science labs operated by the Navy where, directly under late Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, he organized a team to "draw pictures of battles: not to fight them." <br>
Every naval engagement had to be filmed to instruct personnel and inform strategists. This couldn't be done during actual battles, so it had to be reconstructed by Fennell and others. They used "doodles" for ships, and in cartoon form tested the deployment of US and enemy warships. <br>
When Paul Fennell, by this time a lieutenant colonel, left the service in 1945, he'd had a lot of additional experience. Friends offered to put up the cash to enable him to "start on his own." Shaking a bit, he agreed. For one thing, his wife Lucille—a convert, by the way—already had presented him three of the four children they now have. They had the family—it's now two of each—but, as yet, no home. <br>
The firm now is debt-free, and the Fennells have a fine home out in the San Fernando Valley parish of St Francis de Sales. Prayer, faith and enterprise have been rewarded. <br>
<b>Precision Amazing. </b><br>
The Fennell studio, humming like a hive, turns out such familiar animated cartoon characters as the Campbell Soup Kids; the tumble-haired boy with a Cheerio muscle in his arm; Snap, Krackle and Pop, the Rice Krispy trio; and several other of the little folks you let into you home for a minute, now and again. <br>
Everything is done with precise sketches and suitable forms of animation. You would be amazed how many different drawings have to be made. <br>
Even a one-minute cartoon often meant drawing and coloring 1,000 different, consecutive pictures. The backgrounds, all drawn separately, change from 20 to a hundred times—which multiplies the chores.<br>
<b>Success Speaks Well.</b> <br>
There's more to it, however, than just drawing. These cartoon creatures—whether used in commercials or theatrical films—begin to live, to take on personality. Then, like real mortals, they begin also to reflect examples, good or bad. <br>
Paul Fennell, a life-long Catholic, makes sure that what they say, sing or do is always morally decent.<br>
He speaks more of "keeping them in good taste,” but says “they're comical and amusing only when they’re clean.”<br>
And his success proves that at least some of the more important TV sponsors are thinking along the same healthy lines.</span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVJ0iejjtZIUkcDyUevFTdoDHkhb3nIkFUu29SUwpfGjLfjmGdZaVKwPoinKRefZxv676ql4ve5pYOdaM0UdVGVXTL6aR_zWgZhHqrQ9nJkD_M7cgLl2vEvfB29tiJl_FgJXPOsS2zQf7Ggoh7XC8Vr0qQhVjuNxNTDwANhHFcDln49iz0TR1MBWOYakwB/s840/FENNELL%20CARTOON.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="840" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVJ0iejjtZIUkcDyUevFTdoDHkhb3nIkFUu29SUwpfGjLfjmGdZaVKwPoinKRefZxv676ql4ve5pYOdaM0UdVGVXTL6aR_zWgZhHqrQ9nJkD_M7cgLl2vEvfB29tiJl_FgJXPOsS2zQf7Ggoh7XC8Vr0qQhVjuNxNTDwANhHFcDln49iz0TR1MBWOYakwB/s500/FENNELL%20CARTOON.png"/></a>Among Fennell’s other projects were illustrating the children’s book “The Bear Facts” by Polly Cuthbertson (1947), a award-winning, 18-minute short for Penn Mutual Life Insurance named <i>A Century of Security</i> (also 1947) and a ten-minute film for the National Tuberculosis Association called <i>You Can Help</i> (1948). The company even registered the music for a jingle for Schmidt’s Ale (1951).
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Larry Harmon’s studio fizzled out in the early 1960s, as did many of the commercial operations; Harmon’s Laurel and Hardy series was finally produced at Hanna-Barbera. Friz Freleng brought in Fennell and put him “in charge of cartoon blurbs” (<i>Daily Variety</i>, Feb. 9, 1966) but I don’t believe he was credited with any cartoons at DePatie-Freleng. He then was hired for a decade-long run at Filmation.
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In 1984, he was among the honourees by the Screen Cartoonists Guild for a half century in animation. He died January 18, 1990.
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We leave Mr. Fennell now to post some ads from the year-end edition of <i>Television Age</i> for 1960.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVhQc6fTeg52W9KA49yZMEt2doX66mkhwWN6UjRyyL5eGW5SDGJRC66h3_1srqhUGZozI3qmhxQMOEzjEa7o24GOmyHSxwR27vdPg9-dQ_8jLng3IBrJSNazAQcC4UXDOb5wLpAcq_SdZDrzvuWEIPUsgL-K0sxbDbsECW1flD2MfOwAAg0ipg4Hid2_XY/s1674/1960%20ad%201.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1674" data-original-width="782" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVhQc6fTeg52W9KA49yZMEt2doX66mkhwWN6UjRyyL5eGW5SDGJRC66h3_1srqhUGZozI3qmhxQMOEzjEa7o24GOmyHSxwR27vdPg9-dQ_8jLng3IBrJSNazAQcC4UXDOb5wLpAcq_SdZDrzvuWEIPUsgL-K0sxbDbsECW1flD2MfOwAAg0ipg4Hid2_XY/s423/1960%20ad%201.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRYsujrTCKmo0d9G9rLedBq_8EA1Xwzgnk4cJ4OBUZYPBK3JUq6YhPKgBBBAxI6Fffkp5S9ZfwJkn89pC9cGctvU0zuMHd6F7f_9pqXAB5lp0PmaE6e7ooVj8MfbU8vKWA-UH0Kt1-rmGbWgrFy4UMidhCn2UpRxhZ9DKrZigfzM4y72B9WeLJ2H25aqC/s842/1960%20ad%201C.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img 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Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-36975071801262604862023-12-29T07:01:00.000-08:002023-12-29T07:01:00.130-08:00Shootin' MatchThe Western cliché of one-upsmanship gets trotted out for a parody in Tex Avery’s <i>Drag-a-long Droopy</i>.
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The bad guy is dead shot. To prove it, he tosses a nickel into the air. Droopy responds in kind, with a bit of a different result.
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<br><br>
Did you notice something about the shooting? The wolf is big so he can pull the trigger on his rifle with ease. But Droopy is so small, he shakes when firing.
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Ray Patterson joins Bob Bentley, Mike Lah, Grant Simmons and Walt Clinton in animating this, my favourite Droopy cartoon.Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-40564851524700318772023-12-28T07:01:00.000-08:002023-12-28T07:01:00.130-08:00Who Needs Rehearsal?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyzuvm2yKl9V83ZBIF9NaSZtjm4MsaHecZcHddkAC352fCG7RGdQOjh0UW3QA6o2ig0VrD0UqJaOJ0JlQLaCoOaOJ2nCC31x4FA4GwhuWrTwKRFnESNenRSVxOShO1aTWEC1B8sCnKR7rWNAMxMGKu90CQj5wAtUj1imqzsnfg2LCZC9Sey2Fu7WAAyfi8/s566/CULLEN.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyzuvm2yKl9V83ZBIF9NaSZtjm4MsaHecZcHddkAC352fCG7RGdQOjh0UW3QA6o2ig0VrD0UqJaOJ0JlQLaCoOaOJ2nCC31x4FA4GwhuWrTwKRFnESNenRSVxOShO1aTWEC1B8sCnKR7rWNAMxMGKu90CQj5wAtUj1imqzsnfg2LCZC9Sey2Fu7WAAyfi8/s320/CULLEN.png"/></a>Bill Cullen is still my favourite game show host.
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And my favourite show he hosted was “The Price is Right.”
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It was a great show for the viewer. They could smile at some of the more outrageous prizes that Goodson-Todman staffers dug up. They could make their own price guesses. They could watch in suspense as each contestant cogitated their bid. And, occasionally, Bill came up with an unexpected witty or hokey ad-lib. He was, to me, the most genuine game show emcee on TV.
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Delving through old newspapers, it’s a little astounding how much was written about the show in the popular press, and was written about Cullen. But <i>The Price is Right</i>, and he, were that popular (even <i>The Flintstones</i> parodied both). Here are a couple for you Cullen fans. The first is one of a number by the Associated Press’ Cynthia Lowry. This was published March 26, 1961.
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Bill Cullen's Secret: He Never Rehearses</span></i><br>
<i><b>EDITOR'S NOTE</b>—Bill Cullen, master of ceremonies on “The Price Is Right," is convinced he'd make a terrible contestant. He isn't told beforehand what the prices really are but tries to guess the values as the game goes along. And says the MC, his price is always wrong.</i> <br>
<b>By CYNTHIA LOWRY</b><br>
<b>TV-Radio Writer</b><br>
NEW YORK (AP)—In the clock-watching world of television and radio, busy Bill Cullen lives by a timetable as precise as a railroad schedule. As a result he has more leisure than most of us.<br>
A slight, boyish-looking man with a ready grin and easy manner, Cullen six day work-week is as carefully planned as an architect's blueprint.<br>
"It has to be," remarked the 41-year-old master of ceremonies, disc jockey and panelist, "if I'm going to get around to all bases. Actually, the way I've got it worked out, it's a breeze: The secret is that I never rehearse anything."<br>
Cullen is either facing a television camera or a radio microphone for a total of 25 ½ hours a week. On Wednesdays, his work day spans 14 hours, three shows and two networks. Every weekday he is on camera and mike at least 4½ hours. He loves every minute of it.<br>
LOVES HIS WORK<br>
Cullen is the master of ceremonies of NBC's popular and successful game show, "The Price Is Right," televised live every weekday at 11 a.m. and Wednesday nights at 8:30. (EST.)<br>
He is also a regular panel member of “I’ve Got a Secret” on CBS—also Wednesday night, at 9:30—a seat he has held since the program's third show nine years ago. <br>
Finally, he is the star of a live, daily four hour radio show on WNBC, which from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. broadcasts music, news, weather and light hearted chatter that helps get a large segment of New York millions off to a working day. It is also on from 8 to 10 on Saturday mornings.<br>
The first one up at the Cullen home, however, is his wife Anne, a former actress he married six years ago. "She gets up at 4:45 and makes coffee for me," he said. "And she brews coffee, she doesn't make instant. Then she wakes me up at 5. After I've gone, she goes back to bed.”<br>
Cullen drives to the radio studio. He has a private taxi, a regulation two-tone cab and a driver named Teddy (“I think it would look wrong if a fellow like me drove around in a big, black limousine.”) He never plans the radio show ahead, and upon arriving is merely supplied with a sheet containing the names of the musical pieces to be played and notations of the time there are breaks for news and commercials.<br>
WORKS PUZZLE<br>
"It's easy—I just say anything that comes into my head," he said. "In fact, I spend my time during the musical pieces working on a crossword puzzle." <br>
When the radio stint is over at 10, Cullen rides up to the theater on Broadway from which “The Price is Right” is televised.<br>
“This show requires lots of rehearsal,” Cullen said, “because of all the articles that are shown. And the m.c. has to know exactly what he's doing. If you're in the wrong spot—on a turntable, for instance, when a car is being shown you're apt to be tossed on your face." <br>
NOT AT REHEARSAL <br>
Cullen never attends the rehearsal. His stand-in is an actor named Jim Holland who has worked with Cullen for five years, and goes through his paces for him. Then he jots down, in a shorthand Cullen understands, all the directions: where Cullen is to stand, when the commercials come, and if a "bonus" is to be awarded a prize-winner, what it consists of. The directions are printed on two small cards, which Cullen keeps in his left side pocket and unobtrusively consults from time to time.<br>
Procedures are the same on the Wednesday night show, except that Cullen has only half an hour between the end of "Price" and the start of "I've Got a Secret" in another part of town. Teddy drives him to the other theater.
"That," he confessed, "is the easiest job on television. Absolutely no preparation at all. There's nothing to do but get there."</span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5Gz9AgJPS4yyCUcSSicru7ChDtGzkHxundjl3Km23gB-Ifzj976wXZRTX13zpPB_zl4RL6qNzykF4EfxebzePP0XqhXh4dgNT203vDDI2seSyf4ZKHz3_8KAw6bwm9wj_awU1NJONuEj1kJTfD-Xr61FQ5DUAvAuy1P-DL_VheLJICqUNet5KZKxP5g0/s1107/cullen%20ad.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="1107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5Gz9AgJPS4yyCUcSSicru7ChDtGzkHxundjl3Km23gB-Ifzj976wXZRTX13zpPB_zl4RL6qNzykF4EfxebzePP0XqhXh4dgNT203vDDI2seSyf4ZKHz3_8KAw6bwm9wj_awU1NJONuEj1kJTfD-Xr61FQ5DUAvAuy1P-DL_VheLJICqUNet5KZKxP5g0/s600/cullen%20ad.png"/></a>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6p2lgfqIXyo-pqP_XCBwVxTGg3JxHQhRKEdlQog5C6CMcsFtqorsPhR7hl4GAA-UfSDzIR3uVjHKTvWktFbxGOqgR1wKOLcFEeKNZCHlO9LGBZc9JrZUqoT7n9YnbBY36oNbTpSvAmF9g4vzyCTHpT2qyAkrcM0WO5hwh7IZ_YNVF74gxaUmdYMjF1sKy/s1989/CELLEN%20OOPS.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1989" data-original-width="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6p2lgfqIXyo-pqP_XCBwVxTGg3JxHQhRKEdlQog5C6CMcsFtqorsPhR7hl4GAA-UfSDzIR3uVjHKTvWktFbxGOqgR1wKOLcFEeKNZCHlO9LGBZc9JrZUqoT7n9YnbBY36oNbTpSvAmF9g4vzyCTHpT2qyAkrcM0WO5hwh7IZ_YNVF74gxaUmdYMjF1sKy/s800/CELLEN%20OOPS.png"/></a>Lowry had other tidbits about Cullen sprinkled in her columns throughout the year. One was on May 11, 1961 where she revealed Cullen was on holidays and someone loaded the wrong video tape of the Wednesday night show onto the network (earlier in the year, Arlene Francis filled in for three weeks). She also included a blurb of Cullen commenting that the strangest prize he ever gave away was 400 shares of CBS stock. The show was on NBC then.
<br><br>
Cullen had planned to get busier that year. He was signed to replace Arthur Godfrey on <i>Candid Camera</i> for the fall season, but soon was un-signed. It turns out <i>Price</i> had a headache pill-pusher as one of its sponsors. <i>Candid Camera</i> did, too. A different one. Sorry, Bill, no conflicts allowed.
<br><br>
<i>The Price is Right</i> moved from NBC to ABC in 1963 (announcer Don Pardo stayed with the Living Color network) and bowed off the air in 1965. Of course, it returned in the ‘70s. The host was now required to get up and move. It would have been a strain on Cullen’s legs and he didn’t return. No matter. He seems to have hosted endless numbers of game shows and continued to work until the mid-1980s. Lung cancer claimed him in 1990.
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Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-92118383039660611702023-12-28T04:48:00.000-08:002023-12-28T05:02:38.203-08:00Tom Smothers<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNcIipbT92nlKCKR-BacuekFqs5FK-1fuqWBZybu7TAJ-2_7Bl2YT1U6rpJ-S_ZaH2bCedX5uDNQcHEip0aiA0OVwSgbJWyRmY54FEVa7FkvTjatYcjzcDFKCRO9EJgZ_LyoVvcUy_TNDuiRmr6X2TuZaCnI-TRd10cixFgoRSwkfgbuE0OwI4m8Bu0nf/s952/SMOTHERS%201959.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="676" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNcIipbT92nlKCKR-BacuekFqs5FK-1fuqWBZybu7TAJ-2_7Bl2YT1U6rpJ-S_ZaH2bCedX5uDNQcHEip0aiA0OVwSgbJWyRmY54FEVa7FkvTjatYcjzcDFKCRO9EJgZ_LyoVvcUy_TNDuiRmr6X2TuZaCnI-TRd10cixFgoRSwkfgbuE0OwI4m8Bu0nf/s320/SMOTHERS%201959.png"/></a>The death of Tommy Smothers shows how little things have changed in America in the last 55 years.
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Those of us of a certain age will remember when CBS fired the brothers in 1969 in a classic right vs. left battle. The battle continues today, perhaps just as acrimoniously.
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The brothers started out very innocently. The <i>San Francisco Examiner</i> reported on April 25, 1959 they were due to make their folk-singing debut at the Purple Onion, whose owner called them “another Kingston Trio.” Yes, there were three of them. Brother Bob was part of the act.
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At the end of the year, there was talk of Tom going on a solo career and Bob and Dick getting out of show biz. But the San Francisco press reported on offers from Vegas and Seattle and television in Los Angeles, so the act continued, with Bob leaving some time in 1960. One of the events Tom and Dick took part at Golden Gate Park in September that year was the “I Am an American Day” ceremonies, with one paper calling their act “wholesome.” How opinions would change by the end of the decade.
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They cut their first album for Mercury, live at the Purple Onion, that month. It was released in 1961, when Tom and Dick began to get national exposure. Here’s a story from the Associated Press in July that year:
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Smothers Brothers Find Success</b></span><br>
<b>By Harry Jupiter</b> <br>
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When the spotlight falls on the high domed, balding head of Thomas Bolyn Smothers III, his eyes take on a frightened look and he licks his lips nervously. <br>
Haltingly, apologetically, like a man who walked into the ladies' room without looking at the sign, he begins describing the song he would like to sing. <br>
The young man at his side-nudges his arm and Tom Smothers says: <br>
"Excuse me, this is my brother, Dickie Smothers, who sings along with me. I mean we sing together. I mean, aw heck.”<br>
And then the Smothers Brothers, one of the hottest acts in show business today, are off and singing.<br>
Theirs is a spectacular success story. A little over two years ago Tom and Dickie Smothers were students at San Jose State college, 50 miles south of San Francisco. They were practicing for the spring registration dance at the college when they were invited to sing at a beer joint in San Jose. "We got two bucks apiece a night," recalls Dickie. "We got a lot of beer, too," adds Tom, deadpan with a sigh of recollection.<br>
Neither drinks much. Tom, 24, and Dickie, 22, are neat and slender. And they don't need free drinks, either. They now get something like $2000 a week.<br>
The Brothers Smothers are back at the Purple Onion, the little showplace where they got their big break two years ago. <br>
Dandy folk singers, fine musicians, devastating satirists, they have been hitting the plush spots around the land and enjoying every minute. <br>
No bones about they'd love to keep going indefinitely. "If the bubble bursts," says Dickie, "I think I might like to be a teacher. That's what I was studying at San Jose State. But Tommy has never wanted anything but show business." <br>
Tom nods. "If we should break up the act eventually, I'd like to do a single. I'd like to be an actor, especially a character actor." <br>
It appears they're a long way from breaking up this act. <br>
Reaction to the young men has been tremendous and they're appreciative. The brothers, cleancut, immaculately groomed, reflect their late father, a career Army man who was a major when he died in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines in 1945 after the Bataan death march. The boys, a younger sister and their mother were evacuated from Manila when World War II began.<br>
Tom and Dick received presidential appointments to West Point, but despite family sentiment they never seriously considered going to the military academy.<br>
Tom, who only stutters when he wants to, is a mimic who has been acting all his life. Dickie, dark haired and mammoth eared, is near sighted and has difficulty hearing with his right ear.<br>
Both are sound musicians and, for the most part, they are self trained. When Tom decided he wanted to learn to play the guitar, he bought a guitar and an instruction book. <br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCIYSCSOxnwE3m3hw3BYO2sq9MNUcyEm_XiI44OqngE1Ou4N963lOuXf7UG4Yh2eqUFoKMMuiEuYWDQ0EqXjZCbl8hv9io0POzre7NAeS6vycaUpvIjeCvBgiVuYxcKFaPjBAmlY8wduupGODCOUT5wW00sYirGuJy1OK3cN0qmeg7XL0joA882cnUV70g/s732/smothers%201961.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="732" data-original-width="658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCIYSCSOxnwE3m3hw3BYO2sq9MNUcyEm_XiI44OqngE1Ou4N963lOuXf7UG4Yh2eqUFoKMMuiEuYWDQ0EqXjZCbl8hv9io0POzre7NAeS6vycaUpvIjeCvBgiVuYxcKFaPjBAmlY8wduupGODCOUT5wW00sYirGuJy1OK3cN0qmeg7XL0joA882cnUV70g/s285/smothers%201961.png"/></a>When Dickie was told two years ago that the act needed a bass fiddle, they went out and bought a second-hand bass—and an instruction book.<br>
They love to sing and they ad lib constantly. Their forte, though, is their sly, deadpan dismemberment of intellectual folk singing shredding the current trend toward spending more time explaining the song than singing the song.
Tom adds a note of historical reverence to his halting stammer when he recounts the history of the "annual camel races which are held in Uruguay each year on the third of June."<br>
"One hump camels," interjects Dickie. "Make sure you tell 'em they're one-hump camels."<br>
"Oh, yes, I almost forgot," says Tom. "That was my brother, Dickie Smothers, who knew you would want to know that these are one-hump camels we're singing about."<br>
Then they embark on their song on the one-hump camel races in Uruguay—but it turns out to be an Israeli hora, an ancient Hebrew tune called "Tiena, Tiena." Sometimes they catch each other fibbing amidst the ad libbing.<br> Introducing a song that encompasses the legendary men who pushed the flat boats along the old Mississippi, Tom flips his guitar and holds it with the flat side up.<br>
"This is how those of boats looked," he explains. <br>
Brother Dickie peeks over Tom's shoulder, points to the neck and inquires: "What's that?" <br>
Tom reddens, pauses, says: <br>
“Uh, that's, uh, that's the rudder."<br>
Then he smiles benignly at the audience.<br>
Dickie, however, isn't convinced. "They don't put rudders on the front," he insists.<br>
Tom is stuck this time. Finally he turns to the audience again and says: "I lied." <br>
In his lengthy introduction to "Jezebel," Tom goes into indignant description of the name "that is synonymous with evil, the name that means a bad woman wherever it is spoken, the name that suggests an evil, bad, awful girl. And that name . . . that name . . .”<br>
Dickie whispers in Tom's ear and Tom is reassured.<br>
"The name of that bad, evil, nasty girl," he says, "as everyone knows, is Mary Lou Johnson.</span>
<br><br>
Taking a shot at the quirks of folk singers is one thing. Taking on the establishment, including police brutality, and the continued war in Vietnam under both Johnson and Nixon, is something else. But that’s what Tom Smothers wanted his variety show to do when it signed on in 1967. CBS disagreed, and began censoring entire sketches and cancelling guest artists. The network caved to the “America-Love-It-Or-Leave-It” crowd which saw nothing wrong with uniformed officers bashing demonstrators wanting peace and speaking out against racism and sexism.
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Even today, the idea of using the off switch for programming one doesn’t like isn’t good enough for some. The programming must be annihilated. Their attitude is political satire is bad—unless it’s making fun of the politicians someone disagrees with.
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A whole chapter of the book “CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye” was devoted to the ousting of the Smothers Brothers in 1969. It goes into detail about what led to the firing on April 4, 1969. It really was a huge deal; newspaper editorial and entertainment columns were full of opinions.
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Smothers Says Show Censored</b></span> <br>
NEW YORK, April 7 (UPI) — Tom Smothers accused CBS today of "censorship with all its ramifications" in canceling the weekly television show he does with his brother.<br>
At a news conference the Smothers brothers, Tom and Dick, said no decisions have been made yet to sue the network for dropping the show although, they said, the CBS action amounted to an "unfounded breach" of the 26-week contract they signed March 14 for next season. <br>
The brothers said they had received an offer from Canadian Television network if no American network would have them. <br>
<b>Flattered by Offer.</b> <br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoS7voHYhUVSngwodl4JL5KCa4_m2Gz4-k32qr8hRCDZfE4kRSO2cz-2voh8_jdzC3JgYRttt8Jqff3vJEI-lP-r704yYJaZpNgTHtMfhVcKwXlXOf0go47dM1u0hjkYp6jNLz8sU4OAJ8ROAS0QWIcEvg6XbNvJtqGodIMb_4BqVB7PBhHTZshZ410Cz/s716/SMOTHERS%201969.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="519" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoS7voHYhUVSngwodl4JL5KCa4_m2Gz4-k32qr8hRCDZfE4kRSO2cz-2voh8_jdzC3JgYRttt8Jqff3vJEI-lP-r704yYJaZpNgTHtMfhVcKwXlXOf0go47dM1u0hjkYp6jNLz8sU4OAJ8ROAS0QWIcEvg6XbNvJtqGodIMb_4BqVB7PBhHTZshZ410Cz/s320/SMOTHERS%201969.png"/></a></div>"I'm very flattered by the offer," said Tom, but he added they had made no decision whether to accept the offer.<br>
The brothers said they have not received offers from either of the other two major American networks and did not expect any immediately because of possible court action on their part.<br>
<b>“Need Divergent Views”</b><br>
"I think in America it is necessary that unpopular opinions and divergent views be shown on television," Tom said, pointing out that "even network executives say the airwaves belong to the people." <br>
The Canadian network broadcast an uncut, unedited version last night of the show.<br>
Tommy Smothers said the reaction of Canadian viewers had been good, that nothing was objectionable contrary to CBS' opinion that comedian David Steinberg's "sermonette" routine was in poor taste. <br>
Watching his program from a Toronto hotel suite, Smothers said he could not understand "what on earth is offensive" about a skit by Steinberg about an imaginary conversation between Solomon and Jonah.<br>
Earlier, Canadian Television President Murray Chercover, whose stations carried the uncut show, said, "I have an irrevocable contract for this year and next for the Smothers show and options for any future ones."<br>
Chercover added that no matter what the CBS-Smothers entanglements may be, Canadian TV is prepared to "film the entire show in Toronto."</span>
<br><br>
One of the reasons CBS president Bob Wood gave for not airing the show was the sermonette. Yet the sketch had been taken out after a preview of the show for network executives on the West Coast.
<br><br>
Tom did a lot of talking after CBS told him to leave. He and Dick appeared on the <i>Today</i> show the following Tuesday. On April 18th, they appeared before newspaper editors, reading a seven-page speech denouncing television’s attempts to keep the viewpoints of younger people off the tube, decrying network censorship and the war in Vietnam.
<br><br>
The brothers never did move to CTV. They put together a special for NBC that ran next to noted Vietnam war supporter Bob Hope. But it can be argued that their career had already peaked, though they continued to be signed for new series and made guest appearances.
<br><br>
If Tom Smothers will be remembered, it will be for his fight to open television to more liberal viewpoints clad as satire. There are people today who beak off that entertainers (eg. late night hosts) are “too political.” Those entertainers carry on, whether one considers their material appropriate. For that, they owe some thanks to Tom Smothers.
Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-32964613788242770312023-12-27T07:08:00.000-08:002023-12-27T07:08:00.257-08:00Throw Up Your Hands“Drop that duck!” Elmer Fudd orders the one-shot fox in <i>What Makes Daffy Duck?</i>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGK55_HHkMg6LbM7gcZ2IU2wIhImvh-WtQnzej4JQfr3pD3UqVCaFJVB69Exk0Z1Km8_ci6xq5epXdF-WWPb5F9DlaKGH9xEgaHsOOSteYp-06m6DsDQ7iKA1yVCPTomy3DIIojeo6q9VKdgNBsAh7yxiZ7XXq1fYCfXoLM3UzL_PaRDKy41vC4q2_4kl-/s1480/CHUCKLES%20%281%29.png"imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGK55_HHkMg6LbM7gcZ2IU2wIhImvh-WtQnzej4JQfr3pD3UqVCaFJVB69Exk0Z1Km8_ci6xq5epXdF-WWPb5F9DlaKGH9xEgaHsOOSteYp-06m6DsDQ7iKA1yVCPTomy3DIIojeo6q9VKdgNBsAh7yxiZ7XXq1fYCfXoLM3UzL_PaRDKy41vC4q2_4kl-/s400/CHUCKLES%20%281%29.png"/></a></div>
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“Throw up your hands!” he shouts. So the fox does. Except his “gloves” come off, twirl in the air and slip back on his paws.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvTTY7Dhfjv8a7cP65RQx3yOA4X_9AgSlSxKq2Ix8LT2Yy33dxE4odZZA52t3qPai_LOtMkll1p_kuIrFiQeh1RdOJ4spkEUAlVLhQAi4uAAhCmy6k4vQImaBHpA9hfzcZvy_qucm0T4KAoenhr4yq7hyphenhyphen2u7HFnRtFnLehlWoqiWLgObx3-rv9MqoiWQAP/s1480/CHUCKLES%20%282%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvTTY7Dhfjv8a7cP65RQx3yOA4X_9AgSlSxKq2Ix8LT2Yy33dxE4odZZA52t3qPai_LOtMkll1p_kuIrFiQeh1RdOJ4spkEUAlVLhQAi4uAAhCmy6k4vQImaBHpA9hfzcZvy_qucm0T4KAoenhr4yq7hyphenhyphen2u7HFnRtFnLehlWoqiWLgObx3-rv9MqoiWQAP/s400/CHUCKLES%20%282%29.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Zob7hcyMa07pZvQIF_2mhbYmuo6XNH91xJwI5ZzJ_cchqc85WhYW1o-oXa8cPE66w34EBBo-UEPbtx8ZtFKdI4VESdJlLAw6RcVHpobz4p81PMHzNywswlaRcm1Z9q5ubo8MYd44KX41qMKoiLzgYuLmxDCs6nVQQhVRDbqzgm9opcIvHZJgX9-v8RvM/s1480/CHUCKLES%20%283%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Zob7hcyMa07pZvQIF_2mhbYmuo6XNH91xJwI5ZzJ_cchqc85WhYW1o-oXa8cPE66w34EBBo-UEPbtx8ZtFKdI4VESdJlLAw6RcVHpobz4p81PMHzNywswlaRcm1Z9q5ubo8MYd44KX41qMKoiLzgYuLmxDCs6nVQQhVRDbqzgm9opcIvHZJgX9-v8RvM/s400/CHUCKLES%20%283%29.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2RgvWRMTOlQ0E9jXxRV-hDfbVkYRiuFMf5zeSTpWB-dHPv2TCbuxzGvN7_NiD4r1LUJqLk21MbJtcxuBqNPR__8y2o41jfu6xzQ1MNrNYyEGN1D_q1ubvG_4C2XDyuP2vfGIXcnUCDqRxf_7ZsCN60S7wRoofCFlz6fWLhJ4UMIR2F0HEQ3u9rbmnWY2V/s1480/CHUCKLES%20%284%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2RgvWRMTOlQ0E9jXxRV-hDfbVkYRiuFMf5zeSTpWB-dHPv2TCbuxzGvN7_NiD4r1LUJqLk21MbJtcxuBqNPR__8y2o41jfu6xzQ1MNrNYyEGN1D_q1ubvG_4C2XDyuP2vfGIXcnUCDqRxf_7ZsCN60S7wRoofCFlz6fWLhJ4UMIR2F0HEQ3u9rbmnWY2V/s400/CHUCKLES%20%284%29.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE-4Eu9h6XPKlsL1XEdo8RV4_snAh-lrjIxihti-ny5wfe3x9xAPvhGVrMSyVILLvc3AO1qE7AMKR_rx_ePCZpRogmHnc25ntzCm-SsmbJtiXOXwFPxdt_bAYZvy96AOQ4cScLQmmUNao6taa1tWOZc52mlDMJc1u-s6rQlXZytErSzHH8EGEI4q-Cm0A-/s1480/CHUCKLES%20%285%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE-4Eu9h6XPKlsL1XEdo8RV4_snAh-lrjIxihti-ny5wfe3x9xAPvhGVrMSyVILLvc3AO1qE7AMKR_rx_ePCZpRogmHnc25ntzCm-SsmbJtiXOXwFPxdt_bAYZvy96AOQ4cScLQmmUNao6taa1tWOZc52mlDMJc1u-s6rQlXZytErSzHH8EGEI4q-Cm0A-/s400/CHUCKLES%20%285%29.png"/></a></div>
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Art Davis made some fine Daffy Duck cartoons and this is my favourite of his, Don Williams, Bill Melendez, Emery Hawkins and Basil Davidovich animate, with the story credited to Bill Scott and Lloyd Turner.Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-83758428779202096232023-12-26T06:31:00.000-08:002023-12-26T06:31:31.335-08:00Remembering Jack Benny<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdEJ6nxlpBxE3YeT_Qs_XGxhJr8RvB5-njSjlqkx3YAZ9Hg4Qokbl3QkWxMy7Ps75vy18LQ7DvDbaFfua4qwcjepmVIhIXG3fiSCcrFhZ7DlmanTA_P-PqVp3CnF7PyX-DZF0wu8WydNL5iDr5MPHLt5zEBtqR2cvybL1fHmnyaVXtAIlyMGHH9OYTbnCu/s740/JACK%20BENNY%20CBS.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="740" data-original-width="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdEJ6nxlpBxE3YeT_Qs_XGxhJr8RvB5-njSjlqkx3YAZ9Hg4Qokbl3QkWxMy7Ps75vy18LQ7DvDbaFfua4qwcjepmVIhIXG3fiSCcrFhZ7DlmanTA_P-PqVp3CnF7PyX-DZF0wu8WydNL5iDr5MPHLt5zEBtqR2cvybL1fHmnyaVXtAIlyMGHH9OYTbnCu/s320/JACK%20BENNY%20CBS.png"/></a></div>Jack Benny’s death on December 26, 1974 affected a nation.
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Newspapers in big cities and small towns reported it on their front pages. Days later, countless editorial sections across the U.S. (and Canada and other countries) included something on Benny’s character and his comedic touch. There were feature stories, some radio-era reminiscences from columnists, thoughts by others like Alan King, Goody Ace and Larry Adler, all of whom knew Jack personally for a long time. There were photos, some dug up by papers from their morgue, and all kinds of others supplied by wire services.
<br><br>
Here are some editorials, picked purely at random, from Sunday papers three days later. First, from the <i>Lansing State Journal</i>:
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Master of Laughs</span></b><br>
In a not so funny world where "big star" comedians rise briefly and then disappear, Jack Benny was a rare exception who stayed on top nearly a half-century and brought laughter to generations.<br>
Jack Benny's rise to fame through vaudeville and then radio centered on a pose as the world's tightest tightwad and embraced his outrageous violin solos, and he succesfully [sic] carried his act over into television when many others failed. He continued to star until his death. <br>
Something about Jack Benny—his mastery of timing, the violin, the Maxwell, the vault in the basement—made millions laugh in the dark depression days of the thirties. The grandchildren of that era found humor in the same routines a generation later. <br>
Perhaps Comedian Steve Allen summed it up best when he said Jack Benny was "to humor what Arthur Rubenstein was to music." His "laugh-at-me" posture made him "straight man for the whole world." The world will miss him in these times when laughs again are not easy to come by.</span>
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The <i>Post-Crescent</i> of Appleton, Wisconsin:
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Sunday belongs to Benny </span></b><br>
We are saddened and much impoverished by the passing Friday of the beloved Jack Benny, whose very special gift it was to make us laugh and forget our troubles for more than 40 years. <br>
His unexpected death of cancer darkens this holiday season. There are other comedians, but there was only one Jack Benny.<br>
Younger people may recall him only from an occasional television special or for his frequent appearances on TV talk shows. But to most older Americans Jack Benny was an important part of the flavor and joy of life back in what we call today the ''golden age" of radio. Sunday nights belonged to Jack Benny, and Jack Benny belonged to all of America. <br>
Miss a Benny show? As well think of missing Sunday dinner. <br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMLVzZZAi_HFsbwzcmHIB1sB6ug2qmitAZbMh8eajXCL9e4hKQRVjXEaLHHByBiML4c2zvjKTggCyCdd6JZW-eK6s5nAn_gz-ktyaCs5czsTTYb9x6b5ZPrfeMZ3xMnFM7J-zIO8YFWbdokD5UbFzhyzsCTga5s0VieV0aC5z4da01iM95k201nABwhTNi/s1026/JACK%20MARY%20ROCH.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="1026" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMLVzZZAi_HFsbwzcmHIB1sB6ug2qmitAZbMh8eajXCL9e4hKQRVjXEaLHHByBiML4c2zvjKTggCyCdd6JZW-eK6s5nAn_gz-ktyaCs5czsTTYb9x6b5ZPrfeMZ3xMnFM7J-zIO8YFWbdokD5UbFzhyzsCTga5s0VieV0aC5z4da01iM95k201nABwhTNi/s350/JACK%20MARY%20ROCH.png"/></a></div>We remember his wife, sharp-tongued Mary Livingstone, and the major domo of the Benny menage, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson. And jolly Don Wilson, Benny's announcer, and his dim-bulb vocalist, Dennis Day. And the musical directors, Don Bestor, and, later, Phil Harris. The ancient Maxwell car, the creaky old money vault in the basement, the supercilious floorwalker in the department store where Jack did his miserly Christmas shopping, and the famous "feud" with the late Fred Allen. <br>
With that air of perpetual indignation, Jack Benny was forever the butt of his own jokes. He was a gentle and amiable comedian, hurting no one and offending no one. We saw our own human foibles though his eyes and his art, and we are the better for having lived and laughed with him. <br>
And now Jack Benny is gone. The obituaries say he was 80 years old, but Jack insisted he was only 39. Let him never grow a day older in our memory.</span>
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The <i>Anniston</i> [Alabama] <i>Star</i>:
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Jack Benny, 39</span></b> <br>
The deceptive simplicity of Jack Benny's humor almost concealed the genius behind it—his pose of the vain, stingy, somewhat pompous man who was a natural target for a con artist, who was endlessly the butt of his friends' practical Jokes and wisecracks.<br>
Benny masterfully surrounded himself with a first-rate stable of talented players, gave them all the funny lines and, as often as not, topped them with his exquisite sense of timing, his pained stares, his patented rejoinder: "Welll!" <br>
The long-running Jack Benny Show—radio first through the Thirties and Forties, later on television—left millions with memories that still make them smile: Singer Dennis Day's perpetual bubbly adolescent; all those characters brought to life by Mel Blanc's vocal mastery; Phil Harris' whiskied misadventures; Mary Livingston's gentle put-downs; Rochester's gravelly croaked insubordinations.<br>
All of them bounced arrows of needles of deflation off the Benny character in loving but knowing fondness, and in Benny Americans saw themselves and all their foibles, vanities, pretensions. We saw, through Jack Benny, that people, all people, can be funny, and Americans loved him dearly for that gift. <br>
With a small handful of others, who must include Fred Allen and George Burns and Gracie Allen and Fibber McGee and Molly, Jack Benny gave the world a marvelous and too brief golden age of comedy, and as one of the newsmen reporting his death last week remarked, he will always remain Jack Benny, 39.</span>
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Peter D. Bunzel of the <i>Los Angeles Times</i>:
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Last Call for Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga. . .</span></b><br>
It is appropriate to write a memorial to Jack Benny without ever having met him or having seen him perform on stage except a couple of times. Benny entered the American consciousness as a voice, a pause, a “<i>Well!</i>” For those of us who grew up in the great days of radio, his self-deprecating comedy, punctuated by quiet exasperation, will remain in our ears long after his interment today in Hillside Cemetery. <br>
Benny's stock in trade was poking fun at himself. Indeed, among all the standup comedians of his era, he played a genuine character that became more indelibly etched in our awareness than his own. He was the middle-aged skinflint the incompetent fiddler who could barely play "Love in Bloom" but who, by his own insistence; magically never grew older than 39. <br>
The laughs—not jokes, really—grew out of this parsimonious character, and his humor was always subservient to it. His radio family—Mary Livingstone, Rochester, Don Wilson, Kenny Baker (later Dennis Day)—all fell into the rhythm of this mythical Silas Marner, feeding him the lines or, more often, being fed them by him.<br>
This essential generosity was a tipoff that the real Jack Benny was exactly, the reverse of the character he played. It was this knowledge we all intuitively shared that made the portrayal so endearing. The foibles he ridiculed were more ours than his, but being, a gentleman, he would never come out and say so.<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOai6Es90P3BDrAm8iIwPy2KuMREAEjxrm5N5jMfM9snfvTxxL1GEZj4RkKTU27x6maluh-1JIpbJOQWQ7YwRTE8agdaEd3C4rVrNlgg5C6DRR6U0XwhdKlbQDavjcbl0mcT8HyZ8C9ologZvluZf3C526lE-q7LYcHViuksktnfIw8UNLpSqhVgbJyqB/s755/JACK%20SINTRA.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="503" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOai6Es90P3BDrAm8iIwPy2KuMREAEjxrm5N5jMfM9snfvTxxL1GEZj4RkKTU27x6maluh-1JIpbJOQWQ7YwRTE8agdaEd3C4rVrNlgg5C6DRR6U0XwhdKlbQDavjcbl0mcT8HyZ8C9ologZvluZf3C526lE-q7LYcHViuksktnfIw8UNLpSqhVgbJyqB/s320/JACK%20SINTRA.png"/></a></div>His radio "family" became an extension of all the actual families out there listening. We saw the same pinch-penny qualities in our own fathers, and when Mary cried, in her Plainfield, N. J. voice, "Oh, <i>Jack</i>," that was the sound of own mothers losing patience.<br>
So every Sunday night at 7 o'clock we gathered around the radio as Don Wilson intoned "Jello again, it's the Jack Benny Show," The sounds of that program are the sounds of our childhood: the growling bear guarding Benny's vault, his sputtering Maxwell, the train announcer calling out "Anaheim, Azusa, Cucamonga" towns that, in later years, many of us were surprised to find were real. <br>
Those were the years when Sunday night required a family vigil by the radio. Jack Benny at 7, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy at 8, Fred Allen at 8:30, with everyone getting their comeuppance at 9 as Walter Winchell informed Mr. and Mrs. North America and all the ships at sea that the real world was filled not with "Love in Bloom" but with gossip, gangsters and meanness. <br>
The world etched by Jack Benny was infinitely preferable. It made us laugh, but it also spread a certain sweetness and decency.<br>
It is a wonder that Benny made this kind of impact just by being heard, for as we came to know from his television and stage appearances, seeing him added a whole new dimension. He had an almost cat-like elegance that was feminine as well as masculine the embodiment of everyone's vulnerability and, with luck, grace under pressure. <br>
Now, as he makes his final trip, we join in calling out the stops along that memorable route: “Anaheim! Azusa! Cucamonga."</span>
<br><br>
There are so many more we could post, but we’ll conclude with an editorial from the city where loved him. This is from the <i>St. Joseph News-Press</i>:
<br><br>
<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Jack Benny Got Enthusiastic Welcome on 1945 Visit Here </span></b><br>
ORIGINALLY, WE had planned to do a column such as this next February, which would have been the 30th anniversary of Jack Benny's radio broadcast from St. Joseph. But the death Friday of the 80-year-old comedian has moved up the date for this article. <br>
Jack Benny was perennially 39 years old and a tightwad; that was the image he had given himself, one that he parlayed into fame and fortune. As a comedian, he was in a class by himself. His strong point was his timing. He could stretch a mild titter into a belly laugh by dragging it out. <br>
For some reason never explained, Jack started using the line, "They love me in St. Joseph" on his radio programs some time around 1940. It got laughs for some still unknown reason, and Jack capitalized on it.<br>
St. Joseph people didn't mind, and eventually they invited Jack here for a broadcast. This was in World War II days and travel was greatly curtailed, but finally Jack's management accepted and the date was set for Feb. 18, 1945.
That was a Sunday, the day of all of Benny's broadcasts and Jack and company arrived in town on Thursday the 15th. It was a festive day in St. Joseph and school kids didn't have to attend class. Business men were called in to a briefing session at the Chamber of Commerce to be told how to act in the presence of such an eminent character as Jack Benny. <br>
The general impression was that Jack was more of a businessman than a comic. But he got a good reception.<br>
A luncheon was held at Hotel Robidoux in Jack's honor and only those at the head table got steaks. As we said before, there was a war on. Nobody told Benny that only he and the other top guests were getting steak and in his remarks he indicated he thought everyone was feasting on prime St. Joseph T-bones. <br>
The committee had heard Jack's favorite salad was cold asparagus, and that is what he got. It turned out that except on the stage, he never touched the stuff. But Jack apparently enjoyed his lunch, though he indicated he was in a hurry to get on to a study of his show. <br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6bngIA4-V-K3m6su8jdkcgIKkuh3VEJGqZ3PGupIlOGSPHJvc73DRDVJZOgkJT4L6o7dwvjZE56pE3DZbhSJhhC8fjy4nVC9xCTNOQ6xCfECWynPQmQ8r66myRu2DH-4HBJBjRJ2RLgMIsynrn6Fu2KUx_z2avB49tS3ovJ02c9YHQSepLtqTpVg3a8mF/s1180/JACK%20SULLIVAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1180" data-original-width="682" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6bngIA4-V-K3m6su8jdkcgIKkuh3VEJGqZ3PGupIlOGSPHJvc73DRDVJZOgkJT4L6o7dwvjZE56pE3DZbhSJhhC8fjy4nVC9xCTNOQ6xCfECWynPQmQ8r66myRu2DH-4HBJBjRJ2RLgMIsynrn6Fu2KUx_z2avB49tS3ovJ02c9YHQSepLtqTpVg3a8mF/s350/JACK%20SULLIVAN.jpg"/></a></div>Phil Harris was the orchestra leader. He brought a few key musicians and relied on Local No. 50 to provide the others. Don Wilson was the announcer.<br>
The actual broadcast was from the stage of the Auditorium. Admission was by ticket only and tickets were given to those who donated to the blood bank. Jack made an appearance at the Red Cross and was photographed purportedly in the act of giving. Actually, he suffered from a cold and was forbidden to donate blood on that day, but the pictures were made anyway. <br>
There were two shows at the Auditorium, the second being the actual broadcast. The place was packed to the rafters and many had to sit on the balcony steps. The crowd was enthusiastic, though some of the script seemed a bit derisive of St. Joseph, making it appear as a hick cow town. <br>
A typical joke: During the show, somebody pulled off one of Jack's boots. "Look, toes!" shouted the puller. Replied Jack: "What did you expect, a bunch of bananas?" Yet people laughed at such humor in those days. <br>
Jack, Rochester, Mary Livingstone and the others stayed over to Monday, when another and smaller luncheon was held at the Robidoux. Then they left and so far as we know Jack never returned to the town that he said loved him. But he would have been welcome and we can't help but believe our town was a little better by his having been here.</span>
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Said the <i>Argus-Leader</i> of Sioux Falls: “Jack Benny dead? No, not really. Jack Benny will live forever: in the hearts and minds of millions of Americans who laughed with him and at him.” The <i>Columbian</i> of Vancouver, Washington, summed up its opinion column with “In short, just about everyone will miss him.” Today, almost 50 years after his death, many people still do.Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-56080656339954658672023-12-25T07:07:00.000-08:002023-12-25T07:07:00.131-08:00Felix Sees StarsDepicting violence in an animated cartoon is more than just a punch in the mouth.
<br><br>
Otto Messmer used a great effect in the later Felix the Cat cartoons made for Pat Sullivan. He created a flashing effect using positive and negative silhouettes, and black and white drawings of stars. Generally, the drawings were shot on only one frame, quickening the pace.
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Here are some examples from <i>Daze and Knights</i>, released October 30, 1927.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmC8vfm9NXM5-CRpkgKDExT5vmvVdXhdQU00cOYSEnudRzQwLjDNA7eoj13TP8HYxHvfqumQC34ZKretTIz8y33rXMRS_8X_dTzAju490btoyBPBGioVEMyHSlVbXq2Xr3PQaw3sl2cxp4ASNb_4Wak-eTVaNcdEKNnLev9h4vV_ZmlbszGs1tqZrRidY/s933/FELIX%20%281%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="933" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmC8vfm9NXM5-CRpkgKDExT5vmvVdXhdQU00cOYSEnudRzQwLjDNA7eoj13TP8HYxHvfqumQC34ZKretTIz8y33rXMRS_8X_dTzAju490btoyBPBGioVEMyHSlVbXq2Xr3PQaw3sl2cxp4ASNb_4Wak-eTVaNcdEKNnLev9h4vV_ZmlbszGs1tqZrRidY/s400/FELIX%20%281%29.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQVqw-vycHxLlHn5xKEqO8N5gwr9PGk3HTWLEYoxRAADW709J5RDqlzIiy0Q_XAhHLSf10BsdWS2GBuoTr-x2F0pnSqNtmucInZOES2-s7y_FZEOtdvJsRnHScsNWTQbLmDAcI5Hqr3EFMhfvsZYuZEV7NZeRJyydhbKKWkhi31HraHfZ2FmzPFR14zBp/s933/FELIX%20%282%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="933" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQVqw-vycHxLlHn5xKEqO8N5gwr9PGk3HTWLEYoxRAADW709J5RDqlzIiy0Q_XAhHLSf10BsdWS2GBuoTr-x2F0pnSqNtmucInZOES2-s7y_FZEOtdvJsRnHScsNWTQbLmDAcI5Hqr3EFMhfvsZYuZEV7NZeRJyydhbKKWkhi31HraHfZ2FmzPFR14zBp/s400/FELIX%20%282%29.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5zRq5CEpC2KXCIbHobwhHLC_HExZQ6qzVx_xXC_ZSjeOJCXktZw5qwFFihIdlD_Lq6p_k8-iWqHDWxUTTVvHZVdvg-K72bQd5TfQl08U2i3zpAyqsZSAgPU6R5iNH88m8k17BjNllBP9SD-k0xn6i7Lh7h8YF59qD-XlIncUolHnnjELvj-5yFuzNW9pz/s934/FELIX%20%283%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="934" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5zRq5CEpC2KXCIbHobwhHLC_HExZQ6qzVx_xXC_ZSjeOJCXktZw5qwFFihIdlD_Lq6p_k8-iWqHDWxUTTVvHZVdvg-K72bQd5TfQl08U2i3zpAyqsZSAgPU6R5iNH88m8k17BjNllBP9SD-k0xn6i7Lh7h8YF59qD-XlIncUolHnnjELvj-5yFuzNW9pz/s400/FELIX%20%283%29.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKimuLf0kTG5ZeATXH5j2CFzx1HBcYPqJeAn8hExpOaE3XdGGlHUlnAfrd9us-hZXY9og4xtz1hMjsizD57I3uBIJl_lgiHPCzDhKmN69ly9i12bkzpN0NhzEIQbqgp9Xhxdku5DZGOAqkWLG9AJ6cW6FOQuxqxNupJXjxjUP1oTqqV2k8wXqseHTJnTj/s932/FELIX%20%284%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="932" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKimuLf0kTG5ZeATXH5j2CFzx1HBcYPqJeAn8hExpOaE3XdGGlHUlnAfrd9us-hZXY9og4xtz1hMjsizD57I3uBIJl_lgiHPCzDhKmN69ly9i12bkzpN0NhzEIQbqgp9Xhxdku5DZGOAqkWLG9AJ6cW6FOQuxqxNupJXjxjUP1oTqqV2k8wXqseHTJnTj/s400/FELIX%20%284%29.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP12ptnz7CcUwoKa55s8mWE9VL51XQEV8b4GTYHeOyZzlmZFv3KnVCfbeeyGAy98RHbIdddUnKFAHreN1cYQHMhRd9_-9pADzE18Z0R0aiXd5p46CqJlrp8GF7d4amWgsPcyv_54RKQeUUlwbYfssnD29wym7LHAui82bu-t8KRIOBlMUbn6mZ2t0lfgOx/s936/FELIX%20%285%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="936" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP12ptnz7CcUwoKa55s8mWE9VL51XQEV8b4GTYHeOyZzlmZFv3KnVCfbeeyGAy98RHbIdddUnKFAHreN1cYQHMhRd9_-9pADzE18Z0R0aiXd5p46CqJlrp8GF7d4amWgsPcyv_54RKQeUUlwbYfssnD29wym7LHAui82bu-t8KRIOBlMUbn6mZ2t0lfgOx/s400/FELIX%20%285%29.png"/></a></div>
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Messmer was never credited on these shorts, let alone the animator.
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The same type of effect was used in the sound era by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera at MGM, and Shamus Culhane at Lantz, with coloured cards inserted on the screen.Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-18125749926436649112023-12-24T07:03:00.000-08:002023-12-24T07:03:00.139-08:00Bagging the CatHow many cartoons did Sylvester, Jr. do this?
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk5l1_W3LvI-fd0npWo4wykcJ_Aph_ipoM1QvEmHHY9FTMajgqr0VvL_jVzcxeb1eOj4aXoyTiJ9baQzx8vQ148WA1JV_ZhlGI5AiiIhLFhvXZ4pYVHpNw64_qAXppC0a514llC4E9AxT2kPdQbs1r848_phyRHADW9fNtyosukQ83SA45UNBfWDTXhVmn/s720/SYLVESTER%20JR.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk5l1_W3LvI-fd0npWo4wykcJ_Aph_ipoM1QvEmHHY9FTMajgqr0VvL_jVzcxeb1eOj4aXoyTiJ9baQzx8vQ148WA1JV_ZhlGI5AiiIhLFhvXZ4pYVHpNw64_qAXppC0a514llC4E9AxT2kPdQbs1r848_phyRHADW9fNtyosukQ83SA45UNBfWDTXhVmn/s400/SYLVESTER%20JR.png"/></a></div>
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This is from <i>Who's Kitten Who?</i> (1952), written by Tedd Pierce. It seems like young Sylvester was always shamed by his father’s inability to catch a giant mouse, but dad, the kid and the kangaroo only appeared in seven cartoons together.
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However, Jr. pulled out the bag again in <i>The Slap-Hoppy Mouse</i> (1956).
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5UEgKiwqoUTFSOjgmBGlqVMcM5TkmbVjMBeJNmlNCXEwqmmXnW1qjMZUEwrS_4cxS_oS-copxc-23wIWdMDV1PX07cTqAt0NlB_yEQ5TywNWziOZcL_CmcToFgE-ffpd4_OxnwZ6U5srzLzByv0IFvUvB7HdbWarbh4IN6bh0zdSafRy_2ViBhaq6VYX/s720/SYLVESTER%20JR%20SLOP.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5UEgKiwqoUTFSOjgmBGlqVMcM5TkmbVjMBeJNmlNCXEwqmmXnW1qjMZUEwrS_4cxS_oS-copxc-23wIWdMDV1PX07cTqAt0NlB_yEQ5TywNWziOZcL_CmcToFgE-ffpd4_OxnwZ6U5srzLzByv0IFvUvB7HdbWarbh4IN6bh0zdSafRy_2ViBhaq6VYX/s400/SYLVESTER%20JR%20SLOP.png"/></a></div>
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The bag makes another appearance, though the "giant mouse" does not. Sylvester gets beaten up by a dwarf eagle and a butterfly in <i>Cat's Paw</i> (1959). Pierce uses it as an end gag.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUn8d4KiwPahL53ddlh-wZQNGDbOycUsLieAL-y-1ECLZeADTdQBBoCTg-NPtbdIyNhArpHqQ2wIvnQ8nCoWS0qvNLZrJCQf-pubiKZ8sklBoNAvZW4k_QlPx4Nkag0cI0l19OM9YFFWzEcl4Fc1WfAiJ2NkEjqPKOV4vrBPj3M2r664uHTVZdKx0TiWA7/s720/SYLVESTER%20JR%20EYE.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUn8d4KiwPahL53ddlh-wZQNGDbOycUsLieAL-y-1ECLZeADTdQBBoCTg-NPtbdIyNhArpHqQ2wIvnQ8nCoWS0qvNLZrJCQf-pubiKZ8sklBoNAvZW4k_QlPx4Nkag0cI0l19OM9YFFWzEcl4Fc1WfAiJ2NkEjqPKOV4vrBPj3M2r664uHTVZdKx0TiWA7/s400/SYLVESTER%20JR%20EYE.png"/></a></div>
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Here’s the gag for a final time from <i>Goldimouse and the Three Cats</i> (1960). Mike Maltese wrote this cartoon.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi2vIlFCnW3j1eS0bmK8bLMqyeeDqZ1fCAP8JcKOSVQfcy0IK4OYPjUZeNp-CQJk2KJr8CCJbCTBez7bGubIXnYq1CXcgVpm4-Z5gsBZp97BNVlpouYWlMybedk7UOOCV7nfsXnr7-PX49OUeFiIqnAozCcesyPLgDnIm9eVTkrvyXHPcY5vwZVB-aZtad/s720/SYLVESTER%20GOLDIMOUSE.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi2vIlFCnW3j1eS0bmK8bLMqyeeDqZ1fCAP8JcKOSVQfcy0IK4OYPjUZeNp-CQJk2KJr8CCJbCTBez7bGubIXnYq1CXcgVpm4-Z5gsBZp97BNVlpouYWlMybedk7UOOCV7nfsXnr7-PX49OUeFiIqnAozCcesyPLgDnIm9eVTkrvyXHPcY5vwZVB-aZtad/s400/SYLVESTER%20GOLDIMOUSE.png"/></a></div>
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Maltese left for Hanna-Barbera, where he developed Augie Doggie (named for one of wife Flossie’s relatives), who had some Sylvester Jr. "Oh, the shame of it" tendancies (but no paper bag). Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-33445112096449547632023-12-23T07:00:00.000-08:002023-12-24T17:31:41.913-08:00Hicks<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_r7aQlm_NfD3DcV8uCgDfI4uXpl2elVRr5DOotR7D9HhYZQAEAXm8L-9eiGMyFKyKxoye6uQBCtS1FeF4whKXkkeNNUBOFb_WKuUS8sheNL3BIhpTPWxdlBOGR-qwbjsmFmf-n1iHfvX1y3kbM9Jqmec-2_qQCvOOiU6IPBaHz-h0I0WQup0BRW0s21xa/s1218/HICKS%20LOKEY.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_r7aQlm_NfD3DcV8uCgDfI4uXpl2elVRr5DOotR7D9HhYZQAEAXm8L-9eiGMyFKyKxoye6uQBCtS1FeF4whKXkkeNNUBOFb_WKuUS8sheNL3BIhpTPWxdlBOGR-qwbjsmFmf-n1iHfvX1y3kbM9Jqmec-2_qQCvOOiU6IPBaHz-h0I0WQup0BRW0s21xa/s250/HICKS%20LOKEY.png" title="Hicks Lokey, 1984, courtesy of childrenstvarchive.com"/></a></div><i>Dumbo</i> remains, as far as I’m concerned, one of the finest animation accomplishments of the Walt Disney studio. One of the most impressive sequences of that feature is the dance of the pink elephants. One of the animators responsible was a gentleman named William Hicks Lokey.
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Hicks Lokey was a native of Birmingham and a Phi Kappa Psi at Vanderbilt University, graduating in 1926. Next stop: a career in animation.
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The local papers wrote about Lokey a number of times—his parents remained in Birmingham—so allow us to reprint a couple. First is a <i>Birmingham Post</i> article by New York correspondent Helen Warden. By this time, Lokey was working at the top studio in New York.
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Hundreds Of Drawings Made For Movie Cartoon</span></b> <br>
<span style="font-size: medium;">Hicks Lokey, Former Birmingham Man Achieves Success As Betty Boop, Popeye And Little King Artist; Months Spent On One Release</span><br>
Oct. 7, 1935.<br>
Dear Alyce:<br>
I invited Hicks Lokey in for lunch yesterday. I wanted hear about his work on Betty Boop and Popeye-the-Sailor!<br>
Mr. Lokey’s father and mother, Dr. and Mrs. Charles Lokey of Birmingham, can be very proud of their son. He’s a grand person, with a nice sense of humor. (He’d have to have that to use Betty and Popeye for his guinea pigs.) <br>
“I’m afraid I’ll have to eat and run,” Hicks explained, as he joined mother and myself at the luncheon table. “We’re working on a new Little King picture. I've got the Opera Singer on my hands, and she isn’t easy to handle!”<br>
“Is she temperamental?”<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKwYjfnd8VPRbMtNnwHh2d4AxY-GfpHBOabpvlfYbFVi3lnpK-3RXzVt9JIm4XotUw7ImwNSGWDW_kAD-hnbd7zq-G8lWWW-sMGfizf_YI1-gp_UHrg7puTXpiIFyhRLMEWnIrSiCCao-OmGC18UjnHPJSawVuIYuNK3e4Xsdk75vVwxM9fLVz8rRTCsR/s1044/HICKS%20LOKEY%201935.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1044" data-original-width="626" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZKwYjfnd8VPRbMtNnwHh2d4AxY-GfpHBOabpvlfYbFVi3lnpK-3RXzVt9JIm4XotUw7ImwNSGWDW_kAD-hnbd7zq-G8lWWW-sMGfizf_YI1-gp_UHrg7puTXpiIFyhRLMEWnIrSiCCao-OmGC18UjnHPJSawVuIYuNK3e4Xsdk75vVwxM9fLVz8rRTCsR/s320/HICKS%20LOKEY%201935.png"/></a></div>"Yes. Want to drop down meet her this afternoon?”<br>
“Perhaps,” I hesitated. "I’ll decide later. I’m afraid of difficult women!”<br>
Mr. Lokey and his wife (the former Betty Louise Dangler, sister of an old schoolmate) live on Brooklyn Heights at 26 Middagh-st. The Heights are just across the East River. "We love the place,” Hicks said. “The houses are quaint, the streets are quiet and there is a neighborhood playhouse where we can go and hiss the villain!”<br>
"How long since you’ve been back in Birmingham?” I asked, offering him a lamb chop.<br>
"About five years,” he said. "But mother was up here last Thanksgiving. I’ve been with Max Fleischer two years. Before that I worked with Van Beuren on Aesop's Fables I started animating five years ago.”<br>
“Have you always drawn?”<br>
"I guess so. When I was a kid in school at Birmingham, they used to hop on me for sketching in my books!”<br>
"Where did you study the art?”<br>
“At the Art Students’ League here, and the Grand Central School of Art. I like this dessert—” changing the subject! <br>
How do you animate your pictures?” I persisted.<br>
“That’s a long story. Come meet the Grand Opera Singer, then I'll show you ‘round!”<br>
Max Fleischer's offices are at 1600 Broadway. His factory—for that's just what the bee hive reminds me of—takes up three floors. Mr. Fleischer employs 250 people, mostly artists. Hicks Lokey is one of the chief animators.<br>
"Meet the Opera Singer,” he said, when I arrived at his office. He held a pile of pencil drawings up for inspection. They were all sketches of one figure, a funny fat lady who looked like Mrs. Plush-Horse.<br>
“She’s hard!” Hicks said. “I’m having trouble making her arms reach across her chest, when she trills.<br>
"Is the sound worked out here?”<br>
“No, we just have the music script.”<br>
From what I picked up, I guess the whole thing, every story of Popeye, Betty Boop or any of the other animated cartoon characters which Max Fleischer controls start in the nut department. “There are six nuts,” Hicks said, “who work up ideas and wisecracks. They pass them on to us in manuscript form. We draw our conception of the characters in the rough!”<br>
Then these sketches are given to assistants who work them out in detail. One batch of artists does nothing but ink in. Another flock colors the pictures and still another gang works on backgrounds. The result is a Betty Boop or Popeye reel! <br>
"How many drawings do you make for picture?” I asked Hicks.<br>
"I average about 1200,” he said. “It depends on the action. Sometimes the number runs higher!”<br>
It takes about three months to do a full length film. Popeye, Sinbad and The Little King are in work now. "It's very funny,” said Hicks. “The Little King runs away from the Opera Singer's concert to a Betty Boop show!”<br>
When Hicks stops drawing, he goes to a farm he’s bought near Southbury, Conn. “It’s a swell place,” he said. “Thirty-three acres. I haven’t built a house yet. But we just like to drive up and walk on land that belongs to us!”<br>
A laurel wreath should go to Hicks Lokey for succeeding in a unique profession.<br>
I have my eye on some more Birmingham boys who have made good in the big town. But—that’s for my next letter!</span>
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The <i>Post</i> mentioned him a number of times over successive years, featuring him again on its pages in October 27, 1948.
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After graduating from Vanderbilt, Lokey worked for the Fables Studio owned by Amedee Van Beuren and run by Paul Terry until 1929. The 1930 Census for New York says he was an “independent” artist. Evidently he returned to the renamed Van Beuren Productions, then to the Fleischers; “Uncle Max” fired him in 1937 for his involvement in the strike against the studio. His next stop was at Walter Lantz in January 1938 and then Disney before entering the military during World War Two, enlisting July 20, 1941. Lokey returned to Disney after being discharged on February 16, 1947.
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Three Alabamians Work On Disney Characters</span></b> <br>
Walt Disney, of course, is the father of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, but a Birmingham man certainly is at least a stepfather of these and other animated characters that romp across the nation’s screen to delight movie-goers.<br>
He’s Hicks Lokey, 43, Birmingham artist and son of Dr. and Mrs. C.W. Lokey, Sr., 4344 Cliff-rd.<br>
Although he was born in Talladega, this veteran animator in the Disney studios first was acclaimed as an artist by a kindergarten teacher here.<br>
This talent with pen and sketchpad was heartily supported by his parents and then by teachers at Paul Hayne High, where he studied for a year before going to Castle Heights Military Academy, Lebanon, Tenn.<br>
STUDIES ART<br>
But things military took second place to art and Hicks went to Vanderbilt and then to New York to study with the Art Students League.<br>
Then his talents took him West [sic] to work with Paul Terry Studios and later to animate that plump little cartoon creature, Betty Boop. He did a stint with Universal Films, and in 1939 joined the Disney staff.<br>
Two years later came Pearl Harbor and things military again took a place in Hicks’ life. A major in a tank destroyer outfit, he was among the first to fight on Anzio Beachhead.<br>
Hospitalized at Metz, he was flown home from France and spent a year and a half in Northington General Hospital.<br>
NEW FEATURES<br>
Then back to California. There the man who’d worked on “Fantasia” and “Dumbo” got a new assignment.<br>
He started animation jobs on the “Johnny Appleseed” sequence in “Melody Time.” This completed, he turned to another legendary character in Armericana, Ichabod Crane in the “Two Fabulous Characters” show.<br>
Among Hicks’ most ardent admirers in Birmingham, and justly too, is his father, who is a well-known dental surgeon here.<br>
Hicks, who doesn’t get home too often for a visit, can’t get very homesick in the Golden West, however, for working at the same studio with him are two other Alabamians.<br>
One of them was born in Fairfield. She is Mrs. Beryl Ward Kemper, proficient artist in the Inking and Painting dep’t.<br>
Mrs. Kemper, who puts the finishing touches on characters before they go to the camera, moved from Alabama with her parents when she was two years old.<br>
The third Disney worker from Alabama is Mary Tebb, Montgomery native.<br>
A supervisor in the Color Model dep’t., she helps identify thousands of tints and color shapes and keeps them standardized for use by artists.<br>
She joined the studio in 1930, later took charge of the Inkink [sic] and Painting dep’t. girls, left the studio for several years and finally returned to her present position three years ago.</span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCK1jjamMPhPHVz0WiCMIc_sJRQOx-67sOGAggrZpCt2BlkczveQ2kAbWjGf9seXS15aqKXioYUmsqr0cTwuhFpA-nMXCN4kf3-8V_83fZwIpXvxozq3deCDTclG3uJMuLXNEn5UMe0ahrySybo7Wahb2C7VWNmnSN5O_cWIq07TFAMAloDvzZVpuq8Woi/s1491/HICKS%20LOKEY%201948.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="579" data-original-width="1491" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCK1jjamMPhPHVz0WiCMIc_sJRQOx-67sOGAggrZpCt2BlkczveQ2kAbWjGf9seXS15aqKXioYUmsqr0cTwuhFpA-nMXCN4kf3-8V_83fZwIpXvxozq3deCDTclG3uJMuLXNEn5UMe0ahrySybo7Wahb2C7VWNmnSN5O_cWIq07TFAMAloDvzZVpuq8Woi/s600/HICKS%20LOKEY%201948.png"/></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5Iz1LR8jrJXqQWgENrwDSCqBxhHJFXrd3yLqpNTDl60te3FhEOIVWWDa8b90PmyWFcIbAkszea-kmSVSzLsap7qBVBk_9IE4IQkGtkeOOp_xKUEvp_cxYgu7U6NCOFyAcebmOALjIse3TU9-H7L3MdYdPlhAcf_au9OiYtt0LU7XdcqgdJQcXS5VxTBu/s640/HICKS%20HB.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5Iz1LR8jrJXqQWgENrwDSCqBxhHJFXrd3yLqpNTDl60te3FhEOIVWWDa8b90PmyWFcIbAkszea-kmSVSzLsap7qBVBk_9IE4IQkGtkeOOp_xKUEvp_cxYgu7U6NCOFyAcebmOALjIse3TU9-H7L3MdYdPlhAcf_au9OiYtt0LU7XdcqgdJQcXS5VxTBu/s250/HICKS%20HB.png"/></a><br><br>
When Lokey left Disney, I don’t know, but one of the Birmingham papers revealed in 1957 he was animating TV commercials in Los Angeles, though it didn’t name the studio. The <i>Cartoon Research</i> site says he was working for Paul J. Fennell, which had the Keds account from U.S. Tire and also animated spots for Ipana Toothpaste by 1958. He settled in for a long run at Hanna-Barbera, being named in a full-page ad in <i>Variety</i> on June 23, 1960 by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera thanking staff for the Emmy win for <i>The Huckleberry Hound Show</i> that year. He must have been new there, as his name doesn’t appear on screen until the 1960-61 season.
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His name continued to appear in credits at H-B through 1986 on <i>Paw Paws</i>, where a large number of veteran artists used what talents they could in limited animation, including Ed Love, Virgil Ross, Ken Muse, and director Art Davis and Bernie Wolf, who both went back to the silent era in New York. Wolf’s work also appeared in <i>Fantasia</i>. Lokey was honoured, with many other long-time animators, at the First Golden Awards in 1984.
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In his spare time, he served a stint, starting in 1958, as president of the San Fernando Gun Club.
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He died in 1990 at age 84.
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Someone was good enough to post a sampling of his animation, which you can see below.
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BOFGtmMeXxE?si=QdlaOM_pe9aKZNL9" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-89881716737956313232023-12-22T06:55:00.000-08:002023-12-22T06:55:00.135-08:00Screwy is Not DeadTex Avery reuses animation and dialogue at the end of <i>Lonesome Lenny</i> (1946).
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The first time, Lenny crushes a bone and a water dish, as he tells us he wants a little friend, that he had one once, “but he don’t move no more.” Lenny reaches into a pocket and pulls out a dead mouse (as Scott Bradley plays “Taps” in the background.
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The second time, he pulls out Screwy Squirrel.
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Except in this case, Screwy DOES “move.” He opens an eye and holds up a sign. Bradley doesn’t play “Taps.” He plays “If I Only Had a Brain” because, if Lenny had a brain, he’d know Screwy is alive.
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Some animation fans love to connect dots and invent their own history. Screwy is dead, they say, because (Dot 1) “Tex didn’t like Screwy,” (Dot 2) “Tex didn’t make another cartoon with him,” (Ergo) “So, he killed him.”
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Sorry, fans. Screwy doesn’t play a harp while ascending to the heavens, or wear a halo, Avery’s signals that a character is dead (see the ending of <i>Batty Baseball</i>). Screwy is still alive. Come to think of it, Sylvester’s nine lives and a gowned, haloed Elmer Fund rise toward heaven in <i>Back Alley Oproar</i>, but no one every claims Friz Freleng killed them.
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But, yeah, Tex didn’t make any more Screwy cartoons after this one. Too bad. I liked Screwy and some of the gags were pretty clever and inspired.
Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-10425116810261013832023-12-21T07:06:00.000-08:002023-12-21T07:06:00.135-08:00Almost Bunny SlippersA sentry on the mountain has told warn the townspeople of The Old Man of the Mountain in the cartoon of the same name.
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He grabs a pair of rabbits from his hut. This being a Fleischer cartoon, the rabbits morph into something else. In this case, roller skates.
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It appears skating isn’t fast enough. The rabbits gallop like race horses.
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Showing how things haven’t changed, there is a pothole in the main road in the nearest town.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgiFKW5MwSGFtB5eHT1s4SViBjek_POywiAw3sC6Si6tqacH9P7_GcD8iEOXtpSHXt4Xk6VABUEyuJSzapoSDWBrQR1V6jFPYzUpPQQURrQxLm35wOdV3gpq5jvI84Rvb77mU4_7YAl_ubmObkrpVEdxFGR6NkO8JKYfHokCXS881h_dRavHfuH6T6w1lN/s1472/OLD%20MAN%20%287%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgiFKW5MwSGFtB5eHT1s4SViBjek_POywiAw3sC6Si6tqacH9P7_GcD8iEOXtpSHXt4Xk6VABUEyuJSzapoSDWBrQR1V6jFPYzUpPQQURrQxLm35wOdV3gpq5jvI84Rvb77mU4_7YAl_ubmObkrpVEdxFGR6NkO8JKYfHokCXS881h_dRavHfuH6T6w1lN/s400/OLD%20MAN%20%287%29.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpIZrQOvsFkSlttzL_n0_R5FqoGGC5wYCQUbJMaNo09zeSNVBSd76IXhS11YED9H5QlvIHZDvV3-0Cg8cG0S9yShSvY7_mY2w4_QsEi29rzOoyIstpiT0dvJN4x2dQgVh7OyJvddEp9C2b2uFY5Afetv3kiibrjYDzSa1yWBkinEUDDQOvKGxTEm49THFP/s1472/OLD%20MAN%20%288%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpIZrQOvsFkSlttzL_n0_R5FqoGGC5wYCQUbJMaNo09zeSNVBSd76IXhS11YED9H5QlvIHZDvV3-0Cg8cG0S9yShSvY7_mY2w4_QsEi29rzOoyIstpiT0dvJN4x2dQgVh7OyJvddEp9C2b2uFY5Afetv3kiibrjYDzSa1yWBkinEUDDQOvKGxTEm49THFP/s400/OLD%20MAN%20%288%29.png"/></a></div>
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It’s a shame the lion’s mane doesn’t flap toward the camera like a bird. It goes upward instead, the lion goes downward into the hole, and the scene is over.
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The highlight is the song by Cab Calloway. Like Betty Boop’s <i>Snow White</i> (also made with Calloway in 1933), there’s a great background painting with skulls and menacing faces. Unlike <i>Snow White</i>, the ending’s pretty weak. The Old Man’s nose gets tied in a knot and, well, that’s it for this cartoon.
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Bernie Wolf, soon at Iwerks, and Tom Johnson are the credited animators.
Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-53322654591884501042023-12-20T07:03:00.000-08:002023-12-20T07:03:00.134-08:00The Pine Ridge Party LineRural and hayseed humour has been a staple in radio and TV for years. And it isn’t just the rubes who lap it up. I know people who religiously tuned in <i>Hee Haw</i> even though they had never been on a farm. <i>The National Barn Dance</i> was hugely popular for years on radio (come to think of it, both shows featured Minnie Pearl).
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Perhaps radio’s greatest rural comedy show was <i>Lum ‘n’ Abner</i>. It still has a large fan base. There were annual conventions for a number of years and Mena, Arkansas hosted the Lum & Abner Music & Arts Festival again this year (the show was set in Pine Ridge, Arkansas). Despite its popularity—it aired for more than two decades on radio—the show never made it to television.
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Herald Tribune syndicate columnist John Crosby liked sophisticated material, eg. the Fred Allen show. But he admits enjoying at least one episode of <i>Lum ‘n’ Abner</i>, and goes through its storyline. This column was published December 19, 1946.
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><span style="font-size: large;">RADIO IN REVIEW</span><br>
<b>By John Crosby </b><br>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Lum ‘n’ Abner</i></span><br>
The country store, that hallowed American institution, is paid suitable reverence five days [sic] a week on the “Lum ‘n’ Abner” program (A. B. C. 8 p. m. EST Mondays thru Thursdays). The country store is still very much in evidence in almost any part of the country. However, the ones I have seen have been modified by the years or, at any rate, the conversation of the inmates has been brought up to date to a considerable degree since the advent of the talking motion picture and the radio. Lum 'n' Abner, however, still talk pure Silas Canfield. <br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPSq3UykSj4IeeQ6P6caBeRd1GOiulSfg6aiJpNh0qtO13vodXM28PV7MkKISaVcVRBnafx5E75dqzxNT9H0zVZs28vuPXZ3obKdNA8nBEdIvgex_T4g-2O5LvecA1vkMF1b8mPXuDhvx4LLXGXnx8B3538aBSMUFzIeBUvbqOBQ72_91r_cLV8T2KkLk/s836/lum%20n%20abner.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPSq3UykSj4IeeQ6P6caBeRd1GOiulSfg6aiJpNh0qtO13vodXM28PV7MkKISaVcVRBnafx5E75dqzxNT9H0zVZs28vuPXZ3obKdNA8nBEdIvgex_T4g-2O5LvecA1vkMF1b8mPXuDhvx4LLXGXnx8B3538aBSMUFzIeBUvbqOBQ72_91r_cLV8T2KkLk/s320/lum%20n%20abner.png"/></a>Their corn is so unabashed that sometimes it’s pretty funny. The tip-off is contained in the opening words of the announcer: "Got cracker barrel handy?" he asks. “Drag it up and join Lum ‘n’ Abner in Pine Ridge, America's favorite country storekeepers." <br>
Pine Ridge, from the sound of it, is almost more a crossroads than a town. At any rate, it's a good deal smaller than the other towns you keep hearing about in radio series. However, the bus stops there, and Lum, who is the brain or, if that's too strong a word, the protagonist, of this store, has just added a restaurant to it to earn an extra dollar or two. By some sort of double-dealing he had persuaded the bus to stop there for lunch. The menu apparently consists almost entirely of pancakes cooked by Lum and the quality is low. <br>
* * *<br>
The debut of the restaurant is quite a strain on Lum. He has assembled Abner and several of his cronies including Doc, a nasal-voiced patriarch with an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes, and Cedric, a bird-brain, to help out. “Each feller has one job to do and if one feller don’t do his job, that upsets the assembly line, breaks the production chain,” says Lum, who is greatly impressed by industrial terminology. <br>
Besides this assembly line, Lum has pressed into service Barrelhead, eon of the saloon keeper, to give him a ring on the party line when the bus passes the saloon. Everyone co-operates so well, though the Doc insists on telling a long, frequently interrupted and apparently pointless story about a basketball game. <br>
“Well, sir,” said Doc, "the score was 32 to 41 when Beanpole reached up and made a basket and got his arm stuck up there. The score was then 29 to 32." <br>
“I thought someone had 41?”<br>
“That was earlier in the game. Well, sir, that night Bessie started out to a quiltin’ bee.”<br>
That should give you a fair sample of the way people talk on Lum n' Abner. There's lots of it. <br>
“If I'da had to whip up one more plate of pancakes, I'da fallen right flat on my face,” says Lum after the first busload is fed and gone. <br>
“Did I make a good waiter?” asks Cedric. "Oh, you done good. Never forgot nothing.”<br>
* * *<br>
It develops the only person who forgot anything was Lum, who forgot to ask the customers to pay for their meals. The first day’s receipts went up in smoke. Anyhow, it soon is apparent that the restaurant needs more than the bus trade to keep it going. After hearing a spot announcement on the radio, Lum, the brain, gets an idea. Pine Ridge does not possess a radio station but it has a parly line. Lum decides to make a spot announcement on the line every hour. <br>
It was the most fascinating spot announcement I ever heard and went something like this: <br>
“Stand by, every one,” says Lum, after cranking the handle of his telephone. “This is Lum Edwards, proprietor and cook of the Meadowlark restaurant, right in the heart of downtown Pine Ridge.”<br>
At that point Cedric interposed with his bird-call symbolising the Meadowlark even more perfectly then that Rinso White call. Then, just like the big time, Lum ‘n' Abner presented a little drama of the sort with which we are so dearly familiar from the other spot announcements.<br>
“Oh, Gwendolyn, my dumb wife. What have you did? You have burned the pork chops. But don't worry. Throw the pork chops away and we will go downtown to eat.<br>
“There ain't a decent place to eat in Pine Ridge,” says Gwendolyn, who is impersonated in falsetto by Cedric. <br>
“What! You have never heard tell of the Meadowlark? For good eats remember the Meadowlark. And now, folks, we give you the correct time, courtesy of the Meadowlark Restaurant right in the heart of downtown Pine Ridge. Doc, what times's your watch say?”<br>
* * *<br>
Like all of these daily 15-minute programs, Lum 'n' Abner stretches a little thin on some days. But, if you like that sort of corn-fed comedy, they certainly provide it, straight from the silo.</span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ui7Xd3lL5UCeqB4uufUMQNzrAYvsHBuJsv5e9Dq7RoNf3b-nwhAu5my5C5w7g4qhHLgCHgTI3GtJIGVpjIbDAqeMG_tgNLMUlobBT9uJm_W-2fbpsG8SjsLXe9oi3HdVO_VplNY_WO9VJyvxZZylMeakgsfw9W-78jMhkxpVSFFcmQGq70e7uG8NqlCl/s752/KENNY%20BAKER.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="752" data-original-width="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ui7Xd3lL5UCeqB4uufUMQNzrAYvsHBuJsv5e9Dq7RoNf3b-nwhAu5my5C5w7g4qhHLgCHgTI3GtJIGVpjIbDAqeMG_tgNLMUlobBT9uJm_W-2fbpsG8SjsLXe9oi3HdVO_VplNY_WO9VJyvxZZylMeakgsfw9W-78jMhkxpVSFFcmQGq70e7uG8NqlCl/s300/KENNY%20BAKER.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCayb_ddXx94BygY8Fq8SDU3xfVaGojsdhdYgzVORo47l9Il6xPqL952YummK6OstUoQzq7HeZ2MiFSU4WoYWsfnPKIQlnl6AetAOKuaSneDQiU-x26GuHhZQJzj7kPz4t9n1RCRqJUqovPT2U0PRSeyZUnDMJbqPj_Lz7k6xhelsXwumQpkLvmlI_jz51/s820/LONE%20RANGER.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="564" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCayb_ddXx94BygY8Fq8SDU3xfVaGojsdhdYgzVORo47l9Il6xPqL952YummK6OstUoQzq7HeZ2MiFSU4WoYWsfnPKIQlnl6AetAOKuaSneDQiU-x26GuHhZQJzj7kPz4t9n1RCRqJUqovPT2U0PRSeyZUnDMJbqPj_Lz7k6xhelsXwumQpkLvmlI_jz51/s300/LONE%20RANGER.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOey8hLJh2OR9pRkwWPav-p4arqZBWKXwhru5eOVUKIUbS3sGtfV5GKtpSWuSqvdx60mEQw0mAlrrMdDhCuS3IkDjgCsLnYOzE-MWb5-I1zFYZ1yeVBfErI1l31MUEj-wHZEnpQklkjaOMMQKY0RmXmtEEnbbwSKDNRpKPp4x2Dstt9atA9C4qgvV5yoRB/s706/LOLLY.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOey8hLJh2OR9pRkwWPav-p4arqZBWKXwhru5eOVUKIUbS3sGtfV5GKtpSWuSqvdx60mEQw0mAlrrMdDhCuS3IkDjgCsLnYOzE-MWb5-I1zFYZ1yeVBfErI1l31MUEj-wHZEnpQklkjaOMMQKY0RmXmtEEnbbwSKDNRpKPp4x2Dstt9atA9C4qgvV5yoRB/s300/LOLLY.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGcYlji9kBEkEre9punrchBcVYYQYXiwhstqPnuSrxGmoj7nOCrtJILFuulBrpVX_RFwThmab1qTo-FvB6KVNsQQ6MjsSMD2LdqevdMo3PhyAWMZo2xrPeXlMiG71GnS-aFm8mTGzSMbBUh6tRNYCsViMuuddwyqD-5-VN54dU8voJWeocPHWbs_QqaISn/s1146/DARK%20VENTURE.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="1146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGcYlji9kBEkEre9punrchBcVYYQYXiwhstqPnuSrxGmoj7nOCrtJILFuulBrpVX_RFwThmab1qTo-FvB6KVNsQQ6MjsSMD2LdqevdMo3PhyAWMZo2xrPeXlMiG71GnS-aFm8mTGzSMbBUh6tRNYCsViMuuddwyqD-5-VN54dU8voJWeocPHWbs_QqaISn/s600/DARK%20VENTURE.png"/></a>
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The other Crosby columns for the week:<br />
<b>December 16, 1946</b>: Kenny Baker’s “Glamour Manor.” We posted the review <a href="https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2012/03/unglamorous-glamour-manor.html">HERE.</a><br />
<b>December 17, 1946</b>: ABC’s “Dark Venture.”<br />
<b>December 18, 1946</b>: The success of “The Lone Ranger.”<br />
<b>December 20, 1946</b>: A look at Louella Parsons.<br />
Click on each column below to read them. (The artwork in this post accompanied the Crosby columns in the Los Angeles <i>Daily News</i>).
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGafXWXsrFLgB-Rp1qDp0m5fjTJ1CB-tzp0QqP8DrTxAa8aael66holoG-U5x2OcSQOShwh9uLjOm8KrO9kyTB5Siyc-9QPd9jkaZOWI3P2PKurBcQD6n0uWx6rRKcPxkFgBsSb6QLB4ud2YrIRiBD-y0W3YAMEh4OK6G6Xv-zhKBf8B13NnXYV8a9iF5/s1856/CROSBY%20DEC%2017.png" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1856" data-original-width="803" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGafXWXsrFLgB-Rp1qDp0m5fjTJ1CB-tzp0QqP8DrTxAa8aael66holoG-U5x2OcSQOShwh9uLjOm8KrO9kyTB5Siyc-9QPd9jkaZOWI3P2PKurBcQD6n0uWx6rRKcPxkFgBsSb6QLB4ud2YrIRiBD-y0W3YAMEh4OK6G6Xv-zhKBf8B13NnXYV8a9iF5/s460/CROSBY%20DEC%2017.png" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsqrg7na20vJltfOEUvpm8RpxBpsv89v6pEeqGRg0V7zAVXEfJas-EDvRXa3R7alMORHiYvIGotAwLCOZncW0f-nHhaUndOpaF84rnQh4rBEe4rW_oFYMVYIP5cNFTtU3fDQSvHRwXGTpbfhvQixmkwK9IDnnvsk8daR4yRZZy775ZCvUvtbT5p39Yuoes/s2001/CROSBY%20DEC%2018.png" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2001" data-original-width="803" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsqrg7na20vJltfOEUvpm8RpxBpsv89v6pEeqGRg0V7zAVXEfJas-EDvRXa3R7alMORHiYvIGotAwLCOZncW0f-nHhaUndOpaF84rnQh4rBEe4rW_oFYMVYIP5cNFTtU3fDQSvHRwXGTpbfhvQixmkwK9IDnnvsk8daR4yRZZy775ZCvUvtbT5p39Yuoes/s460/CROSBY%20DEC%2018.png" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT17zi71v_arh_buWphgqu0cgNd3ao4Fm4dBJOrbnr4d7UJv7eN5kl9GXdDOilZuhRPhta7c6p6yVtGBnwhyxQAns2ofN0nQzy52-HAHrWhDl2Joef9sjuiKQSQpXtklQl0PYpqx71APGluj2DAc3WuIdWBLPwg5OfbXCdV4QPsXVeNcG2223tZDI9ViYJ/s1925/CROSBY%20DEC%2019.png" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1925" data-original-width="803" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT17zi71v_arh_buWphgqu0cgNd3ao4Fm4dBJOrbnr4d7UJv7eN5kl9GXdDOilZuhRPhta7c6p6yVtGBnwhyxQAns2ofN0nQzy52-HAHrWhDl2Joef9sjuiKQSQpXtklQl0PYpqx71APGluj2DAc3WuIdWBLPwg5OfbXCdV4QPsXVeNcG2223tZDI9ViYJ/s460/CROSBY%20DEC%2019.png" /></a>Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-31451850864832157992023-12-19T07:04:00.000-08:002023-12-19T07:04:00.143-08:00Not Mark VIIThe 1954 Woody Woodpecker cartoon <i>Under the Counter Spy</i> ends with a TV reference that some people might not get today.
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Homer Brightman’s story is a send-up of the TV show <i>Dragnet</i> with its monotone narration and investigating-crime time checks. Naturally, it ends the same way as <i>Dragnet</i>, which had a sweaty hand holding a hammer pounding a metal stamp with the words “Mark VII Limited.” Brightman finds a logical way to make fun of it.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnr9RmpvSfXlq3K7gqw1oohT1-afOlo9_mCzCw_SBa6VHAxVnZDqYYu0_qt1bAiJ6zd-EJSN20EhlSmC5bJZUAE1xxk5S2FLnNZEhgYSNB0jrJ6CDFqTFqtEmx9ZmGTBAq07-rAtJ5JWwtHDPESZ01VevYkl3O-X6tAg9rxsHmSNdO0Yb_GXCopkK33eTf/s720/COUNTERSPY%20%281%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnr9RmpvSfXlq3K7gqw1oohT1-afOlo9_mCzCw_SBa6VHAxVnZDqYYu0_qt1bAiJ6zd-EJSN20EhlSmC5bJZUAE1xxk5S2FLnNZEhgYSNB0jrJ6CDFqTFqtEmx9ZmGTBAq07-rAtJ5JWwtHDPESZ01VevYkl3O-X6tAg9rxsHmSNdO0Yb_GXCopkK33eTf/s400/COUNTERSPY%20%281%29.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Fx4Suz6tT9CtQro7ysD259bT3ba7C9ctkXc7ZkIQ2c376T69tHMfnJ3thaIbILdkREHZa9g52Gu_d4H4fCNxVzSB318nursnX_ZKMUy_aQ7PorHMYaGEZc3a8Fs_ATyqUfGA_QxL42TEqZCBdJ6kB197DepXD3gqLIOWw8wC6UcK7ukF4FUpcSv68Jqt/s720/COUNTERSPY%20%282%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Fx4Suz6tT9CtQro7ysD259bT3ba7C9ctkXc7ZkIQ2c376T69tHMfnJ3thaIbILdkREHZa9g52Gu_d4H4fCNxVzSB318nursnX_ZKMUy_aQ7PorHMYaGEZc3a8Fs_ATyqUfGA_QxL42TEqZCBdJ6kB197DepXD3gqLIOWw8wC6UcK7ukF4FUpcSv68Jqt/s400/COUNTERSPY%20%282%29.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXnp5Z_Zn8ChlV7KJW9RitOvF5_8J35771KzuOnAAIgcglfQuc4wFNiTopGIisGgsPtjYjp1zHacsZArV0ktn37jTrHdFuCuOOjtgkDuCIvIU8XtNnKDqDULjMykL1ekE37YOVeV3zUHs5bQFtIgwAJJ9vuJp_Sntrz_aZRNcHeucHDO5vOSSP0ZgPXqZf/s720/COUNTERSPY%20%283%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXnp5Z_Zn8ChlV7KJW9RitOvF5_8J35771KzuOnAAIgcglfQuc4wFNiTopGIisGgsPtjYjp1zHacsZArV0ktn37jTrHdFuCuOOjtgkDuCIvIU8XtNnKDqDULjMykL1ekE37YOVeV3zUHs5bQFtIgwAJJ9vuJp_Sntrz_aZRNcHeucHDO5vOSSP0ZgPXqZf/s400/COUNTERSPY%20%283%29.png"/></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk6LsrqHVYIm7bS-ZmK6LjQPqPGCQWPIuRNvap-YVUCtVTfjY2TRuSPFn_-VVCsNFfmf-QFiL7lfq02TK17AurDGIA5HMVsEKKWR7qEtU7DYo2MmtFaYXb_MgX-hwz6s15hUy5aqZZNU2Ah7fbzoWV_UyfeR4Dn81K3pFDyScnBXXF4usxm26UQXHJsE9e/s720/COUNTERSPY%20%284%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk6LsrqHVYIm7bS-ZmK6LjQPqPGCQWPIuRNvap-YVUCtVTfjY2TRuSPFn_-VVCsNFfmf-QFiL7lfq02TK17AurDGIA5HMVsEKKWR7qEtU7DYo2MmtFaYXb_MgX-hwz6s15hUy5aqZZNU2Ah7fbzoWV_UyfeR4Dn81K3pFDyScnBXXF4usxm26UQXHJsE9e/s400/COUNTERSPY%20%284%29.png"/></a>
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The villain of this short, “The Bat,” is designed in silhouette, giving director Don Patterson liberty to have his animators turn him into all kinds of odd shapes (I suspect Patterson also animated on this).
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Brightman’s ending is maybe the most head-shaking one he wrote at Lantz. Woody captures The Bat in a trunk. But when he gets to the police station, all that’s in the trunk is a baseball bat and a bottle of Woody’s Redwood Sap Tonic. But ... what? Huh? How? Oh, well, no point in trying to find a logical explanation.
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There’s a smart use of colour here, with Woody turning kind of a forest green when his tonic wears off. Clarence Wheeler has a pretty effective score. The voice providing narration and speaking for the Joe Friday/Frank Smith stand-ins is Dick Nelson.
Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-32060956525466706762023-12-18T07:05:00.000-08:002023-12-19T10:29:00.947-08:00Wait! Does This Mean Gravy?Chuck Jones was the opposite of Tex Avery when it came to expressions. Avery was known for his wild takes. Jones was very subtle. You’ve probably seen his takes in profile when all that moves is the pupil of an eye (egs. Wile E. Coyote, Tom).
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Here’s a bully dog’s realisation take from <i>Chow Hound</i> (1951). Note the expression of the cat on the held drawing. Devon Baxter has identified this as Lloyd Vaughan's work.
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The dog looks to the side.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDr42w9GA8hjAHwYbBqSOwKqq5XZ2icb08qaxNJxU2gAOAojFkHB2CV5U-OJdu15ywkrdQmvh-KbcOCOtsoL-bKRNtPQCyBIZp0VfUMs0AkNAwB-Ce4Exkoc31O6xNF24ozTDM3F23L2aHACdC0ZpFduVrri5XVtiM3ihtQnCdWN5TCZv5iEGlPtgRDYwv/s1476/CHOW%20HOUND%20%283%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDr42w9GA8hjAHwYbBqSOwKqq5XZ2icb08qaxNJxU2gAOAojFkHB2CV5U-OJdu15ywkrdQmvh-KbcOCOtsoL-bKRNtPQCyBIZp0VfUMs0AkNAwB-Ce4Exkoc31O6xNF24ozTDM3F23L2aHACdC0ZpFduVrri5XVtiM3ihtQnCdWN5TCZv5iEGlPtgRDYwv/s400/CHOW%20HOUND%20%283%29.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtAtO-9j4Saqp1VZ-w6PDEa4RYajNBV7-k5at_h-188d8oxPTRwV1fhiuGPCh5pIyy5hPeOTI7MT-0gTj-5wD8y0JXVGIlwK7L8HGyBE168sYnwzrIsi443zJKzoxg4rfSIMLhOf5thYbcm5hINJPJm-n03SZLCKrqdBzhFmrIVpfgRcNJ4kBgiLHDVma/s1476/CHOW%20HOUND%20%284%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtAtO-9j4Saqp1VZ-w6PDEa4RYajNBV7-k5at_h-188d8oxPTRwV1fhiuGPCh5pIyy5hPeOTI7MT-0gTj-5wD8y0JXVGIlwK7L8HGyBE168sYnwzrIsi443zJKzoxg4rfSIMLhOf5thYbcm5hINJPJm-n03SZLCKrqdBzhFmrIVpfgRcNJ4kBgiLHDVma/s400/CHOW%20HOUND%20%284%29.png"/></a></div>
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Cut to a sign. Jones has the word “REWARD” zoom forward for emphasis.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-tFF5OcENsmqrW_pdWAEf4boFOBCogbp39IPSpgWXhbTDGqs6YGN2lyhygwrxpV3VQTD7tRbg7dTlL8e-VYATiEp6iPVC-SJyagB_s_bxYRdwmO1dRXzXgIwiU4BbaWMW6CC7jiuHB8o12cUYd58x4P3lkr3XodCEAEtzp8Ejn1hky2019DdqUxvha9nj/s1476/CHOW%20HOUND%20%285%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-tFF5OcENsmqrW_pdWAEf4boFOBCogbp39IPSpgWXhbTDGqs6YGN2lyhygwrxpV3VQTD7tRbg7dTlL8e-VYATiEp6iPVC-SJyagB_s_bxYRdwmO1dRXzXgIwiU4BbaWMW6CC7jiuHB8o12cUYd58x4P3lkr3XodCEAEtzp8Ejn1hky2019DdqUxvha9nj/s400/CHOW%20HOUND%20%285%29.png"/></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnuGeXLLOsipgfy0omtK8EutF8b_kqH867TMqK4Y3yGfter_QpaaWJ6z4Lw9QBtcHzRbpssxI5ImeiKryvLDXe_jCQWDccoulx8eqLMPL_JX1yQ9gULaQOldyKtoaKTKIdpgazLIn77eG_Btbwvm4p-lCGhFqiTax9Ky77ezIazT_HhIpeih8CWOqZZvR/s1476/CHOW%20HOUND%20%286%29.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibnuGeXLLOsipgfy0omtK8EutF8b_kqH867TMqK4Y3yGfter_QpaaWJ6z4Lw9QBtcHzRbpssxI5ImeiKryvLDXe_jCQWDccoulx8eqLMPL_JX1yQ9gULaQOldyKtoaKTKIdpgazLIn77eG_Btbwvm4p-lCGhFqiTax9Ky77ezIazT_HhIpeih8CWOqZZvR/s400/CHOW%20HOUND%20%286%29.png"/></a></div>
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To me, this is one of Mike Maltese’s best-constructed stories. During the cartoon, he perfectly sets up the revenge by the cat and a mouse at the end.
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Carl Stalling’s choice for the tune over the opening titles seems to be an odd one unless it is meant as irony, considering the ending. The song is “It’s A Great Feeling” from the Warners musical of the same name. Hear the virginal Doris Day sing it below to a lovely arrangement.
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nCN9UxrlQK4?si=L7SK-QCrp_I-7hnd" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-46682598360624759172023-12-17T12:12:00.000-08:002023-12-17T14:46:54.839-08:00Tralfaz Sunday Theatre: The Information Machine<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKf1aXO7Ct1UEXxGSyOeI6MRxeqrx5vgWUFWzEfz9MAPcgflYHlIr_0u0oxLWCcNPqnmrwmTLGPZnFPZWsz6L1wSsv3WczInGetoCUzr0YHpZxZtynXJCL9RLDhajMCOwb6K1x33SpCVvaHiFuVy278l4hnvh67NautQeV3uhvnKdZYHkbBhXmLDy5Bwz/s796/computer.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="796" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKf1aXO7Ct1UEXxGSyOeI6MRxeqrx5vgWUFWzEfz9MAPcgflYHlIr_0u0oxLWCcNPqnmrwmTLGPZnFPZWsz6L1wSsv3WczInGetoCUzr0YHpZxZtynXJCL9RLDhajMCOwb6K1x33SpCVvaHiFuVy278l4hnvh67NautQeV3uhvnKdZYHkbBhXmLDy5Bwz/s250/computer.png"/></a></div>The story of computers in 1957 was one of huge machines taking up a room, even though they had less storage capacity than what you can hold in your hand today.
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IBM commissioned a short film that year outlining kind of a fanciful development of computers from the start of mankind. Still drawings, limited animation and some live action footage were blended together over top of an Elmer Bernstein score that reminds me of something from a National Geographic TV special in the 1960s.
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<i>The Information Machine</i> was written, produced and directed by Charles and Ray Eames. <a href="https://archive.org/details/workofcharlesray0000unse/page/28/mode/2up?q=%22information+machine%22+1958" target="false">A book on their work</a> states:
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<blockquote>The film was commissioned by the Eameses’ colleague and friend, Eliot Noyes, then director of design for IBM, and presented at the company’s pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Launching the Eameses’ career as cultural ambassadors and interpreters of American society, The Information Machine was explicitly about IBM computers, but its implicit message to foreign audiences was about America, a land of beneficent corporations and advanced technologies working “in the service of mankind.”</blockquote>
Dolores Cannata provided the artwork. The film won awards at the Edinburgh and Melbourne International Film Festivals. The uncredited narrator is Vic Perrin.
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<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/200371_Information_Machine" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-59564583068601427752023-12-17T07:00:00.000-08:002023-12-17T08:42:06.188-08:00Not Enough Benny, Says CriticWhat does a star do in between radio and TV seasons?
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In the case of Jack Benny, at least in 1950, he hits the road with a varied company and raises money for charity.
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Jack and company scheduled 21 stops starting May 16 that year, including one in Montreal. We’ve mentioned before that Canadian radio did not carry Jack’s show during the regular season after he changed sponsorships to American Tobacco. But we note a story in the <i>Montreal Gazette</i> of Tuesday, May 30, that CJAD broadcast Jack’s show for the first time the previous Sunday night as a promotion for his date at the Forum. Several transcribed shows were heard on the station on other Sunday nights at 7 when Benny was off the air for the summer in the U.S. (Oddly, CFCF was the Montreal station that picked up other CBS programming, including Amos and Andy, and Edgar Bergen).
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4eoXzbyHjzPeWD6mHDYTQ9dqyv_ewUSaHcEZVDdc_EmsdO7HSuSMyA-qfvpfU19-c7yxbfP33oBfQRUM9QshkPoMe9wS-5S-8hCKJHezW-zo4GzT9enveAqsMbkkxtLMXlNZSutbwz0B5SBBmpbyolzzjPklqHggrDstwKmDUIXN-zn_aw6UDDAB3XWpa/s1040/JACK%20MONTREAL.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="582" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4eoXzbyHjzPeWD6mHDYTQ9dqyv_ewUSaHcEZVDdc_EmsdO7HSuSMyA-qfvpfU19-c7yxbfP33oBfQRUM9QshkPoMe9wS-5S-8hCKJHezW-zo4GzT9enveAqsMbkkxtLMXlNZSutbwz0B5SBBmpbyolzzjPklqHggrDstwKmDUIXN-zn_aw6UDDAB3XWpa/s350/JACK%20MONTREAL.png"/></a> The <i>Gazette</i> and the <i>Montreal Star</i> covered the Benny entourage during their short stay. You can see a picture from one paper to the right. The press revealed Phil Harris and Eddie Anderson (yes, the <i>Star</i> used his actual name) spent an afternoon at the track. A gentleman named Camil Deroches played a real-life version of Sheldon Leonard’s tout and apparently earned the pair some money. Some of the stories were non-bylined and generic, meaning they were likely standard hand-outs by Jack’s press relations people.
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Both papers reviewed the performance. The <i>Gazette</i>’s on June 3 was brief and to the point.
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Benny Plays Modest Part In Show He Brings Here</span></b><br>
Jack Benny drew a large audience to the Forum last night with a show in which he played a very modest part. We discovered him as a master of ceremonies, and he can play the violin in spite of his supposed concentration on learning the other Franz Schubert's The Bee. <br>
Benny was handicapped at the Forum by having to control a very large auditorium. He is a radio man whose whole approach to entertainment must, under the circumstances, be intimate. The superb timing, the instant wisecrack of the radio could not possibly have been achieved under these circumstances.<br>
But the public liked him. Phil Harris was his strongest support. Harris worked like a trojan. He directed the orchestra and he gagged with Benny.<br>
Between them they carried the first half of the show. Besides Benny, Harris and his orchestra there were some good acts interspersed. The Stuart Morgan Dancers were excellent. The Wiere Brothers were regular vaudevillians from Europe. Everyone welcomed Benny's first right hand man, Rochester, at the end of the program. There was also Vivian Blaine with songs.</span>
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The <i>Star</i>, on June 5, was much more fulsome in its review by S. Morgan-Powell. The typesetter got fouled up in one line.
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><u><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>A First Rate Show</b></span></u><br>
<span style="font-size: large;">Jack Benny Scores Hit <br>
Big Reception by Seven Thousand at The Forum</span><br>
SEVEN thousand Montrealers attended the Jack Benny Show at the Forum Friday night. Among them there were probably not more than a handful who remembered Mr. Benny's last public appearance in this city when he was seen on a vaudeville bill at the Princess Theatre. He was not at that time widely known in Canada but since then he has become a familiar entertainer to literally millions of people all over the North American continent through the medium of the radio. He was recently voted by a nation-wide USA radio poll the most popular artist on the air.<br>
Watching him and listening to him through his performance at the Forum, it was easy to understand why he has held so vast a public over a quarter of a century.<br>
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IN the first place Benny is a natural comedian endowed with a dry and pungent wit. He has an keen and excellent wit. He has an easy and fluent delivery, an excellent speaking voice, and a smooth, polished style that enables him to get all his points easily across the footlights. He never seem to be making an obvious bid for applause, or to be handling comedy of set design; though his programs are undoubtedly carefully prepared, they carry the complete illusion of spontaneity, and the quick repartee, the skilful timing, and the intimate rapport with the audience which he establishes at the outset and maintains throughout the evening enable him to keep the stream of humour flowing unceasingly.<br>
Mr. Benny has capitalised throughout his radio career on a comedy style which depends upon his being a target for his associate performers just as much as they are targets for his own barbed wit. This has enabled him to build up a reputation unique in the entertainment world. It explains his radio success, and it lends itself admirably to stage show work as well. It is invariably sure-fire; there are no planned pauses for pencilled-in applause. Mr. Benny wins his audience with witty comment on his first appearance, and he never loses touch with them. Chuckles, roars of laughter, rounds of applause testify to the fact that the audience is enjoying Mr. Benny quite as much as he appears to be enjoying himself.<br>
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IF one criticism suggests itself, it is that Mr. Benny takes perhaps too subservient a position in the general show, but when one regards it in retrospect it is seen as one of the secrets of his perennial success. He and Phil Harris are at it hammer and tongs all the time they are on the stage. I think it would have been better if nobody had used the microphone on Friday, because it magnified the volume of several of the voices almost deafeningly, and in consequence marred the finesse of some exchanges and also blurred the words of some of Phil Harris' songs. He is a resourceful comedian and long experience with Mr. Benny has taught him how to maintain the balance of the comedy. He does not need spotlight help, nor does his exchange of gags need the physical display he employs in their delivery; this also seems to apply to his direction of his band. There is no doubt, however, that he is a tower of support to the show.<br>
Rochester, Benny’s man Friday, got a great welcome but his delivery also suffered from overemphasis due to the far too loud PA system which once more requires material toning down at the Forum. Nothing, however, could interfere with the delightful comedy of his soft shoe shuffling dance.<br>
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ADVANCE stories about the Benny Show had emphasized the high quality of the supporting acts. In this there was no exaggeration. The Wiere Brothers are in the front rank of the very best comedy trios in our entertainment world today. Their European reputation is of the highest and they have duplicated it on this side of the Atlantic.<br>
Their violin playing is a riot in itself. They really can play the violin when they want to, but they show what a wealth of comedy can be got out of it in the fantastic things they do when they combine their diverting tricks on the strings with some of the cleverest comic dancing Montreal has seen for decades. They are essentially clowns of the cleverest type, and it is by clowning that they present an act which has no parallel before the North American public today, if we may accept the testimony of the American press. The audience gave them an ovation, and it was well deserved.<br>
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THEN there were the Peiro Brothers from South America, whose juggling with hats and sticks is, so far as I know unique, in today’s stage shows. Their sense of balance is uncanny. They do what you never expect them to do in a way you could never have imagined, and it is pure comedy throughout.<br>
We have had the Stuart Morgan dancers here before, and they are always welcome. The manner which these four athletes handle their girl partner in whirls and tosses and balances has to be seen to be believed. A dozen times you feel certain she is going to crash, but she always ends up in a graceful pose in the air. All these specialty acts scored definite hits, and so did Vivian Blaine, who is a first-class screen comedy singer with an effective microphone technique and a voice she has under good control.<br>
The concluding appearance of Mr. Benny with his hillbilly band is the best thing of its kind I have seen in a stage show here. Altogether, the Jack Benny Show must be rated as excellent in comedy, in balance and, let it also be added, in clean entertainment. Mr. Benny proves that a stage show can be free from any suggestiveness and yet keep an audience laughing all evening.</span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrEgnNAelsRKG-b2xXS8HqMB4HCukAZOwT5E_PNieIW8IYOmNiu1uFwQ-8xkgMitHZRDR5AIGFo16kiX8H2piXLoCXy-NsT0vjq9GPnpnXPHcm6h-PUpRJODS2xJfjPyjEae1r6dLTkuo9q9euoKI71Rk7ELpsiajc5Spc85DSf5Asn4D6s_DdYOnt2nmo/s669/JACK%20MTL.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="589" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrEgnNAelsRKG-b2xXS8HqMB4HCukAZOwT5E_PNieIW8IYOmNiu1uFwQ-8xkgMitHZRDR5AIGFo16kiX8H2piXLoCXy-NsT0vjq9GPnpnXPHcm6h-PUpRJODS2xJfjPyjEae1r6dLTkuo9q9euoKI71Rk7ELpsiajc5Spc85DSf5Asn4D6s_DdYOnt2nmo/s320/JACK%20MTL.png"/></a></div>Jack made another appearance in Montreal the following year. This one was on the radio. He narrated a transcribed broadcast on October 26 for the United Israel Appeal in a programme called “The Incredible Village,” starring John Hodiak. A special message by Dr. George Stream, Chairman of the Montreal Campaign, was part of the programme.
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This production aired on CBS and its affiliates the night before, and depicted the story of thousands of blind immigrants to Israel who needed special help to adjust to their new home in Gedera. The goal was to raise 35 million dollars for food, housing and medicine for the village.
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It seemed if there was a charity in need, Jack Benny was there to help.
Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738012638904762739.post-70571965459154654372023-12-16T07:03:00.000-08:002023-12-16T12:58:24.922-08:00Man on the Land<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOFhLF4UvXJPYvrtG4V9hyoqsmgZD4IuYDamNamUA3EuWtotbrLjDbrwGfzwRuLexLfGlwn3WTECiWsi7dgby7FNelkaeKRXDpGewQVMM-sUwJRfGLaGghHzNExWv1DReWqIOfOU8dEAL-UgfSjQA1hmz5-ZvEififyqaF5G3iSMvtn-N9ffpgmVjUi8t/s800/LAND%201.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOFhLF4UvXJPYvrtG4V9hyoqsmgZD4IuYDamNamUA3EuWtotbrLjDbrwGfzwRuLexLfGlwn3WTECiWsi7dgby7FNelkaeKRXDpGewQVMM-sUwJRfGLaGghHzNExWv1DReWqIOfOU8dEAL-UgfSjQA1hmz5-ZvEififyqaF5G3iSMvtn-N9ffpgmVjUi8t/s250/LAND%201.png"/></a></div>There must have been an incredible feeling of irony going through the UPA studios when they won the contract to make <i>Man On The Land</i>.
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It was an industrial short released in 1951. UPA wasn’t exactly populated by members of the John Birch Society. Director John Hubley and publicity man Charles Daggett lost their jobs because of pressure from right-wingers (Bill Scott was treated to the same fate thanks to guilt by association). Yet here was the studio crafting a 15-minute film for Corporate America—and Big Oil, at that.
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It was clothed a bit in 1950s leftist sensibilities. Through the film, there is a guitar-strumming folk singer (off screen). After footage of a farmer and a truck driver, he sings “That’s what it takes to make a country strong. A man on the land who knows right from wrong.” The only thing here is “wrong” means the supposed ideals of pinkos and Commies, and the “man on the land” is supposed to be “ready to fight” to protect the glorious American free enterprise system.
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UPA gets a credit at the end. None of the people who worked on this cartoon are mentioned, but we do know a few of them, thanks to publications of the day. The musical score and folk song were provided by Hoyt Curtin, who made a number of films for UPA before being hired at Hanna-Barbera. The Nov. 1953 issue of <i>Music Journal</i> also reveals the singer is Terry Gilkyson. <i>Art Direction</i>, in its April 1953 edition, identified Bill Hurtz as the director.
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There was something called the National Lubricating Grease Institute. Its monthly publication was <i>The Institute Spokesman</i>, which wrote in its Oct. 1951 issue:
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;">New York — The dramatic story of how man has been able to wrest today’s high standard of living from Nature and the Land is the theme of a new motion picture sponsored by Oil Industry Information Committee.
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Entitled “Man on the Land,” the action-packed motion picture was made for the Committee by United Productions of America—the firm which won an Academy Award in 1950 for an animated motion picture [<i>Gerald McBoing Boing</i>]. The same style of animation and full technicolor is used in “Man on the Land.”
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgty9eYuEINdalaVnhJhjko5KLzdEgSohpWcTtodRJ7ZALGvMR3O7fxbFG7YvdXA3KYdAVUOIoSQrcoMMAQXAdXtoDv6MHomWuO21iyLwO_6wncnBscTEuLbpDLYYxngmaJhDUx8UN77RMDwyrTy06PbXKkxZeqCqlpkq0ad54nWFguhAzsz5m3a14jPkXQ/s802/LAND%202.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgty9eYuEINdalaVnhJhjko5KLzdEgSohpWcTtodRJ7ZALGvMR3O7fxbFG7YvdXA3KYdAVUOIoSQrcoMMAQXAdXtoDv6MHomWuO21iyLwO_6wncnBscTEuLbpDLYYxngmaJhDUx8UN77RMDwyrTy06PbXKkxZeqCqlpkq0ad54nWFguhAzsz5m3a14jPkXQ/s250/LAND%202.png"/></a></div>This unusual film tells the story of agriculture in 16 swiftly-paced minutes— from the time that man first scratched the earth with a forked stick to the present age of oil-powered tractors, petroleum fertilizers, insecticides and other petrochemicals.
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It illustrates graphically how every one of the nation’s 150 million people benefits in one way or another from the side by side progress and the inseparable relationship of two of America’s great industries—agriculture and petroleum. A ballad singer carries the story instead of the conventional narration.
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The new motion picture is now being made available to oil companies, trade associations, agriculture societies and organizations, and other interested parties. It is available in both 35 millimeter and 16 millimeter prints. The film is expected to receive thousands of showings from coast to coast, particularly during the period of October 14-20, when the industry observes Oil Progress Week.
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Production of the motion picture was supervised by Film Counselors, Inc., of New York, and a subcommittee of the Oil Industry Information Committee headed by Philip C. Humphrey, public relations director for The Texas Company, New York.</span>
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Humphrey, told the <i>Public Relations Journal</i> of Feb. 1952 the short played at the Royx Theatre in New York for three straight weeks for free. The film was also broadcast on the DuMont network on its <i>Better Living Television Theater</i> (Wednesdays, 10:30 p.m., WABD). It was propaganda, pure and simple, with the broadcast being preceded by a panel discussion involving the chairman of Seaboard Oil, the president of Power Oil and the agricultural counsellor for the aforementioned institute (as per the May 1954 issue).
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The film is mentioned in a feature article about UPA in the April 1953 edition of <i>Art Director & Studio News</i>. It was penned by the PR man whose career at the studio was killed in the blacklist.
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<span style="font-family: Merriweather Sans;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>UPA breathes modern spirit and style into traditionally romantic movie</b></span><br>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>CHARLES DAGGETT, UNITED PRODUCTIONS OF AMERICA</b></span><br>
“The cleverest movies, foot by foot and frame by sophisticated frame, that are coming out of Hollywood are the animated cartoons made by United Productions of America.”
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Thus the Los Angeles Times for Sunday, February 8, 1953...
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“United Productions of America — familiarly known as UPA — is the new movie-cartoon studio that has recently worked to the fore as a virtually revolutionary producer in the field of the animated film. UPA is imposing what amounts to the spirit and style of modern art upon the traditionally romantic and restricted area of the movie cartoon. The UPA people are unhampered by any urge toward the literal. Their drawing and designs are imagistic, contrived mainly from subtle colors and fluid lines.
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“Staffed for the most part by artists with young minds and progressive ideas, whose talents extend beyond the field of the screen cartoon to the fine arts (many of them are exhibited in the galleries of Los Angeles and New York), the UPA studio out in Burbank, Calif., is a West Coast center of artistic industry. The whole place — a cheerful California ranch-type studio building — breathes freedom, imagination and taste.”
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Thus Bosley Crowther, motion picture critic of the New York Times, in his Sunday magazine piece on December 21, 1952 . . .
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNBIHboYx1Qmy3_pSMdVUe2hgEusZ4PSd5JfvebhUBl0oK5_6KXTmIPsy63KvsmF2SIYgJza6koX-iFbM9D2Rhs0oJl870fwD6rUN9Az376oMulpZfNn-xQjxMT_9pJ7C4EJKtRj9EJq_Xcbq5KsdpeuGudopwUMZyvTY17MloQYCiCAwTiG95Wfj-hfB/s829/UPA%202.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 1em;" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="829" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNBIHboYx1Qmy3_pSMdVUe2hgEusZ4PSd5JfvebhUBl0oK5_6KXTmIPsy63KvsmF2SIYgJza6koX-iFbM9D2Rhs0oJl870fwD6rUN9Az376oMulpZfNn-xQjxMT_9pJ7C4EJKtRj9EJq_Xcbq5KsdpeuGudopwUMZyvTY17MloQYCiCAwTiG95Wfj-hfB/s350/UPA%202.png"/></a></div>These are only two of the scores of superlative comment UPA has earned in the past few years with its brilliant new animated film techniques. Mr. Crowther’s on-the-scene report particularly emphasizes the key to UPA’s success. This success lies in the hearts and minds of an outstanding group of artists who are permitted the fullest freedom in expressing themselves. At the head of this group is Stephen Bosustow, 42 year old President of UPA, who provides the enlightened production leadership that permits artists to work as they please in the animated film medium.
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The chief differences between UPA’s entertainment and commercial films and the films of other companies are those of story, design, color, animation, and contemporary art. UPA’s greatest impact in the motion picture field has been made through its entertainment films such as “Gerald McBoing-Boing,” “Rooty Toot Toot,” the Near-sighted Mister Magoo films, and scores of others produced for Columbia Pictures’ release. However,
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UPA recently blazed new trails in the commercial film area with “More Than Meets the Eye,” which it produced for CBS Radio. This was the striking story of CBS Radio’s tremendous influence over the buying habits of millions of Americans and was the first business documentary film ever to be told in terms of abstract modern art.
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The ingredients used by Bosustow to build UPA into prominence in the brief span of years were business initiative, an artistic and creative background, good taste in story and art selection, a marked organizing and executive talent and a large amount of intestinal fortitude.
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Ten years ago, Bosustow was working for the Hughes Aircraft Co., as head of production scheduling and control on the giant experimental flying boat Howard Hughes was building. His business sense and his ability to express an idea in simple drawings attracted the attention of the Consolidated Shipyards in Long Beach (Cal.). The shipyard needed a film to teach some safety rules to welders. Bosustow made the picture, a slide film called “Sparks and Chips Get the Blitz” and began his career as head of an industrial animated motion picture company.
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Within two years his Industrial Films and Poster Service had turned out score of animated training films for the Navy, the Army, the Office of War Information, the State Department and several business firms.
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There were a half dozen employees when UPA was incorporated eight years ago. Today there are 75 employees, the company does a $750,000 yearly business, has its own studio in Hollywood and consistently produces the most modern and mature animated cartoons in its field. In New York, UPA also has a studio that is devoted to making television commercials and industrial documentary films. UPA won the New York Art Directors Club award for the best television commercial of 1950 and won both the New York Art Directors Club and the Los Angeles Art Directors Club awards for the best television commercials of 1951.
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UPA, although it won film awards from the beginning of its existence, was really “discovered” when it produced “Gerald McBoing-Boing,” the Academy award winning cartoon for 1950. This year, for instance, UPA won three Academy nominations for its productions. In the cartoon field, nominations were for “Madeline,” a charming children’s story by Ludwig Bemelmans, directed by Robert Cannon, and “Pink and Blue Blues,” a rousing chapter in Mister Magoo’s career as a baby sitter, directed by Pete Burness. In the documentary short subjects field, UPA’s production of “Man Alive!”, for the American Cancer Society, also was nominated. This film was directed by William T. Hurtz.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBe4vufTwtBFFYYsPaR0-e_jdohttPHkErxHZZRth4pGL-dVOEXO6Ck2-h6ySebKDk6DJb17QtyyfQ_m25WuoJnALos-0gVlPqH5Dc0TacV-ZtJ9lDn5M-blGwYB_eh7tyrSjNH_CQioFNtF4SE-ixYBF_h60O1u9ms0t3dJXd1c_V5baJu2gMJ38JaGy/s1681/UPA.png" imageanchor="1" target="false"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="1681" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBe4vufTwtBFFYYsPaR0-e_jdohttPHkErxHZZRth4pGL-dVOEXO6Ck2-h6ySebKDk6DJb17QtyyfQ_m25WuoJnALos-0gVlPqH5Dc0TacV-ZtJ9lDn5M-blGwYB_eh7tyrSjNH_CQioFNtF4SE-ixYBF_h60O1u9ms0t3dJXd1c_V5baJu2gMJ38JaGy/s620/UPA.png"/></a>
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Cannon, who directed “Gerald McBoing-Boing,” and “Madeline,” has a particularly fluent ability to make whimsical and amusing films. Burness, who does the Mister Magoo series for UPA, is also one of the most skilled directors in the animated film field. Hurtz, who did the Cancer Society picture, two years ago, directed “Man on the Land” for the American Petroleum Institute, and it won a Freedom Foundation award in 1952. At the present time, Hurtz has switched over to the entertainment field and is now finishing the “Unicorn in the Garden,” a grim and amusing story of domesticity by the great American wit, James Thurber. Ted Parmelee, another of UPA’s directors, is now making one of the most experimental films UPA has attempted. This is Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart.” The Poe story is a horror tale and does not follow the conventional cartoon story line. Artists working with Parmelee on this film have been allowed to do highly abstract backgrounds, which should make the short picture a melodramatic shocker.
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In New York, the directors are Abe Liss and Gene Deitch. Deitch specializes in TV commercial direction. Liss also works on commercial films but presently is directing one of UPA’s entertainment cartoons for Columbia release.
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Among the artists who contribute so much to the outstanding quality of UPA films are Paul Julian, Jules Engel, Robert McIntosh, Robert Dranko, Michi Kataoka, Sterling Sturtevant, C. L. Hartman, and Abe Liss.
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UPA’s films have met with wide acclaim throughout Europe as well as the United States. The company now has plans for making a full-length feature. In this production, UPA will adhere to the use of fine modern art, modern music and adult story telling. Among the stories being considered for production are James Thurber’s “Battle of the Sexes,” and “Don Quixote.”</span>
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You can watch a muddy dub of the short below. The voices aren’t named, but Vic Perrin is the narrator and Jerry Hausner as the scoffer who appears through history.
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<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/ManOnTheLand" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>Yowphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09264605351878574044noreply@blogger.com1