Freddie Fudsie, Cartoon Star

They featured top animators including Emery Hawkins, designers including Tom Oreb and composers including Les Baxter. Some of them were released by MGM. But the cartoons from John Sutherland Productions may be among the most obscure ones in post-war animation history.

The theatrical release of a handful of the company’s films is only a sidelight. John Sutherland was not really in the entertainment business. He was in the propaganda business, willing to take on jobs from corporate America if the price was right. In exchange, he’d tell the tales corporate America wanted people to hear, that big industrial companies and banks weren’t ogres, but brought things that people needed, making life for everyone better, protecting The American Way.

I enjoy the Sutherland cartoons on an aesthetic level. The animation, designs and other artistry are very good, the voice work is excellent and the humour is well-placed. The message about capitalism and patriotism going hand-in-hand is a bit much, but this was the era of the Red Scare. (Ironically, John Brown who provided a voice in Make Mine Freedom was later blacklisted).

MGM released the following cartoons; basically the Sutherland shorts picked up some of the slack created when the Lah-Blair unit was disbanded to save money.

Make Mine Freedom (March 10, 1948)
Going Places (copyright Oct. 23, 1948)
Meet King Joe (May 28, 1949)
Why Play Leap Frog (February 4, 1950)
Albert in Blunderland (August 26, 1950)
Fresh Laid Plans (January 27, 1951)
Inside Cackle Corners (November 10, 1951)

In none of the trade publications can I find a date when Going Places was released. Nor can I find an ad for a theatre screening it. But it must have appeared in theatres because the article below talks about it. The story appeared in papers September 25, 1949

'Freddie Fudsie's Animated Cartoons Are Selling American Free Enterprise
By HARLEY PERSHING
SEARCY, ARK. — (AP) — A blonde-haired moppet called "Freddie Fudsie" is seeking to sell Americans on the American economic system.
He was conceived by the president of a little Arkansas church college and brought to life on Hollywood drawing boards with the aid of Eastern capital. Freddie is an animated cartoon character.
He is the star of the second of four movie shorts designed to carry out the idea of Dr. George S. Benson, president of Harding College in Searcy. The idea is that Americans aren't doing so badly under the American free enterprise system.
The movies are geared to hold the attention of the average family through drama and humor while the message is being put over. "We're not trying to teach economics," explained Col. Nater, an associate of Dr. Benson. "All we want to do is remind Americans what a great country this is and remind them that freedom is everybody's job."
Dr. Benson is satisfied that Freddie is doing an able job of selling. He is an appealing little fellow who makes mistakes in his business operations but winds up on the right track. The story is a 10-minute fast-moving performance on the screen.
The films are the product of a four-way play — a bit of American business enterprise in itself. The credits run this way: Plots by Dr. Benson and his staff, financing by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, artistry by John Sutherland, animated cartoon producer, and distribution by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer out of Hollywood.
The general theme of the cartoons is that profits have helped develop American business and industry and therefore profits have helped develop the nation. But there is no profit connected with the movies.
"We didn't do it to make money," Nater explained, adding that to his knowledge M-G-M "just about breaks even" on distribution costs after charging movie theaters are rental fee. The shorts are available without cost to clubs, business firms and schools.
The first of the animated color films, "Make Mine Freedom," deals with a workman, capitalist, politician and a farmer with problems. A quack tries to give them a cure-all called isms in exchange for their freedom. Then John Q. Public pops into the picture, exposes the peddler, and all turn on him.
"Going Places," the second short, which features "Freddie Fudsie," traces him from a boy who by the sweat of his brow eventually becomes a successful soap maker. Then he gets big ideas and with a competitor forms a combine to corner the market. This brings down the wrath of Uncle Sam, and Freddie runs into more trouble when another soap is put on the market at a lower price. But the to Hollywood tradition everything turns out all right at the end for our sadder but wiser hero.
The third strip, "Meet King Joe," recently was released, and the fourth, "Why Play Leapfrog", is to be shown for the first time in December.
The story behind the story of this endeavor is Dr. Benson. The small-statured native Oklahoman (he'll be 51 Sept. 26) was a missionary in China when he was named president of his alma mater in this famed strawberry producing area in 1936. Harding College is supported by the Church of Christ.
When he took the job, Dr. Benson expressed dismay at the change he found upon his return to this country. He said his fellow-countrymen "had lost their old confidence; lacked faith in their destiny."
He launched a campaign to persuade Americans to appreciate what he considered the good things about free enterprise as practiced in the United States. He began speaking, writing a newspaper column, and delivering a radio commentary on the accomplishments of capitalism as he saw them.
Later Dr. Benson developed what he calls "freedom forums"—a series of seminars at the college on economics. He encouraged several of the nation's top-ranking industrialists to attend. Now these seminars attract hundreds of business and industrial executives.
He still wasn't satisfied with results. He wasn't reaching the average man—the worker who preferred something eke to forum discussions.
This brought on the idea of animated cartoons and problems of financing, producing and distributing them. Dr. Benson negotiated the first hurdle when the Sloan foundation, an organization devoted to granting money for advancement of economic education, agreed to finance the program. The amount wasn't disclosed. The educator headed for the film capital and completed his mission.

There are no credits on Going Places, but you don’t need it for the music. You heard the same peek-a-boo clarinets at Columbia and at Walter Lantz. The score is from Darrell Calker. As for voices, Bud Hiestand is the narrator, with Frank Nelson playing the good and bad mini-Fudsies and Billy Bletcher is Sam Sudso. The cartoon features a great clenched-fist, leaning over trot cycle by one of the Fusdie’s workers, but I can only guess that either George Gordon or Carl Urbano directed this.

The Sutherland studio worked steadily in the ‘50s, producing films in animation, live action and a combination of both. A few have been fixed-up nicely and re-released by Thunderbean; it’s a shame Going Places isn’t among them. Some are profiled in trade papers; Sutherland took out full-page ads promoting a number of the cartoons now circulating on the internet. Some day, perhaps, a history of the studio will be written so we can learn more about this little corner of the animation world.