Thursday 31 October 2019

The Ghost of Burt Gillett

Oh, there’s a little cutesy-wutesy little ghost with a little cutesy-wutesy voice singing a little cutesy-wutesy song at the start of the 1939 Walter Lantz short A Haunting We Will Go. However, the animator gets to have some fun by stretching the ghost into a bunch of shapes as it tries to scare an owl in the woods.



The cartoon stars Lil’ Eightball, possibly the most unentertaining starring character Mel Blanc ever voiced. This was his finale. The backgrounds are excellent in this short and this must have cost more than the usual Lantz short considering all the ghosts there were to animate in later scenes, and the use of full Technicolor for the first time.

Burt Gillett directed the cartoon and co-wrote it with Kin Platt.
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3 comments:

  1. Pokey31 October 2019 at 07:52

    Wow./.Kin Platt (TOp Cat,1961, according to those misleading syndication gang credits) was active back then? On the ghost, it might be Bereniece Hansell or Sara Berner..

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    Replies
    1. Yowp6 November 2019 at 23:46

      Platt was writing for radio in the late '30s. He worked for both Ken Murray and Edgar Bergen.

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  2. CJlikesouterspace1 November 2019 at 13:11

    that cutesy-wutsey Ghost reminds me of Dopey from "Snow White" (1937) if he were a ghost instead. by the way i love those extreme drawings on the Ghost. :)

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