Barney, It's a Cliff

The first go-around of Barney Bear cartoons (there were three, a fourth was announced) didn’t feature eye takes, but here’s one in The Unwelcome Guest (released Feb. 17, 1945). It’s not exactly Tex Avery territory, but I wouldn’t expect it in a Barney Bear cartoon.



Mindful of the war still going on Showmen’s Trade Review of April 28, 1945 called this “One of the most delightful characters that ever graced the imagination of a cartoonist’s pen is delineated in this Technicolor short in the form of a playful skunk who threatens the life of the placid berry-picking Barney Bear. For children this should prove to be a barrel of fun; for the elders it might bring them back to a world less strewn with sorrow.

Mike Lah, Jack Carr and Ed Barge are the credited animators. This was the last Barney cartoon until his revival in 1948.

Note: Thad Komorowski has pointed to an unpublished interview with George Gordon and Mike Lah that Lah directed this short.