Take Family Circus, for instance. Little Patsy doesn’t like the attention the family baby is getting from Daddy so (besides stealing the baby’s toys), she grinds up her father’s golf balls (and niblick), ruins his pipes with soap, then pretends the pet cat is him and digs an electric shaver into the innocent animals. Clearly this kid is on the way to being a selfish, petty adult.
Paul Julian designed this short and just like in his later Baby Boogie (1955), there’s a limited animation sequence of “child-like” drawings of the child, father and baby.
It includes callbacks to early scenes in the cartoon, such as the toy elephant Daddy brought home for the baby.
See how happy they are!
Uh, oh. “Patsy” is sad because of “the baby.”
“Patsy” falls from the trapeze past the cat and golf balls, then a pipe.
Now, she’s angry and smashes “Daddy” and “the baby” with the elephant.
In the end, she doesn’t get punished. Now the baby is jealous. No wonder mom got out of the house at the beginning of the cartoon. I wonder if the theatre audience did the same thing. Who wants to watch an unlikable child? Sorry, but I’ll stick with Bugs Bunny smashing Elmer Fudd with a banana cream pie.
Art Babbitt directed this short from a story by Bill Scott and Phil Eastman. Babbitt and Cecil Surry were the credited animators. Jerry Hausner is the father and baby.
If all cartoons looked like this when I was a kid, I don't think I would have started drawing. I thank the gods for Bugs Bunny, Popeye and Woody Woodpecker!
ReplyDeleteBaby Boogie (1955): childish drawings with a bit of dramatic tone.
ReplyDeleteArt Babbitt, who was from Disney.
ReplyDelete