They Love That Pagan Moon

There’s such a similarity among the Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies, something seems familiar in all of them, whether it’s spitting, razzberries, butts being attacked, the woman falsetto voice or any number of things.

Starting with Red Headed Baby (1931), the shorts might feature cycle animation of a crowd of characters cheering and applauding at the camera, a scene sometimes reused later in the cartoon.

In Pagan Moon (1932), the cycle consists of 13 drawings; an unusual number considering the even numbers (16 frames per inch, 24 frames per second) found in animation.



Here’s the cycle at about the speed it is in the cartoon.



Ham Hamilton and Norm Blackburn (later a TV executive with NBC) are the credited animators.