How appropriate it was that one of Gene Deitch’s Tom and Jerry cartoons was It’s Greek to Me-Ow. Does anyone understand what is going on in these Deitch cartoons?
In one scene, I was hoping for perspective animation like in the 1930s when a character goes running or flying “past the camera.” It starts out that way, but then Deitch cuts to a medium shot. And one that doesn’t even try to match the previous frame.
He just loves those jagged impact drawings (even the Hanna-Barbera Tom and Jerrys had them). They’re all over the place in this short.
Deitch also like doing what James-Call-Me-Shamus Culhane did better 15-plus years earlier for Walter Lantz. He has impact footage where there are camera shakes, and goes back and forth from frame-to-frame between extreme close-ups and a medium shot. Culhane’s versions seem funnier to me; I don’t know why; the timing's pretty much the same.
Fans of Tod Dockstader’s “boing” sound effect (which I first heard in the Deitch Popeyes as a kid) will enjoy this cartoon. I don’t know anyone else who would.
Deitch had a good perspective on humour but I can’t picture him laughing at this. If you want to keep yourself amused with this cartoon, consider the words “It’s Greek to Me-Ow” fit the opening bars of Scott Bradley’s Tom and Jerry theme. Think up your own funny lyrics for the rest of it, instead of watching this cartoon.
Something I find amusing may have been unintentional, but I’d like to think it was deliberate. A theatre manager in San Francisco booked it with a Melina Mercouri movie. “Hey, we got this Greek chick in this movie about Greece. Let’s have a Greek cartoon, too.”
The phrase "It's Greek to me" comes from William Shakespeare, and derives from his drama "Julius Caesar," Act I, Scene 2, where Cassius and Casca are discussing a speech made by Cicero in Greek. Casca, not understanding the language, indicates it was Greek to him.
ReplyDeleteThat may be the earliest recorded use of the phrase in English, but it comes from the Latin "Graecum est non potest legi [It's Greek, cannot be read]." It was commonly used by medieval scribes copying manuscripts that contained Greek words or blocks of text. With his grammar school education (i.e., Latin grammar), Shakespeare would have been familiar with the expression.
DeleteIn German we say "Das kommt mir Spanisch vor [It's Spanish to me]." This dates back to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, a grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, who united the eastern and western Habsburg realms in the 16th century. His German-speaking courtiers struggled with the Spanish language and customs imposed upon them.
What I can’t understand is why M-G-M let Gene Deitch make Tom and Jerry cartoons at all. After the way he ruined Terrytoons, they must have known what would happen. People complain about Chuck Jones, but his Tom and Jerry cartoons are all masterpieces compared to Gene Deitch.
ReplyDeleteInteresting question, Anon. It likely all boiled down to money. Plus there were plenty of stories out in 1960 about a lack of animators in the States.
DeleteDeitch had a reputation, thanks to the Piel campaign at UPA and "Munro" was about to get an Oscar, so I'm sure that appealed to MGM as well.
The Jones cartoons look nice but there's not a lot of soul to them. Tom was pretty well-rounded in the '40s cartoons. Jones' poses made him look like Wile E. Version 2.0.
Yes, it was the money. Gene Deitch used to blame Czechoslovakia for why his Tom and Jerry cartoons were so bad, but the only reason why he was able to make cartoons at all after Terrytoons is because the cost of living in Czechoslovakia was so low that he could always turn in the low bid on any project. Even then the result was always cheap looking garbage, because that’s the only kind of cartoon Gene Deitch knew how to make.
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