Cartoons of 1928

1928 was the start of a transitional period for animated cartoons. The year began with Paul Terry (Aesop’s Fables), Charlie Mintz (Krazy Kat), Winkler (Oswald, made by Walt Disney), Fleischer (Out of the Inkwell) and Pat Sullivan (Felix the Cat) making silent shorts. The year ended with the introduction of sound, a new studio (Disney) and a cartoon character about to eclipse anything seen on the screen before (Mickey Mouse). Thanks to Mickey, everyone started clamouring for sound cartoons and new studios popped up with their own Mickey knock-offs.

Mention’s been made on animation blogs that this is Mickey’s birthday. At least, in public. “Steamboat Willie” debuted at New York’s Colony Theatre on this date in 1928. And that makes it as good a time as any to post some cartoon news and reviews from The Film Daily from July to December of that year.

“Steamboat Willie” garnered attention in the trade press but not because it was any of kind of “first.” Of more interest to the industry than a Terryesque-looking mouse playing a cat like a musical instrument was the method of sound being used. There were a variety of sound recording/playback systems jockeying for business from the newly-wired theatres. Pat Powers used “Steamboat Willie” to push his Cinephone system and, more importantly, its compatibility. Articles in The Film Daily pointed out Cinephone was compatible with the Western Electric system.

The newspaper had not one, but two reviews of “Dinner Time,” the Terry short that’s become barely a footnote in sound cartoon history. Walt Disney, of course, surpassed it a couple of months later with “Steamboat Willie.” You can see “Dinner Time” for yourself below, including a commentary by Jerry Beck and Mark Kausler, who provides an added bonus by singing. Thanks to Cartoon Brew for allowing me to pilfer it without asking.

I admit the reviews make for encyclopaedic and dull reading if you’ve never seen the shorts. But posting them makes them a little more accessible on the internet. The Fleischer cartoons are conspicuous by their absence.

One extra note: Sid Glenar, mentioned below, ended up at the Mintz studio in the ‘30s. Read about him on the Scrappy site.


July 8
"Outdoor Indore"—Pat Sullivan
Educational
Animal Fun
Type of production..1 reel animated
Felix finds himself suddenly in India, where he starts to play around with the wild animals. He does some highly original antics with the wild beasts, such as taking the stripes from the tiger, building himself a ladder with them, and scouting the country for an elephant. After a long walk he succeeds in corralling his elephant, and after some amusing adventures lands it at the custom house in New York. Cleverly done, and carries the animal pranks which are bound to please the youngsters.

July 15
"The Baby Show"
Aesop—Pathe
Animal Antics
Type of production. . .1 reel animated
The animals run a baby show, and Al Falfa and his cat Henry dress up Milton Mouse against his will and enter him as their contestant. A lot of clever burlesquing is done on the baby show idea with the various animals and their fond parents. The judge picks Milton as the prize baby, but just as he awards the prize Milton's family of kids arrive and call him "Papa." Then the animals rise up in wrath at the deception and chase Al, Henry and Milton over the countryside. Carries the usual comedy kick of this series.

"The Early Bird"
Aesop—Pathe
Amusing
Type of production..1 reel animated
The adventures of Willie Bird are set forth amusingly. He starts out early in the morning to snare a worm, but it is too wise for him. Finally Willie hits on the idea of a disguise, and succeeds in trapping the morsel. He sells the worm to a fisherman, deposits the dime in the bank, and then proposes to his sweetie. Then the villain Henry Cat comes along, kidnaps sweetie, and after a chase the big finish fight is staged just like in the regular mellers. Good burlesque, and clever cartoon work.

July 23
Fleischer on Air
Beginning Aug. 3 and every week thereafter. Max Fleischer, producer of Out-of-the-Inkwell cartoons, will deliver a talk on motion pictures over Station WLTH, Brooklyn.

July 29
"Futuritzy"—Pat Sullivan
Educational
Fortune Telling
Type of production...1 reel animated
Felix has his fortune read by a gypsy, and she sees nothing but grief in the cat's palm, and tells him so. Felix gives her the laugh, and visits an astrologer who reads his fortune by the stars. Then you see unfolded all the good fortune that the soothsayer predicts for Felix. The cat starts out to collect his good fortune, and as soon as he steps outside the door all sorts of tough things happen to him. Disgusted and sore, Felix visits the astrologist and vents his anger upon him. Verv quaintly cartooned, and done with a lot of class that carries nice comedy.

"Hot Dog"—Oswald
Universal
Circus Fun
Type of production....1 reel cartoon
The circus comes to town, and Oswald the rabbit tries all sorts of schemes to get into the big top without paying. He experiences a series of exciting adventures as the cop chases him. He takes refuge in the lion's cage without realizing what he has done, but when the lion sees his membership card in the Lion's Club he treats him like an honored guest. Finallv as the cop chases him he gets a hitch on a wagon—but it turns out to be the patrol wagon, and poor Oswald is pinched anyway. The kids will like this one.

August 5
"Outnumbered"—Fables
Pathe
Cartoonatics
Type of production..1 reel animated
Old Al does a dizzy reel with the most of his Cartoonatics, they being in this instance a swarm of mice who rise hob and come near destroying old boy's peace of mind for good. His pal Henry Cat tries to subdue the mice. but they run him around in circles until he is dizzy. It winds up with Old Al getting real mad and chasing the gang clear over the hill and out into the open spaces.

"Skyscrapers"
Winkler—Universal
Clever
Type of production..1 reel animated
Oswald gets a chance to show his skill as a construction hand on a new building. Walt Disney has worked up some exceptionally clever cartoon material with a steam shovel and a donkey engine that are almost man. In fact they look like live creatures, and their expressions and actions are highly amusing. This Oswald cartoon is a good number featuring some fine cartoon ingenuity.

August 10, 1928
Pathe Offering First Cartoon in Sound
Pathe pioneers in the offering of the animated cartoons in sound through completion of the RCA Photophone recording of "Dinner Time," one of Aesop's Film Fables, as announced by Amedee J. Van Beuren, of the Van Beuren Enterprises, producers of this Paul Terry pen creation.

August 12
"Astronomeows"
Felix, the Cat—Educational
Amusing Cartoonantics
Type of production . . 1 reel cartoon
Felix, the Cat, in another pleasant number. The cartoon work is very good and the gags, as usual, clever. Felix, as keynoter at a national convention of "dem-o-cats" swings the crowd to a decision to live on Mars because cats lead "a dog's life" on earth. So Felix makes a tour of inspection first before bringing the crowd up to join him. His adventures are funny. This number will click—no doubt of it.

"A Cross-Country Run"
Aesop Fables—Pathe
Black and White Fun
Type of production . . 1 reel novelty
The menagerie cuts loose for a cross-country race in this number. There are plenty of illegitimate methods indulged in by the funny-looking contestants. Old Al, the farmer, comes through the winner when an ungentlemanly mule kicks him for several cartoon miles. The picture contains a few new touches and ought to please fans who like this type of material.
August 19, 1928
MINTZ PREPARING TO USE SOUND IN CARTOON SERIES
George Winkler, supervisor of Winkler cartoons arrives in New York today from the coast to confer with Charles B. Mintz on plans for the use of sound in Winkler cartoons.
The Mintz organization plans a series of one reel novelties in sound, using what Mintz described yesterday as a brand new character in motion pictures.

August 19
"Sunny Italy"
Aesop Fables—Pathe
Amusing Cartoon
Type of production...1 reel novelty
This offers the much-cartooned business of the kidnapping with Maria Mouse as the sweet young thing who is abducted while out in a gondola with her boy friend, Antonio. Our hero pursues the villain to his lair. The heavy flees with the maiden, and our hero, on board of a seahorse, overtakes them and effects the rescue. This Aesop Fable subject is cleverly done.

August 22, 1928
First Cartoon in Sound
Playing at Mark Strand "Dinner Time," the Pathe Aesop Film Fable which claims the distinction of being the world's first animated cartoon subject in sound, is currently being seen and heard at the Mark Strand, New York. The cartoon was made with the Photophone process, and is being shown at the Mark Strand on Western Electric equipment.

August 23, 1928
Paul Whiteman and his band have made a Columbia record of "Felix the Cat," the song and instrumental number which was inspired by the Felix the Cat animated cartoon comedies released by Educational.

August 25
"DINNER TIME"
Pathe—Photophone
Paul Terry—Aesop Fable in Sound
This first sound animated cartoon which has found so much favor with fans throughout the world in silent form will add even more adherents with whistles, screeches, howles, voices, bells and comedy effects synchronized perfectly.
This picture is a distinct laugh-hit with the audience all the way through and there are many new and distinct gags. Exhibitors cannot go wrong on this one and any more like it.

August 26
"Mississippi Mud"
Oswald—Universal
Clever
Type of production. . . .1 reel cartoon
Oswald is deck steward on a Mississippi river boat, and when the villain kidnaps the beautiful heroine and takes her away on the boat, then the fun begins for all hands. The cartoonist has evolved some very clever cartoon gags and sketches for showing the antics of the animated rabbit, and of course it winds up with the hero rescuing the girl and proving his right to her love. Well up to the high standard of this series.

"In the Bag"
Fables—Pathe
Peppy
Type of production..1 reel animated More country fun, with old Al taking his gang to the Farm Hands picnic. Al tries his hand at all the games, and generally comes off second best in his experience with the roller coaster, the chutes, the greased pig and the sack race. The cartoon is lively, and has all the animal antics that appeal to the kids.

September 2
"Dinner Time"
Aesop's Fables—Pathe
Clicks
Type of Production...Sound Cartoon
Here it is, the first cartoon in sound. All of the well known Fables characters including Billy-Bird, Waffles, Pat, Danny, Al Falfa and others appear in it with sound effects to enhance the entertainment values of what is ordinarily a right diverting reel. The sound effects were concocted by Max H. Manne, the incidental music conducted by Josiah Zuro and the RCA Photophone system used. A good job was done by all.

September 9
"Panicky Pancakes"—Oswald Winkler
Universal
Lively
Type of production. . .1 reel animated
Oswald is running a concession at the county fair, when various animals start to interfere with his business. First the elephant drains his lemonade bowl through his trunk, and then a pup steals his pancakes as he flips them in the air. Finally the bandit mice steal his cash register and Oswald has some exciting time before he recovers it. Good gags put over at a lively pace. Hamilton and Palmer are now handling the work on this cartoon series.

September 17, 1928
Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit, has made a departure in his amusement program. Heretofore there has been nothing topical in the cartoons in which Oswald is depicted. But the imagination of Oswald's creator, the Winkler Company, was so fired by Commander Byrd's determination to reach the South Pole, that they have made and will release in a very short time a picture entitled "The South Pole Flight."

September 23
"Jungle Bungles"—Bijou
Educational
Good Cartoon
Type of production..1 reel animated
Felix, the Cat, gets an idea to shoot motion pictures of the animals in the jungle wilds, and sets forth alone on his adventure. This results in some of the cleverest cartoon work that this series has recently produced. One stunt in particular is worthy of special mention. Felix is pursued by savages. He develops his film, and projects it against a large rock, showing the wild animals coming rushing toward the savages, who flee in terror, leaving Felix safe.

"Fiery Firemen"—Winkler
Universal
Clever
Type of production..1 reel animated (silent)
Oswald, the funny rabbit, turns fireman, and proves himself a hero when he tries to save Miss Hippo, but she falls on him and flattens him out. Some tricky stuff is worked in by having the firemen sleep or mechanical beds that are almost human and answer the fire alarm and do almost everything that the fire-men do.

Glenar Going to Coast
Sid Glenar, who has been working on trick photography on "Out of the Inkwell" cartoons, has resigned to leave Oct, 1 for the Coast.

September 30
"Bull-Oney"—Winkler
Universal
Animal Fun
Type of production..1 reel animated
This time Oswald, the rabbit finds himself a trainer for the bull that is picked to do his stuff in the bull ring. Before Oswald realizes what has happened, the bull has him in the center of the ring, and a real scrap is staged that the crowd didn't expect. Oswald finally escaped by a narrow margin. The audience consists of all the various animals, who arrive for the fight by transportation methods and vehicles that are laughable and original. Cleverly animated, and with lots of comedy action.

October 2, 1928
Disney Makes Sound Cartoon
Walt Disney, who animated many of the Alice cartoons for Winkler Pictures, has completed a cartoon subject in sound. Peerless Exchange will distribute.

October 7
"Felix in the Last Life"
Bijou Films
Educational
Snappy
Tvpe of production..1 reel animated
This is the last of the Pat Sullivan cartoons to be handled by Educational. Felix the Cat takes up aviation when his girl turns up her nose at the old-fashioned way of traveling in auto. The reel deals with the adventures of Felix as he tries to learn how to master the new device. Fortunately he had his life insured before he started, and when he gets through collecting insurance, he has collected for eight of his nine lives. Then he wisely decides to quit aviation, and marry and settle down with his last life still intact.

October 14
"Panicky Pancakes"—Oswald
Universal
Funny Cartoonantics Type of production cartoon
A diverting bit of nonsense involving pancakes, bandits and a lively chase over pen and ink mountain peaks in an effort to secure Oswald's stolen cash register. The cartoon work is excellent and the gags through the animal characters cavort are amusing.

"Rocks and Socks"—Winkler
Universal
Peppy
Type of production..1 reel animated
Oswald, the rabbit starts out for a day's shooting. He tackles a little tiger, and is lambasting it when the mother comes along and makes things hot for Oswald. Escaping finally from the tiger, he encounters other strange monsters of the jungle, and is glad to call it a day. The cartoon work is very unique and some clever technique is employed. It carries the laughs also.

October 21
"Sidewalks of New York"
Paramount Inkwell
Very Amusing
Type of production. . . .Sound cartoon
A clever and amusing cartoon, made by the drawing and animated via the apt pen of Max Fleischer and nicely synchronized with sound. The cartoon work is marked by an originality typical of this series. The added musical score helps it considerably. As a whole: a pleasing and diverting release. Time, about 5 mins.

"Gridiron Demons"—Fables
Pathe
Good Kidding
Type of production . . 1 reel animated
Here is given an animated cartoon conception of an Army-Navy football ball game. The mice represent the Navy team while Alfalfa and his friends line up for the Armv. They start practice by using Al for a dummy. Then the game itself is staged with the Goat scoring the only touchdown with his well known butting tactics. Done in the usual sprightly and original Aesop manner.

October 24
Scott Reports on "Fables"
Harry Scott, short subject sales manager of Pathe, back from a sales trip that took him to seven cities, reports considerable interest in the first syncronized Aesop Sound Fable, "Dinner Time," which is to have early first run showings in Detroit, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Cleveland. Other cities visited by Scott were Dallas, Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati.

October 28
"The Laundry Man"—Fables
Pathe
Average
Type of production..1 reel animated
In this one Alfalfa decides to be a laundry man and has a gala opening with all hands celebrating. But when he starts out with his first delivery his troubles begin. The cats and dogs start to muss things up and chuck all the laundry out of the wagon. The usual mixup with the old farmer and his animal friends and enemies, that will measure up to the average of this cartoon series.

"The South Pole Flight"
Winkler Cartoon—Universal
Type of production. . 1 reel cartoon
Comedy
These lucky Oswald rabbit cartoons provide a real kick for any kind of audiences. They are exceedingly clever, and some of their exaggerated silliness is good for real guffaws. This one shows Oswald making a dirigible flight to the South Pole, and the difficulties he encounters, only to land at the desired spot, to place an American flag at the Pole.

November 13, 1928
First Four Cinephone Cartoons Under Way
Four of a series of 26 new all sound animated cartoons to be made by Walter Disney, creator of the Oswald cartoons are now in work at the new Powers Cinephone studio in New York. The new series is tentatively titled "Micky Mouse." The first subject has been completed and three others will be ready for screening within the next week or ten days.
Each of the 26 subjects will have a distinguishing title. The first will be known as "Steamboat Willie" to be followed by "The Barn Dance, The Galloping Gaucho" and "Plain Crazy."

November 18
"Nicked Nags"
Krazy Kat—Paramount
Diverting
Type of production. .. 1 reel cartoon
Krazy Kat and his cartoon antics are always amusing. These animated bits of nonsense have a happy faculty of inducing chuckles so cleverly done are they. This release was caught at the Rivoli, New York, at the tail end of the bill. The hour was quite late, but a very good percentage of the crowded house waited to see Krazy and his latest crazy stunts. Which speaks much for the series and their drawing power.

EXHIBITORS DAILY REVIEW
November 19, 1928
"U" TO SYNCHRONIZE
'OSWALD' RABBIT COMICS
Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit of the Universal cartoon comedies, is to be synchronized or whatever they do to rabbits to make them talk and make funny noises. The cartoon comedies henceforth will appear with full Movietone sound and music effects.
The first Oswald with sound will be called "Oswald's Ragtime Band." It will be made as both a silent and a sound picture, since thousands of theatres are running the Oswald cartoons which do not have sound picture apparatus and who probably will not get it during the next year or longer.
"Oswalds" are made for Universal by the Winkler productions, Inc., headed by Charles Mintz.

EXHIBITORS DAILY REVIEW
November 19, 1928
"Cinephone" Precedent Set by Colony Show
A precedent in the question of "interchangeability", exactly the opposite of the Hagerstown case, is set this week at The Colony Theatre on Broadway, New York, where the Walter Disney animated sound cartoon, "Steamboat Willie" with sound recording by Powers Cinephone, is being presented and reproduced on a Western Electric device.
The Colony Theatre is equipped with Western Electric sound on film and disc reproducers. The Powers Cinephone recording is on the film and its reproduction at The Colony is on the same machine used for Movietone.
The Colony showing of the Disney cartoon also marks the first public presentation of the Powers Cinephone system. Film tests of the Powers Cinephone leading to the perfection of the machine have been going on during the past three years but they have all been shown privately.
The presentation of the Disney cartoon is also the premiere of a new series and a new comic character. It is also the first animated cartoon made especially for sound production, and as such it illustrates the perfection of synchronization that is possible when pictures are constructed especially for sound accompaniment.

November 21, 1928
The Third Day
Rounding out its 15th exhibition, "Steamboat Willie," a sound cartoon recorded via Powers' Cinephone yesterday played its third day at the Colony, New York over W. E. equipment without interruption, thus demonstrating complete interchangeability between these systems.

November 22, 1928
The Fourth Day
Powers' Cinephone subjects demonstrated interchangeability with Western Electric reproducing equipment for the fourth successive day when a cartoon subject on the bill of the Colony, New York last night rounded out its 20th performance. The picture, "Steamboat Willie," will be held over for a second week.

November 25
"Steamboat Billie"
Walt Disney Cartoon
Real Entertainment Type of production Cartoon in sound
This is what "Steamboat Willie" has: First, a clever and amusing treatment; secondly, music and sound effects added via the Cinephone method. The result is a real tidbit of diversion. The maximum has been gotten from the sound effects. Worthy of bookings in any house wired to reproduce sound-on-film. Incidentally, this is the first Cinephone-recorded subject to get public exhibition and at the Colony, New York, is being shown over Western Electric equipment. Distribution has not been set.

December 2
"Farmyard Follies"—Oswald Cartoon
Universal
Original
lype of production. .1 reel animated
Artists Hamilton and Lantz put a lot of clever animation into this one. They show in their work that they are striking out along new lines, and the hue of gags they develop for the bunny rabbit Oswald are amusing. Oswald attempts to take charge of things on the farm. He washes the lone pig, and tries to milk the cow, but with poor success. His chief trouble is with a sassy young chicken that insists on mixing things up generally till Oswald applies the ax to her neck. A very enjoyable cartoon comic for old and young.

"The Fishing Fool"—Fables
Pathe
Okay
Type of production. . 1 reel animated
All about a fishing trip indulged in by Waffles the cat and Al Falfa. As usual, the cat has all the luck while Al finds nothing but trouble on the end of his line. He goes through a series of remarkable adventures with a turtle, a mermaid and a walrus. Finally he is pursued by a monster fish which catches Al violating the fishing rules by angling with a mouse trap on his hook. Up to the Fables standard.

"The Yankee Clipper"—Oswald
Universal
Clever Type of production. . 1 reel comedy
Oswald, the funny rabbit goes through his cartoonatics in great form. This time he is a barber with a very up-to-date establishment. The animated barber pole picks up pedestrians ofif the street and shoots them into the barber chair. This helps trade a lot. The climax shows Oswald made up as a manicurist in order to please the villain wolf whom he has kept waiting. Wolf takes him for a necking party in his car, and when he discovers that Oswald ain't that kind of a gal, he throws him out with a pair of roller skates.

Exhibitors Daily Review
December 6, 1928
Harry Bailey, long with Aesop Fables and one of the pioneer animated cartoonists in the business is handing cigars around this week because of the arrival in his family of Miss Phyllis Anne Bailey . . Show some animation, Harry.

December 16
SOUND
"Stage Struck"—Aesop Fable—Pathe
RCA Photophone
Peppy
Type of production.. 2 reel cartoon comedy
Farmer Al Falfa at last finds a voice, and so do most of the animals who accompany him on his adventure. The old farmer insists on taking part in an amateur theatrical that is given down on the farm. He comes out on the stage for his various acts, but some hard luck always interposes to earn him a razzing from the animal audience. The sound effects are good comedy effects, and make the popular cartoon subject more entertaining than ever. Here is one place sound belongs without any arguments. No matter how poor the effects may be, the kids will always interpret it as part of the comedy and kidding. But in this case, the RCA outfit have done a fine job which should add new friends to the large following this subject enjoys.

December 19, 1928
Stanley Gets Cinephone Series
Pre-release contract for the new series of Walt Disney Cinephone sound cartoons, "Mickey Mouse," has been closed today with the Stanley Company of America by Charles Giegerich, eastern business manager for Disney.

EXHIBITORS DAILY REVIEW
DISNEY CARTOONS TO PLAY STANLEY
Charles J. Geigerich, business manager for Walter Disney, animated cartoon producer, yesterday closed a deal for the new series of 12 sound cartoons for the entire Stanley chain of theatres. The cartoons are being synchronized by Powers Cinephone.
The first booking on this deal will open at the Strand Theatre in New York week of January 1st.

39 Again?

When Jack Benny died in 1974, newspapers quietly joked in their obituaries that he was 39. It seems that Benny was always 39 but despite an Associated Press story in 1950 that it had been a joke of his for years, it wasn’t. Benny didn’t turn 39 on the radio until 1948. And he decided 39 was a funny number—and the vanity of it fit his character—that he stayed there. He played it up. Other radio shows played it up. As you can see, the AP even did a straight news story about it (newspapers ran it on their front page, too).

Pretty soon, the newspaper columnists realised a Jack Benny “39” birthday feature story was an easy one to do every February. Let’s give you a few. The first ones appeared in 1954, and this is one of them that year.

Jack Benny Still Calls It ‘Only 40’ But He’s Actually 60 Valentine Day
By JAMES BACON
ASSOCIATED PRESS STAFF WRITER
HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 13. — Tomorrow is not only Valentine’s Day, It is a notable milestone for Jack Benny. He will be 60 years old.
This man, who’s been 39 long enough for a whole generation of babies to grow old enough to vote, occupies a special, sort of niche. In years in show business, he has made few enemies. May be none.
This week Benny announces be will now be 40.
Hollywood is a place where a nasty story flies faster than jet ace Chuck Yeager. But you don’t hear any about Benny.
There may be a reason. Benny rarely kids anyone else; he’s too busy kidding himself. He’s made a fortune out of being the butt of his own jokes. That makes it hard for anyone else to get mad at him.
The Benny fountain of youth is just one of many myths that the wag of Waukegan likes to perpetuate about himself. Take his reputation for stinginess.
ANYONE WHO KNOWS will tell you that Benny is one of the most generous men in town. He is a perpetual gift giver, widely known for his charitable work. Yet, while many a star sends along press agents with each contribution, Benny prefers secrecy.
Eddie Cantor tells of the time he invited Jack to his home for dinner. During the course of the dinner, Cantor, an active worker for the cause, told Jack of a bonds for Israel drive.
“I could see Jack was interested,” Cantor recalls, “but he floored me when he wrote out check for $25,000.”
Cantor adds:
“The only reference I ever heard him make about it was once when he told a mutual friend: ‘Don’t ever eat at Cantor’s house. He serves the most expensive meals in town’.”
ANOTHER BENNY myth is his lack of violin skill.
To this day, the fiddle is his great love, except for his wife and daughter. Successful as he is as a comic, he occasionally broods over what might have happened had he practiced the violin more as a child. At the turn of the century, Waukegan, Ill., knew Benny as a child prodigy. Even in grammar school, he was good enough to play in the pit orchestra of the local vaudeville house.
Some weeks ago, he convulsed a swank filmland gathering as master of ceremonies.
After the banquet, most of the big shot guests left. Those who stayed for the dancing got a real treat. They saw happy Benny playing a jazzy violin in the orchestra.
ANOTHER FAVORITE Benny myth is his constant reference to his toupee — always good for a laugh. Jack has a good head of hair and needs a toupee like Liberace.
Benny made one of the great movie stinkers of all time a few years back, "The Horn Blows at Midnight.” He says frankly “It just plain stunk.” But he’s made it a sure-fire, laugh-getting gag for years. Recently, with a rewritten script, he played the role on TV in Ominbus, and it came off well.
Benny admits that offstage he is the most unfunny of top comedians. Laughmaking to him is a serious business. But other comics love him, because when he laughs it’s because something is funny. George Burns is probably his favorite. He has called Burns “the comedian's comedian.”
Once Burns called Jack in London. The call from Beverly Hills came through clear as a bell.
“I just called to say hello, Jack,” said George. “So hello.” Bang went the receiver.
BENNY TALKED about this gag for a year. Then Burns and Allen played the Palladium in London. Benny flew all the way to London. George and Gracie were attending a party. Benny got on a phone in the next room.
He had Jane Wyman imitate an English operator saying “Beverly Hills calling Mr. Burns.”
Jack, on the other end, said: “Hello, George, sorry I can’t be there” and slammed down the receiver. Burns thought the gag was terrific. Then Benny slipped into the room to make it even funnier.
One running gag on the Benny show concerns Mary Livingstone’s job behind the hosiery counter at the May Company. That's no myth. She actually was working there when she and Jack started getting serious about each other.
They have been married 27 years and she has been an important part of the act almost that long. A job with Benny amounts to a lifetime career. Don Wilson has been with him 20 years, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson 17 and Dennis Day better than 15.
OF KENNY BAKER, once the radio show’s top singer, Benny says: “I guess he got a few laughs and thought he could do better on his own. I didn’t know he wanted to leave until he left. He could be working for me today.” Today Benny says he doesn’t know where Baker is now.
Even his writers have been with him 11 years. That probably qualifies as a Hollywood record for the most expendable of local careers.
Benny was one of the first comedians to play straight for the other people in the cast. It has been said that Benny can get more laughs out of a simple “Hmmmmm” than most comics get from a sock joke.
“Yes,” agrees Benny, “but don’t forget that a lot went before that ‘Hmmmm’ to make it sound funny at that time.”

Now from February 14, 1955.

Jack Benny, 39, Promises He’ll Be 40 Next Year
BY ALINE MOSBY
HOLLYWOOD — (U.P.) — Jack Benny celebrated another 39th birthday today but next year, he promised, he’ll be 40.
For 11 years, Benny has been 39 on his radio and TV shows, a running gag that has turned the veteran comedian’s age into a national institution.
Actually, Benny is 61 on this Valentine’s day. In 1956 he will reluctantly add another year to the only age he’ll admit on his programs.
“I considered becoming 40 this year but my birthday was too far away from my show. Next year it will be closer so we can make a national event out of it,” said Benny, a smart showman even when it comes to birthdays.
“By the time I’m 43 on my show I won’t be able to work,” he smiled.
Believable Age Gag
Benny was sitting in Romanoff’s, an upholstered eatery where you often can see celebrities plowing into $6 lunches. But even in Hollywood the fancy restaurants have home town touches. Between courses Benny exchanged notes, dispatched by a patient headwaiter, with a diner on the other side of the room, Humphrey Bogart.
I thought Bogie’s notes were funnier. But, then Benny is the first to admit he surrounds himself with the best of TV-radio writers.
“People say I could just stand on the stage and be funny,” said Benny. “I’ve been in the business a long time. I know better. You have to have material. And it must have a fairly believable premise.”
Introduced Gag In ‘41
The age gag, believable because Benny doesn’t look his years, was introduced into his show in 1943. Benny then was supposed to be 36. The following year he became 37 but five years ago stopped at 39, and has vigorously resisted turning 40 ever since.
The joke is so well known now that when Arthur Godfrey recently asked a TV contestant his age, the audience howled when the man answered, “39.” Even Benny’s show business colleagues are mesmerized by the gag.
“You should see some of the movie scripts I get,” said Benny, “I’d have to be 39 to play them. Recently I was offered the role of a baseball pitcher! And they wanted me to do ‘Seven Year Itch’ on the stage. They don’t think I get any older.
Formula for Youth
“This may be because radio and TV are like a comic strip. You hear the same voice, see the same face. Entertainers don’t grow or sound older to people.”
Benny has a simple formula for keeping his youthful looks: Diet and stay in show business.
“In this business you keep looking young,” said Benny, who has the relaxed, healthy air of a big success (he is No. 1 on radio and in TV’s top 10).
“You work all the time and are always around young people. Why, when I walk on the stage I feel as I did when I walked on 30 years ago,” he said, and sauntered off to go to a golf course.

Ms. Mosby took a couple of birthdays off. Here’s her last one from February 13, 1957. Mosby left United Press to do public relations and freelance reporting from The Brussells Exhibition, then returned to the wire service to report from Moscow.

Actor Jack Benny, 63, Is 39 Again Thursday—Keeping Legend Straight
By ALINE MOSBY
* * *
HOLLYWOOD (UP) — Jack Benny celebrates his 39th birthday again Thursday — because staying 39, he said today, “keeps me young.”
The comedian who has won more continued success on radio and TV than any other entertainer actually will be 63 on Valentine’s Day. But to his millions of fans, and Benny himself, he’s still 39—a happy legend he began on his radio show back in 1945.
“People should forget birthdays and their age,” reflected Benny as he sat in his Beverly Hills office on the eve of the occasion.
“If it weren’t for observing birthdays, you couldn’t keep track of your age. It would be wonderful if a person couldn't. Some people feel old just because of those numbers that are pinned to him.
He Feels 39
“You don’t look older to people who see you all the time. I really feel 39—just as I forgot my right name as soon as I changed it to Jack Benny. I do the 39 gag so much on my show that I don’t picture myself as much older.”
Benny first used the age gag in 1945 on radio when he announced he was 36. He was 37 for a couple of years and finally moved to 39 where he stayed. Since then the age joke—along with gags about his Maxwell car and his gold-filled vault—has become a national legend. Once a Texas newspaper headlined, “Temperature Hits Jack Benny Age—39.”
The gentle, amiable comedian realized the importance of his 39 pose two years ago when he planned to turn 40 on his CBS-TV show. It was to be a national event, an hour program bringing together all the entertainers who have worked with him, from Frank Parker to Phil Harris.
But a Boston newspaper talked Jack out of it.
Gag Helps Others
“Someone sent me an editorial they printed," said Jack, parking his feet on top of his desk. “It begged me not to grow older.
"Their reasoning was that it has been a great help to a lot of people who now can figure that when they get to be 39 they won’t get any older, either. And so they don’t get older.
"I usually don't heed critics.
This was the first time I ever listened to a newspaper. We cancelled the show and I’m still 39.”
Each year Jack receives thousands of birthday cards, many marked 39. Fans also send gifts, such as a model of an old Max well that sits on his desk. He also is proud of such presents as a 1955 Pennsylvania license plate, “JB 39,” and old hub caps from Maxwells.
This year Jack will be given his biggest birthday party in his life. He’ll be feted by the top stars of show business Thursday night at a $100-a-plate dinner with proceeds going to the American Heart Fund.

Finally, Jack gave some tips in the February 19, 1954 edition of Collier’s on how to avoid becoming 40. He got a promo piece from the United Press. There’s no byline on this one.

Jack Benny 39?
NEW YORK, Feb 4. (UP)—Jack Benny made an announcement today. He’s going to be “40.”
The comedian, who has been 85 —or younger — since your old crystal set, told how he discovered and got used to the difficult idea in an article for a popular magazine.
“Today I face the future fearlessly,” Benny wrote, “convinced that, after 39 years of the best fruits of life, my next 39 years will be just as fruitful—and will last just as long.”
In passing, Benny passed on some hints for avoiding 40.
Benny listed them this way:
“1. Before your 40th birthday keep circulating the story that you’re 39. If people hear it often enough they'll believe it for years.
“2. When in the company of younger people, ask their advice on everything. Pretty soon they’ll begin to believe they’re older than you are.
“3. Stay slim, thin people always look younger. Connie Mack is 92, but he's so slender nobody figures him to be more than 88.
“4. If you have to spend any money, do it grudgingly. People will think you’re saving up for your old age instead of entering it. This rule won't cost you anything except a few friends, but you’ll have so much money you’d be ducking them anyway.
“5. Avoid reminiscing about the past. If the name Lincoln should come up in your conversation, be sure that it's the car you’re talking about and not the President.”
P.S. Who’s Who says Benny was born Feb. 14, 1894, in Waukegan, Ill.

We don’t have “a million of ‘em” as the great Jimmy Durante once said, but we do have a few more birthday columns from the 1950s that we’ll post some other time.

Emery Hawkins

Many of the great names of theatrical animation parked themselves at one studio, and then stayed there for years. They left when the studio died.

Then there’s Emery Hawkins.

Animators love Hawkins’ work. But you can’t associate him with any studio because Hawkins never stayed in one place for too many years before he’d move on. That’s just the way he was.

Hawkins was born in Jerome, Arizona on April 30, 1912 to Charles T. and Francis Bruce Hawkins (a young brother, Elmer Iman Hawkins, died in infancy 1914). He died in Taos, New Mexico on June 1, 1989. Between those dates, Hawkins ended up working at seemingly every major cartoon studio in Los Angeles, even directing cartoons for Walter Lantz, then moved into commercial animation at John Sutherland (where he met his second wife Odette) and Storyboard (where he animated Maypo commercials). He continued to work after moving to Taos in 1963. He received universal praise for his work on Greedy in Richard Williams’ “Raggedy Anne and Andy.”

Incidentally, Hawkins’ babysitter when the family lived in Kingman, Arizona was Andy Devine, according to Lovell Norman, who credited Hawkins with getting him into animation at Lantz in 1934.

The local weekly paper didn’t publish an obituary for some reason. Hawkins had been stricken with Alzheimer’s; a benefit at the International Tournees of Animation at the Nuart in West Los Angeles was staged for him in September 1988. But the paper did print this feature story about Hawkins on January 7, 1982.

Taos cartoonist animates life
By MAX McELWAIN
Emery Hawkins shuffles quickly through a sketchpad of drawings. It is the only way he can bring to life the dozens of successive drawings—each different of a withered witch with a hairpin for a wand.
“It’s hard to show what I do just by looking at this,” mumbles Hawkins in his Taos workshop.
Anybody who wants to learn what Hawkins does needs only to flip on the television and see Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck or Woody Woodpecker.
Emory Hawkins, whose career in animated cartoons has spanned almost a half-century, was drawing Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck before television was born.
And, after the television was introduced, Hawkins commenced a career in commercials that found him drawing cartoons to accommodate voices belonging to a couple of characters named Mike Nichols and Elaine May.
TODAY, Hawkins, who has lived in Taos for 18 years, is well into a third stage of his career: he is working on a feature-length, animated film called “The Cobbler and the Thief.” (Hawkins’ first feature, “Raggedy Ann,” played at the Plaza Theater in 1977.)
By working in Taos, Hawkins is proving that an animator can make a living away from the bright (and sometimes distracting lights) of Hollywood.
Hawkins has been at the forefront of the animation world ever since he went to work for Walt Lantz in Hollywood back in the Depression.
He started drawing cartoons when he was eight years old, growing up in Los Angeles. By the time he was 14, Hawkins had been published in the cartoon section of the Los Angeles Times.
His first job was with Walt Lantz. “I was made an animator when I shouldn’t have been,” Hawkins recalls. “I never had an apprenticeship today, animators come in trained, and they don’t skip steps like I did.
“But Walt Lantz had to get rid of me. I was changing their animation, so they canned me and I went to work at the Mintz Studios.”
THUS BEGAN a leap-frog career that found Hawkins working for just about every Hollywood studio that produced cartoon shorts.
He did Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam at Warner Brothers; Woody Woodpecker at Walt Lance [sic] and five stints with Walt Disney.
“Disney’s was a great organization, but I wasn’t a company man. I was a loner, and I worked better by myself. But I’d take my work to Walt, and he’d later use some of it.”
Hawkins, who says he also “worked in the crummy studios, where it was more fun because you could experiment more”, quickly learned what most of the studios wanted.
“They wanted footage, not Rembrandt drawings. They wanted quantity, not quality,” says Hawkins. “In fact, at Warner Brothers we made one six-and-one-half minute short a week; the other studios made maybe ten a year. Warner Brothers told us: ‘we don't want chicken salad, we want chicken s—.’ Disney and Harmonizing [sic] were the two studios that made quality pictures.”
In 1950, Hawkins, like the rest of the world, discovered television. For Hawkins, who had made $18 a week during the Depression in Hollywood (“that was a good salary then,”) TV was a creative and financial gold mine.
“I was tired of drawing Bugs Bunny running up and down the road, getting hit on the head,” recalls Emory. “When TV started in 1950, I started with it. Commercials gave me the opportunity to go my own way, to be creative. As corny as a lot of animated commercials were, they were something fresh.”
So, from 1950 until 1963, when he moved to Taos, Hawkins juggled his work between Hollywood and New York, where he drew television commercials.
“When you did commercials, all the characters were different. In the movies, there were models you always had to follow, like for Bugs Bunny,” recalls Hawkins.
There was a successful commercial for Lucky Strikes, and one for Jack’s Beer, which Hawkins drew for seven years.
“Then the beer went to bubbles, and that was that.”
IN 1963, Hawkins and his wife moved to Taos after passing through town on their honeymoon.
In 1975, Hawkins’ career changed direction —for a third time. He started working on a feature film titled “Raggedy Ann,” which was released in 1977 (it played in Taos) and is “the most enjoyable project” Hawkins has worked on.
“It was released, but not with a big bang,” he says. “The trouble was that it was a musical, and kids don’t care for sophisticated musicals. Also, I don’t think people cared for it because it wasn't ‘modern.’”
For the past four years, Hawkins has been working in Taos—and in Taos only—on “The Cobbler and the Thief.” The film’s director is Richard Williams, who has a studio in Hollywood as well as London.
“He’s kind of a fantastic guy,” says Hawkins. “The only person I’ve known as creative as he was John Hubley, whom I worked for in Hollywood. Hubley was the guy who led the revolt against the Disney-style studio, and one of the most talented people I’ve known.
“Animation is really a very talented business. There’s a certain modesty in the field, because most animators would rather draw cartoons than anything.”

There's a post-script to Hawkins’ death, published in the local paper in the issue of June 5-11, 2003.

Human leg bone puzzles authorities
By R. Scott Gerdes
The Taos News
The human femur bone resting inside one pant leg discovered Thursday (May 22) morning by groundskeepers pruning bushes at the Sierra Vista Cemetery on State Road 64 in El Prado is perplexing authorities.
The thigh bone and the pant leg have been sent to the Office of the Medical Examiner (OME) in Albuquerque, said Taos Police Investigator Barry Holfelder. The size of the bone indicates it is that of an adult. Blood stains were also found on the pant leg.
The pant leg might give Holfelder some of the best clues, he said. “I think the pants might be Native American because of the uniqueness,” Holfelder explained.
The pant leg appears to have the crotch cut out, similar to leggings worn by some Native Americans.
According to Holfelder, OME has looked at the pant leg and reported that the material is polyester. Also, the name E.O. Hawkins was printed on a pocket.
Holfelder said he searched the cemetery Wednesday (May 28). One hundred feet away from where the leg bone was found, he discovered the undisturbed graves of Emery and Odette Hawkins. Emery Hawkins was buried in 1989 and his wife in 2000.
“I’m stumped,” Holfelder said. To compound the mystery, Holfelder said there are no missing persons reports for anyone from the area.
One thing Holfelder is fairly certain of is the Albuquerque Journal’s report that stated he believed prairie dogs could be responsible is untrue.
“I noticed some holes around some of the grave sites in the cemetery and one comment led to another,” Holfelder said.
“Prairie dogs are not suspects. I don't know how they'd even get into a coffin.”
He added that exhuming Emery Hawkins’ grave was an idea “being thrown around” but, it's unlikely that will happen due to the “thousands of dollars” it costs for an incident he doesn’t feel warrants such an extravagant move.
“At this time I don't feel like I have any crime,” he said.

Want some examples of Hawkins’ animation? Who better to compile it than Thad Komorowski, who also transcribed John Canemaker’s interview with Hawkins that you can find HERE.

Mutts About Backgrounds

“Mutts About Racing” was directed by Mike Lah, designed by Ed Benedict, with backgrounds by Fernando Montealegre. All three would later work at the Hanna-Barbera studio making the first season of Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and Pixie and Dixie. And there’s some of that influence in this cartoon.

Here are some of Monty’s backgrounds. The cartoon was in Cinemascope, and the drawings reflect that. The first one isn’t a complete background, just enough to give you an idea. I’d guess the rocks and tree in the second one are on an overlay. The tree reminds me of the kind Art Lozzi drew in the first season Yogi cartoons at H-B.




And a few more. The first one has a simple box for a house, much like the school house in “Little Bird Mouse,” a very early Pixie and Dixie cartoon designed by Benedict. The billboard in the second has a sharp-nosed guy that Benedict liked drawing. The speed limit sign on the last one is on an overlay.









A theatre in Winnipeg was showing this as early as March 13, 1958. By then, the MGM cartoon studio had been closed for almost a year, and Benedict, Lah and Monty had finished a season of TV cartoons.

Bulldog in a Box

At first, it looks like Tex Avery has a continuity error in “Bad Luck Blackie” (1947). But Tex was so meticulous with each frame, I suspect what’s happened is he wanted a gag to register so he backed up a bit in time.

The little kitty hesitantly opens the jack-in-a-box and the head sticks out. But then Tex cuts to a long shot and the head hasn’t stuck out yet.





The kitten watches the bulldog pop up for ten drawings, then the take. Note the anticipation first. The fourth drawing is on one frame, the other kittens are held for two, but the bulldog moves like, well, a jack-in-the-box would.







Louie Schmitt designed the characters and gets an animation credit, along with Preston Blair, Walt Clinton and Grant Simmons.

Fred Allen Sees Oblivion

Fred Allen’s radio show came to an end on June 26, 1949 and it was probably a relief for all concerned. Allen was tired and doctors ordered a rest. His ratings were down. Network radio was dying; network television was taking off. And despite NBC probably being fed up with Allen’s on-air putdowns of broadcast entertainment in general and the network in particular, they knew he had star power and kept him under contract during his sabbatical.

Allen didn’t have a weekly platform for his views on radio and television any more, so he took his opinions to the press. In interviews, Allen wasn’t always satiric, he was bitter, bordering on morose at times. We’re going to post two of them, one today and one next week. They were published about five weeks apart, written by different columnists on opposite sides of the U.S.

John Crosby of the New York Herald Tribune syndicate knew he could fill space just by asking Allen about the shape of radio and nascent TV. So he did. This was published December 6, 1949. See if anything has changed.

Radio In Review
By JOHN CROSBY
Unemployed Actor
HAD lunch with Fred Allen the other day to find out how it feels to be an unemployed actor. “I feel like God on the seventh day.” He was chomping his customary lettuce leaf at his customary table at the Plaza. Allen has just had a bout of illness which left him 20 pounds lighter.
On him, it looks good. (I ought to point out this unemployment is voluntary. Fred, at the insistence of his doctors, is taking a year off.)
“It’s wonderful, this freedom. You can live on the money you save on aspirin,” he remarked cheerfully.
"The only trouble is I keep thinking of jokes and I don’t know what to do with them. I thought of one the other day. ‘These days the price of coffee will keep you awake.’ Well, that joke has been keeping me awake. I don't know what to do with it. I wish you’d take it off my hands.”
HE NODDED pleasantly at a lady who had smiled at him from across the room.
“I have to be very careful. My public has shrunk to such an extent that I have to be polite to all of them. I say hello to people in sewers. You know, I went off the air once before—back in 1944. We got three letters deploring it.
“This time we’re way ahead of that. I think we got fifteen. Man spends seventeen years in this business trying to build it up, and he goes off the air and who cares? People still write me for tickets. They think I’m still on the air. I think they have me confused with Red Skelton. It makes a man bitter.”
He chomped some more lettuce, reflectively.
“I had 17 years. You don’t even do that to land. You wouldn’t plow the same land for seventeen years without giving it a rest. But radio does it to comedians.
“ANYHOW, I’LL be ready for the welfare state when it arrives — not working. Most of you working people will be terribly ill at ease for awhile but I’ll be used to it.”
In spite of all this talk about retirement, Allen has a contract with NBC which will restore him either to radio or put him on television next Fall. He doesn’t know which yet but he thinks there’s no point in thinking about radio any more.
“They’re cutting the budgets way down. With a small budget you can’t put a show like mine on the air without reducing the standards you set for yourself.”
Allen is one of the most rabid as well as one of the most critical of television fans. We turned to that.
“You can make more money in bed than you can in television. They ought to turn the cameras on the stagehands. They make more money than the actors.
“WHEN YOU SEE Kukla, Fran and Ollie come alive on that little screen, you realize you don’t need great big things as we had in radio. They ought to get one of these African fellows over here to shrink all the actors. We’re all too big for this medium.
“What gets me is why they haven’t sold the Dave Garroway show. Whoever does that show is turning out real television: he's creating something for television.
Berle isn’t doing anything for television. He's photographing a vaudeville act. That’s what they’re all doing.
“Even ‘The Goldbergs’, which has been so well received, gets tiresome after you see it four or five times. You know what the uncle is going to do and you know what the kids are going to do.
“THE TROUBLE with television is it’s too graphic. In radio, even a moron could visualize things his way: an intelligent man, his way. It was a custom-made suit. Television is a ready-made suit. Everyone has to wear the same one.
“Everything is for the eye these days—‘Life,’ ‘Look,’ the picture business. Nothing is for the mind. The next generation will have eyeballs as big as canteloupes and no brain at all.”
Allen has been trotting around sampling opinion on television in some effort to find out what people like.
“I talked to the oysterman at Grand Central the other day,” he remarked morosely. “He likes everything on television. Even Maurey Amsterdam looks good after staring at oysters all day long.
“That’s one of the reasons you don’t have color television. You’d catch all the actors blushing at the things they have to say. One thing I can’t understand—all this advertising of television sets on television. If you see the ad, you already own a television set.
“WE ALL HAVE a great problem—Benny, Hope, all of us. We don’t know how to duplicate our success in radio. We found out how to cope with radio and, after 17 years, you know pretty well what effect you’re achieving.
“But those things won't work in television. Jack Benny’s sound effects, Fibber’s closet — they won’t be funny in television. We don’t know what will be funny or even whether our looks are acceptable.
He nodded at another fan across the room.
“Middle-aged,” he commented. “I notice all the people who come up to me are middle-aged. No kids. I’ve played to three generations on radio and in show business. Now I've got to grapple with a fourth.”

Two Long Pigs

The story’s a little ill-conceived in spots, but there’s some nice work in “Alley to Bali,” a 1954 Woody Woodpecker cartoon directed by Don Patterson. Some effective layouts, good use of colour and Clarence Wheeler’s arrangements (or whoever was arranging for him) are highlights. And some of the animation’s pretty good, too. Herman Cohen, Ray Abrams and Ken Southworth aren’t known for being A-listers, but Cohen and Abrams were animating in the ‘30s and Southworth worked at Disney (in 1940, he was an office clerk for a wholesale grocer in Chicago).

There’s a really interesting speed/outline effect in this cartoon. I couldn’t tell you who drew it. Woody and Buzz Buzzard are sailors—deemed edible “long pigs” to some echoing volcano god in Indonesia. They’re lured to the volcano by the god’s female servant (using her femininity as bait).



Buzz rushes over top of Woody to get to the woman, but he consists of mutliple outlines.



Then Woody stretches back and he becomes a multiple outlines as races after Buzz.




The effect is used later when Homer Brightman’s story suddenly, and misguidedly, plays the dramatic climax for laughs. Somehow a frying pan is conjured up, Woody and Buzz land in it, there’s a salt-and-pepper-shaker gag, a temporary-transformation-into-sausage gag, then both become multiple outlines as they make a dash for it.





Yeah, that’s the creative way they get out of their predicament. They just run away. Nice going, Homer.

Patterson got bumped back into animating when producer Walter Lantz hired Tex Avery, then when Avery left, he wasn’t rehired to direct; Lantz brought in Alex Lovy from one of the commercial houses. Nothing against Lovy, but it’s too bad Patterson didn’t get a second shot.

Snafuperman Snafu

In cartoons, arms, hands, legs or bodies sometimes disappear, and it’s not because an anvil has been dropped on someone. It’s because someone screwed up and the animation checker didn’t notice.

You know how it works. Part of a character may remain still for a few drawings while other parts move. The other parts are on separate cels. Occasionally, one of them is forgotten when the scene is photographed and no one spots it.

That happened in the military cartoon “Snafuperman,” animated by the Freleng unit at Warners. For two frames, part of Snafuperman is missing.






This hit military screens in February 1944, so Gerry Chiniquy, Virgil Ross, Manny Perez and Dick Bickenbach were probably in the unit at the time. Paul Julian drew the backgrounds.

Fleischer Cartoon Ads, 1935

The Fleischer studio had the best-looking and funniest cartoons out of New York. When the 1930s began, the Fleischers presented the world with some of the oddest-looking characters in stories that were interrupted by little routines (some of which had little to do with what was going on screen) or took a sudden left turn into strangeness. As the decade wore on, the cartoons mellowed. Experts blame the Production Code of 1934, a strike, a move to Florida and a case of D.C.D. (Disney Cutsey Disorder), not necessarily in that order.

Here are some full-page ads from The Film Daily from 1935. The designs in the Color Classics ad look like the great goggle-eyed characters of the early ‘30s. The Popeye two-reeler didn’t come out until late 1936 (and “Sinbad” inherited an extra “d” in his name). I’m of the vintage who first saw the cartoon on TV in the black-and-white days but it’s truly spectacular in full colour. And I can only presume that Betty Boop was saddled with newspaper comic strip characters in an attempt to make lightning strike twice in the same studio. The Fleischers successfully adapted Elzie Segar’s Popeye to the screen after a try-out on a Boop cartoon. Henry, the Kaztenjammer Kids (who later bombed at MGM) and the Little King (who had an earlier appearance at Van Beuren) failed. Someone could have sued for false advertising for gluing the moniker “the Funniest Living American” on Henry. Only the last word appears to be correct.

How to Write a TV Show

The variety show hosts of radio’s great days in the 1940s didn’t stand in front of a microphone and make up a half-hour show on the spot every week. There were highly-paid writers, though some stars had a reputation of treating them like crap and leaving the impression they were the fount of all comedy creativity on their shows.

Some of the stars got involved in the writing process. Jack Benny was one, though he didn’t sit there and come up with the jokes. And just as Benny let his cast get the funny lines, he generally let his writers do the writing. No wonder his writers stuck with him all those years.

The San Mateo Times TV columnist put together a how-they-write-the-Benny-show story on March 16, 1957. Jack’s radio show was off the air by then, but his radio writers were still with him and adapted some of their radio routines for Benny’s television show. It was a little difficult, partly because radio is not a visual medium, and partly because some of Benny’s radio cast didn’t move with him to TV, or appeared only occasionally. But the method of writing the TV show was exactly the same as it was for the radio show in the mid-to-late ‘40s. And the writers still had the one main cog of the Benny radio show—Benny himself. His radio persona was so well defined, moving it to another medium was simple. And now his fans could see him stand there and react to all the things that used to happened to him on radio. The laughs poured out. It sure made writing easy.

Comedy Is A Real Science: Writers
By BOB FOSTER
For Sam Perrin, George Balzer, Al Gordon and Hall Goldman [sic], the talk about the high mortality rate among comedy writers is just so much talk. They know nothing about such things.
The talented, and lucky, men are the four who pick each other’s brains each week to come up with eomedy material for Jack Benny on his twice monthly show. Perrin and Balzer have been pounding a typewriter in the Benny outfit for fourteen years, while Gordon and Goldman have been around, happily, for seven years or so.
Most comedy writers last about two years with a comedian. They, used up, drift into another show with another star and a different format—or sometimes wind up as difficult producers and directors.
THESE FOUR GUYS think they have the formula for longevity. This week they told the secret. In case any budding young writers might be looking over my shoulder, here’s part of the secret.
The first ingredient necessary for the concoction of this humorous pies [sic] is of course the basic idea. The idea may come from Jack, anyone of the four writers, members of the cast or even an actual event that may have occurred to any of them.
FIRST OF ALL, the four work as two teams. Perrin and Balzer work as one team, while Gordon and Goldman work together. Most of the time they split a show in half. One team will work on the monologue and that tag that comes at the end, the other team writing a skit that comprises the body of the show.
Occasionally they all pitch in and work a show together for its entire length.
Being funny is hard serious work, they all claim. Perrin says, “We work in our shirt sleeves” and he added, “we quite frequently are exhausted by the time a show is put on.”
TO THESE FOUR, comedy writing is an exact science. “All of us have studied comedy writing, we hope we know what makes people laugh and what makes them cry,” one of the men said.
A Benny show starts with a story conference during which the basic ideas is placed before the writers. Then begins the grim business of turning a basic idea into a side-splitting 30-minute television show.
One of the writers might begin by saying “all right fellows, here is the situation. Jack decides he’s getting too fat and has to go on a diet.”
From this moment on, all the writers start throwing fat man gags and the dietetic situations, all tailored to the Benny style of comedy. This conference may last for an hour, maybe all day, but when the writers split into teams they have the show on its way.
A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER the boys get back together with Jack who listens to the rough script and makes suggestions. Occasionally he and his writers disagree. In most cases however, Jack defers to their judgement, proven by many years Jack has had one of the nation’s top comedy show.
A few days later they all get together again for a first read through with the cast. Another day or two of rehearsal during which gags that didn’t quite come off are changed. The script is polished and the show is soon on the air.
During the actual broadcast the four writers sit in the control room. They laugh at some of their own jokes, and grimace at others. If the audience reaction is good they go away feeling good. If not they are depressed. After a few comments about the show, a hand shake from Jack, they immediately start a new show. It’s a vicious circle, but it pays off.