Benny and the Brits

If you wanted to get an old-timer in show business to light up, all you had to do was say the word “vaudeville.” All of them seem to have been nostalgic for it, despite the endless travel, low pay and unresponsive audiences that they endured. Maybe because it was a simpler time, one without an entourage who used them for a livelihood or the daily disruptions in life that fame brings. Maybe it was being part of a supportive group (of outcasts, in some cases) all trying to make it big. Fred Allen wrote a whole book about his struggles in vaudeville (the delightful Much Ado About Me), but left you with the impression he’d go back to it in a second. And Jack Benny loved it, too, despite the fact he struggled along with everyone else at one point. Unlike Allen, Jack didn’t just recall it. He tried to live it one last time. Again and again.

World War Two took Jack Benny around the world but post-war, his destination of choice was London. The New York Times wrote on July 21, 1948:

British theatre critics were almost as enthusiastic today as the fans of Jack Benny who filled the Palladium last night to welcome him in person. The audience obviously knew every aspect of the comedian’s material by heart and revelled in its translation from air to stage by Phil Harris, Mary Livingstone and Marilyn Maxwell.

About the same show, a headline in the Boston Globe read: “Jack Benny Given 10-Minute Ovation by London Audience.” Is it any wonder he went back? In June, 1950, Benny, Harris, Rochester and a cast of 40 took their tour to London, where he gave a command performance for the royal family. In 1957, he performed with the London Symphony and appeared on the BBC. Two years later, London was among the overseas destinations where Jack had filmed part of his TV show. In 1961, he gave a command performance for the Queen Mother—as Gracie Allen, with George Burns. Four years later, he was before the Queen himself. And as himself.

Here’s a United Press column from 1948 where Jack talks about England—and vaudeville.

Jack Benny Finds Londoners Are Going Big For Vaudeville
By VIRGINIA MacPHERSON
HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 1.—(UP)—Jack Benny came up today with the answer to the old wheeze: “Whatever happened to vaudeville?" It went to England, he says, where they think the “two-a-day” is a bit of all right.
“They’ve got everything over there,” he says. “Jugglers, trained seals, even old gals who sing squeaky songs and double on a fiddle.”
Also Hollywood’s best movie stars.
The dyed-in-the wool greasepaint hams who started in vaudeville and never got it out of their systems are trekking to London at the drop of a contract.
They get out there on the stage and whoop it up till the customers can’t sit still any longer. They don’t even mind following those seals.
That includes Benny, Hollywood’s frustrated fiddler, who started as a doorman in Waukegan, Ill., and talked his way up from there, was one of the first on the boat.
“Everybody’s been over there,” Benny said. “Danny Kaye, Carmen Miranda, Dinah Shore, Betty Hutton . . . everybody. They broke all records and they ate it up.”
The Londoners will hawk everything but ration points to see a Hollywood star in the flesh. But that does not mean they let their own performers play to empty seats.
“It’s part of the British tradition,” Benny explained. “Once an entertainer hits the top, he stays there—just because the English do not like to change things.”
“There could be the worst paper shortage in history and they would still have that big, floppy paper money. Same way with their vaudeville stars. An old guy may have to hobble out on a cane, but they’re loyal to him. Once a headliner always a headliner with the British.
And you can forget all you ever heard about the English sense of humor being slow, Benny added.
“They’re great. Got every joke I told,” he said. “And I use some pretty sophisticated stuff on the stage. They didn’t wait till the next morning to hawhaw, either.
Made him feel kind of lonesome for the old days, it did.
He said wistfully:
“There’s nothing like vaudeville. Too bad it’s so far away.”

Tat

The Depression wouldn’t seem like a good time to open a cartoon studio, unless you had a tie-in with one of the major studios so your shorts could be block-booked with features. But several independents gave it a go anyway—with predictable results. They went nowhere.



We documented a bit of information about Mayfair Productions, which was all set to make “Skippy” cartoons for United Artists before a halt was put to the idea after a pilot cartoon was made. At least it had a deal with a bigger studio. That’s more than Tat’s Tales Productions could post.

Here we have the Film Daily Yearbook for 1937. A couple of studios are a mystery here but we’re focusing on Tat’s. Who’s Tat and what are his tales? I cobbled together a bit of information only to discover someone else had asked himself the same question and had decided to research for himself.

Daniel Francis Tattenham was born in Galveston, Texas on April 8, 1896 to Daniel F. and Dorothy (Meyer) Tattenham. By 1905, newspaper reports show the family was in San Francisco where his father was a deputy sheriff and active for many years in the Barber’s Union. He was working at the Chicago Tribune in 1919 because the paper ran a classified ad in June for an experienced air brush and layout man, with Tat as the contact. In 1928, he copyrighted something to do with colour motion pictures and submitted three reels to the U.S. Copyright Office. The following year, he had a private disc cut at Brunswick records for reasons unknown. He also belonged to the Photographers Union (through the January 1932 issue of International Photographer, the Chicago local bluntly announced he was no longer a member).

But then he ended up working for Walt Disney. The Dispatch-Democrat of Ukiah, California, dated July 17, 1931, has a note about Tat’s wife:

It will interest friends here who knew her as Dora Hoxie to learn that her husband is head cartoonist for “Mickey Mouse,” and that the Tattenhams have recently transferred their home from Chicago to Los Angeles in order to be nearer the studios for convenience in producing the famous talkies which are favorites with children of all ages.

“Head cartoonist” would seem to be a stretch.

But then Tat decided to strike out on his own. He apparently had his own studio by 1934 because Frank Tashlin’s biography written by Roger Garcia (1994) states that Tashlin worked there then. The book says, and refers to animation historian Mike Barrier:

The studio supposedly made a couple of fairy-tale cartoons but closed when they could not be sold. Apparently these films no longer exist. [Barrier has an undated group photo of the company's staff - including, in addition to Tashlin, Isadore Ellis, who in the mid-1940s would serve as an animator with Tashlin's unit at Warner Bros.]

The book calls Tat as “an advertising executive from San Francisco.” The studio is listed in the City Directory for 1936 and in the Film Daily directories for 1936 and 1937. But it seems probable the listings were already outdated. The studio was at 5515 Melrose Avenue. In the early ‘20s, it was the home of Rothacker-Allen, a film lab company. But on December 7, 1935 it formally became the new home of NBC in Hollywood, with an inaugural broadcast that date. Broadcasting magazine mentions nothing about Tat’s studio in its article on the grand opening published December 15th and considering the extensive renovations and space required by the network, it’s inconceivable the studio was still there at the time or had been for months. The Los Angeles Times reported on July 3rd that construction of the new NBC studios had begun the day before. It called the address the “site formerly occupied by Consolidated Film Industries,” and stated the building had “idle since the fire of 1929,” making no mention of Tat or a cartoon company (the fire on October 24, 1929, incidentally, killed one person and injured six. Insurance claims were not settled until 1935).

Census records in 1940 show Tat living in Oakland and running his own printing and advertising business, but his draft card signed in 1942 gives a Los Angeles address and shows him working for a company that made advertising signs. Tat died in Placerville, California on September 7, 1966.

Alas, our trail runs cold. There appears to be little concrete information about his colour photography discovery, his hiring by Walt Disney, his studio or his Tales. It would seem his career in animation was brief. Daniel Tattenham would appear to be just another footnote in the story of the Golden Age of Theatrical Cartoons.

Not Just Spooks

Recognise this silent film star?



A little over 20 years later, he’d be on TV, bald (what hair he had was grey) and interacting with a cartoon woodpecker. Yes, it’s Walter Lantz. And in the 1920s, to show you what’s old is new again, he was interacting with cartoon characters in silent film shorts for the Bray studio. He and Gerry Geronimi (later of Disney) came up with the Dinky Doodle series, where Dinky and his dog (and other drawn characters) would appear in Walter’s real life world.

The shot above is from “Just Spooks” (1925). I digress for a moment to mention an attempt is being made to preserve this old cartoon. Check HERE.

The old-fashioned combined animation/live action in this short is still effective and it’s pretty funny in spots. The story starts out with the premise that Walter is painting a picture of a meadow. Except he’s not. He has no paint on his brush and there’s no canvas in the frame he’s supposedly painting on. Dinky, his dog and a cow watch. The cow’s great. Its head and body stretch. Its tail stretches to gives a thumbs up.



It mimicks Lantz’s expressions.



Lantz shakes his first at the animal. It responds with horns that form fists.



It gives Lantz the bird.



And it licks the eyes off its head. The eyes roll stretch, then roll back up the enlongated tongue onto the head.



It editorialises about Lantz.



And it gallops off into the distance (one drawing is out of sequence).



The cartoon is supposed to be “just spooks,” but we get a cow for the first couple of minutes and then a mosquito before the ghosts show up.

The series lasted a couple of years. You can read about it on Tom Stathes’ site. Lantz was soon off to Hollywood and, eventually, gained a studio but lost his hair. What would the cow think about that?

Wartime Bull

“The Chow Hound” (1944) is an unusual Snafu cartoon because Snafu isn’t punished or learns from a mistake. In fact, no one does (unless any beef cattle saw the cartoon and learned they shouldn’t go to the slaughterhouse). Nonetheless, it provided a message for the audience of soldiers watching it in World War Two—don’t pig out because rations are valuable (and to people in the mess tent to not over-serve soldiers).

According to the Snafu DVD release, this short was directed by Frank Tashlin and, for him, it’s pretty tame. No outrageous camera angles or cinematic effects that one comes to expect from him (the reason is explained in the comments). There’s terrific animation of a struggling camel (played by Mel Blanc) in one scene. And there are some attractive drawings at the start where a steer gets a look at a cow and falls in love. Here are five consecutive drawings on twos.



Yeah, the take last only two frames. It’s followed with kind of a throbbing-eye effect, where the eyes bulge and unbulge for two frames apiece. You can imagine what Tex Avery or Bob Clampett would do with the same scene.

There’s a cut to what the steer was looking at. The cow coquettishly blinks. A very nice drawing.



You’ll notice the cow has an udder. I understand udders were banned from theatrical cartoons by the Hays office which, of course, had no jurisdiction over military cartoons.

I couldn’t tell you who animated on this but someone in the comment section can. Frank Graham provides the voice of the bull narrator.

Radio’s Battle of the Books

Is there much doubt that Mark Goodson and Bill Todman were the class act of the game show business?

They were the producers whose panellists on television wore evening clothes, who made sure someone with charm and grace (Kitty Carlisle, Arlene Francis, Joan Alexander) regularly filled one of seats every week (conversely, Hal Block was let go from “What’s My Line” because he was deemed too boorish). And they began in the radio business when game shows were taking a beating for being loud and shallow. In fact, one of the shows they produced was Louis G. Cowan’s “Stop the Music” which is credited with lighting a fuse of anger that got give-away shows banned by the FCC in 1949 (something immediately challenged in court by Radio Features, Inc., known more for churning out soap operas). It’s no wonder they decided to put a high-class sheen on their TV shows, especially at night.

So in light of the outrage over the loud, low-brow giveways, it’s perhaps not surprising that Goodson and Todman came up with something other than filthy lucre as the prize for one of its radio shows. Books. Syndicated New York Herald-Tribune columnist John Crosby aimed his cynical eye at that one in print. This appeared in newspapers on December 21, 1948.

Radio Risks Disaster in Book Gifts
By JOHN CROSBY
NEW YORK, Dec. 22—The introduction of $1000 worth of books as part of the $27,000 prize for “Hit the Jackpot” is possibly the most significant development in recent give-away history, easily surpassing the gift of Adolph Menjou to a Mrs. Claire Stark on the “Whiz Quiz” program.
Menjou, as a matter of fact, was only loaned to Mrs. Stark for the evening; she had to return him the same night in good condition. The books, on the other hand, are a permanent gift and could easily be a prelude to disaster for the giveaways or even for radio. The supposition that give-away contestants can read is perhaps unwarranted, but they can learn, can't they?
The printed page is a competitive medium, and, while it has been consistently losing ground to the blandishments of radio, it still seems to be a risky proposition to expose a radio listener to $1000 worth of books, the sheer bulk of which is sufficient to keep him entertained for a couple of years without any assistance from the radio.
INTENDED TO ADD TONE
The idea of giving away books was that of Bill Todman and Mark Goodson, producers of “Hit the Jackpot.” Todman in particular has become increasingly sensitive to the charge flung by irresponsible columns, this one included, that give-aways — he doesn’t like that word either— are a form of lunacy for which give-away producers will be held accountable on the day of judgment, The addition of books to the grand prize is intended to add tone to the give-away industry, putting if in the same class as the Rockefeller Foundation. I expect the press releases will be designating Todman and Goodson as philanthropists as soon as the CBS publicity staff learns how to spell it.
A thousand bucks worth of books is a lot of books, 331 by my count. Rinehart and Co. were needled into donating the books, which was no easy job. It took virtually the publisher’s entire active list to make up $1000 worth, and consequently there will be some strange and highly specialized titles in the lucky winner’s library.
Along with “The Lost Weekend” and “Short Novels of the Masters,” the winner will find 10 manuals on applied electricity (“Industrial Electric Heating,” “Primary Storage Batteries”). His mental health will be almost too adequately cared for (“Mental Defect,” “The Substance of Mental Health” and “Psychiatry for the Curious”). His sexual knowledge will be suitably enlarged (“Sex in Our Changing World”). And his nerves will be soothed by "Calm Your Nerves.”
MIND IMPROVERS
If the winner really wants to buckle down and improve his mind, he’ll find “Einstein’s Theory of Relativity,” “The Citizen and the Law,” and the entire “Rivers of America” series (37 volumes). There are also about 25 pounds of mysteries.
Oh, yes. “The Hucksters” is on the list too, a case of radio biting the hand that feeds it. But the two volumes I consider most appropriate to a give-away award winner are “Living Abundantly” and “Living Prayerfully.”
While making this genuflection to culture, Messrs. Todman and Goodson are by no means depending on it entirely, since a grand prize composed only of books would attract about as many customers as a concert in Cleveland. Along with the books go a new De Soto, a plot of land near Palm Beach, a two-bedroom house ready for construction, and a lot of other things more familiar and infinitely more precious to give-away winners.
Incidentally, the hook gift idea has spread to another CBS show—“Winner Take All” which is offering about 100 books also from the Rinehart stable. If strong steps aren’t taken soon, this reading will take root in the homes of the multitude, and, once rooted, will be as difficult to get rid of as the give-aways are.

“What’s My Line?” “I’ve Got a Secret.” “To Tell the Truth.” “The Match Game.” “Password.” “The Price is Right.” “Family Feud.” Huge television hits, all. Other producers could only envy a string of hits like that. When it comes to game show success, you might say Goodson and Todman (get ready to groan) wrote the book on it.

A Colour Goes to War

I suspect the bulk of the readers of this blog weren’t alive during World War Two, and therefore have to learn cultural references to the war in old cartoons just like I did: by being told. Here’s one at the beginning of “The Screwy Truant,” a Tex Avery cartoon released at the start of 1945.

It opens with Disney-style little animals—skunks, rabbits and squirrels—heading to school, with Scott Bradley’s light arrangement of “The Alphabet Song” in the background. You’ll notice an outhouse gag in Johnny Johnsen’s backdrop.



The idea of a little red schoolhouse belongs in the distant past so the blue colour of the school may not stand out as unusual. For the people of 1945 that noticed, the scene fades into an explanation.



And there’s our war-time reference. It’s a parody on the slogan “Lucky Strike Green Has Gone to War.” The slogan was already obsolete by the time the cartoon was released but was, no doubt, still remembered as part of recent pop culture.

In fact, Billboard magazine, in its issue of February 23, 1943, headlined the climax of the controversy over the phrase with “The Best Quiz of All Moves Over to Heinz, Whose Green Pickles Have Gone to War.”

Here’s what happened. The American Tobacco Company sponsored the erudite question-and-answer show Information Please. A sponsor controlled just about everything about a programme it bankrolled and American Tobacco foisted two slogans on Information Please and its other sponsored shows. The first one was heard on ads for the first time in November 1942. It was “Lucky Strike green has gone to war.” The second one was “The best tunes of all go to Carnegie Hall.” Information Please producer Dan Golenpaul was like many listeners—he hated them. And he did something no one else ever dare tried with a sponsor. Billboard of February 6, 1943 reported:

Dan Golenpaul, originator and producer of Information Please, was in and out of court, and on his first try last week obtained a “show cause” order from Supreme Court Justice Walter a few hours before the program went on the air last Friday, announced Milton Cross and Basil Ruysdale being served with summonses. Golenpaul tried to prevent Luckys from using the slogan “The best tunes of all go to Carnegie Hall,” to plug the sponsor’s new All-Time Hit Parade, The line was employed 10 times in the half-hour quiz. Trouble started a few weeks ago when Golenpaul objected to “Lucky Strike Green Has Gone to War” announcements. He lost his injunction plea Thursday before Justice Bernard Shientag, who said he could not agree with the plaintiff that the “best tunes” plug was “low, vulgar and offensive.” However, the judge opined that its use might be irritating to listeners, but on the basis of law had to dismiss the complaint. Reaction would be against the sponsor, Judge Schientag held, a tip-off that similar slogans will not be employed in radio. It was observed in last Friday’s Info that Clifton Fadiman, interrogator-moderator-cueman, did not cotton to “best tunes,” but the average listener probably didn’t detect the held [?] in his voice, as Fadiman is usually sharp anyway.

By then, Golenpaul had lined up a new sponsor, H.J. Heinz Company, the pickle and ketchup maker. But American Tobacco may not have been too worried about the fuss. It claimed in a 1954 book plugging the company’s 50th anniversary that sales of Luckies rose 38% in six weeks after the slogan was first heard.

And what’s the deal with the green? Billboard, on November 28, 1942, reported Lucky Strike switched to a white package “because of the impossibility of importing from the Phillipines the chrome” needed to make the green colour. What? Does that even make sense? It doesn’t and didn’t then. David Sloan of the National Association of Printing Ink Makers told Advertising Age magazine at the time: “There always has been, and there still is, enough of the green in the bins of printing ink manufacturers, and enough raw material to manufacture it, to supply the deep green formerly used on the Lucky Strike package.” That’s because it was all a ruse. The head of American Tobacco, who loved overly-repetitive slogans on his radio ads, wanted to change the package, The war was a convenient excuse to do it and look patriotic at the same time. If you want to read more, do what I couldn’t do when I first watched war reference-laden cartoons in the 1960s—look it up on the internet. Here’s a good site.

Who said cartoons weren’t educational?

Popeye's Blacksmith Blur

There’s a great fast-forward effect in the Popeye “Shoein’ Hosses” (1934) and it’s built right into the background drawing.

The scene quickly pans from Popeye at Olive’s blacksmith’s shop to Bluto in a bar. To make the pan seem faster, part of the background drawing is blurred. Here’s a reconstruction.



There are some other cool backgrounds right at the start of the cartoon. A huge tree is leaning against Olive’s shop like it’s human and a fire hydrant has a horse’s head. Then when Popeye comes along, there’s depth in the scene with mailboxes and twisted lamps in the foreground, a stone fence behind Popeye and houses, hills, etc. in the background. They’re panned at different speeds to give the illusion of three dimensions.

William Costello is still Popeye and William Pennell sings a cute opening song (used as an underscore in parts of the short) about the lamentable demise of the blacksmith’s trade. No doubt horse-drawn wagons were an increasingly rare sight on New York City streets in 1934. If I had to guess, I’d say the song’s a Sammy Timberg original, but I’d love to find out for sure.

The background department at Fleischer’s was under the direction of Erich Frederich Theodore Schenk, born in Germany about 1901. He moved with the studio to Florida and stayed when it packed up and went back to New York. He died in the Miami area in 1955. He illustrated at least one children’s book with Virgil Wylie and also had a patent for colour photography.

Eli’s Not Coming, Bosko Is

Newspaper cartoonist Milt Gross made two forays into the animation business, and you likely only know about one of them. Fans of MGM cartoons know that New Yorker Gross was hired to supervise the studio’s cartoon division in May of 1938, only to clash with short subject head Fred Quimby and a bunch of animators from the West Coast. He was gone by September after putting out two cartoons with his name on them.

But Gross got involved in an earlier studio back home in New York in 1930. It was one of several that popped up that year, though if it made any cartoons, I’ve never heard about them. His partner was Eli Brucker, who later animated for the Fleischer studio. The revelation is found in The Film Daily, a New York-based trade paper which contained news and reviews.

1930 was a transitional year for the animation industry. Studios that had never bothered to distribute cartoons in the silent days were now keen to do so, thanks to the popularity of Mickey Mouse. That resulted in the birth of several cartoon studios as well as Bosko and Flip the Frog. As well, Mickey’s dad, Walt Disney, shucked off the yoke of Pat Powers and hooked up with the ambitious Columbia Pictures. And Charlie Mintz realised what feature film producers had realised—California was now the home of filmdom’s capital, not New York, so he put up a For Rent sign on his studio, packed his animators on a train and sent them west.

Let’s go through the pages of The Film Daily for first six months of 1930. I’ve posted the news stories and snippets from columns first, below them are the reviews of cartoons. Most got raves, which is more than the publication gave to other short subjects. The ads accompanying this post come from the paper as well. April 6th was their Short Subject Edition and includes a couple of interesting brief articles by cartoon producers. The most interesting ad may be a full-page one for a series that never got made: “Fanny the Mule,” which was supposed to be a Walter Lantz series for Universal.

January 14, 1930
"The Kat's Meow," latest release of the Krazy Kat series, recently had a theme song written especially for this cartoon. The lyrics are by Jimmy Bronis and the music by Joe DeNat, musical director of the Winkler studios.

January 21, 1930
Fleischer Completing First Spanish Cartoon
What is believed to be the first all Spanish Screen Song, "La Paloma," now is being completed at the Fleischer studio. New York. The subject has been made exclusively for foreign territory and will be distributed by Paramount, according to Max Fleischer.

January 23, 1930
Carl Edourde Joins New Mintz Recording Co.
Carl Edourde, who has been musical director of the N. Y. Strand for the past eight years and has prepared musical scores for Aesop Fables, Disney Cartoons, and others, has become associated with M. J. Mintz’s Affiliated Sound Recording, Inc.

January 24, 1930
CARTOON PROCESS TO BE PATENTED BY VAN BEUREN
The Van Beuren Corp., producers of Aesop's Sound Fables, is having patented a new process of cartoon animation and synchronization. By means of the new development, it is claimed, it will now be possible to present on the screen as many as 100 different cartoon characters at the same time each working in perfect synchrony with the accompanying musical score. The process is the development of John Foster, Mannie Davis, Harry Bailey and Jack Ward. The company has plans under way for making pictures by this process.

January 26, 1930
AUDIO CINEMA MAKING SOUND SHORTS PROGRAM
An ambitious production schedule is now under way at the studio of Audio Cinema, Inc., of which Joe W. Coffman is president and F. Lyle Goldman, secretary and treasurer.
Charles Coburn, who created the role of "Old Bill" in Bruce Bairnsfather's "The Better 'Ole," is bringing that character to the talking screen in a series of two reel comedies written by Bairnsfather who, together with Coffman, is directing the series.
A series of comedy-drama sketches by Wiliiam Dudley Pelley are also being made with Pelley and Coffman acting as co-directors. These sketches feature the adventures of a rural comedy sheriff, "Amos Crumpett," which character figures in most of the 26 feature pictures authored by Pelley, including "Drag."
The Paul Terry and Frank Moser cartoons termed "Terry-toons," are all synchronized at the Audio-Cinema studio under Phillip Sheib, staff musical director, working in close cooperation with Terry and Moser.
Audio Cinema, Inc., has been in operation since last September at Long Island City using the Western Electric system of recording. The company consultants for Bell Laboratories, Eastman Kodak Co. and Consolidated Film Industries. Their studio is extensively used by M-G-M and Universal for test purposes.

February 6, 1930
Educational Secures Sound Cartoon Series
Negotiations have been completed by Educational and Audio-Cinema, Inc. whereby a new series of animated sound cartoons, called "Terry-Toons," will be released every two weeks beginning Feb. 23 by Educational.
The new series of cartoons are being made by Paul Terry, originator of the Aesop's Fables, and Frank Moser. Philip A. Scheib, former musical director for the Springer Circuit, is in charge of music. Joseph W. Coffman and F. Lyle Goldman, executives of Audio-Cinema, are working with the production units at the company's Long Island studio where the plant is equipped with Western Electric apparatus.
With the acquisition of the "Terry-Toon" series, Educational now is releasing eight sound series. Included in the group are: Mack Sennett, Coronet, Lloyd Hamilton, Jack White, Lupino Lane, Mermaid and Tuxedo Talking Comedies. The first subject scheduled for release Feb. 23 on the Terry-Toon series is called "Caviar."

February 9, 1930
Winkler Cartoon Staff is Moving to California
Transfer of activities of Winkler Film Corp., makers of Krazy Kat cartoons, from New York to the Coast is planned by Charles B. Mintz, president of the firm. Among those leaving Saturday are the chief animators: Ben Harrison, Manny Gould, Artie Davis, Al Rose, Harry Lieblich and Joe DeNat, musical director.

February 14, 1930
CARTOON SERIES JUMP COLUMBIA SHORTS TO 134
A deal has been closed by Columbia whereby that company now will release a series of 30 Mickey Mouse cartoons in certain territories of the country. With the addition of this new group the company now is releasing 134 short subjects, consisting of 26 Columbia Victor Gems; 26 Talking Screen Snapshots; 13 Disney Silly Symphonies; 13 Krazy Kat Cartoons and 26 Photocolor subjects. The new series of cartoons will be released at the rate of one a week.

February 19, 1930
The Aesop Sound Fable unit of Pathe-Van Beuren Pictures, has finished the synchronization of its two latest Pathe pictures, "Sky Skippers" and "Singing Saps." These shorts were recorded by the RCA system, under the musical direction of Carl Edouarde.

February 21, 1930
UB IWERKS TO PRODUCE CARTOONS IN COLOR, SOUND
A new series of 12 cartoons in sound and color are in preparation by UB Iwerks, cartoonists, under the auspices of Celebrity Productions. The series of sketches will be known as "Flip the Frog" and will be released at the rate of one a month beginning on or about Mar. 1. In addition to the color cartoons they also will be offered in black and white. UB Iwerks was formerly associated with Walt Disney on the "Mickey Mouse" and "Silly Symphony" series.

February 23, 1930
Jack Ward, comedian and dancer for the past 20 years on the Keith and Loew vaudeville circuits with Northlane & Ward and later with Ward & Weber, has been signed for an indefinite engagement with the Aesop Fable dept of the Van Beuren Corp.

March 9, 1930
Big Demand for Film on How Talkers Are Made
Electrical Research Products, Inc., is receiving many requests for "Finding His Voice," 1,000 foot talking picture that tells how sound pictures are made. The film is done in cartoon comedy style, illustrating the talk of three characters as they go through a black and white ink-drawn studio and see how sound enters the camera and then into a theater, in the projection room and behind the screen to see how it is reproduced in the theater. The film is supplied to all houses equipped with Western Electric apparatus. Charles Barrell wrote the scenario and Max Fleischer created the charcter, while Frank Goldman did the drawings.

March 10, 1930
COLUMBIA TAKES OVER "MOUSE" WORLD RIGHTS
West Coast Bureau, THE FILM DAILY
Hollywood — Columbia has taken over the world rights to the remaining 15 "Mickey Mouse" subjects in the current series, according to Roy Disney, business manager of Walt Disney Productions. Existing contracts held by exhibitors for these cartoon subjects will be carried out by Columbia, Disney states.

March 18, 1930
Color Cartoon in "U" Film
An animated cartoon sequence in color illustrating how Paul Whiteman became king of jazz will serve as a prologue to "King of Jazz," in which Universal is starring the band leader.

March 20, 1930
BRUCKER TO PRODUCE COLOR CARTOON SERIES
A series of animated cartoons in color will be produced by Elias Brucker in association with Photocolor. Milt Gross will write the scenarios. Brucker has a five-year contract with Gross and Thomas A. Johnstone for the production of these shorts, the first of which will go into work within two weeks in the East.

March 21, 1930
S. R. Luby to Work with Brucker on Cartoons
S. Roy Luby, formerly production manager of Inkwell Studios, is to be associated with Elias A. Brucker in the production of the Milt Gross animated cartoons to be made in conjunction with Photocolor Corp.

April 6, 1930
MICKEY MOUSE CLUBS TO BOOST MATINEE BUSINESS
"Mickey Mouse Clubs," such as the one formed by Harry Woodin of the Dome, Ocean Park, are boosting matinee attendance for houses playing these Columbia Disney cartoons.
To start the club, Woodin made tie-ups with several merchants whereby they became official Mickey Mouse stores, distributing application cards for membership. These cards admitted the children to the first matinee for 5c instead of the regular 10c price. Stores appealing to children cooperated in this and carried announcements of the club in their advertising.
The club now holds regular weekly meetings in the theater, which open with one of the cartoons and after club formalities, a serial and a western or a feature are shown.

Color and Wide Screen in Cartoon Field
By WALT DISNEY,
Producer, "Mickey Mouse"
I believe that the inclusion of color in cartoon comedies offers great possibilities for pictorial effects, but would add very little so far as comedy is concerned.
There are many problems in sound yet to be worked out, and I should like to see this tangle perfected before considering color. After all, in a cartoon comedy it is laughs and personality that count. Color alone will not sustain public interest unless the cartoon itself is exceptionally clever and unique—a good, clever black and white cartoon should hold its own for some time to come.
As for the wide screen, its possibilities and advantages are unlimited for the feature picture, but as yet, I can see no special advantage for its use in the production of cartoon comedies.

Animated Cartoons Rise to New Heights
By CHARLES B. MINTZ,
Producer of "Krazy Kat"
The animated cartoon has undergone a metamorphosis. From having been just a lowly filler or a chaser, this 600 feet of concentrated film fun has become an almost indispensable part of the program in the finer theaters today. The only theater, since the advent of sound, that doesn't exhibit an animated cartoon now is the theater that can't get one!
The animated cartoon has particularly adapted itself to music and sound and, in some instances, even to talk and song. The study of the cartoon, which has gone from the stage of a novelty to a sure-fire comedy, has given us undreamed-of opportunities for making an audience laugh.
Of course, the work and, therefore, the cost of production has increased threefold. Where we formerly were able to make an animated cartoon subject in two weeks with 12 artists working, we must now keep stepping in order to turn out that same length picture in four weeks with 18 artists at work.

“Flip's” Debut
"Flip the Frog," the new cartoon creation produced personally by UB. Iwerks for distribution through Celebrity, is due to make its debut in April. The series will consist of 12 synchronized sound cartoons, to be released at the rate of one a month. "Fiddlesticks" is the title of the first subject.

Photocolor Is Making Three Series of Shorts
In addition to the "Sensations" for release by Columbia, Photocolor is making a series known as "Presentations" and a cartoon series, all with sound on both film and disc.

British Firm Will Make Sound Cartoon Shorts
London—John Maxwell, of British International Pictures, is negotiating with the Noble Bros., artists, to make a series of cartoons on the style of Mickey and Felix. The shorts will be made at the Elstree studios and will be synchronized with noises familiar to the animals.

April 9, 1930
Columbia Now Has All Rights to Two Cartoons
In addition to acquiring the foreign distribution rights to Disney "Mickey Mouse" and "Silly Symphonies," Columbia also has taking over the entire domestic distribution of both cartoons, thereby giving the company the world rights to the shorts. Although Columbia already had been handling the domestic distribution of "Silly Symphonies," it had been releasing the "Mickey Mouse" cartoons in only 13 territories.

April 13, 1930
B. I. P. Cartoon Shorts
London—British International Pictures will shortly start production of a series of animal cartoons at the Elstree studios. The shorts will be synchronized.

April 18, 1930
W. RAY JOHNSTON PLANS 20 TALKER PRODUCTIONS
Twenty talkers are planned for 1930-31 by companies headed by W. Ray Johnston. Eight melodramas will be made by Continental Talking Pictures, 12 Westerns by Syndicate Pictures and an undetermined number of shorts by Raytone Talking Pictures. Short product planned so far includes four serials and 18 reissues of Alice cartoons by Walt Disney.

April 20, 1930
Musical Cartoon Series Being Made by Vitaphone
A series of musical cartoons, 12 or more in number, under the title of “Looney Tunes,” is being made as Vitaphone Varieties, George E. Quigley announces. Each will be based on a Warner musical hit. The first is "Sinkin' in the Bathtub," a takeoff on the Winnie Lightner song. Leon Schlesinger is producing the series, with cartoons by Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising, and music by Frank Marsales and Isadore Freleng.



April 22, 1930
Film Exchange Buys Cartoon World Rights
World rights to the series of 26 "Bonzo" synchronized cartoons have been bought by the Film Exchange, Inc., it is announced by R. Manheimer. The exchange also is negotiating for other product and will continue in the independent market.

May 2, 1930
Ted Toddy, exploiteer, has built up a snappy press book for the one-reel cartoons of "Bonzo," the funny puppy, exploiting like a feature.

May 4, 1930
Talking shop is second nature to the Hill family with Emma cutting features at Paramount, Edna a film, cutter at Audio Cinema and Margaret in the foreign dept. of M-G-M. Edna's husband, Charles Wolfe, also edits the Aesop Fables for Van Beuren.

May 6, 1930
CHAS. MINTZ TO PRODUCE CARTOON SERIES FOR RKO
Charles Mintz, of Winkler Pictures has contracted to produce a series of 26 cartoons, under the title of "Toby the Tar," [sic] for RKO.

"Flip" Gets Welcome
A unique sales record has been set by "Flip the Frog," new synchronized cartoon creation of "UB" Iwerks, according to Charlie Giegerich, general manager of Celebrity, who says all European rights for the series were sold within 10 days after the first announcement of the series was made in the trade press.

May 7, 1930
Color Cartoon Finished
West Coast Bureau, THE FILM DAILY
Hollywood—Celebrity's first all0color sound cartoon, "Fiddlesticks," an initial subject in the "Flip the Frog" series being produced by "Ub" Iwerks, has been completed. Harris-color was used, with recording by Cinephone.

May 8, 1930
NOTICE
By virtue of a public sale held before Referee Harold P. Coffin. The Fleischer Studios, Inc., are now the sole owners of all patents, copyrights and trade-marks formerly owned by Out-Of-The-Inkwell Films, Inc. FLEISCHER STUDIOS, INC. Max Fleischer, Pres.

May 9, 1930
Audio Cinema studios here have just completed four cartoon trailers for the Aetna Life Insurance Co., to be used by their agents throughout the country. "He Auto Know Better" illustrates the value of liability insurance, "Father's Day at Home" plays up accident insurance, "The Family's Night Out" shows that one should be insured against burglary and "A Desert Dilemma" illustrates the value of an Aetna card in cast of collision.

May 11, 1930
NEW SYNCHRONIZING IDEA TO BE USED BY C.B. MINTZ
A new patented method of pre-synchronizing is to be put into operation on the Coast by Charles B. Mintz, who leaves Wednesday for Hollywood to confer with artists in connection with the "Toby the Pup" and "Krazy Kat" sound cartoons being made by the Winkler Film. Next year's schedule includes 12 "Toby the Pup" cartoons, produced by Dick Huemer and Sid Marcus, for distribution by RKO, and 13 "Krazy Kat" subjects, produced by Ben Harrison and Manny Gould, for Columbia. Joe DeNat will do the musical score for both series.

May 13, 1930
Walt Lantz, cartoon creator of Oswald the Rabbit, has gone and married Doris Hollister we always knew Walter would lantz a nice girl some day.

May 18, 1930
Putting Sound to Series of Twenty "Life" Cartoons
James H. Harper and Merle Johnson announce they are synchronizing a series of 20 animated cartoons made by "Life" four years ago for release through Educational. J. E. Trop, vice-president of Majestic Pictures, will distribute them independently. Three of the cartoons, which are burlesqued on melodrama, have already been completed at the Consolidated Recording Corp. They are called "Red Hot Rails," "Peaceful City" and "Local Talent." Harper and Johnson have also finished a synchronized one-reel novelty called "Winging South With Lindbergh."

May 19, 1930
FLEISCHER TO SHOW PRE-SYNCRONIZING
Max Fleischer goes to Washington tomorrow to appear before the patents commissioner and demonstrate his pre-synchronizing process for cartoons. With the device, on which Fleischer applied for a patent a year and a half ago, effects are recorded first and the drawings then are made in synchronization.

May 20, 1930
Valleeing Cartoons
Rudy Vallee is going in for song cartooning. Max Fleischer plans to make "The Stein Song" for Paramount with the crooner doing his popular stuff.

May 22, 1930
12 ONE-REEL NOVELTIES PLANNED BY MAY-HALL
A series of 12 one-reel all talking and musical novelties, known as "Prehistoric Silly-ettes," will be produced in the East by Virginia May and Alex Hall. The subjects, first of which is due in about three weeks, will be partly in cartoon and partly acted by stage and screen talent. Miss May and Hall are now completing "Independence Day" for James A. FitzPatrick's holiday series.

June 1, 1930
Reilly Cartoons Under Way
The second and third releases of Frank C. Reilly's animated cartoon called "The Penguin Family" are now in production. The first issue is scheduled for release this month.

June 16, 1930
Universal’s New Production Policy
By CARL LAEMMLE
President, Universal Pictures Corp.
...The always popular Oswald Cartoons will, of course, be continued. There will be 13 of these. In addition, we shall release a new series, "Fanny the Mule," of which there will be 13...

REVIEWS

January 5, 1930
"Wild Waves"
Celebrity Productions Time, 7 mins.
Mickey as Life Saver
"Mickey Mouse" is at his best as a life saver in this Walt Disney cartoon, which is made additionally funny by the antics of singing seals, dancing penguins, baritone sea lions and other amazing creations of the moving cartoon kingdom. Actually great.

"The Haunted House"
Celebrity Productions Time, 7 mins.
Fine Comic
The "creeper" idea, as the title implies, injected into a "Mickey Mouse" comic, with the usual storm, lightning ghosts, dancing skeletons, etc. Also a flash simulation of Al Jolson, produced by a black-and-white character silhouette, with a simultaneous cry of "Mammy," that is a knockout.

Oswald in "Ozzie of the Circus"
Good Circus Cartoon
A synchronized cartoon in which Oswald runs the gamut of amusing antics in a circus setting. Plenty of odd tricks by the strangely-shaped animals. Fills the bill very nicely. Seven minutes.

"Springtime"
Columbia Time, 6 mins.
Good Cartoon
A Disney cartoon on the theme of the Mendelssohn music. Frogs, birds, trees, flowers, etc., are made to cavort in harmony with the famous melody and its variations. A good comic of its kind.

January 12, 1930
"Canned Music"
Columbia Time, 8 mins
. Krazy Kat Musical War
Starting out with Krazy Kat trying to quiet a couple of crying brats with various musical efforts, this cartoon affair ends in a parade by the band instruments, which bombard Krazy with bullets in the form of notes. Krazy catches them and returns the fire, wiping out the whole band. Great stuff. The ingenuity of these cartoon books is amazing.

"Ship Ahoy"
Pathe Time, 7 mins.
Aesop Fable
Cartoon creation with an ocean locale, holding well to the average in the matter of ingenuity and entertainment value. A clicker of its kind.

January 26, 1930
"Afraid to Go Home in the Dark"
Paramount Time, 7 mins.
Amusing Song Cartoon
A Max Fleischer song cartoon based on the popular song of some two decades ago. Has been given the usual ingenious treatment and will provide several minutes of pleasant amusement for any class of folks.

February 9, 1930
"Singing Saps"
Pathe Time, 7 mins.
Aesop Fable
An entertaining little gem intended to prove that "faint heart ne'er won fair lady." Chock-full of fun from beginning to end. For an animated cartoon it proves itself not a little exciting. A wise addition to any program.

February 16, 1930
Oswald in "Broadway Folly"
Universal Time, 7 mins.
Good Animated Fun
This time Oswald does some fancy stepping in a cabaret. In steps the villainous bear, who gives him no end of trouble. The bear's little girl, very much like the daughter in "Ten Nights in a Barroom," goes looking for dad in the hope of reclaiming him from demon rum. Oswald again shows himself as an accomplished musician in this one.

February 23, 1930
"Sky Skippers"
Pathe Time, 6 mins.
Aesop Fable
Air-minded animal cartoon showing the various beasts and fowl doing their antics in the air. All kinds of contraptions are used as gliders to bring out the airy effect. Synchronization is well done. Fun for everyone.

"Caviar"
Educational Time, 10 mins.
Snappy Cartoon
As the first of the Paul Terry-Toons, done by Paul Terry and Frank Moser and licensed under the Bray-Hurd Process, this comedy cartoon is promising. Russian locale is used for the lively antics of the talented mouse, his girl friend and the various other animal creations.

March 9, 1930
"Good Old School Days"
Pathe Time, 6 mins.
Aesop Fable
That "a powdered nose is no guarantee of a clean neck" forms the basis of this Aesop Fable. The scene is a country school. When the teacher asks one of her charges to present his composition, the fellow responds with a song-and-dance number. The other pupils follows suit, with the result that the vibrations cause the schoolhouse to collapse. Highly amusing filler.

"Foolish Follies"
Pathe Time, 6 mins.
Aesop Fable
A vaudeville show is the subject of this Aesop Fable. All manner of animals do their stuff on the stage, and all goes well until Miss Hippo slips in the course of an adagio dance, breaks through the stage, cuts a hole through the earth with her enormous weight and emerges to find herself in China. Serves to illustrate that "the whole world is a stage covered with banana peels."

March 30, 1930
Oswald in "Tramping Tramps"
Universal Time, 6 mins.
Fine Animated Cartoon
This Oswald cartoon is on the same high plane as those that have gone before. Unquestionably it is a filler of remarkably fine caliber, revealing no small measure of ingenuity. We now find Oswald turned tramp—not an ordinary tramp, but one with a decided musical flare. He's such a good musician in fact that he gets a pie from a housewife as a token of gratitude for his splendid playing on a variety of instruments.

April 6, 1930
"Dixie Days"
Pathe Time, 7 mins.
Good Animated
This animated cartoon is a travesty on the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" theme. And it is uncommonly well done, too. All the characters at whom we gnashed our teeth or over whom we wept copious tears are paraded before us. Some really amusing moments result.

"Pretzels"
Educational Time, 7 min.
Plenty of Animation
A highly diverting short in spite of the fact that it follows the same line of procedure as innumerate other animated cartoons. There seems to be a touch of class in this Terry-Toon that is rarely met wa[] in entertainment of this kind. The story is simply that of the struggle between villain and hero for possesion of the pretty heroine. The musical angle is stressed, some of the music being unusually of good quality.

"Spanish Onions"
Educational Time, 10 mins.
A Bully One
Cartoon of the various animals at the bull arena where the hero conquers the bull to full satisfaction of his fair lady. Sidney Franklin, who has garnered so much publicity as Brooklyn's matador, is mimicked by one of the cats, but, however, he is vanquished in this short. The adventurous cat has a certain way of making the belligerent bull retreat and it is on one of these journeys that the horny animal is brought to his end. A humorous piece with all the curious noises of the creatures synchronized to the satisfaction of all.



"Bowery Bimbos"
Universal Time, 10 mins.
Good Animated
This one is among the best of the Oswald series. It is a clever and extremely amusing little number. Oswald appears as a gay Bowery copper. He has the occasion to rescue a sweetie from the clutches of a notorious gangster. The manner in which he does it provides no end of amusement.

April 20, 1930
Oswald in "The Hash Shop"
Universal Time, 6 mins.
Good Cartoon
Oswald this time makes his appearance as a waiter in a restaurant where all the diners demand service in a hurry. The little fellow doesn't know whom to serve first. He runs up against some tough customers who become violent when he proves a trifle slow in filling their orders. All in all "The Hash Shop" is a filler certain of providing considerable entertainment.

"Western Whoopee"
Pathe Time, 6 mins.
Fine Aesop Fable
This Aesop Fable ought to make a most attractive little filler. In fact, it is one of the best of the series put out to date. It relates the story in animated cartoon form of the bad man who comes to grief at the hands of the Western hero. The whole thing is contrived with extraordinary ingenuity.

May 4, 1930
"Indian Pudding"
Educational Time, 7 mins.
Novelty Cartoon
One of the new series of Paul Terry-Toons. This is a funny burlesque on the wild and wooly west, with the hero the mouse cowboy who has his troubles with the bad Indian. The sound effects are comical and the cartooning done in the best modern manner. Incidental music helps to put it over.

"The Prisoner's Song"
Paramount Time, 8 mins.
Pip Song Cartoon
Max Fleischer has done an ace job in making a song cartoon based on "The Prisoner's Song." The comical travesty on jail routine is fitted very neatly to the popular ballad. Good for plenty of laughs.

May 11, 1930
“Sinking in the Bathtub”
Vitaphone 4147 Time, 8 mins.
Lively Cartoon
One of the liveliest and most tuneful cartoon comedies to come along in a great while. It belongs to the "Looney Tunes" group and presents a series of []rtings in a bathtub and out in the meadow. A real pippin.

Oswald in "Prison Panic"
Universal Time, 6 mins.
Mild Animation
The latest of the Oswald series of animated cartoons is hardly up to the standard of its predecessors. It seems flat and lacking in the rhythmic quality characteristic of the others. Oswald is seen as the warden of a jail. When a desperate prisoner escapes, he is hard put to it trying to recapture him. Finally he does succeed in getting his hands on the fellow.

"The Haunted Ship"
Pathe Time, 6 mins.
Aesop Fable Gem
Set this down as one of the finest, if not the finest, Aesop Fable to be turned out by the Van Beuren people. It is a splendidly conceived bit of entertainment, imaginative, capably recorded, musically pleasing. A neat piece of work any way you look at it. The story concerns the experiences of two characters who, flung into the ocean when their airship is destroyed, find themselves on a sunken ship inhabited by strange denizens of the sea. One of them eases his terror by playing a piano, setting all the creatures occupying the vessel a-dancing and a-singing.

"Father's Day at Home"
Audio Cinema Time, 5 mins.
A Mirthful Moral
Opening scene of this cartoon comedy shows father curled up in a chair enjoying his pipe and newspaper secure in the fact that he is safe from such accidents as he has been reading about. His peace is disturbed by an insurance solicitor who tries to sell him an accident policy but is sent away. Wifey calls him to help fix the roof and, while perched on the top of the ladder, he takes a steep fall, landing in the water barrel. Insurance solicitor has been hanging around and signs him up while the need of such protection is apparent. This industrial short is produced for Aetna Insurance Co. and provides good entertainment.

June 1, 1930
"He Auto Know Better"
Audio Cinema Time, 5 mins.
Amusing Industrial
This cartoon comedy, another of the series prepared for Aetna Insurance Co., shows the adventures of a family who set out for an automobile jaunt. Everything goes along great until the car meets up with another jitney with the result that both are wrecked. There is an amusing courtroom scene in which the head of the family is ordered to pay heavy damages. Hi6 friends rush up to sympathize with him until he pulls out an insurance card showing that he is fully covered and has nothing to worry about.

"Hawaiian Pineapple"
Educational Time, 7 mins.
Animated Music
"Hawaiian Pineapple," a Terry-Toon, is another of those animated cartoons in which music preponderates. This time it's a Hawaiian melody in an appropriate setting. The music works such an enchantment that even the palm trees sway this way and that. Some of the animation is extremely clever. O. K.

[Note: “Oom Pah Pah,” an Aesop Fable and Krazy Kat’s “Spookeasy” were reviewed but the reviews are clipped out of the edition referenced in this post]

June 8, 1930
"A Desert Dilemma"
Audio Cinema Time, 5 mins.
Amusing Industrial
This cartoon comedy is one of a series prepared for Aetna Insurance Co. It deals with the experiences of a family who set out to cross the continent in a flivver. In the middle of the desert they collide with another car in fantastic fashion, with the result that the sheriff of a nearby town attaches the car. Just when the family is bemoaning their in ability to complete the journey, father remembers that he is covered by insurance and produces card which immediately releases the car so that the party may proceed in high spirits.

Mickey Mouse in "Fiddling Around"
Columbia Time, 7 mins.
Good Cartoon
As a violin virtuoso, Mickey Mouse has plenty of trouble with broken strings and a tough audience that includes one guy who keeps giving him the horse laugh. But Mickey's acrobatic manipulation of his instrument, with which he promotes plenty of comedy as well as music, puts him over for an encore. A very good comedy of its kind.

"Noah Knew His Ark"
Pathe Time, 7 mins.
Aesop Fable
Credit this Aesop sound Fable with possessing much entertainment value. It shows some clever touches, is musically all right, and is vastly amusing. A sort of travesty on the tale of the Ark. this animated cartoon gives you Noah in the person of an old sea captain. When the deluge comes, the animals board the bark to the strain of music. All goes well until two skunks come into their midst. The animals, to escape the odiferous fellows, plunge into the waters, leaving the Ark in the possession of the skunks.

Oswald in "Hell's Heels"
Universal Time, 6 mins.
Oswald Does a Steal
"Hell's Heels" presents Oswald in the role of a musical bandit. With two other bad men he dynamites a bank in a desert town. In his flight from the law he runs into a lost child in the desert. The kid forces Oswald to take him back to his dad, who turns out to be the sheriff from whom Oswald has been fleeing. The end finds tin' bandit headed across the desert. While "Hell's Heels" repeats many of the musical gags that have become favorites with animated cartoon creators, the music it contains is rather pleasing.

June 15, 1930
"Swiss Cheese"
Educational Time, 7 mins.
Nifty Cartoon
A Paul Terry-Toon that is fitted beautifully to a novelty musical score. This lends atmosphere to the funny antics of the cartoon characters and the numbers fit in nicely with the theme. Philip A. Scheib did the scoring, which is way above the average in the cartoon field. The cartoon work is very clever, and some new technique is introduced by Frank Moser and Paul Terry that lifts this cut of the ruck of the average affiliated subject.

'An Old Flame'
Columbia Time, 6 mins.
Just Fair
One in the Krazy Kat cartoon series, with the routine handling of the animated stuff. The "plot" involves a fire, with Hero Cat doing his stuff to the accompaniment of rhythmic movements on the part of the other characters, timed to fit in with the incidental music. Nothing new, and just a filler for those who like their cartoon subjects even though they are repetitious.

June 22, 1930
"A Bugville Romance"
Pathe Time, 6 mins.
It's the Bugs
A fine Aesop Fable with a pleasant musical theme. This time it is the insect kingdom that succumbs to the lure of music. Bugs dance, fall in love, and one couple even ends in marriage. Contains a beautiful sense of rhythm and is cleverly drawn. Especially fine summer entertainment.

"The Cactus Kid"
Columbia Time, 6 mins.
Knockout Cartoon
Another of the first-grade cartoon comedies turned out by Walt Disney, and it's a pippin of the front rank. Sound effects are blended into the pen-and-ink creations in such a way that the result is sure-fire for laughs, to say nothing of the unique and unusual nature of the performance.

If you haven’t seen the Bonzo series, here’s one cartoon from it, courtesy of Tom Stathes.

He’s Baloo, All Right

The best thing that could have happened to Phil Harris unfolded in 1937. They changed his character.

The Jack Benny radio show had been incredibly popular but some tweaking of the Benny gang was in order. The jolly announcer was in place, but there were two silly characters (Mary Livingstone and Kenny Baker) and a combative one (Harris). Two silly characters weren’t needed, so Mary became a sharp-tongue put-down artist (apparently not that far removed from her real personality). And Harris’ bickering with the star just wasn’t funny, so he was completely recast in the mould of a musician stereotype—a casual hepcat with an eye for the bottle and ladies, one wrapped up in himself and who hadn’t been wrapped up in school books as a kid. The improved Harris was a hit. He had enough traits that everyone could picture him—and picturing someone is what radio’s all about. Guys, no doubt, admired him in a way. And Harris milked parts of that character for the rest of his life.

Phil Harris is a great example of the kind of money that’s showered on show people who make it big. After his radio show died with network radio in 1954, Harris never worked regularly again. He didn’t need to. He had enough money for an extremely comfortable lifestyle, spending his time travelling, golfing and fishing. But he popped up every once in a while and, in the process, made a second career for himself as an occasional voice actor for Walt Disney.

The idea that Disney would hire someone with Harris’ reputation based on his long association with Jack Benny amused United Press International’s venerable Hollywood reporter. This column appeared in newspapers starting July 14, 1978. Harris engages in the kinds of one-liners that the Benny writers put in his mouth some 40 years earlier.

That reprobate of heroic proportions
It’s true! Phil Harris does Disney films
By Vernon Scott
HOLLYWOOD (UPI) - The Disney Studios is a pristine bastion of probity dedicated to “G” rated movies, the flag, motherhood and God.
Since Mickey Mouse first squeaked his way to fame some 50 years ago, the Disney reputation has been unsullied by scandal and unseemly skylarking, much less public displays of drunkenness or lechery.
In the Sodom that is Hollywood, Disney shines like a beacon of virtue, an island of moral rectitude in a sea of depravity.
It comes as a distinct shock, therefore, to discover that Disney nurtures a reprobate of heroic proportions, a figure who looms large in the show business Who’s Who of topers, swingers and rascals.
Through the hallowed gates of Disney these days strolls a man who has become a fixture in the studio's feature length cartoons. He provided the voice of Baloo, the bear in “Jungle Book,” of J. Pat O’Mally, the hip cat in “The Aristocats,” and of Little John in “Robin Hood.”
At present he is the voice of Feathers Valentino, a crane of dubious reputation who messes around with Charo in “Fox and Hounds.”
This rampant blot on the Disney escutcheon is none other than Phil Harris, as unlikely a figure on the campus-like Disney lot as he would be occupying the office of headmaster at a girls finishing school.
It was Phil Harris, one must be reminded, who toured Scotland with Bing Crosby many years ago. One night on the road to Aberdeen they passed several distilleries of Scotch whisky, lights aglow, operating full blast.
Crosby wryly observed, “Look at that, Phil, they’re making it faster than you can drink it!”
Undaunted, Harris fired back, “Yeah, but I got them working nights.”
While Harris was on a domestic tour through the South with Bing a few years later a group of Crosby fans asked what the stars were doing in Dixie. Bing told the ladies, “Phil’s here to lay a wreath on the grave of Jack Daniels.”
Harris recalled those glory days in his distinctive whiskey baritone at lunch in the Disney commissary, his innocent blue eyes twinkling with pleasure.
The lovable reprobate has dedicated most of his 72 years to creating a reputation for wine, women and song as Crosby's crony off-screen and as Jack Benny’s band leader-foil for 16 years on Benny's radio show. He also devoted seven years to defaming himself on his own radio show with wife Alice Faye.
He was every God-fearing wife’s admonition to her husband, the horrible example. Few were the men who did not envy Phil’s carefree lifestyle. The Walter Mittys of the world lived vicariously through his adventures.
Harris, despite his tenure at Disney, says he is unchanged. “I'm on the wagon right now, but only to lose weight,” he said. “The minute I drop 10 pounds I’m heading right back to the nipple.
“Alice and I have been married since 1941 and I’m still looking for her money. We’ve lived in Palm Springs 30 years and I traveled so much Alice used to tell people she saw me only when I brought my laundry home. Now she says she brings my laundry To me.”
Phil’s low-life reputation was responsible for one of the longest sustained laughs in the history of radio.
In one skit, Benny was sitting in the parlor of the elegant home of the polished Ronald Colman and his fastidious wife, Benita. Colman was munching an apple when Benny began a story and mentioned the name of Phil Harris.
There was a pregnant silence and then Colman said disdainfully, “Please, Jack, not while I'm eating.” The audience roared for a full minute and a half.
On his own show Harris featured his disreputable sidekick Frank Remley, a guitarist whose legendary carousing matched his own.
Now that Phil has become a Disney standby, he has discovered a whole new world of fans. Little kids, who once might have asked why he led their fathers astray, now point him and yell, “Hi, Baloo.”
“It’s just great,” said Harris happily, “and now ‘Jungle Book’ is being re-released. Walt Disney himself wanted me for the voice of Baloo. But when I read the script I turned it down.
“The dialogue didn’t sound like me. And I didn’t want to be typed as a bear. But they asked me to try it once using my own words. That worked out fine. But Alice made me bring a recording home to prove I really worked at Disney.
“I'm here because they can use my voice, phrasing and inflection but the producers keep it clean. I sound like everyone else to me, but the voice must be distinctive. Long distance operators always ask, ‘Is this Phil Harris?’
“Baloo has resurrected my career. I love having kids recognize me and follow me down the street. But that doesn't mean I’ve changed my ways. Not at all.
“I was down south not long ago at a social doing when a guy comes up to me and says, ‘The Reverend Billy Graham would like to meet you.’ I’m a big fan of Graham and I considered it an honor.
“But we’re not exactly the same type of character. When I shook hands with Billy my whole right side went sober.”

Walt Disney knew what he was doing. Baloo wasn’t a boozer or a connoisseur of women, but he had Harris’ carefree attitude toward life. He was perfect casting. It worked for Benny and it worked for Disney. When kids said “Hi, Baloo,” to Harris, they were closer to the truth than they thought.

Bill Scott and Jay Ward on Cartoon TV Ads

Jay Ward Productions had a tie-in for years with cereal makers, first with the great TV show Rocky and His Friends sponsored by General Mills, and then with animated commercials for Cap’n Crunch starting in 1963 (prior to that, Ward’s characters hawked Cheerios and other General Mills products). So Broadcasting magazine saw fit in 1960 to interview Ward’s main man, Bill Scott, about cartoons selling products, specifically adult products.

The 1950s were a Golden Age of animated commercials. Cartoons seem to have sold just about everything. Despite’s Scott’s prediction in Broadcasting, animated spots in the ‘60s were aimed almost exclusively at children; cartoons were kids’ things, after all, was the attitude, though they’d been selling beer and cars in the ‘50s.

Here’s the complete story, with accompanying pictures, from the article dated August 15th. It’s a little long. You can download both pages HERE and HERE.

THE CASE FOR ANIMATED TV SPOTS
An expert argues that cartoons can sell things live actors can't
The little animated man in the commercials is continuing to win awards and influence sponsors.
Most recent example came from the Advertising Assn. of West which selected the top tv commercials produced in the West during the past year (BROADCASTING, July 4). There were five classes: 60-second spots, 20-second, ID's, program commercials and color commercials. The five first place awards for the best spot in each category all went to animated commercials.
"That's as it should be," commented Bill Scott of Jay Ward Productions, where he is co-producer of Rocky and His Friends, cartoon program sponsored by General Mills twice a week in its across-the-board late afternoon half-hour period on ABC-TV. "Cartoon commercials ought to be best because this is the only mass medium where the advertiser has absolute control of every second of time and every square inch of screen and so has complete control of everything the audience sees or hears from start to finish."
"Cartoon characters have one major shortcoming in comparison with live performers," he admitted. "They can't act. They can't look the viewer straight in the eye and make a believable pitch. But cartoon characters can make him believe things a live actor can't.
More Latitude ■ "There are only so many ways you can photograph a bottle of beer, only so many ways an actor can show his satisfaction after sipping it. But the Burgie man, by flubbing the commercial, can make folks love him and pity him and identify with him more strongly than they do with any live actor and some of that affection inevitably attaches itself to the product as well.
"What do you do with fats? Grease —and that's all shortening is when you come right down to it—what can you do to make that appealing? Well, Snowdrift answered that question with a foppish character dripping with superiority. On his first tv appearance he described himself, with deadly accuracy, as 'an identifiable character' and commanded his viewers to think of Snowdrift whenever they saw him. 'When you don't see me you may think of anything you please,' he condescendingly concluded. 'That's fair enough, isn't it?'
"Some months later, appearing in a yachting cap, he stated that Snowdrift is 'superb for kitchen or galley.' Then, staring imperiously at the audience, he went on, 'You do have a yacht, don't you?'
"The one field of broadcast advertising that seems to have been overlooked by the animators—or perhaps it's the other way 'round—is politics," Mr. Scott observed, "and this is very strange, considering the preeminent position of the political cartoons in newspapers. The only use of the tv cartoon in politics that I know of was one titled 'Hell Bent for Election' that UAW-CIO used to support Roosevelt in 1944 and that was a wrong use as the cartoon was so slanted that the only people it had any appeal for were those who had already decided to vote for FDR.
"Yet, there's no doubt that political cartoons on tv could be very effective. People will look at a cartoon almost automatically as soon as it comes on the screen and a party or candidate might capture the attention—and votes —of viewers who started out opposed and who would not ordinarily watch, listen to or read an appeal from this man or party.
Could Humor Backfire? ■ "I can't believe that many practical politicians have shied away from the tv cartoon as being too emotional a device. Perhaps they're afraid of destroying the serious image of a party or a candidate by what is generally considered to be a humorous medium. That would make somewhat more sense. Yet our armed forces have made good use of cartoons in their training programs and even the State Department has used them to get over serious but complicated messages that were difficult to present effectively by the more conventional means of communication.
Mr. Scott said that it takes six weeks from assignment to delivery for a one-minute commercial and calls on the services of a staff of five or six persons. For a five-minute cartoon, the time requirement is six to eight weeks, with a staff of 30. To turn out a half-hour series, where titles and other elements can be reused in many segments, takes a staff of 150 eight to ten weeks, and the same staff will spend six months in producing a one-hour cartoon special, with no repeats. A feature film for theatrical use, running an hour and 25 minutes, usually takes 18 months.
What It Costs ■ An animated program or commercial costs more than live action, he said, with an average half-hour cartoon series this fall costing around $40,000 per program. This is not an exorbitant sum, he commented, when one realizes that a half-hour program comprises 39,000 individual hand-drawn pictures.
A good one-minute animated commercial today costs $8,000-9,000 and Mr. Scott predicted that the price will go up to around $11,000 within the next two years. One reason is a shortage of animators. The entire cartoon output—theatrical films, tv programs and commercials, industrial films—is the work of slightly more than 1,000 people, many of them veterans who started with Disney 20 years ago or more. Unless some way is found to restore the glamour to cartooning that it had then to attract more artists to this field, advertisers wishing to use animated tv commmercials or sponsor original cartoon programs may find themselves standing in line waiting to be served and paying the kind of prices that occur when demand exceeds supply.
Mr. Scott does not look for more cartoon commercials in the months ahead, but he does look for better ones. There will be more humor, more soft sell, more sophisticated appeal, he believes, and not so many hard sell spots delivered in the piping voices of dancing cartoon children. "We'll see more characters like the L&M caveman," he predicted, "fewer animals like the Hamm's Beer bear."
The change is coming, he asserted, because agencies are waking up to the fact that creating a story board based on a radio commercial and giving it to the cartoon producer making the lowest bid for the job is not the way to get a commercial that will move merchandise. "Cartooning, good cartooning, is a creative activity," he declared, "and the best results are obtained only when the cartoonist has a hand in creating a character appropriate to the product and the kind of appeal its manufacturer wants it to make to the buying public."

Cartoonists in their element ■ Jay Ward Productions, the two-year-old corporation which produces Rocky and His Friends, is an aggregation of 125 actors, directors, writers, animators, musicians, artists, designers and editors, headed by Jay Ward (at left in caricature above) and Bill Scott, co-producers of Rocky.
Jay Ward, executive producer, was also co-producer of Crusader Rabbit, which introduced animation to television away back in 1947 [sic].
Bill Scott is a top writer in the cartoon field. His credits include scripts for Mister Magoo, Gerald McBoing Boing and Bugs Bunny. His tv career dates back to Time for Beany, a puppet show which was a top favorite with west coast audiences pre-1950, and he since has written and produced many industrial films and tv spots.
The Ward staff has collected a total of 72 awards, including nine Oscars and seven prizes from film festivals in Cannes, Venice and Edinburgh. Ready for release at JWP are two new half-hour cartoon series, Super Chicken and Hoppity Hooper, a satirical comedy cartoon-and-puppet show called What's Gnu? and an hour-long Yuletide special, Magic of Christmas.

Other than the cost numbers, the last paragraph is perhaps the most interesting. Ward developed a bunch of different programme ideas, detailed minutely in Keith Scott’s excellent book The Moose That Roared, which every Jay Ward fan should own. Watts Gnu never did make it to air; a deal with ABC collapsed at the last minute. Hoppity and Super Chicken (after a make-over) made it on TV later. The only thing I’ve found about the Magic of Christmas is a short item in the Screen Cartoonists newsletter Top Cel from March 1961 which describes it as a 90-minute special featuring carols, hymns and Christmas stories. Keith reports it never got to the voice-track state. If it had been made and picked up, it would have been the first animated-for-TV special. And probably very funny.