Land of the Coyote

Before Maurice Noble stylised settings for the Chuck Jones unit, audiences were treated to the work of Bob Gribbroek. He retired to New Mexico where he had spent some of his younger years so perhaps he had an affinity for constructing the southwestern playground of Wile E. Coyote.

Gribbroek was the layout artist on “Operation: Rabbit” (released 1951) with Phil De Guard creating the backgrounds from his work. Here are a few shots in the opening minute.

Carnegie Benny

He had a reputation as the cheapest guy in the world, but it’s impossible to say how much Jack Benny helped raise for charity through his numerous violin concerts all over North America.

The calculation was $2,000,000 when he was honoured in a TV special in 1961—and many more years of recitals (Jack would like that word) followed. TV Radio Mirror gave what amounted to a two-page publicity spread for the special, with one page taken up with a photo of Jack in action on stage as a serious musician. The story was as follows:

JACK BENNY
A fiddle player who's cutting the deficits without cutting the comedy
by BILL KELSAY
September 27, CBS telecasts the Carnegie Hall tribute to Jack Benny—complete with such ranking members of the musical elite as Isaac Stern, Van Cliburn, Roberta Peters, the Benny Goodman Sextet, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra . . . pretty heady company for a performer whose violin has been little more than a prop for a running joke on TV! Actually, the tribute—and the awards given Benny for his symphonic efforts—have not been in recognition of a great musical talent . . . but because Jack has turned his other talents to the practical side of the preservation of good music. In more than a score of benefit concerts—New York to Honolulu, Toronto to New Orleans—he's raised in excess of two million dollars for charity and various orchestra funds.
"It all started with one of my regular television shows," says Jack. "I was supposed to have had a big fight with my sponsor. I went home mad and said, 'I should have stuck with the violin!' Then I fell asleep and had this dream where I was the guest soloist with the Los Angeles Symphony. ... In a situation like this, you cannot play badly to get laughs. The fact is, you surprise your audience by being able to get through Mendelssohn. The humor comes from small, annoying things that happen or through other musicians trying to take the play away from you. ... I hadn't really played the violin for years. So, for a month before this show, I had to practice several hours a day. Let's face it—I'm not thirty-nine anymore and my fingers weren't supple and I had lost the touch."

Meanwhile, in New York, Carnegie Hall was about to be torn down and a committee had been formed to save it. They asked Jack to help raise funds by appearing as guest soloist with the Philharmonic in an act similar to the one on TV. . . . Jack was in Houston attending the convention of the Retarded Children's Society, of which he was honorary president. There, a leading citizen from Oklahoma suggested he break in the concert act with the Oklahoma City Symphony to raise money for the society. The pattern for Jack's concert appearances was first set in Oklahoma City: The comedy involves primarily the concertmaster, assistant concertmaster and cymbalist, and reflects the same type of humor Jack has perfected in radio and TV. He is "the fall guy" trying to live up to an image he has of himself and never quite succeeding.
"The big job in these concerts is preparation," says Irving Fein, president of Jack's production company. "For most of the people we are working with, it is their first experience with this sort of thing. I begin with letters telling them how to sell tickets, what to use for advertising, how to set up committees. After all, they want to make money for their particular cause, and there's no point in having Jack play to a half-empty house. . . . We arrive in town at least a day or two before the concert. We have our first rehearsal with the key men involved, in Jack's suite, so that, when we get on the stage, their parts are perfect and we don't spend the entire symphony's time. This way, we work no more than two hours with the full orchestra. Then it's done. No problems.
"We have been a little concerned that we might run into a conductor who thought comedy was unprofessional and not suitable for the concert stage. Last year, we were worried about George Szell, who has built the Cleveland Orchestra into one of the five greatest of the world. He is a great, dedicated, and demanding conductor. . . . He couldn't have been more charming! He laughed and said to Jack, I want to rehearse this again—you know comedy, I don't.' He is a perfectionist in his field, and recognized that Jack was also a perfectionist in his."
Unfortunately, there's only one Jack Benny—and several hundred symphony orchestras. There are some four hundred requests. Jack would like to do them all but, obviously, this is out of the question. There is one in particular he would like to do. About two years ago, it looked as though he'd be able to play with the Salt Lake City orchestra. But, when he was available, their schedule was inflexible. Ever since, wherever he makes a concert appearance, he receives a telegram: "Hope you are wonderful tonight. Wish you were here!"

The accompanying photo has become tinted with age. Odd for something that is likely only 39 years old.

How to Meow in Cartoons

Photoplay magazine didn’t devote very much space to animated cartoons, what with all those stories it had to fit in about the “real” life of Hollywood’s stars. But I came across this one-page piece in the September 1930 edition. It doesn’t say an awful lot; the best part is the sixteen drawings of Krazy Kat that make up one foot of film. And no one familiar with old cartoon studios will be surprised to read Phil Scheib of Terry Toons talking about cost.



Watch ‘Em Move
A Short Biography of Krazy Kat and Some of His Goofy Friends
By Frances Kish
HAVEN'T you sat, fascinated, for the seven or eight minutes of an animated cartoon, wondering what makes the drawings move? And when talkies came along, weren't you surprised when they sang and played musical instruments, and out from the screen came the squeaky voice of Krazy Kat or the piping song of Mickey Mouse?
Most cartoons are planned out before ever pencil is put to paper. Let's sit in on a couple of conferences at the Winkler Pictures studios, where work is about to begin on a new adventure in the life of Krazy Kat.
The entire studio staff is present. Somebody has what he thinks is a clever idea. Changes and additions are suggested. Discussion is fast and furious. And a complete story is worked out.
Later, there is a “gag” conference. Perhaps there's a sequence in a subterranean room, down a long flight of stairs. “Well, stairs when picked up and juggled back and forth between the hands make a perfectly grand accordion,” suggests someone. And thus a gag is born. The musicians determine the type of music for each gag — whether the mood calls for “Hearts and Flowers,” jazz, a march or a swaying waltz. Tempo is measured accurately with a metronome, and exact length timed with a split-second watch.
The major animator begins the work. The thin white paper he uses for his drawings has holes punched at the top, like pages for a loose-leaf note-book. These holes fit over pegs, holding the paper firmly in position. Drawing is done on slanted glass boards, under which is an electric light bulb that shines through glass and paper and makes tracing easy.
The figures are about three inches high. Progressive drawings, each on a separate sheet, move the action slightly forward, backward, up, down or around.
Each drawing is traced with India ink on a piece of celluloid punched like the paper. Celluloid is used for the final drawings because of its lustre and transparency.
The drawings are photographed, one at a time, with a regular motion picture camera equipped with “stop motion.” The camera is suspended over a table, with special lamps to center the light on the celluloids.
Sixteen “frames”—sixteen separate exposures—make one foot of film.
Out at the studio where Terry-Toons are made I learned some of the troubles of a musical director of sound cartoons. Old, familiar tunes are frequently found to be all tied up with the red tape of the copyright law. Foreign rights are especially difficult to obtain. Fees paid for the use of musical compositions, often just a few bars at a time, run into enormous sums.
There are the most amusing “sound props.” At the proper moment in the recording, a resined string is pulled from a small, drum-like contraption, and the resulting sound is like the bark of a lusty dog. A big, bucket-like affair, on the same principle, produces a lion's roar.
WHEN the rooster crows, it's because someone blew into a thing that looks like a small watering can. A big wooden affair, notched like a modern skyscraper, makes a train whistle. There are ratchets that sound like the beat of tom-toms, wind whistles, etc.
One of the executives of the Terry-Toon Company is an expert “meower” and his services are much in demand on the days when recording is done!
There's a tremendous amount of labor and care involved in making animated sound cartoons. Thousands of drawings are made for one film—generally from five to seven or eight thousand separate drawings. And that means the same number of tracings, and the same number of photographic exposures, to say nothing of the intricate musical and sound score.
But don't get the idea that cartoon studios are stodgy places where laughter is a mere commercial commodity to be turned out by the foot. I found them so jolly and fascinating that I wanted to stay and join the gang. But I changed my mind when I learned that it takes about two years to develop a good animator, no matter how much talent and artistic training he has at the beginning.
So I decided to stick to reporting, where all one has to do is ask hard-working artists a lot of questions and then write down the answers.

Johnny Jet's Parentage

One of the unanswered questions of cartoons is—if Little Johnny Jet’s mother and father are propeller planes, how did his mother give birth to a jet?



Tex Avery’s animators in this one are Walt Clinton, Grant Simmons, Mike Lah and Bob Bentley, with Ray Patterson borrowed from the Hanna-Barbera unit.

Interestingly, the picture on the cereal box in the frame above is reminiscent of the background drawing of “silver spoon” kid in Avery’s earlier “Symphony in Slang,” which was designed by Tom Oreb, though Johnny Johnsen would have done the backgrounds in both.

Hot Dog

Cartoon studios of the late ‘20s and early ‘30s seemed to love hot dogs that were alive. Mickey Mouse coped with some in 1929’s “The Karnival Kid,” among others. Felix the Cat dealt with some in “April Maze” the following year. And Oswald the Rabbit has one in a scene in “Sky Scrappers” (1928), a silent made by Walt Disney.

The weiner comes alive and bathes its butt in mustard. The gag was re-used by Hugh Harman in “Ups 'N Downs,” a 1931 Bosko cartoon.



Then it curls the top of the bun on top of it and Oswald eats it. The fact it was living mere moments earlier doesn’t faze him.



No animators are credited.

More Great Old Cartoons Can Be Yours

Steve Stanchfield has done a great service for old cartoon fans through his Thunderbean Animation, finding the best prints of public domain obscurities and working technical magic to make them available on DVD to fans. The Snafu series his company released a few years ago is stunningly restored and historically important. His Van Beuren collections are appreciated by New York C-list studio fans everywhere and look pretty good, too.

Steve’s latest release features the work of Walter Lantz, both commercial and theatrical.

I’m a sucker for late ‘20s/early ‘30s shorts with characters that stretch all over the place, exchange body parts, turn into musical instruments and don’t have an awful lot of story to get in the way of the strangeness. The few early Lantz sound cartoons I’ve seen are a lot of fun. Steve’s managed to corral some of them and put them on DVD, along with some of Lantz’ silent efforts (Walter Lantz began his career in animation as a cel washer in 1916) and some of the commercials his studio made in the ‘50s.

Thunderbean has worked with Del Walker’s Retroflections on this over the last six years.

If you want to learn more, check out Steve’s post at the IAD Forum.

No, I am not Steve’s agent. I pass on the news simply as a fan of old cartoons and Thunderbean’s high-quality work.

Hans, Hitler and Ham

Many actors have been masters of accents but none gave more enthusiastic performances than Hans Conried.

Hans was no ham thespian, though. He may have been over the top when spouting silliness on radio or TV in one of many dialects, or as the declamatory Snidely Whiplash in cartoons, but he could easily tone it down in dramatic performances on shows like “Suspense” and “Lux Radio Theatre.” Conried performed Shakespeare on stage as well. But accomplished actor as he was, he ended up building his reputation with comedy. A lot of situation comedy in the glory days of radio makes me roll my eyes, but Hans Conried can always make me laugh emoting with some foreign tongue saying something ridiculous.

Hans was profiled in the entertainment column in the National Enterprise Association in 1960. It doesn’t mention his work at Disney (“Peter Pan”). Forgotten, and perhaps rightfully, is his starring role in “The Twonky,” which would have been a fine social satire if it had fired on all cylinders. This story appeared in papers starting January 3, 1960.

All Entertainment Media Is Home For Hans Conried
By ERSKINE JOHNSON
NEA Staff Correspondent
HOLLYWOOD—(NEA)—When two generations of fans think of Hans Conried, the wild-haired, owlish-eyed fellow who looks like two profiles pasted together, chances are they will laugh over some unexpected grimaces or a wayout dialect—or both.
Radio fans remember Hans as Schultz on “Life With Luigi” and as Professor Kropotkin in “My Friend Irma.”
Movie fans recall him in “Bus Stop” and “Never Too Young.” Broadway stage fans remember him as the wacky Bulgarian sculptor in “Can Can” and the college professor in “Tall Story.”
TV fans know him as Uncle Tonoose on the Danny Thomas show, for his slick acting in all kinds of roles on other shows, and as himself, contributing to the nation's humor and insomnia, as a frequent Jack Paar guest.
But an old friend from his early (1936) days as a Hollywood radio actor remembers him for a quite different reason.
Mel Blanc, the actor with the trick voice (Bugs Bunny, Jack Benny's parrot) remembers him as an intense, dedicated Shakespearean actor. “Hans was so serious about acting,” says Mel, “that he cracked me up. I thought he was the funniest man I had ever met.”
Mel said the words when Hans, as a radio actor, was playing so many Nazi “heavies,” between Shakespearean chores, that Hans still laughs, “Hitler kept me alive until Uncle Sam put me in uniform and started feeding me.”
Well, when friend Mel Blanc found himself starred in a radio series after the war, he called in just-out-of-the-service Hans and have him the humorous character of a fellow who operated a Mr. Fix-it shop. That was the beginning of Hans Conried's fortune as a dialectian, and as stooge for every famous comedian on radio, as he rushed to and from as many as 20 different radio shows in one week.
Today Hans is still rushing — between Hollywood and New York for stage and TV appearances and telefilms — to recording studios for platter gems like “Peter Meets the Wolf in Dixieland”—to the St. Louis Municipal Opera stage in the summer for such musical dramas as “Lady In the Dark,” “Rosalinda,” and “Song of Norway.”
Home today for Hans Conried, a Baltimore, Md., lad, is a big Spanish stucco mansion on a hilltop overlooking Lake Hollywood where there is a Mrs. Conried, four little Conrieds and a rare collection of Oriental art objects. But he is home, with that rare flair for off-and on-beat comedy characters, in all entertainment mediums.
There's always talk of Hans Conried having a TV show of his own.
Fox has an option on his services in the series, “Mr. Belvedere,” when and if it is sold.
“But,” says Hans, “I'm not sure I want a show of my own. I'm the happiest when I'm doing something different every week.”
There's a strange oddity about Hans. He was never given a typical Hollywood publicity build-up and he hasn't ever sought the spotlight to become what Hollywood likes to call a “personality.”
But since his many TV panel-show appearances in New York and his stardom there in two Broadway shows, the usual Hollywood-New York pattern of fame has been reversed for him.
“Here in Hollywood,” he says, “I'm known as an actor. In New York—and I must say I blush about it—I'm considered to be a personality. But really, in 25 years of acting I've never worried much about whether I was known as an actor or as a personality. I just want to stay alive.”
One movie, “The 5,000 Fingers of Doctor T,” gave Hans his only starring film role. But today he can still laugh about the film. "It was the outstanding money-loser of all time.
“One critic called it the worst waste of film in history. But at the same time the film made the ‘current & choice’ list in a national magazine. It was a strange movie—a fantasy—but no one ever saw it.”
Of course, Hans Conried is his real name.
“I would have changed it to Hans Conried?” he deadpans.

This story came out a year and a bit before Hans was hired by Jay Ward to channel John Barrymore (who could register high on the ham meter) as Snidely Whiplash. Ward later put him on camera as the host of “Fractured Flickers,” a short-lived syndicated show from 1963 featuring satiric voice tracks played over top of old silent films and bogus interviews with guests. Here’s one with the lovely Barbara Eden. The laughter and applause is more intrusive than helpful, but the premise is clever.

Whoa, Camel

You know the routine. It’s a Friz-Foster Favourite!



In “Sahara Hare,” we only get to see Sam clobber the camel to get it to go, not to stop. The scene is focused on Bugs Bunny, we hear the impact, then the scene cuts to Sam and the bopped camel.

Ted Bonnicksen worked on this cartoon in his brief spell as a Freleng animator, along with Gerry Chiniquy and Art Davis.

Smiling Exit

Cute gag in “Casanova Cat” (1951) where Tom gets a rival cat out of the scene so he can make time with Toodles.

He ties a flagpole to the end of the black cat’s tail.



Then the pole pulls the cat out of the room, briefly leaving its smile behind.



The usual Hanna-Barbera unit animators get credited: Ken Muse, Ed Barge, Ray Patterson and Irv Spence.

Before Jack Benny Sold Canada Dry

We’ve spoken before on this blog that it’s pure bunk that Jack Benny made his radio debut, as he long stated, on the Ed Sullivan radio show on March 29, 1932. You can read about a 1931 broadcast here and a 1929 programme here.

But before Jack’s Sullivan appearance morphed into a legend, there was another claim of a “first” Benny appearance. It was published in the Pittsburgh Press of June 16, 1937 and related a broadcast on an unspecified date in 1931. Considering how meticulously planned the Benny shows were in later years, reading this account is somewhat surprising.

Jack Benny’s Radio Debut Is Recalled In Cincinnati
Newspaperman Who ‘Interviewed’ Clown Hasn’t Recovered From Seeing Carefully Penned Script Snubbed
By BOB RICHARDS
Jack Benny’s first appearance before a microphone was a riotous, ad lib affair on Cincinnati’s WFBE (now WCPO) with Frank Aston, managing editor of The Post, as his ‘straight’ man.
Few people know that the memorable day in 1931 that Benny had the engineers and announcers of WFBE rolling on the new studio rugs, and radio fans throughout the city in tear-jerking hilarity, marked the famed comedian’s initial broadcast.
Jack was appearing in Cincinnati at the time with Earl Carroll’s Vanities, playing the Shubert. Frank Aston, then drama critic on The Post, was to interview the vaudeville headliner on WFBE. After a weary afternoon at the typewriter, trying laboriously to be as funny as Benny, Mr. Aston finished the script for the broadcast.
Makes No Carbon Copies
Benny appeared at WFBE five minutes before time for the interview to go on the air. As was the custom of that early day in radio, only one script had been prepared. (Incidentally, Jack makes no carbon copies of his program to this day).
Mr. Aston handed his brainchild to Mr. Benny with the comment: “Here’s the script we’re going to use.”
“Ummmmm,” said Mr. Benny. “Ahhhhhh,” as he preceded the critic to the studio. Two minutes to go before broadcast time. Benny still pursued [sic] the script. Frank was getting fidgety. One minute. A green warning light appeared above the studio door.
“We’re on in one minute,” the nervous Mr. Aston hissed.
“Yeah,” said Benny, still studying the lines.
The red light flashed. Aston and Benny were on the air and Aston still couldn’t see the script to read his opening lines.
Aston Up to Occasion
“I guess we can get along without this,” the comedian said, and forthwith hurled the Aston interview over his shoulder, scattering its many pages about the studio.
Mr. Aston’s spirit sank with the falling pages. But he was up to the occasion. He gave the trooper [sic] an extemporaneous introduction. John Koepf, promotion editor of The Post, who was standing in the WFBE control room watching the broadcast, can carry on from there:
“Benny took the ball after Frank’s introduction, and did he carry it! It was the best program I have ever heard out of the fellow and I don’t miss many of them. Frank made the perfect straight man, too. I’m still surprised that Benny didn’t sign him up on the spot.”
Mr. Koepf, following the program, rode down on the Hotel Sinton elevator with the vaudeville headliner. They paused for a moment in the lobby to converse before parting.
“Do you know,” said Benny, “that was the first time I ever did a radio program.”
Recognizes Mike’s Might
“Benny went on to discuss his plans in radio,” Mr. Koepf recalled. “He said he recognized the might of the microphone and saw in it a possibility to get even further on the stage.”
Jack told John that he planned to approach radio in a business-like fashion. “As soon as I get a few ideas glued together, I’m going in for this radio stuff,” he said.

Benny celebrated his 10th anniversary in radio on his broadcast of May 4, 1941, with Don Wilson stating that the actual ten-year mark was May 9th. The rest of the show had a made-up scenario about Jack’s debut for a buggy whip company.

A huge gala took place at the Biltmore Bowl in Los Angeles. But a story about the anniversary in the May 4th edition of the Kingsport Times reads in part:

But radio didn’t want Jack Benny until one night in 1932 when Broadway Columnist Ed Sullivan presented the jester as a guest over a New York Station.

No matter how you do the math, you can’t get ten years between 1932 and 1941. Certainly people must have been able to add back then and see that something wasn’t right. Jack never mentioned the Cincinnati show in any interviews that I’ve found. He always gave credit to his buddy Sullivan, originally for giving him a spotlight that helped him land the M.C. job on Canada Dry programme (debuting May 2, 1932) which then evolved into a tale of his “radio debut.” So what “debut” was he celebrating in 1941? We may never really know.