The President and Jack

Harry Truman’s piano playing became another subject for gentle humour on radio comedy shows while he was president but evidently Truman didn’t mind too much—certainly when it came to Jack Benny. That’s even though Benny chastised him at a National Press Club dinner in 1944, demanding him to keep in tempo while accompanying the comedian during a violin solo. The two played a joint benefit concert in 1958 to raise money to save the Kansas City Philharmonic. The forum on the International Jack Benny Fan Club web site mentions Benny, Jimmy Durante and Melvin Douglas were invited guests at Truman’s birthday party the following year. Jack made an appearance at Truman’s birthday again two years later, as you can see by the United Press International photo to the right. And they got together in 1964 in an aid drive for the Farm Hall of Fame.

Perhaps the most famous connection between the two was the former president’s appearance on the Benny TV show on October 18, 1959. A column in the Milwaukee Sentinel about a month earlier revealed (after the show had been filmed) Benny’s writers came up with the idea but the star was reluctant to ask Truman. Finally, rumours of a Truman appearance started appearing in print, Truman told a reporter he’d never been asked, so Benny finally gave the okay to ask.

The former president’s appearance on the Benny show brought about some publicity from UPI (and, other media outlets) as well. Here’s a piece published October 12, 1959 in the Provo Daily Herald.

Truman Ad Libs For Benny Show
By DOC QUIGG
NEW YORK (UPI) "Mr. President ... Mr. Benny ... can we just walk through it once please?" said Jack Benny's director Cy Berns into his headphone in the control room and his voice crackled out over tangle of equipment where the two principles stood.
"Clear the dialogue cards. We will come up on two. Can you fade? We're ready to roll. We have a audio level.
Stage manager, "Tell Mr. Benny and Mr. Truman to just project a little bit more, as if there were 300 people there. I want it for comic effect. Scene three! I want a slap stick for synch. (Whack! went the striped stick in front of the camera). Come up on camera two. Cue them in, please."

And suddenly, Harry S. Truman was on camera, his soft nasal drawl giving Benny the inside word on White House state dinners: "All the old dowagers in Washington try to get in--and some of them do."
It wasn't in the script, and as the former president kept ad-libbing in rehearsal and scene after scene, an observer in the control room said: "Why don't they tear up the script and throw it away?"
The scene was the interior of the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Mo. The time was last month during the taping of some 15 minutes of serious-and-spoofing byplay between Truman and Benny. The Truman-escorted Benny tour of the library will be aired on Oct. 16 on the Jack Benny show on CBS-TV.
Although there was a prepared script, Benny had told Truman at the start of the two days of rehearsal and shooting: "Mr. President, you just tell me what this library is for—just what you feel. It'll be much better than anything we can write.
Truman, at 79, showed remarkable stamina on his feet for two days and redoing the scenes time and again with cheerful good humor when Berns looked at the tape and commanded a re-take. When it was all over, the former President looked to the crew: "I can't tell you how nice it's been—now, I've got to go to work."
"Imagine," said Benny, "He's telling US."
At the urging of the Benny staff, Truman sat down and gave them a goodbye solo, banging out a fragment of Mozart on the library grand piano. "That's part of the 16th sonata," he said. "When I was a kid, I used to play it all. So long."

It’s Oswald! Cartoons of 1927, Part 2

Perhaps the biggest development in the animation industry in 1927 was the release of the Oswald cartoons by Universal. Oswald’s history is pretty well known these days; the cartoons were originally made at the Disney studio, which had a deal with Charlie Mintz to release them through Universal. The first one to hit screens was the still enjoyable “Trolley Troubles.” But even before it was released, Mintz had approached Hugh Harman (and other animators, I suspect) about leaving Disney and working directly for him on the Oswald shorts. And that’s exactly what happened a year later. Oswald was originally distributed in the “Snappy Comedy” series that also included live action shorts.

Mintz, incidentally, didn’t just produce cartoons. He also released ten two-reelers that season, including one called “Toddles,” about a baby and a dog.

Other than pumping out cartoons, there was very little else happening in the animated world in the second half of ’27 judging by the pages of The Film Daily. Sound cartoons were about a year away and some film historians suggest that silent cartoons had gone about as far as they could go. So the newspaper had a number of cartoon reviews but little actual news during that period. Of interest are a Saturday Felix the Cat matinee, Winsor McCay still trundling around vaudeville with a cartoon act, and the release of a colour cartoon (several other colour shorts were released that year). In reading the cartoon reviews, it’s interesting the note the appearance of the old pepper/sneeze gag, and a staple of early ‘30s sound cartoons—characters ganging up to rescue a girl from the villain.

After the reviews, you’ll find a list of release dates compiled from the paper.

July 3, 1927
Publix Students Visits Cartoon Plant
Student members of the Publix Theater Managers Training School visited the studios of Fables Pictures, where Pathe "Aesop Fables" are produced.

July 28, 1927
Paramount Making Debut in Short Subject Field
Paramount makes its debut in the short subject field Aug. 1 with release of the first issue of Paramount News. "No Publicity," an Everett Horton comedy, and "Sealing Whacks," Krazy Kat cartoon. The issue of the newsreel will present a brief dedication to the public written by Editor Emanuel Cohen.

July 31, 1927
Paramount [Theatre]
Presented an innovation with Winsor McCay the cartoonist in person offering an animated cartoon called "McKay Cartoon Circus." The cartoonist with an Australian whip officiates as ringmaster as he puts the funny animals through their paces. The number was well synchronized and had lots of comedy values Sigmund Krumgold substituted for Crawford at the console, and carried through a regulation Crawford offering.

August 12, 1927
Cartoon Releases Transposed
Release dates of three Inkwell Imps series of cartoon comedies have been transposed by Paramount. New dates are: Sept. 17, “Koko Hops Off”; Oct. 1, “Koko, the Kop”; Oct. 15, “Koko Explores.”

August 25, 1927
Cartoonist Sails for Europe
Roland D. Crandall, animated cartoonist formerly with Red Seal and now associated with Pathescope, will sail Saturday on the Cedric for Europe where he will film historical scenes and gather material for a new short subject series.

Krazy Kat Get-Together
Charles J. Mintz of the Winkler organization was host yesterday at a luncheon at which Paramount short subject executives and members of the Krazy Kat Studio met. Those present included Mike Lewis, Miles Gibbons, Lew Diamond, George Wultner, Ben Harrison and Manny Gould.

September 7, 1927
Winkler Files Answer in Cartoon Patent Suit

Answer has been filed in the Federal Court by Winkler Pictures, Inc., defendant in the suit brought some time ago by the Bray-Hurd Process Co. involving patents covering animated cartoon processes. John Randolph Bray and Earl Hurd brought suit based on certain patents which they claim they obtained in 1914 and which they contend prevent anytime but themselves or those licensed by them from making or selling animated cartoons.
Winkler Pictures in their answer to the suit claim that since the patents were issued thirteen years ago, Bray and Hurd have never prosecuted any court action to prove that their patents were of any value or validity. They further claim that the patents are invalid and that their company and other concerns using animated cartoon processes are not committing acts of infringement.
The further contention is made by the defendant company that Bray and Hurd were not the inventors, originators or first users of the particular processes used in making animated cartoons, but that these processes and methods were well known and in public use before either Bray or Hurd ever filed their applications for patents.

November 10, 1927
Civic Leaders at Luncheon
Educational and club leaders of New York City will be guests of the public relations department of the Hays organization at a luncheon today at the Empire Hotel. Following lunch, the civic heads will be taken through the Pat Sullivan studios, where "Felix, the Cat" cartoon comedies are made.

December 4, 1927
FELIX THE CAT LINES UP THE KIDDIES SOLID
This is actual and a stunt any showman can put over!
Art Delmore has organized a Felix the Cat club among the youthful patrons of his Granada, Wilmington, Cal. He conducts special Felix matinees every Saturday for boys and girls, arranging special stunts for each matinee. As an inducement to children to join the club and also attend his matinees, Delmore presents a Felix button to every club member.
To call attention to the matinees and to advertise his Felix the Cat cartoon comedies (Educational). Delmore uses small ads in the newspapers well in advance of each specific show. In each, he inserts a small cut of Felix. In similar manner he calls attention to the club and matinee on the first page of his program. As a result of his widely exploited club, the Granada crashed into the first page of the “Wilmington Press” with a three-column photograph showing members of the club in front of the house.

Phil M. Daly column
DANA PARKER, animator at the Pat Sullivan studios in the making of Felix, the Cat cartoons, keeps his mind on his work. Proof? When he was told Educational's luncheon was to be at the Empire Hotel, he had to inquire its location. The hotel can be seen from his window.

December 15, 1927
Grossman Dies in Paris
Word has been received by Julius Singer of the death in Paris Nov. 11, of Harry Grossman, director general of the Societe "Les Films Celebres." Grossman was the originator of the Mutt and Jeff cartoons in film form, later becoming associated with Alliance Pictures. He went to Europe four years ago.



REVIEWS

July 17, 1927
"Riding High" Fables—Pathe
Clever Animation
Type of production. . . .1 reel cartoon
The gagster has a good day in this episode of old Al Falfa's troubles, the first incident showing lengthy Leonard, the long dog, giving a crew of mice an aerial ride after they have inflated him. Leonard sneezes when a bird sprinkles him with pepper, then deflates and falls the ground, where Helen Hippo uses him for a skipping rope. Much more in the same gag vein takes place, resulting in the modern Aesop's observation: "It may be painful to crack your head, but it never hurts to crack a smile."

August 7, 1927
"Trolley Troubles" Winkler—Universal
New Rabbit Cartoon

Type of production. . .1 reel animated
Introducing Oswald, a rival to the other animal cartoon stars. And Oswald looks like a real contender, Walt Disney is doing this new series. Funny how the cartoon artists never hit on a rabbit before. Oswald with his long ears has a chance for a lot of new comedy gags, and makes the most of them. Universal has been looking for a good animated subject for the past year. They've found it. As conductor on a “Toonerville” trolley, Oswald is a riot. This and the two following in the series you can book on pure faith, and our solemn weird that they have the goods.

"Red Hot Sands" Fables—Pathe
Up to Snuff
Type of production. . . .1 reel cartoon
Tom Cat, Milt Mouse and Al Falfa pick the land of Egypt as the scene of their adventures. One of the funniest incidents in this exploration is the discovery, by means of snuff, that the Sphinx has false teeth and a wig. Later adventurers bring them to a sheik's castle where they rescue Harem Helen, this exploit entailing the scaling of a pyramid and flight on a crane's back. Excellent drawings and bright ideas embellish the plot.

August 14, 1927
"Aero Nuts" Paramount Krazy Kat Cartoon
More Cartoon Antics
Type of Production . . . 1 reel novelty
The recent New York to Paris flights furnished the suggestion for this Krazy Kat cartoon which presents the struggles of the aero cat who enters the race. Cartoon license provides a series of purely non-sensical stunts that drew a goodly share of laughs. The cat survives a series of hectic adventures during the flight and lands on what he believes it to be Eiffel tower only to discover that it was the top of an oil gusher. First rate cartoon comedy.

"The Travel Hog" Felix the Cat—Educational
A Cartoon Tour
Type of production. . .1 reel animated
Felix gets in the path of a tornado, and is whirled to the Arctic where he is chased by a polar bear and used as a ball by two playful seals. He is then thrown to Holland where the wind mills continue his forced journey, landing him on the moon, from where he drops onto the boot of Italy that kicks him into Egypt. Not much variety in cartoon technique, but Felix still carries his unique personality.

"Great Guns" Winkler—Universal
Clever Cartoon
Type of production. . .1 reel animated
The second in the new series of Oswald the Rabbit works some clever kinks in cartoon technique. Oswald finds himself being shot at by an enormous cannon that turns human and does all sorts of funny capers. Everything inanimate comes to life, even the cannon balls, and the artist gets far away from the cut and dried business of the animated schedule. Just another proof that ideas make good screen entertainment – even with the cartoon players.

August 21, 1927
"Ant Life As It Isn't" Aesop Fables—Pathe
Bugland Comic
Type of production. . .1 reel animated
The cartoon shows life in the ant village, with Andy Ant staging a petting party with Bess Beetle. But the bandit in the form of a bird steals the gal, and Andy calls out the fire department to rescue her from the tree where the bird has carried her. The animal life is comically depicted, and proves a fair burlesque on the outlaw western pictures.

"Art for Art's Sake" Felix the Cat—Educational
Cartoon Romance
Type of production.. 1 reel animated
In this cartoon Felix does the Romeo stuff when he loses his girl to an aviator rival. He turns to art, and does a statue of his sweetie, and hopes that it also will come to life. It does later. A clever conceit that is real arty in the cartoon division.

"A Hole in One" Fables—Pathe
Clever Animated Idea
Type of production....1 reel cartoon
Alfalfa's goat gets his "nanny" because the latter won't be steered by his horns. Al is finally butted into the 18th hole at a golf course, at least attains the distinction of which all golfers dream. Aesop puts the finishing touch on the proceedings by wheezing: "You don't have to be crazy to play golf, but it helps."

August 28, 1927
"The Small Town Sheriff" Fables-Pathe
Al Goes Law-Abidin'
Type of production. . 1 reel cartoon
Old Al Falfa, the sheriff, needs but one drink of a soda fountain speak-easy, to reach the stars. He takes a long celestial ride on the tail of a comet, and at last bounces into a boat, when he is again dumped into the ether. When he awakes he discovers himself surrounded by strange animals. What to do is a question, when he realizes he's a constable, so he sends them all scooting. Good, comprehensive fantasy.

September 4, 1927
"Cutting a Melon" Fables-Pathe
Unusual Clever Animation
Type of production . . .1 reel cartoon
One of the biggest laughs in this film is the sage observation at the conclusion, in which the modern Aesop wheezes: "The coat and the pants do all the work, but vest gets all the gravy." This is comparable to the best in the wise-crack line one might find along Broadway, but is given gratis with the rest of the film, which as usual shows the ability of Paul Terry with a pen. Here he depicts Al Falfa trying to market some melons only to be balked by some muts who steal not only the fruit, but the wagon too.

"Jack from All Trades" Felix—Educational
Lively Cartoon
Type of production. . .1 reel animated
Further sprightly adventures of Felix the cat with a human complex. Forced to go to work by his indignant wife, Felix looks around for easy ways to earn the necessary coin, and proves his ingenuity in several ways, and at several trades. But his crowning effort is when he becomes partners with a musician and attaches a tire air pump to the instrument. The resultant jazzy music causes the entire neighbourhood to shower the partners with coins, and Felix returns home in triumph to his wife. It is a good animated, with plenty of chuckles through the footage.

September 11, 1927
"Web Feet" Chas. B. Mintz—Paramount
Krazy Kat Capers
Type of production....1 reel cartoon
Krazy Kat sets out for a joy ride with a lady fair but ere long one of the two is seen walking home—and it isn't Krazy Kat. He continues his pursuit by delving into the cliffside homes of some lady spiders and arrives on the scene in time to save one of the fair sex from a brutal attack by a spider. An army of spiders fail to deter the Kat in his rescue and in due course he marries the "girl." Good cartooning and fair proportion of laughs.

"In Again, Out Again" Fables—Pathe
Excellent Cartoon
Type of production .... 1 reel cartoon
The funny cat and his gang are doing time in jail, and what they do to break their bonds is an inspired cartoonical comedy construction that carries all sorts of gags, funny capers and all the other familiar but unceasingly amusing devices of the comic artist. Having made good their escape, after much effort and hefty chasing from the cops, an ironical twist brings them back into the prison courtyard, where the eternal chopping of stones has them finishing whence they originally started. Tough on the gang, but lots of fun for the spectators.

September 18, 1927
"Wise Guise" Felix Cartoon—Educational
Imaginative Animated
Type of production . . . . 1 reel cartoon
Felix the Cat starts out to show his sweetie that he is a wise guy, and can beat most people at their own game. He wins a swimming race by a fluke—or to be exact, a fish that carries Felix on its back to victory. The best sequence is where Felix buys a silhouette cutout of himself from an artist, and the silhouette proceeds to steal his girl. Here is a corking cartoon idea that has been played up for a lot of laughs and will easily score alongside any of the current animateds.

September 25, 1927
"Rail Rode" Krazy Kat Cartoon—Paramount
Little Humor
Type of production. ... 1 reel cartoon
Krazy Kat embarks on new adventures and cuts up in hilarious fashion, as usual, but the capers fail to arouse any particular degree of mirth—which is not the usual thing in the Krazy Kat pictures. There is clever cartooning and some first class nonsense but the escapades of the Kat on a railroad are not of the usual laugh provoking order.

October 2, 1927
"The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" Peroff Picture
Color Novelty
Type of production. ... 1 reel cartoon
Paul Peroff has animated this legend by R. E. Raspe. It tells the story of a very egotistical gentleman who related a magnificent yarn about an adventurous trip in which he blew up a whale, landed in the moon and after cutting up in that doubtful land came back to earth where a great tablet was erected in his honor. But his dubious listeners promptly "crowned" the Baron and thus endeth the fable. Here's a novel bit of animation artistically done in color and certainly a delightful bit of variation.

"The River of Doubt" Fables—Pathe
Loads of Animated "IT"
Type of production. . . . 1 reel cartoon
We get a peep into a jungle revel, hippos using a dinosaur's neck for a springboard, monkeys flying like birds, a hyena using a crocodile for a harp, and other fantastic "didoes" as cut up by the joyous denizens of the forest—the whole spectacle eloquently bespeaking the brilliance and inventive power of the cartoonist's pen. The end comes when Alfalfa arrives with a camera and the startled beasts try to dope out the "devil box. A wildcat takes a chance and chases Al out of the forest. Lots of action, pep and grey matter in this number.

October 9, 1927
"Felix In Flim Flam Films" Pat Sullivan—Educational
Felix Goes Movie
Type of production..1 reel animated
Felix the Cat gets an assignment by friend wife to take the kids to the movies. But at the picture palace he finds that cats are barred. After trying various ingenious expedients to get inside, Felix gets sore and decides to make his own movies. When he shows the amateur movies to his wife, she lamps a love scene with the bathing gal, and Felix takes the count. Felix has his own technique, and this one is up to standard.

October 16, 1927
"Topsy Turvy" Winkler—Paramount
Krazy Kat Down South
Type of production....1 reel cartoon
Krazy Kat enters into new and amusing adventures in the land made popular by Little Eva and Simon Legree, the latter seeing to it that the visitor is given a "hot" time. An affair with a Southern belle, with the fair one suddenly carried off to Heaven whither Krazy Kat follows only to be directed below by the irate St. Peter, turns out to be all a dream and Krazy Kat awakens to find the janitor rousing him from a heavy slumber. Amusing bits and some clever cartooning makes this a pep or two better than the recent Kat numbers.

October 23, 1927
"Felix Switches Witches" Pat Sullivan—Educational
Halloween Classic
Type of production. . .1 reel animated
A fine example of the modern fairy tale is this portrayal of the adventure of Felix the romantic feline with hobgoblins, witches, and a troop of animals bewitched by the Halloween magic. Felix has been given a quality of imaginative creation. Here is a subject with a special appeal for Halloween, but possessed of that quality that makes it great entertainment for any season. The kids will laugh at Felix's capers and shiver at the witch's weird spell, while we older children will be carried back to childhood fancies. The artist who did the cartoons is really a fine director.

"A Brave Heart" Fables—Pathe
Clever Animation
Type of production....1 reel cartoon
Milt Mouse travels by taxi, trolley and water pump to reach his sweetie's aims. Nevertheless he's not "all wet" with her. Trouble brews when a rival conspires to make things hot for both, a series of kidnapings, rescues from a watery death and other mishaps ending with Milt putting a bullet in the villain's heart. Aesop concludes the saga with the ripe observation: "Don't bet on fights."

"The Big Tent" Fables—Pathe
Superlative
Type of production....1 reel cartoon
If photographed productions could be as funny as this, short subjects would leave features far behind for entertainment effects. We find Milt in love with Rita, circus star. Tom enters the scene and swipes the girl. To add to the excitement a lion breaks loose, and Milt finally puts both beast and villain out of business. Close-up finds Milt and Rita in a sweet clinch.

"Lindy's Cat" Fables—Pathe
Imaginative and Farcical

Type of production .... 1 reel cartoon
Tom the Cat takes off amid the hurrahs of the crowd, and away up on high notices a stowaway, whom he chase off. A great climax takes place in Paris, where the multitudes turn out to do homage, and all in all, we have here a neat little burlesque on the recent achievement of "Lindy". It is well done, with plenty of cartoonical twists to maintain the interest.

November 6, 1927
"No Fuelin" Felix Educational
Amusing Animated
Type of production . . 1 reel animated
Felix the Cat finds winter upon his household, and no fuel for the fire. His wife sends him out to get a supply. A series of amusing and original gags are presented, for all the forest animals are frozen stiff like trees and shrubs, so that when Felix starts to collect them for firewood, they come to life with laughable results. The final sequence is particularly good. Felix at last gets a bag full of wood, but a woodpecker lights on his back, and when he reaches home all the wood is inside the woodpecker.

November 13, 1927
"For Crime's Sake" Chas. B. Mintz—Paramount
Krazy Kat Cuts Up
Type of production... 1 reel cartoon
Krazy Kat gets a lot of fun out of a flute in this one and the melodious notes, as they emit from the cat’s pipe, take on shapes of little black jiggers that follow him around and provide the usual crazy capers that make these cartoon numbers thoroughly amusing, if wholly nonsensical.

December 4, 1927
"Pig Styles" M. J. Mintz [sic]—Paramount
Animal Fashions
Type of production. . . .1 reel cartoon
Krazy Kat undertakes a tough job in introducing the Pig family into society after they inherit a fortune. He teaches them etiquette at the dinner table, but with poor results. The little pig goes out to the ash can to get a square meal. He is kidnapped by the rhinoceros butcher who takes him to town to make a ham out of him. Krazy Kat pursues and is seen emerging triumphantly with the bag containing the pig. But when the bag is opened, the parents find their offspring has been made into a ham. The cartoon work makes this entertaining with special appeal, of course, to the youngsters.

“Inklings” Fleisher—Red Seal
Trick Sketches
Type of production....1 reel cartoon
The cartoonist supplies some new novelties in interesting sketches that begin with the drawing of two very homely people—a man and a woman, and then comes the process of "face to face uplift" wherein the artist removes superfluous bits from man's face and fits them into the woman's with the result that he has two good looking people when he's through. The next bit called, "The Farmer In the Dell," shows the artist cutting out the well known members of the "Dell" family in a series of silhouettes, starting with the farmer and going right down to the mouse. Clever and should go well on any program.

"The Banker's Daughter" Winkler—Universal
Corking Laugh Producer
Type of production. . . . 1 reel cartoon
Here's an animated “opera” of comics that speaks volumes for the imagination, sense of humor and drawing ability of the artist. There is hardly a single scene or situation that hasn't some droll twist. In this case, the theme is plainly an inoffensive poke at ripe melodramas, will bank robbing, kidnapping of the fair damsel and a bomb explosion figures eloquently in the story.

"Uncle Tom's Crabbin'" Pat Sullivan—Educational
Good Burlesque
Type of production....1 reel cartoon
Felix the Cat does some good burlesquing of the Uncle Tom's Cabin idea. Felix hikes to the sunny Southland, and meets Uncle Tom and Topsy doing their stuff in front of the old cabin. Felix helps to jazz things up as Uncle Tom strums his old banjo. Then Simon Legree appears with his whip and starts to break up the party. The famous ice scene is burlesqued with Felix subbing for Eliza as Legree chases him over the cakes in the ice wagon. The comedy antics of Felix make this a lively number.

December 11, 1927
“Why and Other Whys” Felix—Educational
Cut Alibis
Type of production ... 1 reel animated
A good burlesque on the night club gent coming home with his alibis to a skeptical wife, Felix the Cat starts off with a whopper, and as he warms up to the subject you see his alibi in cartoons. Friend wife punches a hole in it, and Felix starts off with another explanation even more wild. But when his wife discovers a blond hair on his shoulder, and Felix tries to alibi that one, he goes down for the count. Amusing, lively, and more or less true to life as some humans live it.

December 18, 1927
"The Stork Exchange" Paramount Krazy Kat Cartoon
A Bright Idea
Type of production....1 reel cartoon
Krazy Kat hobnobs with the stork in his latest adventure and interferes with the delivery of the precious packages. The cartoonist has devised some good gags and the license of cartooning is used to advantage with many preposterous, but amusing bits, as a result. Krazy Kat intercepts the arrival of a baby and, falling down a chimney, is mistaken for the expected arrival and immediately welcomed by the happy parents.

“Rats in His Garret” Aesop Fables—Pathe
Usual Cartoon Antics
Type of production....1 reel cartoon
Bothersome mice steal the farmer's load of wheat and so he employs a rat exterminator; a canine. The dog leads the mice a merry chase into a trap and then releases them, the entertainment ending with the familiar chase sequence. This offering has the usual amount of fun characteristic of the series.

December 25, 1927
"The Junk Man" Aesop Fable—Pathe
Good Cartoon Stuff
Type of production. ... 1 reel novelty
In this diverting film the cat conceives the bright idea of singing in order to collect junk. He sells it to a junk man and then, with the aid of a magnet, attracts it all back to him for selling a second time.

Short Subject Releases from August to October
EDUCATIONAL
1501 BROADWAY, N. Y. C.
Felix the Cat Cartoons--1 Reel
Jack From All Trades 8-7-27
The Non-Stop Fright 8-21-27
Wise Guise 9-4-27
Film Flam Films 9-18-27
Felix the Cat Switches Witches 10-2-27
Felix the Cat in No Fuelin' 10-16-27
Felix the Cat in Daze and Knights 10-30-27
Felix the Cat in Uncle Tom's Crabbin' 11-13-27
Felix the Cat in Whys and Other Whys 11-27-27
Felix the Cat Hits The Deck 12-11-27
Felix the Cat Behind in Front 12-25-27
(Untitled) 1-8-28
(Untitled) 1-22-28

PARAMOUNT FAMOUS LASKY CORP.
Paramount Building, N. Y. C.
Animated Cartoons (Krazy Kat) 1 Reel
Sealing Whacks 8-1
Aero Nuts 8-13
Web Feet 8-27
School Daze 9-10
Rail Rode 9-24
Tired Wheels 10-8
Topsey Turvy 10-22
Pie Curs, The 11-5
For Crime's Sake 11-19
Milk Made 12-3
Stork Exchange, The 12-17
Wired and Fired 12-31
Pig Styles 1-14

Animated Cartoons (Inkwell Imps) 1 Reel
Koko Plays Pool 8-6
Koko's Kane 8-20
Koko the Knight 9-3
Koko Hops Off 9-17
Koko the Kop 10-1
Koko Explores 10-15
Koko Chops Suey 10-29
Koko's Klock 11-12
Koko Kicks 11-26
Koko's Quest 12-10
Koko the Kid 12-24
Koko's Kink 1-7
Koko's Kozy Corner 1-21

PATHE EXCHANGE, INC.
45 West 45th St., N. Y. C.
Aesop's Film Fables—2/3 Reel
Ant Life As It Isn't 8-7
Rew Hot Sands 8-14
A Hole in One 8-21
Hook, Line and Sinker 8-28
The Small Town Sheriff 9-4
Cutting A Melon 9-11
In Again, Out Again 9-18
The Human Fly 9-25
The River of Doubt 10-2
All Bull and A Yard Wide 10-9
Lindy's Cat 10-15
The Big Tent 10-22
A Brave Heart 10-29
Signs of Spring 11-6
Saved by a Keyhole 11-13
The Fox Hunt 11-20
Flying Fishers 11-27
Carnival Week 12-4
Rats in His Garret 12-11
The Boy Friend 12-18
The Junk Man 12-25
The Broncho Buster 1-1
A Short Circuit 1-8
High Stakes 1-15
The Spider's Lair 1-22
To be announced 1-29

UNIVERSAL PICTURES CORP.
730 Fifth Ave., N. Y. C.
Snappy Comedies—1 Reel
The Mechanical Cow 10-3-27
Saxaphobia 10-10-27 [Arthur Lake short]
Great Guns 10-17-27
Title Not Decided 10-24-27
All Wet 10-31-27
The Ocean Hop 11-14
The Banker's Daughter 11-28
Empty Socks 12-13
Rickety Gin 12-26
Harem Scarem 1-9
Neck'n Neck 1-23

Yipe! A Monster

Bugs Bunny realises he’s just seen an orangey hairy monster wearing runners in “Hair-Raising Hare.” We get some takes. Here are a few of the drawings.



Chuck Jones is such a great director, he has Bugs change positions slightly every two frames until he feels the take has registered, then goes to the next pose and moves Bugs and the monster slightly again.

Then a swirl of lines for four frames (one drawing for each)…





And Bugs pulls out a sign from nowhere. But the gag isn’t over.



Bugs looks at the sign, does a few more takes, and then turns around the sign. Here are the drawings. No hand!



The animators credited in this one are Ben Washam, Ken Harris, Lloyd Vaughan and Basil Davidovich. Story by Tedd Pierce.

Beast of Rectangles

Here’s a little bit of inventive limited animation from the Fractured Fairy Tale “Beauty and the Beast.”

The Beast (who sounds like a cross between Joe Besser and Blabber of Snooper and Blabber fame) is going door-to-door to get a beauty to kiss him. One potential amorata slams a door on his foot.



The Beast turns into three different odd shapes that are alternated as a pain take, two frames per drawing.



Keith Scott’s invaluable history of the Ward studio, The Moose That Roared, says this cartoon was made in Ward’s own studio. I don’t know who was animating for him then; Bill Littlejohn and Ben Washam both did work for him. (Note: See the comment section for the animator).

Saxophone Cat

In 1929 and 1930, you could turn anything into a musical instrument in a cartoon. Oswald does that in the 1930 short “My Pal Paul.” Look at him abuse this poor kitty cat. Actually, the cat unwillingly becomes three instruments.



Bill Nolan was the head animator on this, with Ray Abrams, Manuel Moreno and Clyde Geronimi getting the other animation credits. This comes from a print owned by Steve Stanchfield of Thunderbean Animation.

Headchopping the Hick

The bad guy who’s after Lem’s girl tries to chop Lem’s head off in “The Hick Chick” (1946). These are five consecutive drawings; the second one is held for two frames and the rest for one.



Lem shouldn’t have escaped the third drawing but anything can happen in a cartoon, as Tex Avery reminded us all once.

The credited animators in this cartoon (not one of my Avery favourites) are Ed Love, Walt Clinton, Preston Blair and Ray Abrams.

The Southern Belle and the Egg

Radio’s most popular Southern Belle is 94 today. She grew up amidst the plantations, mint juleps and boll weevils of that well-known city of the Deep South—Toledo, Ohio. That’s where her family settled not many months after her birth in Poland.

Shirley Mitchell had an incredibly prolific career as a supporting actress on both radio and television. Her best-known role to radio fans is that of Leila Ransome, the widow from Dixie who left the Great Gildersleeve at the altar, then battled for him against Eve Goodwin, played by Bea Benaderet. Mitchell and Benaderet crossed paths several times—they were the CBS phone operators on the later radio editions of the Jack Benny radio show, and Mitchell played Benaderet’s cousin on Petticoat Junction.

Mitchell eventually had so many roles simultaneously, she was featured in a Life magazine spread in 1946 as the “busiest actress in radio.”

Talent-plus-break is the operative equation in radio, and Mitchell got a break in landing the role of Ransome. A 1945 Associated Press story by Rosalind Shaffer revealed star Harold Peary wanted Dinah Shore’s secretary for the part—the article gave sole credit to Peary for developing the show—but since the secretary didn’t want to get into acting, Peary got Dinah’s roommate instead. That was Mitchell, who was very much into acting.

That was in Hollywood. Earlier, Shirley had gone to the huge radio centre of Chicago to make a career of it and was about to quit when a producer hired her for the lead in a serial called “The Living Dead” after hearing her do Katherine Hepburn at an amateur show (according to a story by syndicated columnist George Lilley some years later).

Her career was followed by one of her hometown papers, and radio columnist Mitch Woodbury penned this for the Toledo Blade of September 27, 1943.

Toledo Actress Wins Radio Sobriquet “Radio’s Sweetheart.”
That’s what they’re calling Toledo’s Shirley Mitchell in Hollywood these days. For the comely blonde daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Mitchell, 431 Islington St., very definitely has “arrived” as one of the either waves’ foremost actresses.
Usually cast as the ingénue romantic interest, Shirley is now one of the busiest performers on the west coast. Not only that, she is one of the best liked and best known. Only last week she was the subject of a two-page illustrated spread in the kilocycle publication, Radio Life Weekly. And the article by Coy Williams is very flattering in its praise of the local miss.
“There’s an ever-smilin’ blonde around town who’s gone and built herself the doggonest monopoly we’ve come across,” Mr. Williams writes. “She’s cornered the market on long term romance and won the unique title of ‘Radio’s Sweetheart’.”
Here’s the way he catalogues her accomplishments: “When ‘The Great Gildersleeve’ got himself so tangled up with love that they had to form women’s committees to get him out, who was that lady you heard him out with? The Widow Leila Ransome.
“When Rudy Vallee cooed so romantically, whose pink ear was he breathing into the whole year? Why, a giddy sub-deb named Shirley Ann. When Red Skelton buckled on his shootin’ arns and galloped off in search of western beauty, do you know what cactus-bloom he was seeking? None other than Monotonous Maggie?
“When Groucho Marx wants to borrow a cup of sugar, what loving neighbor always pops in? That flowuh of the south, suh, Cindy Lou! When Fred Brady makes sultry love to a lady taxi driver or a female piano mover or a prison warden on the distaff side, whose pulsing voice answers him across the quivering mike? It’s always Veronica.
“And when William Bendix drops in or Johnny Mercer gets another sweetheart—yep, you guessed it, different voice, same gal.
“All these assorted ladies come to you in one well rounded package,” Mr. Williams, “a good-natured, curvaceous cutie named Shirley Mitchell.”

Shirley began impersonating movie stars when she was 6 years old, her parents tell us. And when she was in the sixth grade at Longfellow School, she sang the leading role in the operetta, “Hiawatha.”
At the age of 13, she made her initial appearance before a microphone. This was on Jules Blair’s “Children’s Hour” via WSPD. She took dramatic training at the University of Toledo, the University of Michigan and the Cleveland Playhouse, appearing in stage productions at all three institutions.
During her stay in Cleveland, she was frequently heard on the air channels and finally won a contest sponsored by a daytime serial emanating from a Chicago studio. She lost out in the sectional finals, however, and this made her so angry with herself she then and there decided to invade the Windy City and make good.
Shirley had the determination and perseverance, and she realized her ambition—as you now well know. But it took a lot of time and effort before she landed on the “First Nighter” program—and remained on its weekly for a full year.
Followed regular roles in such other Chicago shows as “Mary Marlin,” “Road of Life,” “Stepmother” and “Author’s Playhouse.” Then, some 18 months ago, she landed on the Ransom Sherman network program [“Hap Hazard”] pinch hitting for Fibber McGee and Molly. With the Sherman troupe she journeyed to Hollywood and was heard with the show there until it left the air.
Unknown to the H-wood casting heads, however, Shirley found jobs few and far between and was all set to return to Chicago when a part on a sustaining program was offered her. In fact, she already had her ticket purchases for the trip back east at the time.
Shirley canceled her train reservation, took the sustaining assignment and suddenly discovered Lady Luck beaming benignly in her face. The Vallee show role turned up. So did the part of Gildersleeve’s vis-à-vis. Others followed. And with them came fame and the sobriquet—“Radio’s Sweetheart.”
In the aforementioned Radio Weekly story, Mr. Williams describes one of Shirley’s biggest radio thrills—and one of her most praiseworthy achievements.
“Once, in Hollywood,” he says, “she was called at the very last minute to substitute for Katina Paxinou, the great Greek actress, in a Greek War Relief broadcast. She dashed madly to the studio, arriving five minutes before air time without the faintest idea what the script was about. She’d thrown a bandana about her towseled hair, she’d gotten properly dressed only through the grace of God. Star William Gargan pushed a script in her hand, Producer Bob Moss whispered to play it dramatic and in a Greek dialect (she’s never been to Greece, either), and the show was on. Only then did she learn she was subbing for one of the world’s finest actresses, without time even to read the script through once, She went through the half-hour show without a bobble.”
Shirley is said to be a mistress of dialect, a girl who can talk southern, northern, western or Brooklynese upon a moment’s notice. She shares a house in the Hollywood hills, just off Sunset Blvd., with another celebrated lady of the ether channels—Dinah Shore. A year ago, when Toledo’s Helen O’Connell was in the cinema sector making a picture and appearing at the Paladium Ballroom with Jimmy Dorsey’s Orchestra, she became a resident of the same household. This summer, Kitty Katten, Jimmy’s new singer and Helen’s successor, resided with Shirley and Dinah.
It’s been a mighty pleasant summer for Shirley. For her parents have been her guests. They’ve just returned to Toledo from that western sojourn.

When “Fibber McGee and Molly” started losing cast members to military service, the show added a boarder named Alice Darling for weekly appearances for the duration. That was Shirley Mitchell. An A.P. story from June 1944 reveals Mitchell had been averaging $25 a week before almost quitting the business, but was now pulling in $350 to $450. Columnist Lilley, in 1946, put the figure at $900 a week. By then, she was featured on Joan Davis’ show; Davis raved about her timing. She married Dr. Julian Friedan on November 23th that year and moved to New York City. The Blade reported she was giving up radio, but she ended up co-starring on Mutual’s “McGarry and His Mouse” before the couple decided on a move to Beverly Hills in 1948 where Shirley could pick up where she left off on “Gildersleeve.” And I’m not attempting to list her other regular radio work.

Ageing changes one’s roles (well, being able to see someone on TV dictated roles for ex-radio actors, too), and 20 years later, Shirley went from being the romantic interest to the butt-insky neighbour. Here’s a syndicated column which appeared in papers on January 30, 1966.

Actress Shirley Mitchell Only Acts Nosy on Video
HOLLYWOOD — Shirley Mitchell isn't really nosy. She just acts that way.
"I keep playing nosy neighbors," admitted Shirley, who portrays Marge Thornton on "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" Tuesdays. Shirley has made a career out of sticking her neighborly nose into other people's business.
"I played Cara Williams' neighbor on 'Pete and Gladys,'" she elaborated. "I've played lots of neighbors on television and in radio. I can't even estimate the number any more."
Shirley doesn't feel she measures up to her roles — in real life.
"I'm really not a good neighbor, by TV standards," she said.
"I chat with my neighbors, but I don't drop in, unannounced."

Her neighbors, who must appreciate this un-TV-like trait, know her as the wife of Dr. Julian Frieden, a general surgeon in private practice.
The Friedens live in Bel Air, an elegant suburb of Los Angeles, with their daughter, Brooke, 15 and son, Scott, 10.
"I still remember what one of our neighbors did for us when we first moved in," Shirley recalls appreciatively. "She came and offered to throw a welcoming party so the children could meet each other. It was the sweetest thing. I learned how important these gestures are." Shirley, in turn, has made an effort to make newcomers feel welcome, by calling on them. Ask any of her neighbors and they'll tell you there's more to Shirley Mitchell Frieden than her career as an actress.
She's a dedicated worker for SHARE, an organization aimed at helping exceptional (mentally retarded) children.
She has one other great commitment.
"I collect everything I can about John F. Kennedy," she said. "I don't even know whether I should talk about it — but it's true. It started — with the assassination.
I don't know why exactly. Perhaps because the magnetism of the man got to everybody — child and adult alike.
Perhaps because he represents all the feelings we ever had about hope. Perhaps because he aroused in us a feeling that ideals could become realities — that it could be done. Perhaps we're all trying to hold on to that."
These more serious concerns have replaced such lighter pastimes as collecting China animals and music boxes which Shirley gave up years ago because "they were dust collectors."
She likes acting, having acted since she was six years old, and she likes portraying Marge Thornton.
"I like her better than other neighbors I've played," Shirley said. "She's warm whereas most of the others have been kind of giddy. She's more down to earth, the others were kind of duncy."
As for the difference between Marge Thornton and Shirley Mitchell?
Marge is nice, but nosy.
Shirley's nice.
Chances are the neighbors would agree.

Some of you are probably wondering when I’d get to Marion Strong. Shirley played the character a grand total of three times. The part received no attention at the time. But that was before rabid “I Love Lucy” fans turned the show from a TV perennial to an almost holy television monument. She remarked in an interview not long ago that people still come up to her and shout out Lucy Ricardo’s almost-60-year-old line to Marion about waiting ten years for her to lay an egg.

We can safely say in 70-plus years of show business, Shirley Mitchell has laid very few of them.

Jack's Jokes

Today, if you want to check out a bunch of quotes, especially from popular culture, you can go to any number of web sites. Back in the 1940s, it wasn’t so easy.

Fans of the Jack Benny got a hand in this matter from syndicated columnist John Crosby in this column that first appeared in newspapers on April 21, 1949. This isn’t a “greatest hits” list; Crosby simply passed on some things he had heard in radio shows over the last little while.

Benny Joke Sets Record For Variety
By JOHN CROSBY
Jack Benny hasn't, as it is sometimes rumored, only one joke on his show. He has quite a few. But the changes run on his No. 1 Joke, the elder statesman of the jokes over there, are miraculously variegated. It seems incredible that one joke could be put in so many different contexts, but the writers manage. I have a little file of jokes on Jack Benny's stinginess that I've collected over the years, and I thought I'd pass them on for the sake of posterity.
Benny: Rochester, maybe you ought to go back to that golf course and look for my ball.
Rochester: Boss, why don't give up? We'll never find it.
Benny: Give up? Rochester, suppose Columbus gave up. He never would have discovered America. Then what would have happened?
Rochester: We'd be looking for that ball in Spain.
Professor: Monsieur Benny, you haven't paid me for your violin lesson.
Benny: How thoughtless of me. Have a chair.
Professor: You gave me a chair last time. Today I want the money.
Jimmy Stewart: No, Jack, I'd feel better if I paid the luncheon tab.
Benny: Well, if your health involved, okay.
Benny: Here's a nickel, Rochester. Telephone Phil Harris for me.
Rochester: Oh, boy! Look at the buffalo gulp for fresh air.
Rochester: Oh, oh. I dropped the nickel Mr. Benny gave me to phone. Doggone it, I can't see it anywhere.
Benny: Here it is. It rolled back to me.
Mary: For heaven's sake, Jack, why should you be worried? You must have millions of dollars down in your vault.
Benny: I know but I don't want to break up the serial numbers.
I've got others but I'd like to hurry along to another standby of the Benny show, the Maxwell joke.
Benny: Rochester, you know that picture of my Maxwell that hangs in the den? That's the first car I ever owned.
Rochester: That's the first car anyone ever owned.
Rochester: Why don't you trade in the old car for a newer model?
Benny: What for? This car takes us where we want to go.
Rochester: I know, but look how much older we are when we get there.
There are other jokes on the Benny program. There are actually three Phil Harris jokes—his illiteracy, his insobriety and his wife. And there's the Dennis Day joke.
Dennis (entering his house): Mother! Oh, Mother!
Voice: Your mother isn't here.
Dennis: Who are you?
Voice: Your Father.
And there are odd jokes on that show, too, jokes that fit into no special category.
Benny: Phil, tell me, what did 10 doctors do about your headaches?
Phil: Plenty. First they gave me a complete physical. Then they gave me all the allergy tests. Then they checked my reflexes. Finally they psychoanalyzed me.
Benny: And did they find out why you have headaches.
Phil: Yeah, my band plays too loud.
Just one more joke, the Benny age joke, and you'd better appreciate it, too. These are $1,000-a-week writers and there are four of them and the above is a two-year collection, representing roughly $160,000 worth of brains.
Benny: Gee, this is a nice picture of me, isn't it? And it's in color.
Rochester: It would be even nicer if your eyelashes weren't gray.
Benny: My lashes aren't gray. It's just that my eyes are so blue they pick up lint.
It's a crime to put these jokes in print. They were written to be spoken with the expert inflections of Benny and the rest of his skillful cast. Still, every year I have to review Benny in some different way and this is the only thing I can think of this year. Reviewing Benny every year is almost as hard as thinking up a new joke about Benny's stinginess.

The Sunshine Maker

The animated cartoon business in the Golden Age is full of people who should be better known. Ted Eshbaugh is one of them.

Eshbaugh worked on a colour process in the early ‘30s when cartoons were in black and white. He had studios on both the west and east coasts. But his attempts to become another Walt Disney or Leon Schlesinger with a series of cartoons released by a major studio failed. The best he could do was co-direct several cartoons during the waning days of the Van Beuren studio before spending most of the rest of his days in commercial production.

Unfortunately, this post won’t exactly be The Ted Eshbaugh Story but I’ll pass on a couple of newspaper clippings about him. Eshbaugh was born in Des Moines, Iowa on Feb. 4, 1906 to Edwin F. and Zada (Kinear) Eshbaugh. His father sold farm insurance and was transferred to Sioux City when Ted was about two. The Los Angeles City Directory of 1923 lists Ted as an artist living with his widowed mother. The 1940 census shows his brother Jack worked for him at his studio in New York and his other brother Will was a singer on the radio (known as Bill Russell). The two brothers had a beverage distributorship in Los Angeles in the mid to late ‘20s.

The Film Daily of March 8, 1932 reports “The Goofy Goat” had been released and was to be the first of a series; drawings of the character were copyrighted on January 13, 1931. Eshbaugh had a temporary studio in his home on Argyle Avenue in Los Angeles. Perhaps he thought colour would be the gimmick that would get theatres to show Goofy, but he couldn’t really overcome block booking, where a Warners theatre would have to run a Warners cartoon.

Eshbaugh got a lot of attention in 1932. In its January issue, Modern Mechanics profiled his efforts. And here are three newspaper columns which devoted part of their space to Eshbaugh. The first is actually from 1931. It s from the Los Angeles Times. My thanks to Mark Kausler for a copy of this.

CARTOON GANG GETS PAINTED PLAYMAT
A young man, working secretly and unobtrusively for the past two years, has recently emerged with a solution to a problem which has been frustrating the entire business of animated cartoons. His name is Ted Eshbaugh and he has perfected a system of color for these cartoons.
The result of his exhaustive researches will be seen with the imminent release of his own “Goofy Goat” series, complete with sound and color. These shorts are said to be the very first of their kind, no other firm having been able to conquer the color obstacle barring one sequence in color in the Paul Whiteman picture.
Trained for art in Boston, where he won various scholarships, Eshbaugh abandoned the field of portraiture for more lucrative ones. Prey to a desire to combine painting and the screen, he ventured to Hollywood with the intention of evolving some medium of his own.
CONTRACT OFFERED
He made first, an animated cartoon, doing every line of the 15,000 himself. Convinced, then, that he was capable of this rudiment, he continued to odd jobs here and there, learning the trade. It was just when Fox had bought one of his cartoon shorts that the idea for what he wanted to do became clarified. Fox offered him a contract for a series to follow their purchase. The contract was a considerable item for a budding young cartoonist.
But Eshbaugh wanted to make cartoons in color. And to that end, he refused the Fox offer and buried himself in experiment.
For two years, he has been spartanly faithful to research. He has looked at miles of color on film. He has tested the chemicals of every shade and gradation, been defeated countless times by the result shown on the screen, gone back again and stubbornly worked until he discovered what was wrong.
SYSTEM PERFECTED
Now, after two years of engrossed study and concentration, he has literally perfected a color system—a system that is nearly unlimited in the values and tones it encompasses.
And with this has come about the birth of a news little playmate for Mickey Mouse and Pluto the Pup and Bosco of “Looney Tunes” and all the other gay, fantastic little creatures who skip across the screen.
The new member of the “gang” is called “Goofy Goat,” and he puts on side by means of his coat of many colors. Good colors, too. The feeling of picture or vegetable salad is conspicuously missing in these pictures. The colors are true, gentle on the eye and free of that blurred outline which his hitherto distinguished the departure from cinema black and white.
GNASHINGS OF TEETH
A prominent film company’s announcement of its acquisition of this series will shortly be made. And there will be gnashings of teeth in experimental laboratories where vain attempts to solve this same problem have been going on for some time.
The complexities of the process are manifold. Far from a matter of mixing colors, it involves all manner of testing to reproduce those colors photographed on the finished film. The hilation caused by the celluloid on which cartoons are made was only one of the difficulties. Now that the process is perfected and its secrets jealously guarded, young Eshbaugh is assembling an organization of experts to insure his production of a picture a month—one facet of the effort of the animated cartoon profession to supply 20 per cent (which is all that can be managed) of the demand for this lively, highly imaginative entertainment form.
Those who have considered the possibilities color cartoon believe that these might achieve the novelty and variety of the Sunday supplement in the newspaper as compared with the daily comics in black and white.
New elements of beauty might be introduced of, say, the Silly Symphony type, though, as yet, no announcement of color being applied to these has been made.
It would also give more of a third dimensional appearance to the backgrounds in many instances, for color is known to increase the perspective of a scene.
Then, too, in comedies dealing with a variety of animals and birds doing their mirthful stuff, these could be shown in their full spotted and striped panoply, and variegated plumage.
Maybe then, too, even that protean, many-hued Thespian, the chameleon, could be induced to act!

THE FILM SHOP
By Harrison Carroll
King Features Syndicate
Hollywood, Cal., Oct. 13—Names to conjure with by generations of youngsters, the tin woodman and little Dorothy, now are to be heroes in a series of animated cartoons based on the famous Oz stories of Frank L. Baum.
Musicolor fantasies, a new company formed by Ted Eshbaugh, Hollywood artist, and J. R. Booth, Canadian sports man, will produce the pictures using a color process they have perfected after several years of experiment. Releases already are assured both here and abroad and the first or the cartoons has gone into production.
To me it seems altogether a happy idea. I was raised on the Oz stories. So were millions of other youngsters. The proof of it is Frank L. Baum has sold more than 8,000,000 copies of his books.
Backing film companies is a side-line with Mr. Booth. He lives in Ottawa, has vast lumber and paper interests and is a well-known sports man. His sister is married to Prince Erik of Denmark.

Hollywood Screen Life
By HUBBARD KEAVY
HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 31—If Ted Eshbaugh's experiments are successful animated portraits eventually will take the place of animated cartoons.
Eshbaugh, portrait painter, miniature artist and sculptor, now is preparing a series of 13 two-reel animated cartoons in color, the stories being adapted from the famous Wizard of Oz books.
The color process, one Eshbaugh spent 10 years developing, was the first to be applied satisfactorily to cartoons on the screen. Yellow, a color heretofore impossible to reproduce truly, now is as free from halation as red or green.
Realistic Mr. Leo
This 30-year-old artist's hope is to put into motion pictures not merely jerky cartoon characters in simple outline, but backgrounds and characters with reality and artistry of detailed, paintings.
One animated film of this type, in which a lion looks like a painting of a lion instead of a pen-and-ink animal, already has been completed by Eshbaugh.
Eshbaugh, upon graduating from one of Boston's better art schools, where he won a scholarship, went into portrait and miniature work. As a hobby, he took up colored, animated cartoons.
When he announced his intention of giving up his “serious” art in order to come to this scene of film activity to experiment farther, intimated he was prostituting his art by giving his talents to a medium so un-arty as the movies! Ted was kind enough not to remind some of these same gentlemen of their remarks when, a few years later — the depression having been felt un the field of art — they wrote to ask him for jobs as movie illustrators.

Reel Life In Hollywood
[Boston Daily Globe, Nov. 2, 1932]
Does Boston remember Ted Eshbaugh, who won scholarships at the Boston Art Museum and Chicago Art Institute? Some years ago, the young artist came to Hollywood and went quietly above developing a satisfactory color process for animated cartoons. Recently he has come into prominence as head of a newly formed company known as Musicolor Fantasies. As inventor of a new color film process, said to give the truest color values yet produced on the screen, he now heads a staff of 25 of the finest cartoon animators in the country.

Eshbaugh kept trying. The Film Daily of August 29, 1933 revealed he was producing three-colour “Musicolor Fantasies,” with the first being “The Snow Man.” That may have been his last west coast effort. By 1934, he was in New York. The Van Beuren short “The Sunshine Makers” he co-directed with Burt Gillett was copyrighted on January 11, 1935. How much Eshbaugh was responsible for it isn’t clear, but it’s notable the cartoon was a commercial effort for Borden’s Dairy Products. Eshbaugh seemed to concentrate most of his future efforts in the commercial and industrial animation areas. Contemporary trade publications talk of “Mr. Peanut and His Family Tree” in 1939 (and murals painted on the Planters exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair), a dental hygiene film in 1944 and “The Pied Piper of Chiclet Town” in 1948, the same year he made a short on the Declaration of Independence in three-colour Ansco Color. The Library of Congress has a sample reel of Eshbaugh’s TV commercial work, including ads for Aunt Jemima Devil's Food Cake Ready Mix, Hinds Hand Cream, Camel Cigarettes, Chase and Sanborn Coffee and White Rock Sparkling Water. But he still apparently had a dream about a theatrical series; a New York Sun clipping dated July 25, 1938 reads: “Ted Eshbaugh Studios, in New York, are producing a series of animated cartoons called “Peter Panda,” inspired by the national popularity of the panda.” No, Walter Lantz wasn’t the first cartoon producer to come up with the idea of a panda (“Like Begins For Andy Panda” wasn’t released until October 9th the following year). But Lantz did make a cartoon and comic book series out of it.

The growth of television starting in the late ‘40s seems to have attracted Eshbaugh as well. Broadcasting magazine of September 18, 1950 reports: “TED ESHBAUGH STUDIOS Inc., N. Y., introduces new TV film comedy Bumps O'Dazy, starring Billy Gilbert. Initial film is in color.” Eshbaugh was a member of the National Television Film Council at the time. And Eshbaugh seems to have tried to make a series of TV cartoons out of a character called “Daffy Doodles.” He copyrighted a song with that name in 1955; you see a 1959 trade ad to the right. Animation history Jerry Beck has remarked to me he doesn’t think the cartoons were ever produced. And Broadcasting revealed in its issue of October 12, 1959: “Sterling Television Co., New York, has released 150 fully animated color cartoons, each of which is introduced and hosted by a character named "Capt'n Sailor Bird," also the title of package. Episodes are in "cliff hanger" form—providing a carryover from one chapter to the next. The series was created for tv by Ted Eshbaugh Studios, New York. Sales of the package have been concluded with WGN -TV Chicago and WGR -TV Buffalo, Sterling reported.”

The U.S Death Index gives Eshbaugh’s death as of July, 1969. An on-line site states it happened on July 4th. I have not been able to find an obituary.

A web search can easily come up with web sites to watch “Goofy Goat,” “The Snow Man,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Cap’n Cub,” which Eshbaugh himself screened on WBNT-TV in New York in 1946. I’d like to link to something of his, so here is “The Sunshine Makers” from a great-looking print from the Steve Stanchfield collection. Steve’s company has been responsible for restoring all kinds of obscure cartoons, making it a lot easier to appreciate them. Check out his site HERE.



And, just because it’s so strange, here’s “Goofy Goat.”

Lightning Man

Popeye’s bothered by lightning bolts in the opening scene of “I Yam What I Yam” (1933). No matter. He gathers them into a bunch and punches them into the ocean.



The topper of the gag is the lightning figure becomes human and yells for help as it bobs in the water. It sounds like Gus Wicke in falsetto.



Seymour Kneitel and William Henning receive animation credits.