She Lives Just Down the Road Apiece Yonder

Little Rural Riding Hood (Colleen Collins) directs us with her toe to her Grandma’s house. The camera pans along Johnny Johnsen’s background. Here’s the drawing. Click to enlarge.



Daws Butler and Pinto Colvig lend voices in an all-star cast in Red’s farewell performance.

Jack Benny Saves Buffalo

The Buffalo Philharmonic is thriving today. You can go to their website here and find out. But there was a time when it wasn’t. And to the rescue rode—Buck Benny!

Jack Benny was rightfully proud of the benefit concerts he gave over the years to help orchestras/symphonies and save old theatres. One was in Buffalo. Jack was pretty generous with his time, not only on stage, but in giving media interviews promoting his appearances. The Towanda News wrote on August 13, 1969 about a concert in Buffalo. Evidently, it accomplished its goal as the Buffalo Philharmonic is still with us.

Can Jack Benny Save Philharmonic?
By JIM FLATEAU
NEWS Staff Writer
Is Jack Benny willing to help save the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra? The answer appears to be a definite "yes," providing both parties can get together and guarantee "a fairly large turnout."
The fiddle-playing comedian said in an exclusive interview with the Tonawanda NEWS yesterday afternoon that he would like nothing better than to give a fund-raising concert with the financially troubled Buffalo Philharmonic.
Mr. Benny, who is appearing this week at Melody Fair, made known his feelings — as did his business manager — during a press conference at the Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls, Ont. The 39-year-old comedian (or is it 75?) said, "If I honestly thought my coming here would raise a substantial sum for the orchestra and our schedules could be brought together, I would definitely want to come."
His business manager, Irving Fein, added "We have tried to come to Buffalo, but haven't been able to work it out. We are waiting for the Buffalo people to ask us and offer a workable plan that fits into our schedule. And, if it can be shown our appearance would be beneficial, we would come."
Arlington Zetty, Buffalo Philharmonic manager, is all for it.
"We absolutely do want Mr. Benny to come to Buffalo," he said. "We cannot think of anything that would draw a bigger crowd or do so much to help our financial situation."

Said Jack Benny:
"I think there is a good chance that we'll come to Buffalo, maybe now that things have changed. It would be good to come here — if we could take in money.
"And I think it could be done. If I were in any way assured that we would raise money, we would definitely be interested.
"The dollars are needed, but it takes an orchestra that knows how to bring those dollars in!
"In the past, we have rarely played to less than a full house in this type of concert. In Oakland, whose concert hall has 2,100 seats, we raised $200,000 in one night. This was not only through ticket sales, but donations, gifts and all the rest.
"A sum of $35,000 and up sounds good. Can Buffalo raise that much? I really couldn't say, as I am not familiar with the situation.
"Yet if they want us to come, we are interested. But is it worth our time to come here and put on a performance raising $20,000 when we can be in, say Cleveland, and raise $100,000 for their orchestra?
"You have to have priorities, you must decide that in doing these concerts, those with the greatest potential should be handled first. "Then, the ones with lower potential. I don't know. Where, you tell me, does Buffalo rate itself?"
Jack Benny has played with many symphony and philharmonic orchestras throughout the nation, charging for his own personal expenses only. He simply requests that the money raised be used to help build the sponsoring orchestra.
Mr. Fein said:
"We once had a date to appear in Buffalo, but working with the people there, we just couldn't get down to details and arrive at specifics.
"After all, why do you ask me if Jack will appear? Mr. Zetty has my phone number. He could call me. He should be showing some initiative, he should be getting hold of me! Buffalo should be doing the asking.
"Also, the city does not support the orchestra. In order for us to come here, we must feel the city is interested. Otherwise, will any money be raised for the orchestra? Will there have been a reason for Jack to come?
"If we came to Buffalo, we might get $30,000 - if we are lucky, real lucky. But if we come, we want to know that Jack's being here helps make money that will be returned to the music industry.
"If we play with Buffalo's orchestra, we must be able to fit it in our schedule and know we will do some good." Mr. Zetty said:
"We would love to have Mr. Benny here — we need him as much as we want him. The orchestra, at present has a deficit of $550,000 — the largest of any orchestra in the country. If Mr. Benny is willing to come, we will re-arrange our own schedule to coincide with his."
On April 21, the boards of directors of the Buffalo and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestras agreed to study the possibility of a merger to combat the "staggering financial problems" each organization now faces.
With a $1.25-million budget for this year, the Buffalo orchestra's musicians, area businessmen and music-loving citizens organized a "Save the Philharmonic" drive earlier this year. The goal: To keep the Buffalo Philharmonic in Buffalo.

A Trip to Dimension Zero

1966 was a pretty good year for some animation studios. In California, Hanna-Barbera announced retail sales of $160,000,000 (Variety, Oct. 25) and construction of a new wing of 16,000 square feet (Variety, Nov. 30), while Warner Bros reactivated its own cartoon studio (Variety, May 17). And in New York, things were humming along for Joe Oriolo.

He had found success in the growing TV cartoon field in the late ‘50s with Felix the Cat, even though Felix the Cat Productions claimed insolvency in 1961. Oriolo was vice president and executive producer. The Felix company had plans. Sponsor magazine of September 5, 1960 revealed some cartoons you never saw.

Felix the Cat Creations will try to quadruplicate the success of its Felix series now being handled by Trans-Lux TV.
Pilots are now being shown for three new cartoon series: The Kewpies, Don Poco, and Albert and Cholmondeley — pronounced, of course, Chumley.

Oriolo moved on to set up Adventure Cartoon Productions, which inflicted the iron-thighed Mighty Hercules on syndicated TV in 1963. Reaching ever lower in 1966, his studio came up with “Johnny Cypher in the Dimension Zero.” Ol’ Johnny has the distinction of making Jerry Beck’s list of the Worst Cartoons of All Time (see Jerry’s clarifying note in the comments).

There was a ready pool of veteran theatrical animators in New York City at the time but Oriolo elected to have the cartoons animated in Japan, presumably to save money. According to Variety of Oct. 29, 1969, George Kashdan wrote the stories, just as he did with Herc, did with Herc (Newton, get offa my blog). Some of the voices were handled by Gene Allen, who later appeared on “Taro, Giant of the Jungle.”

Oriolo had been syndicating cartoons through Trans-Lux but he worked out a deal with a different company for Johnny.

New series of "Astro-Drama" color cartoons, "Johnny Cypher In Dimension-Zero," will be syndicated by Seven Arts Television Aug. 1. The company will place 130 six-minute segments in worldwide distribution. (Variety, July 26, 1966)

A new syndication cartoon for kid slotting, "Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero," is on the launch pad via Seven Arts TV. Color series of 130 six-minute segments is being produced by Oriolo Film Studios. It's fifth new syndication property to bow this year from 7A. (Variety, July 27, 1966).

Ads such as the one above touted some of the stations that had signed to run Johnny. Trade publications in 1967 mentioned he had been sold in Peru and Mexico.

I asked Charles Brubaker, who is knowledgeable on the subject of Japanese cartoon studios of that era, where Johnny was animated. His response:

Japan Tele-Cartoons, which is an English name for TV Doga (the name literally means "TV Animation"). Also, Children's Corner, which did some anime in the 1960s.
Japan Tele-Cartoons probably handled most (all) of the animation/art side.
Several Japanese sources also list "Studio Bees" as another studio involved, but I have no idea what they are or what else they worked on. Likely one of the smaller subcontract studio in Tokyo that handled extra work for larger studios.

Poor Johnny didn’t get a lot of ink in the popular press. Perhaps it’s because Seven Arts would soon have its own cartoon studio to promote after formally taking over Warner Bros following a stockholders vote on July 14, 1967 and didn’t really need him. But here’s a piece mentioning the cartoon from the Buffalo Courier-Express of May 20, 1967. I’ll bite my tongue on the matter of cartoon violence and children other than to say that as soon as the network TV industry realised what a gold mine cartoons were, it suddenly got panicky as it always does when it comes to potentially losing profits and started listening to clean-up-cartoons crusaders, to the detriment of the cartoons themselves.

U.S., Japan to Exchange More Children’s Shows
By JACK ALLEN
A NEW FEATURE of children’s programs next fall will be a stream of shows exchanged between Japan and the United States.
Contrary to our myths of U.S. superiority in all fields, the danger seems to lie in the possible effects of U.S. programs on Japanese children, rather than vice versa.
In the matter of violence, for instance, it was recently pointed out by Morris Ernst, author and critic, that in one year of U.S. TV viewing — mostly aimed at youngsters — there were 10,000 murders depicted. This was 2,000 more than had been committed in the United States that year.
ONE OF THE LARGEST syndicators of foreign programs here and U.S. programs overseas is Seven Arts Television.
A recent interview with a Seven Arts official in New York revealed some interesting points about exchanges in TV shows internationally.
The syndicators are currently working with Japan on two series, “Marine Boy” and “Johnny Cypher in Dimension Zero,” both animated offerings.
ON VIOLENCE, the official said, “it has to be kept to a minimum if you expect to make the show saleable overseas. And even in animated shows, mini-mini-skirts draw objections from parents who, at least sometimes, control what children watch.
“In Belgium and in the Scandinavian countries, parents’ groups are very watchful, and the governments themselves are very conscious of standards of acceptability in children’s programs.”
“Still,” continued the Seven Arts man, “American-produced programs have been very successful in cautious Japan. Top-rated ones include the Andy Griffith show, “Lucy,” “Flipper,” “Bonanza,” and even "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”
“THE JAPANESE ARE very big for cartoons of the type you see on U.S. stations Saturday mornings. They’re sending a lot of theirs over here, too. “The Japanese are superb mechanics in the field of animation, which in this country it very costly.”

How “superb” were they? Judge for yourself by looking into Dimension Zero yourself. If you can sit through annoying kids chanting the less-than-charming theme song.

More Than a Piece of Cake

Tom attempts to hide endless copies of incriminating photos from being seen by his suburban owners in “Tom’s Photo Finish” (released Nov. 1, 1957). One snapshot gets in between layers of a cake George’s wife is baking. Here’s how Tom destroys the evidence in ten consecutive drawings.



Six animators are credited: Ken Muse, Lew Marshall, Bill Schipek, Jack Carr, Herman Cohen and Ken Southworth.

The Hollywood Reporter of November 22, 1955 gave names to the humans: Mr. and Mrs. Q. Perhaps it’s because the husband looks like Robert Q. Lewis. The wife is Julie Bennett. Variety reported on January 31, 1955 and again August 27, 1956 that she had been hired to voice cartoons for MGM. Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera signed her again in 1959 to play Sagebrush Sal on Quick Draw McGraw, but she’s probably best known as the voice of Cindy Bear (“Cutest b’ar in these h’yar parts - Julie Bennett inked to play a running role as Yogi Bear’s girl friend,” Variety, Dec. 30, 1960). Sadly, her whereabouts are unknown today.

The Dog-Rooster of Mars

Warped settings and odd characters adorn the 1937 cartoon “Porky in Wackyland” but, as is usual in the case of animation, it was all done before.

In the 1930 cartoon “Mars,” Oswald the rabbit ends up on the red planet with a bunch of strange creatures and sparse backdrops with weird plants. One is a pig-kangaroo, another is a dog-rooster. Their presence is the gag.



Both Tex Avery and Pinto Colvig worked on this, so perhaps some of they’re responsible for some of these.

How Hodge White Helped Fred Allen (and Vice Versa)

Anyone familiar with Allen’s Alley of the mid to late 1940s might not recognise Fred Allen’s earlier radio programmes. By the time Allen gave up his radio show in 1949, he had been locked into a formula—a chat with dumb-bell Portland, the man-on-the-street interview (the Alley) and a routine with a guest star.

Some ten years earlier, Allen had an hour-long programme filled with non-professionals (either performing in a contest or giving an opinion on a topic of the day) set around a “town hall” motif. After a brief opening of a parade of characters, Allen joked it up in the form of community announcements. For a while, one of the weekly announcements involved Hodge White. While Allen went to great pains to invent names and avoid lawsuits, White was a real person, born on November 16, 1880. He ran a general store ten minutes from Boston and was lame due to a spinal injury.

Some enterprising reporters discovered there really was a Hodge White and there were several stories about him. We’ll pick one from the Syracuse American of March 21, 1937.

DEALING WITH DOYLE
By J. L. (Dinty) Doyle
BOSTON, March 20.—Radio listeners from coast to coast every Wednesday night hear Fred Allen talk about one Hodge White, grocer.
Hodge White is no myth, ladies and gentlemen.
He's in business at 891 Dorchester ave., in Dorchester, about ten minutes out of Boston.
He has been there for 25 years and knows everybody in the neighborhood and everybody knows him and calls him "Hodge."
A new neon sign is going up on the front of the store.
Hodge is going to capitalize on the fame Allen has given him.
And how he loves to talk about Allen.
He knew the top radio comedian as "Johnny Sullivan," when Johnny was a kid playing around Grafton street and the Strandway Pack. Fred Allen was born Sullivan and christened John Florence.
Hodge White recalls that Allen was born in Somerville, went to grammar school in Alston, got his diploma at Boston's High School of Commerce and then went on the stage.

Hodge insists that he helped Allen along in his theatrical career. You see Allen was a juggler and he practiced with White's vegetables and eggs.
White has a little establishment, maybe 22 feet wide, flanked on one side by an empty store which was formerly occupied by a chain grocery and the other by an establishment which boasts "Flats Fixed, 35 cents."
There are a funeral parlor and a barber shop directly opposite, and a liquor store on the corner.
But it seems that the boys who hang around Hodge White's store dont drink. They are what is known as good, clean young fellers and they all remember Allen as one of that type, "a good boy," those neighbors say.
Incidentally that empty store next to White's is eloquent tribute to the loyalty of the neighborhood to the White institution. His trade doubled when the chain store opened. They haven't anything against the chains, but they like Hodge.
Sure, He Charges
It is one of those old-fashioned places, with an ancient stove around which the boys sit these cool evenings. The customers help themselves, if Hodge or his assistant, "Mame" Carr, are busy, and Hodge marks the purchases down on the "slip." Sure, he charges.
Half a dozen pictures of Allen and Portland Hoffa are on the walls. There is one of which Hodge is particularly proud. It shows Primo Camera holding up Allen, and the inscription reads: "To Hodge—See What I Did to Primo—Fred." He has another which he is having done in oils.
Mr. Allen refers in his broadcasts to "Mame." She's an institution, too, and has been tending store for White these 16 years.
Allen now and then speaks of Bill McDonough and Eddie Sheehan over the radio. In other days he used to play with those fellows. McDonough, incidentally, is extremely proud of three store teeth, right out in front.
When Allen was Johnny Sullivan he was a pretty fair pitcher. McDonough forgot to duck a fast one and the ball caught him flush on the mouth, knocking out three teeth.
Mr. Allen paid the dentist. McDonough recalls with pride that the bill was $85, "and Allen never complained."
Sheehan is now a fireman, and he's another of those neighbors who swears by Allen.
They All Love Allen
It really is heart-warming to hear them speak of the nationally-famous comedian who regales with his merry quips every Wednesday night.
Let's call White as a witness again:
"Why Allen always saw the funny side of life—if things weren't merry, he'd start something. He was always putting on a show in his yard. He'd get the kids together, and he'd make the announcements, and the high point of the show always was his own juggling act."
"Why I can see him light now placing three tomatoes in McDonough's hands, turning him around three times and yelling, 'Bet you can't hit me,' and McDonough would let fly—the tomatoes would land everywhere except on Allen.
"And you ought to see this place when Fred comes up here to visit his aunts around the corner—he always did go for their cooking. Why, the kids just hang around, and Fred sits in here with them and autographs all day.
"Of course, he's famous now, and he can't do the things he wants to. I'll bet if he had his way he wouldn't go to Maine for a vacation. He'd come right here and go swimming with his old gang. But he can't do that any more. The traffic cops would object to the crowds he'd draw.
"But he'll never change. He'll still be the same regular guy he always was—yes, sir—Johnny Sullivan was a GOOD boy!"
New Sign Up Soon
This Hodge White is a moonfaced, affable fellow, always grinning, who believes in being nice to people. They'll tell you around that Dorchester comer that in depression times Hodge saw to it that all his old customers got their groceries regularly whether they could pay or not.
"They'll pay." said Hodge.
They did.
For Hodge is in one of those old-time "solid" neighborhoods. where all the houses and flats are let and people don't move often. "Why, there are families who have lived in this neighborhood for 60 years," says Hodge. "All fine people, too."
Hodge has never seen an Allen broadcast, but he never missed one by ear, and he virtually shuts up shop from 9 to 10 of a Wednesday night. People just wait for their milk or cigars or eggs—and Hodge is particularly proud of those eggs.
They are strictly fresh, right from the farm—and they're from the same place he got the eggs Fred Allen used to juggle.
About that new Neon sign Hodge is planning. For a long time he ducked newsmen, never talked about his friendship for Allen, believed that he might embarrass Fred by capitalizing upon the fame his old pal has given him.
Allen was in Dorchester last Summer and told Hodge to climb on the prosperity van and get some value out of the radio advertising. So if you're driving along Dorchester ave. in another week you'll see the big sign: "Hodge White, Delicatessen."

Charles Hodge White was still alive when World War Two broke out but, by then, Allen’s show had changed and references to him had vanished. Whether Hodge himself vanished is unclear. We’ve been unable to discover when he passed away.

Oh, That's the Next Gag

From the first moment to the last of his life on screen, Screwy Squirrel knew he resided in a cartoon. And he loved demonstrating to the audience he knew that’s where he was.

Take his debut, for example. Screwy ponders what it is that he does to Meathead the dog next. He decides to find out by lifting the edge of the paper he’s on and looking ahead to the next scene.



Now that he knows what he’s supposed to do, Screwy puts the paper he’s on back in order, and runs over to the scene he’s supposed to be in.



But he doesn’t clobber Meathead with the bat first. We get the old “waiting for a street car” gag. The tram arrives inside a tree, Screwy boards it, and the Squirrel Hollow Special rolls away—only to quickly return so Screwy can wallop the dog.



Tex Avery brought the “we’re in a cartoon, folks” routine with him from Warner Bros. and always used it to great effect at MGM, whether it was the “Technicolor Ends Here” gag in “Lucky Ducky” or the narrator of “Who Killed Who” turning out to be the killer in the cartoon he’s narrating.

Your Pie, Sir

Among the great little elements brought together in the Bugs Bunny cartoon “Slick Hare” is a slapstick routine where Bugs quickly assumes another identity and dishes it out to Elmer Fudd again and again.

Bugs sees Elmer come at him with a meat cleaver in the kitchen of the Mocrumbo supper club. He quickly rushes out the door and returns pretending to be a waiter. “One lemon merango pie!” he shouts at Elmer. Fudd follows the logic of the situation and assumes the role of the pie chef.



Bugs keeps picking up a freshly-baked pie, leaving with the kitchen with it, then returning and mashing it in Fudd’s face. The wabbit never breaks stride. The action has perfect rhythm. Another beauty from Friz Freleng.



Tedd Pierce and Mike Maltese wrote the story. The animation is by Manny Perez, Gerry Chiniquy, Virgil Ross and Ken Champin; Greg Duffell tells me this scene belongs to Ross.

She Never Liked Acting

To use a Jack Benny analogy, a Maxwell will run without brakes—but the car works much better with them.

Jack Benny’s television show was missing a few parts which made the radio show a large success. And while it lasted over a decade, it just wasn’t quite the same, nor quite as good, as the radio version. Dennis Day didn’t appear on TV every week. Phil Harris left during the radio days. And Mary Livingstone didn’t really make the transition to television, either. Her appearances on the final year of the radio show were almost smoke and mirrors. A good percentage of the episodes that year were reruns. On the new programmes, either Veola Vonn (uncredited) performed the necessary female roles in sketches, or Mary’s lines—read unenergetically—were recorded at home and spliced into the master transcription. She got a credit every show so it sounded like she was there. But her performance suffered because she didn’t have a live audience to feed off of.

On television, the Benny show survived without Mary’s biting sarcasm, Phil’s fervent love for fermented beverages (and himself) and Dennis’ weekly naivety, but you can’t lose solid and proven comedy elements without the show suffering a bit. Phil and Dennis were both involved with personal appearances and other ventures. Mary’s excuse was she simply wanted to stay away from microphones and cameras. It’s a shame because she really was very good on the air, both on radio and TV.

James Bacon of the Associated Press wrote about it in his column published on October 4, 1958. It’s interesting he should compare her to Gracie Allen, who retired from TV in ’58. Mary apparently had a case of Gracie envy and set out to buy whatever Gracie had—only larger (a fan magazine wrote about it as early as the mid-‘30s).

Never Liked It, Anyway
Mary’s One-Show Stint Ends--After 26 Years
By JAMES BACON
Associated Press Writer
Hollywood—Mary Livingstone, who only meant to help out her husband for one show in 1932, is retiring from the act after 26 years.
Hubby Jack Benny, who has started his new television series, said his wife never did like acting.
“But,” he added, “she always liked show business. I think I'm going to find a show for her to produce. She has great taste and great comedy sense.”
Mary thus follows the example of her best friend, Gracie Allen, who retired from the act that made her and George Burns famous.
“Mary isn’t trying to copy Gracie,” said Jack. “Actually, she’s been retiring for four years when she begged off during live shows. This summer she made two films with me and then asked if she couldn’t drop the filmed shows, too. I said okay.”
The two films Mary made will be shown later in the series.
In 1932 Jack had a radio sketch with a part for a supposed fan from Plainfield, N.J.
“It was just a couple of lines,” Jack recalls, “and we couldn’t find a girl to read it right I asked Mary to help out. She did and then she wasn’t on the next week and the fans started writing like crazy wanting to know when that girl from Plainfield, N. J., was coming back on the show.
“She’s been a good sport about it, sticking it out 28 years, especially when she never liked it.”
Mary is nervous about her parts on the show, often fainting from the tension.
Benny has been criticized for what appears to be a callous attitude toward his wife’s fainting spells.
A friend, however, says that is not the case; Jack has just seen Mary faint so often and recover so quickly that he is always the least excited one around her.
“When we got married in 1927,” says Jack. Mary answered ‘I do’ and fainted. It’s something that you have to live with.”

Jack did convince her to appear several times after “retiring”—notably on his anniversary special in 1970—but she spent the bulk of her time on her second and far more enjoyable career: being Mrs. Jack Benny.

Ism!

No sooner did the John Sutherland studio cancel its contract with United Artists because of its inability to make a profit on cartoons than it signed a deal with Harding College for three animated educational shorts (Variety, Jan. 17 and 29, 1947). But the studio wasn’t out of the theatrical cartoon business yet.

MGM was looking to save some money, too, and announced in early February 1948 it would release the first in the series of Sutherland shorts, “Make Mine Freedom,” and that it would use part of its Technicolor commitment on the prints. The cartoon went into national release on March 10th. The film received the ringing endorsement of the American Legion’s Americanism Commission (Variety, May 28, 1948) and won the Freedom Foundation’s Achievement award in 1949. The cartoon wasn’t subtle. It was a denouncement of Communism and a celebration of Capitalism, with worker, management and politician working together for the betterment of America.

The first Sutherland cartoons look like a cross between Lantz and Columbia designs, with much of the animation on twos, like in a Warners cartoon. But the poses and some of the animation is great to look at because of the quality people Sutherland picked up from other studios. Here are a few of the neat little poses on Professor Utopia, as he pushes his “Ism” as a cure-all for the ills of labour, management, government and farmers. There’s a nice little bit of animation where he lets go of the bottle of Ism only two catch it before it falls too far.



There are no credits on this cartoon, but former MGMers Carl Urbano and George Gordon were directing at the studio. Gerry Nevius (Disney) and Ed Starr (Columbia) were the early layout and background artists and Arnold Gillespie (MGM), Emery Hawkins (Warners), Armin Shaffer (assistant, Disney) and Bill Higgins (assistant, MGM) were among the Sutherland animators around 1950 or so. Ignore internet sources that claim Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera had anything to do with this cartoon; it was made by Sutherland’s staff.

Sutherland didn’t cheap out on voice talent. There are at least a half dozen actors in this cartoon, with Frank Nelson as Dr. Utopia. Bud Hiestand narrates and if I’m correct, you can also hear the voices of Billy Bletcher, Stan Freberg and John Brown, among others. Voice historian Keith Scott has pointed out Hiestand narrated a number of Sutherland’s propaganda shorts.

MGM released five more Sutherland shorts after “Make Mine Freedom,” but the second-last one caused a controversy. “Fresh Laid Plans” cost $80,000 to produce and was released on January 21, 1951. Some felt it was an attack on U.S. government aid to agriculture.Weekly Variety of March 21st reported:

Metro Won’t Yank Cartoon In Farm Rap
Metro is sticking to its guns in releasing “Fresh Laid Plans,” cartoon short over which has developed a political controversy. M-G distribution vice-president William F. Rodgers stated in N. Y. yesterday (Tues.) the distrib has no intention of withdrawing the one-reeler from circulation.
Recognizing the uproar which “Plans” has caused, Rodgers issued a formal press statement identifying the M-G position.
He asserted: “‘Fresh Laid Plans’ is fifth in this series of patriotic cartoons which we have released. It was submitted to us by Harding College as were its four predecessors, and we released it because, like the others, we believed it to be interesting and entertaining to moviegoers.
“As a matter of fact we had received such favorable comment on the other cartoons, all of which dealt with similar subjects in the public interest, that our acceptance of ‘Fresh Laid Plans’ was routine.” “Plans” and other four shorts which Rodgers referred to all were produced in Hollywood by John Sutherland, for Harding. M-G serves only as the distributor, as it would with any other indie producer with whom it enters a releasing pact.
Touching off the fireworks in the “Plans” instance, however, is the fact the short has been interpreted in some quarters as treating of Government agricultural planning in satirical fashion. Carrying this thought still further, Alfred D. Stedman, farm editor of the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, questioned whether handling of the short might mean that a “big segment of the movie industry is going to bat to knock the Government out of agriculture.”
Stedman further branded “Plans” as a “one-sided editorial in pictures" and declared its purpose was to sway public opinion in a hotly-contested farm issue.
'Hits at Price System'

Editor alleged the short hits specifically at the farm production and prices system advanced by Secretary of Agriculture Charles F. Brannan, known popularly as the Brannan Plan. Also linked in the pic's production is the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation which granted funds to the college for its lensing. Denials of the Stedman charges have been made by a spokesman for the Foundation, who said the film had neither the intent nor effect of satire, and by Sutherland. Producer said he merely tried to “point out the impossibility of planning our lives from a central authority.”
Other four cartoons made by Sutherland who, incidentally, formerly was associated with Walt Disney, were: “Make Mine Freedom,” dealing with free enterprise; “Meet King Joe,” concerning the capital-labor relationship; “Why Play Leap Frog?” focusing on prices and wages, and “Albert in Blunderland,” a satire on the Russian system. Three others now are in preparation, centering respectively on profits, taxes and inflation. M-G’s pacts with Harding have been on a single-pic basis. Distrib. has made no commitments for the future, as yet.

A week later, the ACLU backed Metro, saying it was concerned about censorship, and that Sutherland should be “free to express himself, and those who want to see the film, despite protests against it, should be free to do so.” But perhaps the controversy made MGM skittish. It waited 11 months to release one more Sutherland cartoon, “Inside Cackle Corners” (November 10, 1951). And that was the end of it. Sutherland continued making industrial films and TV commercials. MGM contented itself with Tom and Jerry.