Outpost

The U.S. military command suddenly realise Pvt. Snafu has given a clue about a potential Japanese attack in Outpost (1944). Here are five consecutive drawings.



A product of the Chuck Jones unit at Warners, with the voices of Mel Blanc and Bob Bruce.

What, Me Work?

There are many people, I suspect, who would like to spend their 70s travelling, socialising or just relaxing; they would rather enjoy their time while they’re healthy. And there are others who still want to keep working. It helps, of course, that you enjoy your work.

Jack Benny enjoyed his work, so he kept working, even when he was 80. He kept up a gruelling schedule, too, performing concerts all over North America when he wasn’t working on a TV special.

Here’s Jack talking about working as he plugs one of his specials in a United Press International column of March 13, 1968.

Jack Benny Goes On Forever
By VERNON SCOTT
HOLLYWOOD (UPI)—Jack Benny at 74 continues to work, not for his famed penury nor for the applause of audiences, but because it is his own formula for youth.
You can see for yourself next week (March 20) when the magnificent comedian stars in his only television special of the year.
A staple of American humor for a half century, Benny has become a beloved avuncular funny man. It is no exaggeration to say that Jack appears 25 years younger than he is. He thinks that way too.
Would Be Bored
"I should work a certain amount of time every year because I enjoy it," he said at lunch recently. "And it helps keep me young and fit. I'd get bored if I didn't work. Besides, I'm not that good a golfer.

"Look at Bob Hope, he's working all the time and he's a great golfer.
In the past year Jack has made only three television guest appearances: On "Hollywood Palace," "Smothers Brothers" and "Kraft." He has refused dozens of other opportunities to play the guest.
"I turned them down because if I was appearing all over the tube, then my own special wouldn't be very special, would it?" he asked. Next week Benny's NBC show will be special indeed. His guests are Lucille Ball and Johnny Carson, not to mention a number surprise cameo visits from among Hollywood's top stars.
It did not take a psychiatrist to see Benny perk up when he discussed the show. You could almost see his metabolism change.
"Psychologically I would miss entertaining people," he admitted.
"People want to see me now because they don't see me on TV every week. That's why I spend 15 weeks a year on the road doing concerts and personal appearances.
"You can't quit altogether because the public forgets about you. And I don't want that. Not now. Or if you quit for a couple of years and something good comes along, nobody wants you."
Benny said he will continue his policy of one television special a year, plus his appearances on the road. The pace is just enough to keep him young and in the public eye.
Not that you'll catch Jack Benny refusing to accept the loot that goes with it either--not by any means.

Silent Stars, 1924

Felix the Cat wasn’t the only cartoon character on screens during the mid-1920s. Exhibitors Trade Review decided to profile some others in its edition of August 16, 1924.

Two of the series mentioned in the articles made it into the sound era. Aesop’s Fables were animated by the Van Beuren studio, while the Fleischers Sound Cartoons were even revived by Famous Studios and seen on television as Harveytoons in the 1960s. A third series died before sound but Dinky Doodle’s creator, Walter Lantz, continued to make theatrical cartoons into the 1970s. And the Dinky concept of Lantz acting on screen with a cartoon character resurfaced on his Woody Woodpecker TV show in 1957.

The drawings and ad to the right accompanied the articles.

Comedy Gets a New Character
[by] JACQUES KOPFSTEIN
Gen'l Manager Bray Productions, Inc.
SCENE — Bray Studios.
Enter Colonel Heeza Liar (illustration of Colonel Heeza Liar)
"Gee ! I've been working around the Bray Studios for twelve years now, and am the oldest cartoon in existence. I wish Bray would give me a rest.
"Look what's happened to the other Bray characters. Bobby Bumps has grown up, and is a big boy now ; Goodrich Dirt, the famous tramp, became a war profiteer and is living on Fifth Avenue. He's quit the movies too. Dud Perkins and his gang who made "US FELLOWS" famous are all going to college now, and even "Jerry" is not on the Job any longer.
"Of all the Bray cartoons I am the only one that is still working, I wish Bray would give me a vacation."

J. R. Bray heard Colonel Heeza Liar's complaints and told the COLONEL that he would not send him to the Old Soldier's Home, or put him on a pension, but would just give him a short vacation, and then came the thought of another character which would bring joy and smiles to the international audiences that enjoy the Bray Cartoons, ever since they were invented many years ago by Bray himself.
A new cartoon which will come from the Bray Studios during the coming season at monthly intervals will be known as DINKY DOODLE. Dinky Doodle is a rough and tumble boy, full of pep and life — sure to become a favorite of all. — His constant companion is a black and white dog, known as "Weakheart," who takes part in all Dinky Doodle's mischievous under takings.
The first of the Dinky Doodle series is entitled "Dinky Doodle and the Wonderful Lamp" — a burlesque on the Fairy Tale of "Aladdin and his Magic Lamp."
Dinky Doodle will work in this series in conjunction with the cartoonist himself. In other words, these series will not be straight cartoons but will be what are known as "combination" cartoons, where the actor appears in conjunction with the cartoon character — a process which was invented by J. R. Bray — which not only gives novelty to each individual subject, in addition to the entertainment, but is mystifying as well. Walter Lantz, the famous cartoonist who has achieved success in directing the COLONEL HEEZA LIAR SERIES will direct the new Dinky Doodle Series. Distribution will be through the Standard Cinema Corporation.

‘Out of the Ink Well’ Comedies
THE Red Seal Pictures Corp., a comparatively new entrant in the independent production and distribution field will have a program of novelties for next year meriting comparison with the best, according to Edwin Miles Fadman, president of the company.
The organization is confining its activities to the production and distribution of novelty releases alone. Of the total of 120 to 150 novelty reels, over 75 per cent of them will have the comedy element predominating.
Heading the list there will be 22 new single-reel Out-of-the-Inkwell novelties by Max Fleischer, released one every three weeks. Mr. Fleischer's product has enjoyed a popularity and a reputation of cleverness for a period of many years.

There will also be something brand new in the way of a fun novelty which will be released as 13 Song Cartoon reels composed of well known old time and modern songs done in funny cartoon form and adapted for audience singing where desired, perfectly timed, scored and synchronized ; and released one every four weeks.
The first of these reels went on for a pre-release run at the Rialto, New York, and was composed of the three old time Charles K. Harris songs, "Mother, mother, mother pin a rose on me," "Goodbye my Lady Love" and "Come take a trip in my Airship." The trade papers commented freely on the un- usual success of this novelty. The New York Tribune said "these things are simply impossible to describe. You must go and see them for yourself." Releases commence in September.
In addition to 13 Film Facts, (medley hodge-podge reel) humorously edited and titled by Max Fleischer and released one very four weeks, there will be 9 Funny Face single reel comedies and 52 Animated Hair Cartoons. These Hair Cartoons are about 300 ft. in length and are composed of famous characters, actors and actresses done in animated form by Edwin Marcus, cartoonist for the New York Times. As an instance, he draws Charlie Chaplin on the screen and then changes the hair around so that it turns into Rudolph Valentino right before the eyes of the audience.
The Red Seal is the only organization in the independent field producing a complete program of novelties for the exclusive use of first run theatres and high class independent exchanges.
Among the many first run theatres throughout the country using this material for next year are such representative houses as : The Rivoli and Rialto, New York ; Stanley, Philadelphia ; Fenway, Boston; Eastman, Rochester; Missouri, St. Louis ; Rialto, Washington ; and Victory, Denver.

“Fables” and “Topics” are Popular
PATHE'S "Aesop's Film Fables" are fast becoming the most popular one reel subject in the field today, is the consensus of opinion of exhibitors scattered throughout the country. This popularity extends to the theatre manager as well as to the public at large and is due to the fact that the "Fables" have proven themselves "sure fire" program units.
Much of this credit should go to Cartoonist Paul Terry, who conceived the idea and contributed much to their success through his insight into human nature and an over developed bump of humor, which can carefully draw a line between the grotesque and real laughs. To the manager that runs a combination house of vaudeville and pictures as well as to the manager of the regular run picture theatres these one reelers have proven a "lifesaver" in more than one instance. They can always be relied upon to fill a big gap in any program and are an absolute insurance against the show "flopping" for the want of comedy and laughs.

They are released weekly and are booked over every one of the larger circuits throughout the United States. The B. F. Keith Circuit in the East, the Orpheum, Pantages and Loew circuits in the West use the Aesop's cartoon reels as a regular part of the weekly program, and many times local newspaper reviewers credit the film over the rest of the show.
Pathe's "Topics of the Day" enters its sixth year of success as one of the most "business getters" in the short field.
As a snappy joy reel of wit it has no equal, and quite a number of theatres throughout the country have not missed a single weekly issue since its inception. Even radio services and broadcasting stations have adopted it as part of their regular program while the larger class vaudeville houses use it as an advertised feature. The leading high class vaudeville theatre of the world, B. F. Keiths' Palace Theatre in New York, has booked this one "reeler" on every issue since the first.
The Topics of the Day are produced by the Timely Films, Inc., and distributed by the Pathe Exchanges, Inc. It consists of some timely cartoon in animated form and excerpts of wit and humor culled from the leading publications of the world. Exhibitors scattered throughout the country are very strong in their praise of the subject.
As an example of its growing popularity a contest was run in connection with the release some time ago and as many as 18,000 answers per week were received, representing all sections of the country. At the time of the contest the film was running in over 3,000 theatres in the United States and this number has been multiplied by two since that date. Over 100,000 contestants were entered before the closing of the contest.

Pluto Vs the Radio

Pluto hears a cat in his radio, so he jumps into the tinhorn to get it. That ends the radio, in The Barnyard Broadcast (1931).



Well, almost. The radio gets its revenge in the usual Disney butt-violation method.



The yelping Pluto then disappears from the cartoon. Why Disney and his story people didn’t have the dog run into the radio studio and chase the cat, I don’t know. Instead, Mickey runs after the animal with some unfunny gags (a broom splits a piano in half?) that, somehow, make me think of Tom Palmer’s short career at Warners.

There are no credits on this cartoon except Uncle Walt’s. I think he plays the cat in this.

Owlight

I’m not sure why an owl’s eyes would light up a forest, but that’s the situation in Bear Raid Warden, a 1944 cartoon starring Barney Bear.

Barney wonders why he can see a shadow in the supposed dark, then takes care of the situation with a pair of sunglasses.



The lighting effects are quite nice, but the cartoon seemingly exists for the purpose of reaction drawings. The cartoon is climaxed with Barney destroying his own home by mistake. The audience already knows it’s his home; the gag is his reaction when he realises what he’s done. And Barney’s reactions are hardly as extreme as what the Tex Avery unit was doing at MGM at this time.

Arnold Gillespie, Mike Lah, Ed Barge and Jack Carr receive animation credits. Director George Gordon’s name is absent from the screen; he had gone to work for, I think, Hugh Harman by the time the cartoon was released. It sounds like Billy Bletcher plays Barney.

A Change For Lucy

Was Lucy being coy?

The impression I get of Lucille Ball is she’d tell you anything straight up whether you wanted to hear it or not. So it seems odd that she’d tell a newspaper syndicate (Jan. 3, 1962) she didn’t want to go into another TV series, then less than eight weeks later, she’d be not only signed to a new show, but it had already been sold (tentatively) to Lever Brothers and General Foods and CBS had announced when it would be on the fall schedule (Variety, Feb. 28, 1962).

Perhaps she didn’t know when she did the interview with the NEA service, but it seems to me events unfolded awfully fast if that were the case. It could simply have been a case of business is business. Big-money talks could have been underway and it wasn’t something to be leaked to the press just yet.

Here’s the NEA feature story. Today, we still think of Lucy and Desi as a couple, so strong was the image on I Love Lucy. It must have been even stronger when this article was written, as reruns were still being seen every morning on CBS, and it was before Lucy had appeared regularly on a show without him.

"Which Husband?" Lucille Ball Asks
By DICK KLEINER
Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
NEW YORK—(NEA)—Lucille Ball's blush clashed frightfully with her orange hair and lavender stretch slacks.
But it was hard for her to keep from blushing after her remark, which is known, technically, as a "boo-boo.
The question had been, "Do you plan to do any work with your husband?"
Lucy sailed right into her answer.
"I don't think so," she said. "You see, nowadays he's move interested in producing and directing and isn't acting as much as he—."
Then she stopped and there was a slightly sick look on her beautiful face.
"Did you mean Desi or Gary?" she asked.
"Gary."
"Oh." The blush started. "I was sure you meant Desi."
* * *
The blush spread. It clashed with her coral lipstick, too. But she recovered beautifully. In fact, she burst out into that wild, ringing laugh which her fans know so well.
"You know," she said, "these things have been happening to me. Three days after Gary and I were married, I was in the elevator here in the apartment. And the operator said, 'How is Mrs. Morton today?' I said, 'Well, you know I don't get to meet many people in the building.' And then I realized he meant me. So I said, 'Oh, I'm fine, thank you.' He gave me the oddest look."
* * *
The blush began to recede. The tall redhead seemed to be part of the interior decoration of her apartment. She was the splash of color the room needed; her walls, carpel, furniture arc all in shades of pale green, and against that wan background her color and costume stood out like a well thumb.
She was eating a bowl of prunes—"I'm on a diet, just grapefruit, prunes, meat and coffee; it makes me tired, but I feel great."
And she was full of plans for her future. She ticked off the movies and TV specials she wants to do, starting with “The Good Years” on CBS-TV on Jan. 12.
"I've had so many offers," she said. "I can do almost anything I want to do and that's a nice feeling. Any TV series or spectacular I want to do. But I don't think I'll do a TV series again. It's too much work."
She says she likes to keep busy, because she's the kind who just can't sit around on her pale green furniture and wither.
"I don't have any plans or desire to retire." she says. "I'm going to die when I'm 69—of a cerebral haemorrhage—and I'll be working right up to then."
One thing she doesn't want to do is go outside her own field. She's had several chances to try straight dramatic parts, but she's turned them all down.
* * *
"I have no desire to do a dramatic part," she says. "That would spoil the magic, and I don't want to do that."
By "spoiling the magic," she meant that she has a place in the hearts of the public with her comedy. It's a place she richly deserves and has long wanted to occupy.
"Even as a kid," she says. "I liked to be funny. At the time, I thought it was because I liked to be funny. But now, after reading all these autobiographies of show people, I realize it was because I was insecure and wanted to be liked. So I tried to make people laugh. It's amazing what a great psychologist I was as a kid."

Lucy made it past 69. She died at age 77. She wanted to be liked. And she was more than liked to millions of fans. After all, you know what her show was called.

How to Hatch a Bull

To the strains of Juventino Rosas’ “Over the Waves” (arranged for marimba), the self-satisfied matador wolf performs a magic trick, making an egg appear from nowhere, then opening it to hatch a bull.



Grant Simmons, Bobe Cannon, Walt Clinton, Preston Blair and Mike Lah are credited with animating Señor Droopy, released April 9, 1949.

Incidentally, Showman's Trade Review of August 6, 1949 reported:

The MGM cartoon department headed by Fred Quimby has made a cooperative ad deal with General Foods, which will issue "flip books" in which the cartoon characters, Tom and Jerry, Barney the Bear and Droopy the Hound come alive as a series of cartoons are flipped through the fingers. The "flip books" will be distributed with Grape Nuts Flakes. Half-page ads in the comic strip pages of Sunday newspapers will be used to promote them.

Falling Farmer

The Bashful Buzzard is one of those cartoons Bob Clampett fans just love with Rod Scribner and Manny Gould going nuts when handed crazy ideas to animate.

Mamma Buzzard (voiced by Sara Berner) has her offspring bring back anything they can capture for dinner. One of them flies home with a cow—still being milked!



The farmer walks away, then realises something is wrong. He’s in mid-air. Here are some of the drawings that follow.



There are scenes wilder than this. In fact, I thought I had posted frames from my favourite perspective scene in this cartoon but can’t find them. A draught post must have been eaten along the way.

Clampett’s love of radio is evident in this cartoon as he rips off the Mortimer Snerd character from the Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy show and gets Kent Rogers to imitate him as the dullard Beaky Buzzard (the last line is a catchphrase from The Great Gildersleeve).

“The Arkansas Traveller” is heard a lot on the soundtrack. Backgrounds are by Dick Thomas.

Jack Benny on the Humour of Jack Benny

What made Jack Benny funny?

That question was asked, analysed, and answered over the years, including by Benny himself. One place where he gave his insights was in the April 1937 edition of Motion Picture Insider magazine.

Today, Benny is considered a master of television and radio but his film career is pretty much dismissed. That’s even though he was employed by several studios simultaneously at one point, and his movies in the ‘30s were hits at the box office. They just aren’t very memorable today, with few exceptions.

So it was that the movie magazines wrote about Benny and his radio cast, and therefore we find the article below. I don’t know if Jack would have used the word “withal” in a conversation, but it’s there. He also mentions Al Boasberg, who might have been a regular member of his writing staff if he hadn’t died in 1937. The stock photos accompanied the article.

LAUGHING STOCK
An exclusive interview with JACK BENNY who expounds his theory of comedy for the benefit of the laugh-conscious. There are surprises in his story for those who believe that the jokes which amuse an entire continent are simple to deliver so that they are funny. Humor is a complicated art, and JACK BENNY herein explains its many facets.
THE world loves to laugh at a man in trouble, providing the trouble is embarrassing but not too serious.
This was the philosophy expressed by Jack Benny, leading radio, screen and stage star, when asked to discuss the psychology upon which his humor is based.
“To illustrate, what is funnier than a man slipping on a banana peel and his resulting gyrations as he tries to maintain his balance, or a man who accidentally rips an essential part of his clothing at a crucial moment, both painful to the victim perhaps, but extremely funny withal.
“I don’t believe that this proves that the human race is essentially cruel, but I believe that laughs are born partly from a certain primitive sense of superiority over the victim. At the same time, while we laugh at them, we feel sorry for them and are in sympathy with them. I know this is getting kind of involved, so we won’t pursue the quest into the realm of psychology much further. But I do know that all great comedians of our time have pursued that method. They have become involved in embarrassing situations, thus arousing the risibilities of the audience.

“Take for example the man I feel is the greatest comedian of our day, Charlie Chaplin. His whole career was built on getting into and out of just such situations. He illustrates perfectly what I mean. We would split our sides at his antics, but always there was something just a bit pathetic about him. He captured and portrayed the true spirit of clean comedy and his psychology was basic.
“Others who have employed the same, with their own variations and methods are Will Rogers, Harold Lloyd, Ed Wynn; I could go on and enumerate all great comedians. This proves, I believe, that you must have comic situations, not just gag lines. And that is what we strive for in our radio program. Mere cracking of jokes back and forth gives no flavor that lingers, nothing that people can talk about the next day.
“Early in my own career I discovered that in order to be successful I would have to be in trouble, and I have been in hot water ever since! In my on-stage moments, I mean. To give you a pertinent incident or two, consider my consistently getting the worst of it in my fights with Mary Livingstone, Phil Harris, Kenny Baker, and now lately, with Fred Allen.
“Always it must be the lead, the star, who is the goat, in order to get that favorable public reaction. I could not pick on anybody else all the time without my listeners feeling too sorry for him, and being angry with me. However, it is perfectly all right for all the rest of them to pick on me.”

Mr. Benny went further in outlining this. He pointed out that each actor on his program was chosen to depict a certain phase of humor. That a line would bring a laugh when spoken by Andy Devine but fall flat perhaps when read by Kenny Baker. Each of them of course could embarrass the star but each also had to do so in his own way.
“Situations have to have a certain continuity,” Mr. Benny continued, “in order to maintain that week to week interest, like our ‘Buck Benny Rides Again’ series which we recently concluded. Listening audiences wait for each new adventure and thus we maintain a continuity of interest that is so essential for a successful series.”
Bit by bit Mr. Benny analyzed the component parts which make for continued success in the comedy world, proving himself a keen student of mass psychology, as well as a philosopher.
Because it has taken both study and work to bring him from his early beginnings as a fiddler in Waukegan, Illinois, to where he is today, voted by more than four hundred critics the most popular purveyor of humor on the air.

Way stations along that arduous route include being an entertainer at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station during the war years, the regular vaudeville stage, a motion picture career that started with the “Hollywood Review of 1929” for M-G-M and a radio debut dating back but four short years.

He was married in 1927 to Sadye Marks, who is today known on the air as Mary Livingstone. She made her start in radio one night when one of the regular players failed to appear. Her part was only two lines. The next week she appeared on the air again and then left the program. After waiting two weeks, Benny’s radio audience became impatient and bombarded him with letters demanding that Mary return. She has never missed a program, since.
We also exemplify Benny’s basic psychology of humor in that listeners enjoy tremendously Mary’s putting him “on the spot”.
Mr. Benny is even more charming if that is possible, to meet personally than he is to listen to over the air or see on the screen. Perfectly poised, with a resonant voice, excellent diction, and an agile, keen mind. He is at home on any subject. Modest and unassuming, he gives much of the credit for his success to his co-workers, and his authors, Bill Morrow, Ed Beloin and Al Boasberg. His conversation is constantly interlarded with praise for others who have helped him achieve the success he now enjoys. While he is admittedly “tops” in his chosen field, one has only to meet the man to feel that his efforts and personality would have won for him success in any other type of endeavor.

Horizons of Hope

There’s an animated cartoon funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation which received a great deal of attention, including a write-up in Life magazine when it was released, but is forgotten today.

When it comes to animation, the Foundation is known for funding a number of pro-big business “educational” shorts that ended up on theatre screens. The first ones were animated by John Sutherland Productions and a later trio was made and released by Warner Bros. But Horizons of Hope is overlooked today, likely because it’s not available for free viewing on the internet like other Sutherland shorts.

The short was praised in 1954 because it tackled the subject of misconceptions about cancer, though Sutherland dealt with the same subject in a 1946 animated short called The Traitor Within for the American Cancer Society. As odd as it sounds to us today, people didn’t talk about cancer then; it was something shameful. Alfred P. Sloan helped set up the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in 1945 through the Sloan Foundation. With that in mind, a Sloan-funded animated short educating America about cancer was a given.

The Foundation’s report for 1955 states:

Shortly after its release, the film was chosen by the American Film Assembly of the Film Council of America as the best 16mm non-theatrical motion picture which had been produced in America in 1954 in the field of hygiene and public-health education. In recognition of its selection it was given the Film Council's Golden Reel Award. Subsequently the film received other awards, including one from the Film Council of Greater Boston and one from the Film Council of Greater Columbus.

The Sloan Foundation was subsidizing a Sunday afternoon show on NBC-TV called American Inventory. The two-reel Horizons of Hope was perfect fodder for it, and aired (along with a panel discussion) on December 5, 1954; the Life article was, more or less, a free plug for the show.

Business Screen magazine, that fine chronicler of industrial and commercial films, devoted space in its February 1955 issue to the film. It had one little black-and-white frame from the short, but Life wonderfully published the colour frames which you see in this post.

Sloan Foundation Tells Cancer Research Progress
Sponsor: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Title: Horizons of Hope. 25 min., color, produced by John Sutherland Productions.
Unlike other films on the subject of cancer, which have generally been technical subject for professional groups, or "warning" films for lay audiences, encouraging early detection of the disease, Horizons of Hope is a document of the progress in cancer cure, and a delineation of the possible steps science may take in the future to eliminate cancer. It incorporates a vast amount of highly complex and technical information into a creative pattern that will be clear to lay audiences and yet valuable and acceptable to researchers, doctors and other technical personnel in the cancer field.
Follows Year of Research
Research by writers John Sutherland, Bill Scott and True Boardman, under the direction of Dr. Cornelius Rhoads and his staff of the Sloan-Kettering Institute, began almost a year before the film actually went into production. It was decided that the story could best be told in a combination of live action and animation techniques.
Live action is effective in illustrating the actual physical complexity of the "machine for mankind" that is the Sloan-Kettering Institute, where literally millions of dollars in highly specialized equipment is being skillfully operated by hundreds of men and women who have dedicated their lives to the single purpose of first controlling, and ultimately eradicating cancer.

Animation Clarifies Story
Animation was used in the larger part of the picture to simplify and clarify highly technical aspects of the whole cancer control problem.
In structure, the animation portion of the picture ultimately developed as what might be called the autobiography of a cancer cell.
While it is true that on a limited scale photographs of actual cancer cells have been made by the electron microscope, it was photographically impossible at the present stage of technical development to show the actual life cycle of cells, and the action by chemical agents upon both normal and cancer cells in live action.
On the other hand, vivid demonstration of the attack upon cancer cells in animation was possible: possible, it should be added, but by no means simple, because in the animation form there is often a predisposition on the part of an audience to humor, and of course the nature of the subject matter made seriousness of approach in this case vitally important.
Initially, the picture demonstrates the nature of a normal body cell and then shows the (still mysterious and unexplained) genesis of the abnormal cancer cell within the same body.
From this point forward, the animation portion of the picture constantly refers to the basic premise of Sloan-Kettering's research operations, which is that there are basic differences between normal and cancer cells, and that by continuing study of those differences and constructive application of facts learned about those differences, control and or cure of cancer can be achieved.

Despite this emphasis on contrast, the villainous protagonist continues to be the cancer cell, and the film shows how he is affected first by the study of his appetites to find out what food he requires and therefore can be starved by absence of and secondly by what foods he can be poisoned, either chemically or radioactively.
Another approach is the analysis of the effect of virus upon cancer cells and the search for a virus which will selectively destroy cancer cells while not harming normal cells.
Still another general category is the study of antibodies which will seek out and destroy cancer cells.
While these three major lines of research are the primary activities at Sloan-Kettering, additional important work is being done in hormones, and extensive study is being done on the effect of the hormone balance to cancer incidence. This too was incorporated into the picture.
Horizons of Hope will be available from offices of Movies U.S.A., 729 Seventh Ave., New York City.

Ah, if we could still order a copy from Movies U.S.A.!

Yes, the Bill Scott mentioned in the article is the same Bill Scott who developed the Rocky and Bullwinkle series and wrote for the Art Davis unit at Warners, then jumped to UPA where he was fired in the Red Scare. The fact a fairly right-wing producer like Sutherland would hire Scott shows you what he thought of scaremongering by Joe McCarthy, Red Channels, et al. He ignored it. (Scott was caught in the blacklist fallout. He was fired at UPA because his writing partner was fired for leftist activities).

Unfortunately, because this cartoon is hiding in some film canister, other credits are not available, though an internet search reveals Gene Poddany wrote the score. We can make somewhat educated guesses, though. George Gordon and Carl Urbano were directing for Sutherland at the time. Bill Melendez was animating at the studio and Emery Hawkins and Bill Higgins were on the animation staff about this time. Maurice Noble was designing for Sutherland.

(Update from 2022: Scholastic Teacher magazine of May 10, 1956 gives the following credits: Producer, John Sutherland; Animation Director, George Gordon; Live Action Director, True Boardman; Script, John Sutherland and William J. Scott; Editor, Charles Boardwell; Animation, William Melendez; Cameraman, William Miller; Art Director, Maurice Noble; Original Music, Eugene Poddany; Narration, John Hiestand).

Sutherland copyrighted a pile of character designs on February 25, 1954, including the ones for Horizons of Hope, which was Production No. 1422. (For the record, also copyrighted on that date were designs for It’s Everybody’s Business, Prod. No. 1417; Dear Uncle, Prod. No. 1439; The Atom Goes to Sea, Prod. 1441; and Prod. Nos. 1200, 1447 and 1450. Unfortunately, I cannot determine the titles of these and there were additional unknown animated Sutherland films with 1955 copyright dates).

The Sutherland studio’s work was always top notch and I hope a copy of this film will eventually be located for people to see.

Now if we can only find a print of that 13½-minute cartoon tribute to push-button cleaning, Sutherland’s The Spray’s the Thing