It's Just Not Funny Any More

Parody and satire was originally Jack Benny’s stock-in-trade, long before he turned 39, owned a Maxwell, or turned to the audience and shouted “Well!”

On Benny’s first show in 1932, he satirised advertising by making fun of the sponsor’s product, Canada Dry Ginger Ale. Soon, he was making fun of plays and movies in the second half of his show, which bound his “gang” together in the minds of the audience.

When Benny left radio in 1955, he was still having fun with his sponsor, at least during the middle commercial with special music by Mahlon Merrick (the opening and closing spots became increasingly uninteresting). And every once in a while, he’d drag out a movie parody, but only when he had a guest star (eg. Bob Hope). But along the way, Benny tried and abandoned other routines that just didn’t work or stopped getting laughs from the studio audience.

Here’s Jack in his ubiquitous bathrobe (he did a lot of interviews wearing one) chatting with the Associated Press. I cannot find out if Hub Keavy or someone else wrote this. He talks about dumping a number of running situations that highlighted his shows for several seasons. This appeared in papers on April 19, 1941.

BENNY DISCARDS 'WASHED-UP' GAGS
HOLLYWOOD, April 19 —(AP)— Tomorrow evening Jack Benny will formally (and funnily, he hopes) say goodbye to the Quiz Kids "because the situation is washed up."
When the Benny jokes become more important than the Benny situations, Jack finds something else to talk about.
The Buck Benny situation is washed up, as a running, week-to-week gag.
So is Jack's fiddle-playing, temporarily at least. The Fred Allen feud isn't washed up, but it's been deferred.
A quarter of a century of vaudeville and 10 years of radio have taught Benny most of the intricate ins and outs of humor.
"Well, I worry a little, too. That seems to help," Jack admitted.
Nervous Toll Is Great
Jack was in a secret-telling mood, pale blue shorts and a white terry cloth bathrobe, in the den of his home, the same home he uses so often for his humor.
For some, reason he felt like taking down his professional hair to show why his program goes on clicking like it does. His own hair was soon mussed by nervous hands. He smoked cigarettes continuously, often paced the room, jumped to answer the phone.
Obviously the toll on his nervous system is great. Getting to be radio's No. 1 man was comparatively easy; staying there is no cinch.
Uses "Situation" Comedy
Jack worries about his precious situations so much that he usually can anticipate when one is about to be washed up. Here's what he means by washing it up:
"Ours is a situation comedy. We don't just tell jokes. The gags we have fit the situation. We use a situation—say like the Buck Benny business—only as long as it is funnier than the jokes.
"The longer you use a situation, tho funnier the jokes must become. Phil Harris was the drunken pappy in that series.
"After four weeks, his jokes had to be twice as funny. In eight weeks, four times as funny. Just go on multiplying—brother, jokes just ain't that funny."
Likes Joke About Hotel
The Quiz Kids played on the Benny program for the past two Sundays, building up for Jack's Wednesday appearance with them. It was a new situation for him.
"Having them with us once more is as much as we could get out of that situation," he confessed.
"Last week they were staying at my house and everybody thinks it's nice of me to have them as my guests until we overhear one say, 'I think it would be just as cheap at a hotel'."
Jack first chuckled when he repeated that line, then laughed uproariously.
"You can't top a gag like that. I couldn't have them back at the house. But, since the idea is still good, I take them to the train."
Of course! Jack can't take them in anything but his Maxwell during tomorrow's episode at 7 o'clock (over WBEN). You've never heard him use the ancient bus unless the business at hand called for it.
Play Satires Are Finished
He seldom uses Rochester unless the scene, is laid at the Benny house. When the program is in the studio, Rochester telephones.
The play satire situation is just about washed up.
The last, "Tobacco Road," read well and sounded good in rehearsal, but the studio audience didn't react the way Jack hoped they would.
In other words, it wasn't too funny. Two or three years ago, satires on current movies went best on the Benny program. Times change, and so does humor.
"And situations," added Jack. "Let's see, now, on the first Sunday in May we oughta......"

Benny changed writers in 1943 out of necessity. Afterward, the show foundered a bit for several reasons. Jack insisted on doing shows at military hubs; jokes were aimed at servicemen in the seats, not listeners at home. Lucky Strike commercials were strident and repetitive and, frankly, a tune-out factor; the insistent cigarette sell was the first thing the listener heard instead of Don Wilson soothingly regaling the audience about six delicious flavours and big red letters. The writers needed to get their bearings—they invented characters like whiny insurance man Herman Peabody and a pet camel that didn’t work. Losing Dennis Day and, for a time, Phil Harris to the war didn’t help. It seems the Benny brain trust wouldn’t entrust singer Larry Stevens with comedy and the lines handed to the replacement bandleaders sounded strained at times. The McFarland Twins were more amusing when they were parodied by Bob and Ray.

But the writers looked at those tried-and-true routines Jack talked about above and came up with new twists on them. Jack inherited a violin teacher that allowed for very good comedy byplay and reactions. Creative song parodies livened up the middle spot. The Fred Allen feud was resurrected with funnier insults and less outright nastiness. More and more of the show moved into situations at Jack’s home. That meant more Rochester. The audience loved Rochester. Rochester was the guy who symbolised the attitude they’d have with their unfair boss if they had the nerve. Ratings rose. Benny was still pretty well near the top when radio coughed and sputtered as it was fed less advertising money in the 1950s and the show had to leave the air. No matter. Benny found a home on television for some of those same routines until his show ended weekly production in 1965.

The Birth of Saturday Morning Cartoons

There are people who take it for granted that Saturday morning television was always a land of cartoons, and how dare it not be that way today.

Well, of course, that wasn’t always the case. Like weeds choking a garden, cartoons slowly took over the Saturday morning landscape until they killed kids hosts like Shari Lewis and tired old filmed programmes like Fury.

Television was still developing in the early 1950s. The FCC had imposed a freeze on construction of new stations in 1948 because it had to sort out things like channel assignments, interference, and colour systems. The bureaucrats took their sweet time and lifted the freeze on April 14, 1952, though the colour battle continued. More stations meant more people watching. Networks were now being able to tell ad agencies and potential sponsors there were more eyes on television, and coax them into buying time periods that were comparatively dirt cheap—like Saturday mornings.

The reason the networks didn’t fill time with cartoons in 1952 is simple—there weren’t any available. Syndicators had snapped up as many cartoons as they could buy—either made by long-dead ‘B’ studios like Iwerks or silents with stock music added to them, like the Farmer Alfalfa cartoons—and had sold them on a station basis. Some were even running on Saturday mornings. However, a break came in a few years to one network. CBS had purchased the Terrytoon studio—it had been running Terry cartoons on its Barker Bill show twice weekly starting in November 1953. Now it went through with plans for a new show called Mighty Mouse Playhouse, which debuted at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 10, 1955. For the record, the cartoons were “The Uninvited Pest,” “The Exterminator” and “Svengali’s Cat.” The show was moved to 11 a.m. the following Saturday, then to 10:30 the following April 7th.

So, yes, Mighty Mouse was the first Saturday morning network cartoon show, even though the cartoons on it had been shown in theatres for a number of years. Some may argue that Winky Dink and You was the first. But Winky wasn’t really animated and didn’t actually star in a cartoon; the host was a somewhat self-conscious Jack Barry before he got mired in the quiz show scandal a few years later. I’m afraid we’ll leave it to diehards to argue the point.

Next is when Hanna-Barbera gets into the picture. In 1957, Screen Gems, Columbia Pictures’ TV arm, worked out a deal with NBC to put a half-hour show on the air called Ruff and Reddy. Despite the fact it had a human host, and featured a pair of animated shorts from the Columbia library, it is considered the first made-for-TV network cartoon show because it included two cartoons made by H-B specifically for it. (A show called NBC Comics aired on weekdays in 1950 but consisted of still drawings over a voice track).

As for the first all-cartoon show made for television on Saturday mornings? The honours go to King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, which replaced Ruff and Reddy in the 1960-61 season. No human host, no tired theatricals. Just brand-new cartoons made by Total Television Productions (the first ones were animated at Creston Studios, aka TV Spots, in Los Angeles but the voice tracks were cut in New York).

Still, Saturday mornings network television time was mainly occupied—and networks were still signing on comparatively late—with old films or hosted shows, but things started to change in 1962. And you can credit (or blame) the Great Prime Time Failure of cartoons in the 1961-62 season. The Alvin Show and Top Cat were ratings busts in the evening. So, the following year, they were rerun on Saturday mornings. They were hits. The Bugs Bunny Show was moved to Saturday morning. Another monster hit. And Hanna-Barbera managed to resurrect reruns of Ruff and Reddy. Saturday mornings became the place for castoffs from other time slots. The following season, Beany and Cecil joined the line-up. Two new made-for-TV shows, Tennessee Tuxedo and Hector Heathcote, found Saturday morning homes. Casper the repetitious ghost made a comeback, with old theatricals mixed in with new TV cartoons (the latter three shows, incidentally, voice-tracked in New York).

By the time 1965 rolled around, when Hanna-Barbera made its first made-for-Saturday-morning shows, Secret Squirrel and Atom Ant, the bulk of programming was animated. Most of the non-cartoon holdouts aired after 11 a.m.

Hanna-Barbera’s success on Saturday mornings did two things. One, is it saved the studio. Networks weren’t interested in prime-time cartoons because they attracted the wrong demographics. But they attracted the right ones on Saturday morning and H-B could make shows within a sponsor’s budget. And two, it spurred a Saturday morning cartoon industry that stayed around until the networks realised they could make—and own—their own Saturday morning live-action shows, like Saved by the Bell.

For some reason, people love lists. They can’t get enough of them. So here is the list portion of our post. To give you an idea of the evolution of Saturday morning television from test patterns to live shows to cartoons, allow me to post the network schedules from the start of the 1951-52 season. The bulk of these come from grids published at the time in Sponsor magazine. The networks fussed with their schedules, so the end of the season didn’t always look the same as the start of the season. With few exceptions, we’ll provide schedules as they were fixed in October of each year. We’ve included the dear, departed DuMont Network as well. These are for the East Coast; schedules in the West likely looked a little different. Cartoons are in blue.

1951-52
ABC
● 10:30 a.m. – Hollywood Jr. Circus (host); cancelled in Feb.
● 11 a.m. – Foodini the Great (puppets); replaced with Personal Appearance Theatre in Jan.
● 11:30 – A Date With Judy (film); cancelled in Feb.
● 12 p.m. – Betty Crocker Star Matinee (film), moved to 11:30 in March
● 12:30 p.m. – City Hospital (film, alt. weeks, net silent at 1); cancelled in Mar.
CBS
● 11 a.m. – Fashion Magic with Arlene Francis, replaced by The Whistling Wizard (puppets)
● 11:30 – Smilin' Ed's Gang (puppets)
● 12 p.m. – The Big Top (host, net silent at 1)
DuMont
● no programming
NBC
● no programming

1952-53
ABC
● no programming
CBS
● 11 a.m – Space Patrol (live)
● 11:30 – Smilin’ Ed’s Gang (host)
● 12 p.m. – The Big Top (net silent after 1 p.m.)
Du Mont
● 11 a.m. – Happy’s Party (host/puppet)
● 11:30 a.m. – Kids and Company with Johnny Olson (host, net silent after 12)
NBC
● 11 a.m. – Space Patrol (live)
● 11:30 p.m. – Pud’s Prize Party (live, net silent after 12)

1953-54
ABC
● 10 a.m. – Tootsie Hippodrome (host)
● 10:30 – Smilin’ Ed McConnell (host/puppet)
● 11 a.m. – Space Patrol (live)
CBS
● 11 a.m. – Winky Dink and You (host)
● 11:30 – Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers (live)
● 12 p.m. – The Big Top (host)
● 1 p.m. – The Lone Ranger (film, net silent after 1:30)
Du Mont
● 11:30 a.m. – Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (live, 27 stations, net silent at noon)
NBC
● no programming

1954-55
ABC
● 10 a.m. – Animal Time (host)
● 10:30 – Andy Devine (film)
● 11 a.m. – Space Patrol (live, net silent at 11:30)
CBS
● 10:30 a.m. – Winky Dink and You (host)
● 11 a.m. – Captain Midnight (film)
● 11:30 a.m. – Abbott and Costello (film)
● 12 p.m. – The Big Top (host)
● 1 p.m. – The Lone Ranger (film)
● 1:30 p.m. – Uncle Johnny Coons (host)
● 2 p.m. What in the World (net silent at 2:30 p.m.)
Du Mont
● no programming
NBC
● no programming

1955-56
ABC
● 11 a.m. – Kiddie Special (occasional show; net silent at 12:30 p.m.)
CBS
● 10 a.m. – Captain Kangaroo (host)
● 10:30 – Winky Dink and You (live host); replaced with Mighty Mouse Playhouse (cartoon) in Dec.
● 11 a.m. – Captain Midnight (film); replaced with Winky Dink in Dec.
● 11:30 – Tales of the Texas Rangers (film)
● 12 p.m. – Big Top (film)
● 1 p.m. – The Lone Ranger (film)
● 1:30 p.m. – Uncle Johnny Coons (live host, net silent at 2)
DuMont
● no programming
NBC
● 10 a.m. – Pinky Lee Show (host)
● 10:30 – Paul Winchell Show (host/ventriloquist)
● 11 a.m. – Fury (film)
● 11:30 – Mr. Wizard (live host, network silent at 12)
NBC (January-March)
● 10 a.m. – Children's Corner (puppets with Fred Rogers)
● 10:30 – Pinky Lee Show (host)
● 11 a.m. – Fury (film)
● 11:30 – Paul Winchell Show (host/ventriloquist)
● 12 p.m. – Choose Up Sides (live game with Gene Rayburn, net silent at 12:30)
NBC (end season)
● 10 a.m. – Howdy Doody (host/puppets)
● 10:30 – I Married Joan (film)
● 11 a.m. – Fury (film)
● 11:30 – Uncle Johnny Coons (host)
● 12 p.m. – Captain Gallant (film)
● 12:30 – Best of Mr. Wizard (net silent at 1)

1956-57
ABC
● no programming
CBS
● 9:30 – Captain Kangaroo (host)
● 10:30 – Mighty Mouse (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Winky Dink and You (host)
● 11:30 – Texas Rangers (film)
● 12 p.m. – Big Top (film)
● 1 p.m. – The Lone Ranger (film, net silent at 1:30)
NBC
● 10 a.m. – Howdy Doody (host/puppet)
● 10:30 – I Married Joan (film)
● 11 a.m. – Fury (film)
● 11:30 – Cowboy Theatre (film, net silent at 12:30 through Dec.)
● 12:30 – Mr. Wizard (from Dec., net silent at 1 p.m.)

1957-58
ABC
● no programming
CBS
● 9:30 – Captain Kangaroo (host)
● 10:30 – Mighty Mouse (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Susan’s Show (puppet with cartoon); replaced with Heckle and Jeckle (cartoon) in Jan.
● 11:30 – Saturday Playhouse.
● 12 p.m. – Jimmy Dean; replaced 12:30-1p.m. with Concert From Carnegie Hall in Jan.
● 1 p.m. – The Lone Ranger (film, net silent at 1:30)
NBC
● 10 a.m. – Howdy Doody (host/puppet)
● 10:30 – Gumby (animated); replaced with Ruff and Reddy (cartoon) in mid-Dec.
● 11 a.m. – Fury (film)
● 11:30 – Captain Gallant (film); replaced with Andy’s Gang in mid-Dec.
● 12 p.m. – True Story (film)
● 12:30 – Detective Diary (film, silent at 1)

1958-59
ABC
● 11 a.m. – Uncle Al Show (host/puppet; net silent at 12)
CBS
● 10 a.m. – Captain Kangaroo (host)
● 10:30 a.m. – Mighty Mouse (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Heckle and Jeckle (cartoon)
● 11:30 – The Adventures of Robin Hood (film)
● 12 p.m. – silent
● 12:30 – Young People’s Concert (until 1:30)
NBC
● 10 a.m. – Howdy Doody (host/puppet)
● 10:30 – Ruff and Reddy (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Fury (film)
● 11:30 – Circus Boy (film)
● 12 p.m. – True Story (film)
● 12:30 – Detective Diary (film, silent at 1)

1959-60
ABC
● 12 p.m. – Lunch With Soupy Sales (net silent at 12:30)
CBS
● 10 a.m. – Heckle and Jeckle (cartoon)
● 10:30 – Mighty Mouse (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – I Love Lucy (film)
● 11:30 – Lone Ranger (film)
● 12 p.m. – Sky King (film; net silent at 12:30)
NBC
● 10 a.m. – Howdy Doody (host/puppet)
● 10:30 – Ruff and Reddy (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Fury (film)
● 11:30 – Circus Boy (film)
● 12 p.m. – True Story (film)
● 12:30 – Detective Diary (film)
● 1 p.m. – Mr. Wizard (net silent at 1:30)

1960-61
ABC
● 12 p.m – Lunch With Soupy Sales
(host) ● 12:30 – Pip the Piper (net silent at 1)
CBS
● 10 a.m. – Captain Kangaroo
● 11 a.m. – Kellogg Magic Land of Alakazam (host/cartoon)
● 11:30 – Roy Rogers (film)
● 12 p.m. – Sky King (film)
● 12:30 – Mighty Mouse Playhouse (cartoon)
● 1 p.m. – CBS News (net silent at 1:30)
NBC
● 7 a.m. – Today on the Farm
● (7:30-10 a.m. – net silent)
● 10 a.m. – Shari Lewis (host/delightful puppets)
● 10:30 – King Leonardo (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Fury (film)
● 11:30 – Lone Ranger (film)
● 12 p.m. – My True Story (film)
● 12:30 – Detective Diary (film)
● 1 p.m. – Mr. Wizard (net silent at 1:30)

1961-62
ABC
● 11 a.m. – On Your Mark (game show)
● 11:30 – Don Alan’s Magic Ranch (host, net silent at 12)
CBS
● 9 a.m. – Captain Kangaroo (host)
● 10 a.m. – Video Village Jr. (game show)
● 10:30 – Mighty Mouse (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Kellogg Magic Land of Alakazam (host/cartoon)
● 11:30 – Roy Rogers (film)
● 12 p.m. – Sky King (film)
● 12:30 p.m. – My Friend Flicka (film, net silent at 1)
NBC
● 9:30 – Pip the Piper (host)
● 10 a.m. – Shari Lewis (host/puppets)
● 10:30 – King Leonardo and his Short Subjects (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Fury (film)
● 11:30 – Make Room For Daddy (film)
● 12 p.m. – Update (news for high schoolers)
● 12:30 – Watch Mr. Wizard (host, net silent at 1)

1962-63
ABC
● 11 a.m. – Make a Face (game show, cancelled in mid-Dec., net silent)
● 11:30 – Top Cat (cartoon)
● 12 p.m. – The Bugs Bunny Show (cartoon)
● 12:30 – The Magic Land of Alakazam (host/cartoon)
● 1 p.m. – My Friend Flicka (film, net silent at 1:30)
CBS
● 9 a.m. – Captain Kangaroo (host)
● 10 a.m. – The Alvin Show (cartoon)
● 10:30 – Mighty Mouse (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Rin Tin Tin (film)
● 11:30 – Sky King (film)
● 12 p.m. – Roy Rogers (film)
● 12:30 – The Reading Room (children’s panel)
● 1 p.m. – CBS Saturday News (net silent at 1:30)
NBC
● 9:30 – Ruff and Reddy (cartoon)
● 10 a.m. – Shari Lewis (host/puppets)
● 10:30 – King Leonardo (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Fury (film)
● 11:30 – Marx’s Midway Magic (host)
● 12 p.m. – Make Room For Daddy (film)
● 12:30 – Exploring (educational)
● 1 p.m. – Watch Mr. Wizard (host, net silent at 1:30)

1963-64
ABC
● 10 a.m. – The Jetsons (cartoon)
● 10:30 – The New Casper Show (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Beany and Cecil (cartoon)
● 11:30 – The Bugs Bunny Show (cartoon)
● 12 p.m. – The Magic Land of Alakazam (host/cartoon)
● 12:30 – My Friend Flicka (film)
● 1 p.m. – American Bandstand (host, net silent at 1:30
CBS
● 8 a.m. – Captain Kangaroo (host)
● 9 a.m. – The Alvin Show (cartoon)
● 9:30 – Tennessee Tuxedo (cartoon)
● 10 a.m. – Quick Draw McGraw (cartoon)
● 10:30 – Mighty Mouse (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Rin Tin Tin (film)
● 11:30 – Roy Rogers (film)
● 12 p.m. – Sky King (film)
● 12:30 p.m. – Do You Know? (educational quiz)
● 1 p.m. – CBS Saturday News (net silent at 1:30)
NBC
● 9:30 – Ruff and Reddy (cartoon)
● 10 a.m. – Hector Heathcote (cartoon)
● 10:30 – Fireball XL5 (puppet)
● 11 a.m. – Dennis the Menace (film)
● 11:30 – Fury (film)
● 12 p.m. – Sergeant Preston (film)
● 12:30 – Bullwinkle (cartoon)
● 1 p.m – Exploring (educational)
● 1:30 – Watch Mr. Wizard (host, net silent at 2)

1964-65
ABC
● 9:30 – Buffalo Bill, Jr. (film)
● 10 a.m. – Shenanigans (game show)
● 10:30 – Annie Oakley (film)
● 11 a.m. – The New Casper Show (cartoon)
● 11:30 – Beany and Cecil (cartoon)
● 12 p.m. – The Bugs Bunny Show (cartoon)
● 12:30 – Hoppity Hooper (cartoon)
● 1 p.m. – The Magic Land of Alakazam (host/cartoon)
● 1:30 – American Bandstand (host)
CBS
● 8 a.m. – Mr. Mayor (host)
● 9 a.m. – The Alvin Show (cartoon)
● 9:30 – Tennessee Tuxedo (cartoon)
● 10 a.m. – Quick Draw McGraw (cartoon)
● 10:30 – Mighty Mouse (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Linus the Lionhearted (cartoon)
● 11:30 – The Jetsons (cartoon)
● 12 p.m. – Sky King (film)
● 12:30 p.m. – My Friend Flicka (film)
● 1 p.m. – I Love Lucy (film)
● 1:30 – CBS Saturday News
NBC
● 9:30 – Hector Heathcote (cartoon)
● 10 a.m. – Underdog (cartoon)
● 10:30 – Fireball XL5 (puppet)
● 11 a.m. – Dennis the Menace (film)
● 11:30 – Fury (film)
● 12 p.m. – Exploring (educational)

1965-66
ABC
● 10 a.m. – Shenanigans (game show)
● 10:30 – The Beatles (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – The New Casper Show (cartoon)
● 11:30 – The Porky Pig Show (cartoon)
● 12 p.m. – The Bugs Bunny Show (cartoon)
● 12:30 – Milton the Monster (cartoon)
● 1 p.m. – Hoppity Hooper (cartoon)
● 1:30-2:30 – American Bandstand (host)
CBS
● 8 a.m. – Captain Kangaroo (host)
● 9 a.m. – Heckle and Jeckle (cartoon)
● 9:30 – Tennessee Tuxedo (cartoon)
● 10 a.m. – Mighty Mouse (cartoon)
● 10:30 – Linus the Lionhearted (cartoon)
● 11 a.m. – Tom and Jerry (cartoon)
● 11:30 – Quick Draw McGraw (cartoon)
● 12 p.m. – Sky King (film)
● 12:30 p.m. – Lassie (film)
● 1 p.m. – My Friend Flicka (film)
● 1:30-2 p.m. – CBS Saturday News
NBC
● 9 a.m. – The Jetsons (carton)
● 9:30 – Atom Ant (cartoon)
● 10 a.m. – Secret Squirrel (cartoon)
● 10:30 – Underdog (puppet)
● 11 a.m. – Top Cat (film)
● 11:30 – Fury (film)
● 12 p.m. – The First Look (educational)
● 12:30-1 p.m. – Exploring (educational)

Pluto Jolson

Was there a cartoon studio in the early ‘30s that didn’t make an Al Jolson reference? Even Disney did it at the end of Mickey Steps Out (1931) when Pluto and the cat bust up a stove sending coal dust all over the place.



The characters all emerge in blackface. “Mickey!” cries Minnie. “Minnie!” cries Mickey. “Mammy,” cries Pluto (Pluto talks?!), sounding more like something out of Amos ‘n’ Andy than the great Jolson. “Whoopee!” cries the cat.



I like the effect when the cat bashes Pluto with the stove plate. The characters remain. The rest of the frame turns into white.



As you might expect, there are no credits on the cartoon.

Lazy Chicken of Tomorrow

Genetic gene mixing is the main source of humour in Tex Avery’s Farm of Tomorrow which, unfortunately, is more miss than hit.

“Picking up corn used to waste vast amounts of energy,” says narrator Paul Frees, as a tired hen quickly pecks on the ground with the animation on ones (the movement is so fast, it resulted in DNVR on the Avery disc collection released in Europe). “So, we crossed the corn with Mexican jumping beans.” Cut to one of a number of black background, outline drawings, though the beans on this one animate. Cut to a contented hen with the corn jumping in her mouth to the strains of La Cucaracha.



This is the weakest of Tex’s spot gaggers in the latter part of his career. He told historian Joe Adamson the difficulty with them. “There was nothing to build to. Boom—you’ve got your last gag, which maybe you think is the strongest. Like a deck of cards, you pick the highest one, put it down at the end. It might be a little entertaining, but there’s nowhere to go. Those were definitely cheaters, and I hated to make ‘em, but we’d get stuck once in a while.” Bob Bentley, Walt Clinton, Grant Simmons and Mike Lah are the animators with backgrounds by Joe Montell.

Miss Jane

Toward the end of November 1946, television was demonstrated for the first time in South Florida, thanks to a joint effort by WGBS radio in Miami and the DuMont labs of New Jersey. WGBS put two of its promotion department staffers in charge of the six-day, eight-hour-a-day broadcast. One of them was a young lady who had returned to the station from war duty two months earlier named Nancy Kulp.

Yes, the same one who later played the ultra-efficient secretary and trouble-shooter Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies.

Kulp seemed born to play the role, although publicity blurbs went out at the time the show debuted in 1962 that she had tested for Cousin Pearl but rejected because her Ozark accent wasn’t good enough. And the Hathaway role wasn’t the first regular part that Kulp had on TV. Here’s an unbylined story from the Hartford Courant of February 12, 1956.

Girl Comedian Years To Be Dramatic Star
Nancy Kulp, considered one of TV’s new comedy finds through appearances on the “Bob Cummings Show” over CBS TV, would rather be a serious actress. Despite all her efforts, however, everytime she goes dramatic all she gets are laughs.
Nancy found her niche early in the Cummings teleseries in the role of Pamela Livingston, girl bird-watcher, and has been written into the series many times since. In addition to acting, she also writes dramatics but hasn’t sold anything of note as yet.
Combining two careers dates back to Nancy’s college days at Florida State University from which she graduated in 1943. While there she developed, wrote and starred in a radio show, “Tassle McLaughlin, Woman,” a satire on soap operas. She left college with a journalism degree and joined the Waves for 2 ½ years. Hollywood got to know Nancy in 1951. She credits famed George Cukor, the director, for her first big chance in a picture, “Model and Marriage Broker,” in which she played a comedy role. Since then, besides films, she has been on such TV programs as “Video Theater,” “It’s a Great Life,” “Topper,” “Our Miss Brooks,” and “I Love Lucy.”
Nancy was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Aug. 28, 1921, and moved to Florida in 1933 with her parents. Even as a youngster she tried to be serious and won only laughs. This happened when she was just three years old.
“My mother and I were at a movie,” recalls Nancy. “The theater was dark and my mother suddenly missed me. A spot light was on the stage and there I was standing in the middle of it singing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ while the audience roared!”
Nancy vows that someday, and she hopes it will be soon, she’ll be up before the television cameras emoting like mad while tears come down the cheeks of the viewers at home. Making people cry will make her happy.

Before the war, Kulp had been with the Miami Beach Sun-Star and Kimberly-Clark Advertising, in addition to her radio work. Some time before February 1948, she had moved to WIOD, Miami. You can see more of how she got to Hollywood in the story to the right from the Lock Haven Express of February 4, 1952.

Now, a couple of clippings from after she made it big. First up is a syndicated column dated June 22, 1963, at the end of Hillbillies’ first season.

Frustrated Spinster Nancy Kulp Type-Cast
By HANK GRANT
Even before he'd cast the regular stars for his then-new Beverly Hillbillies series, creator-producer Paul Henning had decided that morose-looking, goggle-eyed Nancy Kulp would play the seedy-tweedy secretary, Jane Hathaway.
In fact, he created the role with Nancy in mind as a mere extension of her "birdwatching spinster" role on the old Bob Cummings Show, which Hemming had also produced.
Even before her rise to comedy recognition on the Bob Cummings Show, which provided her with five years of steady pay-checks, Nancy had already been type-cast as the perfect picture of a frustrated spinster.
One comedy star refused to use her again on his show, saying: "She stole every scene she was in with me. All she has to do is to purse her laps, roll her eyes Heaven-ward, and I'm dead — the laugh is hers!"
• • •
I FOUND Nancy much comelier than she appears on the screen, but when I complimented her on her beautiful, silky hair (it was a sincere comphment), she quickly asumed her familiar horsey-long face and we both laughed.
Encouraged by what was obviously a defense strategy against compliments, I asked Nancy this candid question: Is it possible that you play the frustrated spinster so well because the role parallels your real life?
• • •

WITHOUT batting an eye, she answered: "Unfortunately, that's true. I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool spinster; I was married once for a short time, but the only thing my husband and I had in common was a mutual love of laughs.
"Frustration has been a part of my life ever since I can remember. It runs in the family, too. Just when my father finally made a name for himself as one of the country's leading stock brokers, zoom! came the crash of '29!
"Even my great uncle, Samuel J. Tilden, suffered a frustration that was a lulu. He won the popular vote for President of the United States, but lost the office by one vote in the Electoral College!
• • •
"I'VE BEEN frustrated in practically everything I really wanted to do. Actually, I left Florida 12 years ago (where she'd headed publicity for two Miami radio stations) to come to Hollywood for a publicity career. Director George Cukor had me working as an actress before I'd been here two weeks.
"I hadn't even thought of becoming an actress, so I decided I'd be a serious one. Frustration, again.
"I'm quite happy, now, with good friends, a fine income and freedom to pursue any hobby I care to. But I'll continue to be frustrated till I either get some serious acting roles or a man who loves me seriously. So far, I've had neither!"
• • •
LIVING THE life of a bachelorette in Tarzana, in the San Fernando Valley, Nancy spends much of her free time looking for real estate bargains and antiques. She once had her own antique shop.
She's currently on vacation from Hillbillies but is acting in Jerry Lewis' movie "Who's Minding the Store." She's playing a white huntress.

This story is from the National Enterprise Association syndicate, June 5, 1965.

Nancy's Faith Renewed
By ERSKINE JOHNSON
Hollywood—After a change in time at the beginning of the TV season, the Beverly Hillbillies slumped to 33rd in the popularity ratings, then roared back by season's end into 8th place in the Top Ten.
The remarkable comeback of the show, always a target for critical barbs, assured Buddy Ebsen & Co. of a fourth year on home screens.
• • •
IT ALSO renewed Nancy Kulp's faith in audiences accepting a show at face value.
Nancy, who plays pompous secretary Jane Hathaway in the series, builds up a large head of steam whenever the series is rapped by critics, or ignored by TV people as not even being worthy of mention for Emmy consideration.
"It's absurd," snaps Nancy. "The show's existence is for only one reason—FUN. I think it's damn good fun, along with a lot of biting satire.
"I say, isn't there room for this? Can't our critics understand this? Can't they classify the show as strictly for fun? Our big audience accepts us on this merit alone and I suppose we should be grateful. But some people make me mad.
• • •

"I MET a man just the other day who said he didn't like the show. I asked him, 'Have you seen it?' His answer was 'No, of course not. I leave the room when my family tunes in.'
"Well, I sure told that fellow off. I asked him, 'Do you let critics do all your thinking? There was no answer, of course."
Nancy Kulp has had a strange career since arriving in Hollywood in 1951 to appear in movies and then TV. She was cast as a "broad Eve Arden type," but she also played heavies and roles calling for a Brooklyn accent.
She made her first big hit on TV as Pamela Livingstone, the bird watcher on The Bob Cummings Show. She credits this role with her zooming popularity as a comedienne.
• • •
"PAMELA WAS a real good character audiences liked," she says.
Before filming for the new season starts in July, Nancy is going on a 7000-mile, six-week tour of the U.S. in a station wagon. She will be sight-seeing and buying antiques, a hobby with her.
Since coming to Hollywood from Miami, where she studied journalism and worked in radio. Nancy was divorced.
What was her hubby's occupation?
Nancy sounds like bank secretary Jane Hathaway when she gives the question a double take.
"That's a marvelous question," she says, stringing out the words a la Jane. "You know, I don't recall that he ever had a job."

After Hillbillies, Kulp emulated Green Acres. She gave up city life and returned to the farm in Pennsylvania—and then witnessed what winter was like there, so back she went to California, becoming involved in several charity groups in Palm Springs. She died of cancer on February 3, 1991. You can read more about her earlier life by clicking on the clipping to the right.

Wolf Blows Up Real Fast

Ex Disney writers Dick Kinney and Milt Schaffer keep up a steady stream of gags in Red Riding Hoodlum, a 1957 cartoon starring Knothead and Splinter.

In one scene, the wolf pushes a dynamite plunger, only to blow himself up. He’s the bad guy, you know. Badness has to be punished.



The second drawing above takes up one frame. It would have been nice if there could have been a series of funny drawings so a take would register better with the audience.

Les Kline and Bob Bentley are the only credited animators. June Foray, Dal McKennon, Grace Stafford and the original voice of Smokey Bear are heard on the cartoon (the last two uncredited). To be honest, the 1950s Smokey PSAs looked better than this.

Doggie Ballet

Chuck Jones and his animators could do “coy” really well by the 1950s. Here’s Mark Antony the dog trying to distract its owner by doing some ballet moves in Kiss Me Cat (1953).



Ken Harris, Ben Washam and Lloyd Vaughan are the credited animators in this cartoon.

Jack Benny and Laugh-In

Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In was supposed to be hip and new in 1968, but there were still vestiges of old comedy hanging around. The show was doing George Jessel jokes. And NBC seems to have shoved some of its old-timers it still had under contract in front of the camera. Young viewers must have thought “What are THESE people doing here?”

One of NBC’s old vaudevillians who showed up on Laugh-In was Jack Benny. But he was a wise old vaudevillian. For years and years, Jack made sure nothing was ever done on his radio or TV shows that didn’t fit his character. And he applied the same thing to his big appearance on Laugh-In on February 2, 1970.

Laugh-In was known for quick cuts and fast one-liners. Benny was known for anything but. He could stare immobile at an audience for 15 seconds and the laughs would build and build. When it came to Laugh-In, the writers simply played the slow Benny off the fast format.

Here’s a promotional story from newspapers just before the show aired. There’s no byline, so it could be the product of NBC’s publicity department.

'Laugh-In' confuses old Benny
HOLLYWOOD — Jack Benny acted bewildered, but he was having the time of his life.
“This is the third day on the show,” he said during a break. “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had as a guest. They handled me very well. It was never tiring for a second.” The show? “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In,” to be colorcast over NBC-TV 8 to 9 p.m. Monday.
Jack, who had been approached several times to do the show, finally agreed.
ALWAYS BEWILDERED
“The only suggestion I made was that I should appear constantly bewildered as to what was going on,” said Jack. “I felt this was better than just doing jokes.” Jack’s sense of bewilderment was not far from his reaction to the series when it first came on the air.
“When I was asked what I thought of it, I said I didn’t have the slightest idea how this show would do,” Jack recalled. “I said it might be a flop or the biggest sensation of the season. I didn’t know which. Neither way would have surprised me. I reserved comment.”
Benny continued watching the show and became a great fan.
ENJOYS PACE

“I enjoy watching it,” he said. “I like all the short bits. There’s always something else, and if one bit isn’t so funny, another one comes along quickly. I also love the Lucy show. I try to watch both when I’m home.”
Jack never felt that the ‘Laugh-In’ pace would be hard to sustain.
“The fact that they were able to keep up the pace didn’t surprise me,” said Jack. “The more shows they did, the more it worked. They can keep it up so long as they have the people to write for. If years from now they have trouble casting the show, then something could happen to it.”
Benny is high on the present cast.
“I liked Rowan and Martin long before they did ‘Laugh-In’,” said Jack. “They are very good. I think everyone in the cast is very good, both fellows and girls. I really mean it.”
GOLDIE HAWN
He singled out Goldie Hawn for special comment. “As far as Goldie Hawn is concerned,” said Jack, “nothing can keep her from being a great star. She wouldn't be able to get out of the way of stardom! The reason she is great is because she doesn’t realize herself why. Like Gracie Allen, Goldie doesn’t have the slightest idea why she is so good. I saw her in ‘Cactus Flower.’ They couldn’t have found anybody better, or as good. Even though she'll make a lot of pictures, she ought to continue doing ‘Laugh-In,’ when she has time. You can get into a picture that isn’t so good, but she is always so good on this show, and it will continue to be good for her.”
“Perhaps the greatest tribute Benny could pay the show is that he cites it professionally as a good lesson in comedy timing.
“Everybody can learn something from somebody else,” he said. “I hope others have learned something from what I have done. You can learn pacing from ‘Laugh-In.’ I tell my writers this. If a scene is not funny all the way through, cut it until it is funny. Move it, keep it going.”
He made one final suggestion in agreeing to do “Laugh-In.”
“They didn’t want to use the water bit with me,” said Jack. “I said to do the show right I told them to sock-it-to-me!”

I don’t like putting up posts with a lot of video because the links always seem to die. But, below, you can see clips of Jack’s appearance, though there isn’t the one where he gets socked-it-to. One of Benny’s radio writers, Hugh Wedlock, Jr., wrote for Laugh-In, but was gone by this season. Still, I suspect Jack heard some of these jokes, or variations on them, when on the Orpheum circuit in 1920.

Saturday Morning Cartoons, 1940s Style

There were Saturday morning cartoons before there were Saturday morning cartoons.

“Saturday morning cartoons” has become an umbrella term to describe made-for-TV animated shows that may, or may not, have aired on network television on Saturdays. It was a concept that evolved by the mid-‘60s. Before that, networks would run some non-animated programming, such as the wonderful Shari Lewis on NBC, in addition to old theatricals. Some networks didn’t even bother signing on until 9 a.m. because Saturday morning wasn’t a lucrative time period. How things changed!

But before cartoons showed up on the small screen on Saturday mornings, they appeared on the big screen on Saturday mornings or afternoons. Theatres in the 1940s and ‘50s, looking for whatever business they could get, staged what were dubbed in some cases “Cartoon Carnivals.” They’d rent a pile of cartoons from the local exchange and run them. Some theatres would add non-animated comedy shorts to the mix as well—Three Stooges, Lew Lehr, etc.

They were huge successes; some theatres programmed them for year. In fact, MGM got on the bandwagon as in 1956 the studio put together “The M-G-M Carnival” including seven Tom and Jerry cartoons and several live-action shorts. It debuted at the Plaza in New York City, where 73% of admissions on the first week were adults (Variety, Sept. 12, 1956).

But back to the kiddie matinees. Here’s a story from April 1, 1948 from one of the papers in Pittsburgh. I failed to find an ad listing the various cartoons at the festival in question. It seems it was set up like a vaudeville programme—the first act was one that, if you missed it, you wouldn’t be missing the stars. In this case, it’s a 1947 Columbia cartoon starring the Fox and Crow. It reveals, among other things, that pre-Boomers were rude slobs. And they seem more interested in the junk food (as theatre owners were hoping) than the cartoons.

All-Cartoon Shows Growing in Popularity
By James W. Ross
Post-Gazette Staff Writer

ROY ROGERS and Gene Autrey [sic] be burnin' up the plains and scatterin' the rustlers out yonder, stranger, but around these parts they'd better tighten up their cinches and get set for some real hard ridin'.
This is cartoon territory.
And this is the day of the “All-Cartoon Show.”
“17-Count ‘Em-17 Genuine Cartoons—Not a Live Actor in the Bunch”—and the kids are eating them up.
Started here about two years ago, the all-cartoon shows have been steadily growing in popularity with children of all ages, and reached a peak Easter Monday when one major chain alone scheduled them for 13 different neighborhood movies.
THEY'RE only held about four or five a year, usually at holidays, and theaters and management couldn't take it if the kids wanted them oftener.
At the Whitehall Theater, Brownsville road, the youngsters started to line up at 8:30, even though the show was set to start at 10:30.
The price was a flat two bits, and many a tyke had a fistful of change. The trick is to get one guy to buy a batch of tickets so everyone doesn't have to stand in line. One boy just about threw the harassed cashier by dumping out a fistful of 25 pennies.
BUSINESS is at its best at the popcorn counter. If a regular movie calls for one box, a cartoon show seems to indicate two or more. Plus candy. Plus innumerable drinks of water both before and during the show.
When about half of the 1,200 youngsters were seated, a young usher hurried up to the manager. "There's a couple of kids here with water guns. What do I do?" "Find them and take the guns away," the manager called back as he ran to the door to untangle the snarled line.
One girl, about 16, walked down the aisle looking for a seat. A small boy, who could have been her kid brother, wagged his finger at her and sing-songed "I'm gonna tell your boy friend. Coming to see a cartoon show with a bunch of little kids!"
WHEN the first of the 17 cartoons on the screen, a shout rose from the audience, 'then a hush to end all hushes settled in. The first cartoon, by the way, was titled, "Tooth or Consequence."
There was "Mighty Mouse" and "Tom and Jerry" and "Popeye" and "Mighty Mouse" again, and more and more up to 17.
Bigger boys lolled beyond the first row of seats, on a floor carpeted with spilled popcorn.
The little guys and girls, some of them on their mother's laps, craned to see what everyone else was laughing at. Titles were read aloud, quietly and in unison, apparently in an agreement to supply the small fry with the information.
STRANGELY enough, most are glad the end of 17 cartoons, although they usually count just to make sure they're getting a full measure.
At the Whitehall, and in several other movies, there was an added inducement to leaving "Free to everyone attending—a five-cent candy bar."

Cartoon carnivals, of sorts, still exist today. There have been animation festivals though, while not necessarily pretentious, are for people who want to examine Cartoon As Film-with-a-capital-F and not as entertainment. Jerry Beck posts about occasional animation roundups at theatres around the Los Angeles area that are fun events for fans. Popcorn available, we suspect. And on the other side of the U.S., Tom Stathes gets out his canisters of old reels and puts together a showing at a small venue for groups of diehards and friends. Want to see a Van Beuren, or a silent Farmer Alfalfa (with live musical accompaniment) or some creepy stop-motion film from 80 or so years ago? That’s where you go.

Maybe there are more of these kinds of showings elsewhere but I rarely hear of any. Too bad. Having first seen Tex Avery’s Magical Maestro on the big screen, I can say that watching cartoons at home is always entertaining, but there’s nothing like rows full of people in theatre seats laughing at a pair of rabbits suddenly joining Poochini in a Hawaiian dance.

The Other Place

I’ll show those pigs that I’m not stuck.
If I can’t blow it down, I’ll blow it up.

The Big Bad Wolf in The Three Little Bops meets his demise in a typical Warren Foster joke. He moves further and further away so his fuse won’t get blown out but he ends up so far away, he blows himself up (to the sound of a saxophone which none of the pigs/bops are playing).



Well, the Big Bad Wolf was really gone
And with him went his corny horn.
Went out of this world without a trace.
Didn’t go to Heaven, was the other place.

Director Friz Freleng has the camera pan around the background.



Freleng makes makes a cut and pans down, then dissolves to the camera moving down some more and resting on animation of the wolf playing the trumpet softly.



Gerry Chiniquy and Bob Matz are the credited animators, with Irv Wyner providing stylised backgrounds.