Who Likes Van Beuren Cartoons?

In the early 1930s, three East Coast animation studios were trying to entertain audiences on the big screen. The Fleischer studio was at the top of the heap, with the Talkartoons, Screen Songs and Betty Boop cartoons featuring neat gags and drawn well characters. Some steps below Max and Dave Fleischer were the Terrytoons of Paul Terry and Frank Moser, and the Aesop Fables (and, eventually, the human Tom and Jerry) made by the Van Beuren Corporation.

If nothing else, Terrytoons had longevity. CBS continued making the cartoons into the late 1960s, long after Terry eased out Moser, then sold out in the mid-50s. Van Beuren, on the other hand, came out with shorts that weren’t always well drawn, with stories that weren’t always well-structured, and gags that made you think “What did I just see?”

Watching them, you may think they were just thrown together, but that wasn’t the case if you buy what’s in a syndicated newspaper story that appeared in February 1931:

Odd facts and figures concerning the production of Aesop’s Sound Fables, animated cartoons produced by the Van Beuren Corporation, have been compiled by George Stallings, for many years a member of the Fables’ animated staff—
Forty artists make 26 animated cartoons a year.
Each cartoon averages 6,000 drawings.
Each drawing is handled five separate times: Penciling, Inking, Black, White and Gray opaquing.
152,000 drawings are animated in one year.
152,000 drawings are worked on 760,000 times in one year.
The drawings make 18,200 feet of film.
All of this, one year’s work of 40 men, can be shown on the screen in 3 hours and 2 minutes.
In addition to the above figures which deal with artist work alone, here is some more interesting data:
Four gag men are employed to supply necessary comedy bits.
One tap dancer [Jack Ward] for devising special steps and instructing animators on matters concerning dance technique.
One musical director [Gene Rodemich] devotes his entire time to adaptation and composition of music and effects.
Sixteen musicians are employed for synchronizing.
Two cameramen work continuously photographing drawings.
There are approximately 150 positive prints distributed on each subject in the United States and 53 distributed in the United Kingdom.
Aesop’s Fables are shown in every country of continental Europe, North and South America, Australia, South Africa, as well as may sections of Asia.
An average audience of 1,750,000 sees the cartoons each day in the United States alone.
The staff employed in making a Fable cartoon is approximately twice the staff on an average seven-reel picture, excluding extras.

Irene Thirer of the New York Daily News of Sept. 27, 1931 devoted part of her column to the studio and its alleged attempts at realism.

We learn from the Van Beuren Corporation that a thorough research is being conducted at the New York Zoological Gardens, the Museum of Natural History and the New York Public Library under the personal supervision of John Foster.
Working models are being made of numerous specimens in order that the artist may have the greatest possible selections of types in the making of their animated cartoons. An extremely difficult phase of the research work, Mr. Foster informs us, is the cataloguing of the correct animal sounds as well as their mannerisms in their native habitat.

The biggest publicity Van Beuren got that year, unfortunately, came March 30, 1931 when it was reported Walt Disney was suing the company for its ersatz versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, with Stone Age Stunts being named in one wire service story. Roughly two months later, Disney got a temporary injunction against Van Beuren and distributor Pathé. Read about it in this post.

What did people other than Uncle Walt think of the Van Beuren cartoons? We have some reviews from Film Daily you can hunt down on this blog. Let’s pass along the words of one critic published in The Billboard, which reviewed shorts until the start of March 1931.

“The King of Bugs”
(AN AESOP SOUND FABLE)
(PATHE)
STYLE—Animated sound cartoon.
TIME—Nine minutes.

Bugville in medieval times, settings and characters denoting that period, is all set for the annual joust and tourney before the king and princess of insectdom in this Aesop Sound Fable, The King of Bugs, a Van Beuren Corporation production. The main event at the tourney, after the gala arrival of the king and his entourage, is a race between the hare, the turtle and a ferocious-looking spider, sort of a new twist on the ancient mythological tale. The spider easily puts his racing adversaries out of the way and triumphs in the race, winning the praise and admiration of the king and his populace. But the race is razzed by the court fool, which angers the spider, who tries to kill him. The princess rushes to the jester’s rescue and is herself abducted by the angry spider. Overcoming all his pursuers, the spider is finally conquered by the fearless bug jester of the king, who revives in time to rescue the princess.
Action, continuity and synchronization of this animated cartoon is up to the usual high Aesop Fable standard. Treatment and theme of the story is a bit different than the usual run of cartoon and should be enjoyed by most spectators. C. G. B. [Jan. 10]

“A Toytown Tale”
(AN AESOP SOUND FABLE)
(PATHE)
STYLE—Animated sound cartoon.
TIME—Eight minutes.

By far one of the best and most ingenious of the present crop of animated sound cartoons is this short, A Toytown Tale, one in the series of Aesop’s Sound Fables produced by the Van Beuren Corporation for Pathe release. The theme is that of a toymaker who closes shop for the night, and the toys which come to life while he sleeps, a favorite situation with many another story.
A mechanical policeman is left on guard by the toymaker, but he falls in the glue. While he extricating himself a whole series of dramatic events takes place before he can restore order. A wooden lieutenant and his company of wooden infantrymen march off to war, but the officer is attracted by the flirting eyes of a beautiful dolly. Flirtation leads to love, but the soldier proves unworthy by his inability to defend her against a ferocious Tinker elephant and a somersaulting mechanical gorilla. Little Boy Blue and his flock of sheep prove the right to the love of the beautiful doll by effecting a thrilling rescue of the distressed damsel. The mechanical policeman finally emerges from the glue in time to restore peace in the toyshop and to restrain the nervous excitement of the Jack-in-the-Box. An entertaining reel, with complicated action, background and synchronization. C. G. B. [Jan. 17]

“Red Riding Hood”
(AN AESOP SOUND FABLE)
(PATHE)
STYLE—Animated sound cartoon.
TIME—Eight minutes.
The Van Beuren Corporation, maker of the Aesop Sound Fables, will continue as the peer in animated cartoon product, despite competition from other companies attempting to cash in on the pictures, and while there is no definite conflict or competition between the various types of caricatured strips, and there appears to be plenty of room in the field for all of them, and more besides, Aesop’s Fables will always stand out as one of the first, if not the original, animated drawing on the screen.
In this reel the Red Riding Hood theme is twisted and made to fit the mood of the cartoonist, and to place a bit of humorous travesty behind the nursery story. Riding Hood blithely trips thru the woods, followed by a ferocious wolf riding a stealthily creeping roadster, and upon being asked where she was going she informs the wolf her destination is grandma’s. Grandma’s doctor in the meantime has given the sick old lady a new jazz tonic, which completely rejuvenates her into a vivacious flapper, and when the wolf arrives he determines to merry the old gal. Riding Hood arrives just as they are about to depart for the church, and she quickly summons the old wolf’s wife and horde of wolfish brats. The wedding ceremony is nipped in the bud, with hundreds of wolves at the door. This will hold up as a filler. C. G. B. [Feb. 14]

“The Animal Fair”
(AN AESOP SOUND FABLE)
(PATHE)
STYLE—Animated cartoon.
TIME—Nine minutes.

A well-known march song. The Animal Fair, which has served as nursery material for many a generation, is the basis for the cartoon animation of this Aesop Sound Fable of the same name. The march melody and rhythm introduce a parade of fabletown’s gentry down the main street to the fairgrounds, where a multitude has assembled for the big show. Much of the action is concerned with the milling crowds outside the big tent, one incident being where a sneak thief steals the sheriff’s trousers and beard. A long-winded harangue by the side-show barker results in a wild rush for the entrance. Within the tent a vaudeville show is progressing. A two-piano clog act gets by nicely until a fat dame crosses downstage and immediately the whole act flops. A pansy duck. pulling the nance tra-tra-la business, brings a vegetable and missile bombardment from the audience, ending the show and the reel. A few scattered laughs to the reel, which is fair-filler material. C. G. B. [Feb. 14]

“Cowboy Blues”
(AESOP SOUND FABLE)
(PATHE)
STYLE—Animated cartoon.
TIME—Eight minutes.

Another animated cartoon in the Aesop Sound Fable series made for Pathe release by the Van Beuren Corporation. Cowboy Blues is up the quality entertainment value of preceding items. Gene Rodemich, who handles the sound and musical synchronization for these shorts, deserves special mention for the expert manner in which sound and musical accompaniment fits in with the complicated action of the caricatured animals.
In this Milton Mouse finds himself on the Western grazing lands, where he is paying court to his mousie sweetheart under difficult odds and rivalry from a tough gink called Bad Egg Cat, who robs the cafe in which the girl is employed as a singer. Of course, Milton Mouse rescues the girl, saves the plunder and metes out dire punishment to the bad guy. Goodly share of laughs. C. G. B. [Feb. 28]

And from Variety from various issues in 1931 come these critiques:

“OLD HOKUM BUCKET”
Cartoon
7 Mins.
Mayfair, New York
Pathe
One of the Aesop Fables series, but below par for originality or laughs. For the intermediate or lesser spots as filler.
Simple theme of a bunch of animals falling for some pep pills and cutting up into a final fadeout after musical gyrations in the usual fashion. Shan. [April 1]

“RADIO RACKET”
Aesop Fable Cartoon
8 Mins.
Strand, New York
Pathe
Animals broadcasting and animals listening. A jungle burlesque on the air. As such it has some parts the funniest ever caught in a cartoon.
The hippo singing a high soprano and the bombardment on a return wave gets fans of all inclinations laughing until they reach the edge of the well known chair. Waly. [April 1]

“CINDERELLA BLUES”
Cartoon
8 Mins.
Cameo, N.Y.
Pathe
A fair cartoon of the familiar yarn with just enough trimming and novelty to give it appeal.
For about two minutes in this one the music runs ahead of the drawings, otherwise the synchronization and drawings are perfect.
Not many laughs but a few smiles. [April 29]

“MAD MELODY”
Cartoon
7 Mins.
Mayfair, N. Y.
RKO-Pathe
One of the Aesop Fables. Excellent as a filler for any type house.
Diversity is offered from the usual caricature route of such subjects in that good vocal voices are heard in operatic burlesque as animal characters gyrate to music and otherwise. Funny all the way.
Idea concerns an orchestra leader with musical idiosyncrasies. These are coupled with the classical attempts of various hippopotami and small animals in staging “La Za Za.” Shan. [April 29]

“SCHOOL DAYS” [GOOD OLD SCHOOLDAYS]
Cartoon
8 Mins.
Trans Lux, N. Y.
Pathe
Getting so with these animals and insects that they repeat all of the old tricks and still entertain, providing the locale is different. This time the motif is school.
All the old time school songs are rendered in solo and quartet formation. A class orchestra with instruments denoted by legs and arms comprise the witticisms which are interspersed. Waly. [June 2]

“PLAY BALL”
Cartoon
8 Mins.
Globe, N. Y.
RKO-Pathe
Quite evident that if it weren’t for those razzberry blowers many a short wouldn’t know what to do with itself. This is such a one. Makers of these cartoons will eventually realize that continuous use of the British “bird” is no longer funny. That the light should have dawned six months ago is beside the point, for they’re still hanging the berry on all and sundry at the least provocation. To hear it flop the way it did at the Globe may be the only cure.
‘Play Ball’ is one of the Van Beuren Aesop Fables. It revives, as the title indicates, the diamond pastime in a game between monkeys, elephants and hippoes. No unusual wrinkles as even the outfielder hopping a bike to chase a fly is revived, plus the windup parade around the bases.
Rodemich scored the reel and the arrangement calls for some dialog. Latter is bad and does much to disrupt. Diction put into the mouths of these cartoon characters invariably sounds out of place. When it doesn’t jibe, the damage is irreparable. Grunts, cries and, exclamations have often been made to register, but the producers generally overdo it by delving into the conversation. The verbatim angle has robbed many a cartoon of its effectiveness and numerous of these one reelers are still just getting by for that same reason, when they should be solid hits.
Hence, “Play Ball” is just an ordinary short. It’s in a Broadway house on a base on balls from the home office and will find its best chances in the cheaper priced neighbs. Sid. [June 2]

“PALEFACE PUP”
Cartoon
7 Mins.
Strand, N. Y.
RKO-Pathe
An Aesop Fable with a good share of laughs. Okay all around.
Has a cowpuncher going for a squad followed by the inevitable chase by the chief. Romps back and forth in grossly exaggerate western form and amuses all the way. Sid. [July 14]

“MAKING 'EM MOVE”
Cartoon
7 Mins.
Mayfair, N. Y.
RKO-Pathe

Smart idea kiddingly given an insight on how animated cartoons are made. Before it gets through it has clearly outlined the technical principles, without going into too much detail, while striving for comedy. Worthy of any screen because of the interest involved, besides which it has a share of snickers.
Leads to finish by secondary screening of a drama in which the audience of animals cheer the hero and hiss the villain in the saw mill drama climax. Sid. [July 14]

One person who eventually gave the cartoons a bad review was Amedee Van Beuren himself. Out went George Stallings. Out went Gene Rodemich. In came Burt Gillett from Disney. In 1936, out went Gillett and in came Disney and the real Mickey Mouse. RKO decided to release cartoons made by someone else. Van Beuren continued making shorts including the Grantland Rice Sportlights and Vagabond Adventures with Alois Havrilla, but he was out of the cartoon business.

Turn, Turn, Turn

Odd things happen in Van Beuren cartoons that happen in no other cartoons.

There’s a roll-around take they seem to have loved at Van Beuren. It’s when a character is lying flat and swirls around.

Here’s an example from Rabid Hunters (released in 1932). Tom and Jerry are hunters. Tom has to awaken Jerry by blowing his fox hunter’s horn.



Jerry leaps into mid-air and twirls around in a cycle of 12 drawings, one per frame.



No one’s going to mistake this animation for Disney, are they? Or even Fleischer.

This version of the cartoon is from Ira Gallen’s collection. It’s clearer than that non-watermarked, beat-up version I have from the Tom and Jerry DVD put out by Thunderbean a number of years ago. Fortunately for you Van Beuren fans, Thunderbean has gone back and taken great care in restoring every Tom and Jerry cartoon for a Blu-Ray version. I can’t order from Thunderbean for several reasons, but perhaps you can. Go to the company site to see more.

John Foster and George Stallings get the “by” credit on this short, with Gene Rodemich supplying the score.

Tee For Two Background

The Tom and Jerry cartoon Tee For Two (1945) opens with a slow right pan over a long background of a golf course, showing increasing carnage as the camera moves along, stopping at a frustrating Tom trying to get a ball out of a sand trap.

The colours don’t quite match as I amateurishly snipped the frames together, but below you can see how the pan worked.



Tom swinging away is on a cycle of 12 drawings, shot one per frame. You can see Bill Hanna’s careful timing at work through the spacing of the in-betweens as the upper swing is slow, then the abrupt during the follow-through.



Crazy eyes on Tom? This must be Irv Spence animation.

As for the background, I presume it’s another one of Bob Gentle’s water colours. It looks like his credited work much later in the series, but I don’t know if Gentle was out of the military when this cartoon was made.

This short, by the way, is the one with the scene of Tom getting stung in the mouth by a ridiculously large swarm of bees, animated by Ken Muse.

Ray Patterson and Pete Burnett also get animation credits.

Here’s the cycle at about the speed you see it in the cartoon, minus Fred MacAlpin’s sound effects.

Crazy George

There are times when you see a name you don’t expect while going through old clippings.

Take, for example, Variety of August 30, 1950. The trade paper reviewed a musical comedy at the Las Palmas in Hollywood named High and Dry. I don’t recognise the principal actors. In the cast were character actresses Cheerio Meredith and Jesselyn Fax, who played older women on TV sitcoms. And down the list is “Policeman, George Schlatter,” who also sang and/or danced.

Wait a minute. George Schlatter. The Laugh-In George Schlatter??

As they say in the cartoons “Mmmmm....could be!”

Schlatter was definitely in Los Angeles at the time; writer/historian Hal Erickson’s book on the TV series mentions that Schlatter was producing student shows at Pepperdine University and joined talent agency MCA at age 19. A November 10, 1952 item in the Hollywood Reporter is most definitely referring to Laugh-In’s overseeing eye, as it says Schlatter had left MCA and moved into Ciro’s where he headed Herman Hover’s radio and TV department.

Laugh-In was likely my favourite TV show of 1968 and 1969. I knew Schlatter’s name from the credits and was quite delighted to see him appear one night in a cross-promotional episode of I Dream of Jeannie (both were on NBC, “The Full Color Network”). “So that’s what he looks like,” I thought.

I’ve always liked George Schlatter, despite knowing next-to-nothing about him for the longest time. I figured if he put Laugh-In on the air (and its genesis has been a bone of contention almost since the outset), he must have a good sense of humour.

He has an overwhelmingly long list of pre-Laugh-In credits you can look up elsewhere. He produced a show for Dinah Shore (including a South Pacific/Australia episode in 1960 which involved four weeks of shooting where the crew nearly froze to death in Australia, and engaged in negotiations with the British Royal Navy in Samoa to use power from a submarine). He produced five episodes of Judy Garland’s show, after which CBS told him they didn’t like his approach (by all accounts, Judy was quite happy with his producing; Schlatter told columnist Hal Humphrey at the time “I’m not sure what happened—maybe I forgot to play politics.”) There were specials. One was a Christmas show at the Radio City Music Hall, which featured composer Meredith Willson and 1,100 Marines. Another with Louis Armstrong starred Grammy winners (he did five Grammy telecasts).

Let’s jump to Laugh-In.

It began as a Schlatter-produced special in 1967. NBC liked it, and figured it would be the perfect replacement for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. On January 22, 1968, Laugh-In debuted immediately after Mel Brandt spoke underneath a familiar animated peacock. U.N.C.L.E. had inspired all kinds of parodies of spies in acronymic organisations, but Laugh-In quickly became a monster fad.

The King Features Syndicate decided to talk to the man behind the show to get his take on its instant popularity. This appeared in newspapers starting May 13, 1968.

‘Laugh-In’ Really Socked to Ol’ George
By MEL HEIMER
FOR THE last few months George Schlatter was busy, many nights until 1 a.m., producing, directing, cutting, editing and worrying over the Rowan-Martin "Laugh In" TV show—and, he says, nobody was more astonished than he, when he finally emerged into the open air, started going around the country . . . and found the program's catch phrases were the rage of the young.
"Sock it to me, George!" the high school and college kids told him, or "Very interesting, very interesting," not to mention "Here come' de judge!" Out of context, these may not seem much, but sprinkled all through "Laugh In," like the running gags in the old Pete Smith movie shorts, they bring on the belly laughs.
"I was floored," says the easy-going, hard-working Schlatter, who teethed on TV by producing the Dinah Shore and Judy Garland shows a few seasons back, "even though I spent two or three years trying to put this program together because I believed in it so much. I thought it'd be successful—but nothing like this. You know, we only had been on the air five or six weeks in ("Laugh-In” started in January), when we got eight Emmy nominations!"
George's partner, Ed Friendly, involved in the late, witty program, "TW 3," and there are overtones of that show in the Rowan-Martin one. "Except," Schlatter says, "we're less bitter. We make a little social comment here and there, but we're not a protest show; we don't shoot out venom."
From the beginning, Schlatter had the idea of a genuine crazy program—its early working titles were "Cockamamy" and then "Put On"—but he had to overcome network opposition to such an out and out nonsensical idea. "You can't carry it on comedy alone," they said. "You have to have guest stars. Remember, the viewer's mentality is twelve." And so on.
Doggedly, George stuck to his guns and today he has a great hit. "Or, sub-titled, a playpen for monkeys," he says wryly. "All our performers are nuts. It was fun working with them for the 14 shows this late in the season, but next year I may break down under a full program of tapings.
"It's a wild thing," he says, "when you come to work each day and wonder what'll happen. Everyone involved, especially the writers, is a renegade or cuckoo. Take Digby Wolfe, one of our writers." George shakes his head. "He'll be put away one day."
Rowan and Martin, who are bonkers enough to begin with, act as the liaison officers between the younger and older generations, George says. "They bridge the gap," he explains, "although sometimes I think they're just as daffy as the rest."
The performers involved in the "Laugh In" screwiness are the lively, exuberant, cockeyed kind of brash young people who used to found in bright Broadway revues. The revue is almost a dead art form now, however, and aside from this show, you only can catch up with this irreverent species by dropping into some of the sophisticated supper clubs, such as Downstairs at the Upstairs.
Mr. Schlatter looks forward a little hesitantly to next fall's new season. "Arte Johnson, our resident genius, wants to do bird calls—his specialty is cawing like, a crow—and we also have plans to pay red carpeted, brass band homage to Barbara Eden's navel, which NBC kept off the air for so long on ‘I Dream of Jeannie,’" he says. He shrugs. "If it all doesn't kill me, it should be an absorbing season."

Feature writer Heimer re-visited Schlatter’s navel pledge in his Dec. 18, 1968 column remarking "NBC “hasn’t given the go-ahead yet.”

Allan Neuwirth’s book They’ll Never Put That on the Air (2006, Allworth Press) includes a tete-a-tete with Schlatter and Dick Martin giving their views about the creation of the show—and the numerous creative differences they had before it even got on the air. James Brodhead of the Los Angeles Times went into the conflict as early as 1969. And Joyce Haber wrote an extended syndicated story in 1971 saying it wasn’t a cuckoo Laugh-In world behind the scenes.

Regardless, Schlatter carried on getting his concepts on the air. Some were hits (Real People). Some were not (Turn On, which he still champions). He’s written an autobiography and has a a web site. Still busy at almost age 95? You bet your bippy.

Daffy, the One Duck Band

Norm McCabe’s The Daffy Duckaroo has a lively start, with the newspapers revealing crooner Daffy Dackaroo has deserted films for the wild and wooly west.

Wearing a cowboy hat that covers his head, Daffy rides a burro into the cartoon, strumming a guitar and singing “My Little Buckaroo.” After removing the hat (and the hats underneath), Daffy gives a “Howdy, you all!” to those of us watching the cartoon and carries on with the song.



Things gallop along, with Daffy quickly pulling a honky-tonk piano from a trap door in his travel-trailer (complete with a stein of beer on top). After two bars, he reaches behind the piano, pulls out a trombone he plays for three-quarters of a bar, honks a horn twice for the rest of the bar, then gives another two bars on the piano.

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McCabe cuts to Daffy scatting the song from various positions, including extended bouncing legs that we saw when he shouted “woo-hoo” in those pre-greedy, pre-Speedy days.



There are several animated character twirls. Here’s a frame from one.



Tubby Millar’s story leaves a bit to be desired. Daffy’s motivation isn’t well thought out. I get using sex as a weapon against your opponent, but Daffy takes it a little far for no necessary reason. There’s no real ending; the cartoon stops when a character who had nothing to do with the plot shows up out of nowhere (I can’t help but wonder if McCabe was told his cartoons had to end with a war public service message). But it’s likeable enough, certainly in the first half.

I learned something today from a note from Matt Hunter:

There’s a brief bit of footage cut from most prints of this. The camera pans back to reveal Daffy’s trailer, which advertises him as a Warner Bros. Star.
This was likely done when the cartoons went to TV through the Guild/Sunset films deal…Jack Warner wanted all references to the studio removed from anything that went to television. He felt (at the time) that TV was inferior to theatrical films, and didn’t want his studio’s name associated with it.

You can see the murky, low-resolution frame grabs. I have two versions of this cartoon (three counting a Fred Ladd colourised re-trace). Both are fuzzy and the other is muddier than this one. You can’t appreciate the animators’ work (Cal Dalton gets the screen credit). McCabe deserves better than this.

The song over the opening titles is “I Can’t Get Along Little Dogie” by M.K. Jerome and Jack Scholl. I swear I’ve heard either Judy Canova or Jerry Colonna sing this on an old radio show. It sounds a lot like Jerome and Scholl’s “The Old Apple Tree,” sung by the McKimson crow in Corn Plastered.

Breaking the Ice

Tex Avery loved literal gags. At MGM, Symphony in Slang was nothing more than slang being taken literally.

Just about everything Avery did had a genesis in his cartoons at Warner Bros. Here’s a literal gag from Land of the Midnight Fun. It’s silly at worst.

“In these thickly frozen waters,” intones narrator Bob Bruce, “passage would be impossible without the aid of these ships called ‘icebreakers.’ Let’s see how it’s done.”



Dissolve to the gag. He’s an icebreaker, all right.



Sick of Disney? Like Tex Avery? Los Angeles Times critic Philip K. Scheuer was and did. In his “heresy note” published December 17, 1939 he “rises to remark that the Walt Disney shorts for the past year have not been what they ought to be. Mickey is slipping; so is Donald Duck, their latest shenanigans lacking the wit and ingenuity of, say, M.G.M.’s ‘Peace on Earth,’ or ‘Land of the Midnight Fun,’ a Merrie Melody.”

Scheuer admits that Disney was concentrating on features, but it’s interesting to see him refer to an Avery cartoon that wasn’t groundbreaking (though ice-breaking).

The National Board of Review announced approval of the cartoon in its weekly guide of Sept. 14, 1939, calling it “An amusing satire of a travelog, with the Northern capes as a setting. In color.”

The revolving story credit goes to Tubby Millar and the animation one to Chuck McKimson. The cartoon was released Sept. 23rd. We find it playing the day before at the Capitol in Pottsville, Pa.