Mouth A-Fire

Good pacing and some fun sight gags highlight the Art Davis unit’s last cartoon at Warner Bros., Bye, Bye Bluebeard (released in 1949).

A mouse in Porky’s home disguises himself as Bluebeard the killer to get food from him. It turns out the real Bluebeard is in the house. The villain decides to chow down on a steak, only to find the mouse eating it, claiming he’s Bluebeard’s conscience.

Bluebeard tries to swallow the mouse because a conscience is supposed to be inside him. The mouse is a step ahead of the bad guy, dousing himself with tabasco sauce before Bluebeard swallows him.

First, some contented chewing.



Anticipation.



Extreme. These frames are back to back.



Anticipation drawing and extreme. Back to back frames.



Sid Marcus wrote the story for his old Columbia partner. Animation is credited to Bill Melendez, Basil Davidovich, Emery Hawkins and Don Williams.

A Terry Transformation

There’s some interesting morphing animation at the start of Bluebeard’s Brother, a 1932 Terrytoon.

A sometimes cross-eyed spider has killed his girl-friend. Since it’s a Terrytoon, she’s a mouse. As he growls to himself about the death, he turns into her. These are consecutive drawings.



Later, during a goofy walk cycle, he turns into a judge.



Frank Moser and Paul Terry got screen credits, but word is Bill Tytla is responsible for animating this odd scene. In fact, the whole cartoon is strange and seems to be about bats attaching a circus, and the deranged spider (Bluebeard’s brother?) kidnapping a girl fly. Only a TV print is available and it seems two minutes was cut for television.

Regardless, it’s worth seeing so you can ask “What did I just watch?” when it’s over.

Charlie Judkins tells me Terry voiced the spider.

Tomorrow on Tralfaz, a different Bluebeard.

Tralfaz Sunday Theatre: Going Places

This may be the most obscure inside gag you will find in a cartoon from the Golden Age.

A number of studios inserted names of staff members in the backgrounds their cartoons. The frame below is no exception.



At first glance, you might think “Abe’s Sea Food” refers to animator Abe Levitow. This film was made in 1952 when Levitow was still at Warners. You can tell by the drawing style this is not a Warner Bros. cartoon.

Observe the “Hotel Foutz” sign. It refers to non-other than C. Moray Foutz.

Who?

Charles Moray Foutz’s obituary in the Los Angeles Times of December 11, 1998 tells us he was born in L.A. on January 24, 1917 and “His many years in the film industry actually began as a young boy of eight when he made the acquaintance of a neighbor by the name of Walt Disney. Moray and a handful of other neighborhood youngsters were involved in the very earliest Disney efforts which were then live action, rather than animation.”

After graduating from Beverly Hills High, he went to work for Disney. The obit doesn’t say what he did, but it does mention a later venture which is the subject of this post. The Business Screen Magazine production review for 1953 has this entry:

ACADEMY PRODUCTIONS
7934 Santa Monica Boulevard
Hollywood 46, California
Phone: Hollywood 9-5873
Date of Organization: 1951
OFFICERS AND DEPARTMENT HEADS
Edward L. Gershman and C. Moray Foutz, Partners
Arthur Babbitt, Supervising Director
William Lightfield, Production Manager
Services: Motion pictures and animation, both l6mm and 35mm.
Facilities: No data provided.
RECENT PRODUCTIONS AND SPONSORS
TITLES UNKNOWN but sponsor references provided include General Electric Company; McGraw Hill Book Co.; J. Walter Thompson Co.; Champion Spark Plug; and Pan American Airways.

Animation fans reading this don’t need to be told about Art Babbitt. Ed Gershman had been selling shoes after being fired at Disney before being picked up by UPA’s predecessor, Industrial Film and Poster Service, in 1942. He was business manager for UPA in 1951 when he was fired by company boss Steve Bosustow.

Public notices began appearing in the press in July 1951 announcing Foutz and Gershman were forming Academy Productions. However, the company was already in operation in 1949 as Billboard reported on Dec. 24 that year that Academy had begun shooting a $30,000 film for General Electric involving a diesel promotion, and that Foutz was the company president.

To add to the confusion, there were other companies with the same name; one distributed foreign films. Then on March 31, 1954, the Hollywood Reporter reported Academy was expanding to New York City, where the operation would be called Academy Pictures. (Gershman died in Nov. 1956 after a heart attack on a New York street).

How long Academy carried on isn’t clear. Broadcast Advertising of Oct. 23, 1961 mentioned Foutz was a production manager for Era Productions in Hollywood, which also employed former Disney and Lantz cartoon writer Milt Schaffer. Foutz ended his film career with Pacific Title Digital.

A film for General Electric is mentioned above. This is the short that contains the reference to Foutz. It is mostly live action, narrated by Marvin Miller (who had his own UPA connection), and is a plea to reduce traffic clogs by improving public transit. The kind that runs on electricity, no doubt. The film seems to have been a failure. Cities tore up streetcar lines. Traffic snarls are worse today. If you like early 1950s cars (like bullet-nosed Studebakers), you may like this film. Anything with Marvin Miller is worth listening to.



P.S. This will likely be the last Tralfaz Sunday Theatre post. I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but the title was stolen from British Sunday Theatre, where aged English films were used to burn off time on KVOS-TV in Bellingham when I was a kid. I finally found the theme for the show. It was “Knightsbridge March” by Eric Coates.

The Horn Blows

On a whim, I decided to flip through some newspaper clippings about Jack Benny in May 1945.

You could certainly get your fill of Benny then, on radio and on the big screen.

Jack’s last show before summer break was on the 27th, with Larry Adler as his special guest. The show also featured Prof. LeBlanc (Mel Blanc), a “typical American family” soap opera announcer (Bea Benaderet), Speedy Riggs’ mother (Elvia Allman), and a plug for Yhtapmys Soothing Syrup with Jack chuckling in the background over Frank Nelson’s delivery.

But he wasn’t through with radio yet. On the 29th, he and Keenan Wynn co-starred in “Please, Charley” on NBC’s This is My Best at 9:30 Eastern. It was based on Lawrence Riley’s humorous short story. Then the following night at 11:30 Eastern, he emceed the second half of a two-hour Seventh War Loan show on the network. His gang was there, as was Ronald Colman to lend some seriousness to the proceedings. On May 16, he appeared from Hollywood in a segment of the series for wounded servicemen, The Road Ahead, airing on the Blue network at 9 Eastern and hosted by Clifton Fadiman.

Among the clippings is a story by Tom Dammann in the May 11th edition of the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune. We quote part of it:

SAN FRANCISCO, May 11.—No gathering of people is complete without funny incidents. The United Nations Conference is no exception. [...]
The other evening, to show you what we mean, we were standing with a large crowd just outside the Opera House to watch the delegates arrive for a plenary session. [...]
Where’s Rochester?
Finally a long black limousine drove up and the crowed quieted, awed, because here perhaps was a Molotov or Stettinius. Out stepped a handsomely dressed man and three well gowned women. The crowed craned its neck, including us. Here was obviously a delegate of importance, but who was he? He walked hurriedly up the steps, followed by the three women. He got just inside the door when a sailor in the crowd recognized him.
“JACK BENNY!” the sailor hollered.
And it was Jack Benny, with Mary Livingston [sic] and two friends. He turned and shouted “Hiya, folks,” and went on to watch the proceedings. The crowd laughed.

It seems others got to meet Jack in the flesh during his trip to the Bay area. His May 20th show came from San Francisco. Before and after the broadcast, the cast took part in an “I Am An American Day” show at the Civic Auditorium. As for the show, it made the May 19 edition of the Fulton Daily Sun-Gazette of Missouri.

Dudley Payne, Hospital Attendant 2-c at the U. S. Naval Hospital in Oakland, Calif., and son of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Payne of Fulton, will play with a navy band on the Jack Benny radio program at 6 p. m. Sunday night.
Young Payne, who plays trombone, has written his family that he is a member of a band which has been judged the best at his base, and will make a guest appearance on the nation-wide radio show tomorrow night. In his letter he said, "If you hear an extra loud note on a trombone, that's me!"
He has been stationed in California almost two years and is movie projectionist and in charge of the sound equipment at the hospital. In this capacity, Payne has met and worked with many famous radio and motion picture stars and has written home often of his interesting and amusing experiences.

Jack stayed after the broadcast, as we learn from the Vallejo Times-Herald of May 22.

Comedian Jack Benny, accompanied by members of his radio troupe, entertained Mare Island Hospital patients at a program in the hospital garden yesterday. After the outdoor show, Benny toured wards to meet patients unable to leave their rooms.

Feature films and Benny didn’t mix, at least according to legend, but in May 1945 he could be seen in movie theatres across the country. Some theatres were playing It’s in the Bag, in which he had a cameo with Fred Allen. Others were advertising his appearance in Hollywood Canteen, released in late December the previous year.

And then there was The Horn Blows at Midnight.

Benny fans know he used this unusual film as a whipping boy, whipping up laughs on his radio show. At the time, it got mixed reviews, more so, I believe, than any other film he made in the ‘40s. The Oregonian’s Drama Editor wrote on May 16:

Benny Film Needs Help
Jack Benny came to the Orpheum screen Tuesday in “The Horn Blows at Midnight.” The film proves definitely that Mr. Benny should have stuck to his violin and “The Bee.”
However, died-in-the-wool Benny fans will pehaps gather joy from this production for it does hold a few laughs.
The story is one of those dream affairs with the comedian playing the role of a third-rate trumpet player on a radio program. He falls asleep as the program is about to go on the air. The picture is devoted from this point to the Benny dream.

The Louisville Courier-Journal of May 11 had a different take.

Not since the heyday of Harold Lloyd has a comedian created so much unalloyed hysteria in audiences as does Jack Benny in his roof-top escapades in “The Horn Blows at Midnight,” [...]
Mr. Benny, we might add, is very pleasantly cast in this film, playing with a droll sense of bewilderment and timidity.

Jack put his name to a column that was kind-of about the movie. The only version I can find is in the Charlotte News of May 26, 1945.

That There Benny Fellow Is A Card
(Editor's note: The following story by Jack Benny was apparently hidden away in an old show since the picture he refers to has long since been completed. Proceed at your own risk.)
By JACK BENNY
HOLLYWOOD — Oddly enough, my day starts in the morning. At 6 A. M., an alarm clock rings in my ear, so I take it out of my ear and go back to sleep. About half an hour later I hear a bell ringing again, but this time it's a telephone call from the Make-up Department of Warner Bros. Studio, urging me to hurry over — because putting enough make-up on my face so that I will look ten years younger, is equivalent to making a "Dogwood Sandwich". I would resent that if there weren't a clause in my contract telling me to "SHUT UP". So I inform them that I will rush over to the studio as soon as I comb my hair. But they tell me not to bother because they got it there and it’s combed already.
It is now 6:30 and still dark, so not wanting to wake up Mary or my daughter, Joanie, I tip-toe through the hall, slip out the front door, ease down the curb where my convertible is parked. Just as I open the car door, I hear a window being raised, and Mary's voice raised even higher yelling, "It's about time you got home." I would give her an argument but I recall that she had "that same certain clause" put in our marriage license: so I throw her a kiss and drive off.
COFFEE TIME
In no time I am at Schwab's Drug Store where I always stop in for my morning cup of coffee: 5 cents, plus doughnuts; 15 cents, plus sales tax $1.30. Finishing my breakfast, I jauntily flip a 10-cent tip on the counter. It comes down tails so I have to leave it there. This is the third time it's b[words missing] and I'm really becoming quite popular.
Anyway, I jump in my car, drive through Laurel Canyon to Burbank, and there in spite of yesterday's rain, stands Warner Bros. Studio. As I pass through the main entrance, I wave a cheery hello to the gateman, who waves back and yells, "STOP." So I back up, show him my studio pass which has my picture on it. He seems quite interested, and shows me a picture of his wife and son; so I show him a picture of Mary and Joanie. At this point we are even. Then he shows me a picture of his dog, so I show him a picture of a girl I used to go with in Waukegan. The competition being too tough for him, he lets me through, and I park my car right between Barbara Stanwyck's and Ann Sheridan's which keeps my motor from getting cold.
And so to work making love to Alexis Smith and Dolores Moran in "The Horn Blows at Midnight."
Editor's second note: Ho. Hum. And unquote.

Here’s the oddest Benny connection I found in newspapers of May 1945. I don’t know the background behind these panel cartoons, if some Hollywood war bond campaign organisers asked the stars for captions. But several of them have Jack’s name on them. The ones below were found together in the May 30th issue of the Goldsboro News-Argus. Goldsboro, coincidentally, is where L.A. Speed Riggs of the Benny opening/closing commercials worked as a tobacco auctioneer.

Cartoon Dollar Days

Despite unionised jobs in the cartoon business, there were animators in the Golden Age took on side work. Some were hired for uncredited animation for other studios (UPA’s pre-UPA cartoons, the Jerky Journeys and Bob Clampett’s short for Republic come to mind). Others drew artwork or wrote stories for comic books.

Then there’s the case of Ken Champin, who worked for several years on newspaper panel ads for a Hollywood business association.

It’s regretful that little is known about Champin, whose name you will probably recognise from the Friz Freleng unit at Warner Bros. I have never found an interview with him. You’ll have to pardon the brevity of this snapshot; I suspect Devon Baxter has looked into him and has found additional information.

Kenneth Ferdinand Champin was born on August 11, 1911 in Clifton, New Jersey, at the time a small town about four miles from Passaic, to Ferdinand (Fred) and Eleanor Champin. The family moved to San Diego in 1918, where his father co-owned and opened the Liberty grocery stores and died at the end of the year at the age of 29. He and his mother moved in with an aunt in Pasadena. His mother later re-married.

The only mention of him in the local press is in a story in 1928 that he had signed to play tenor saxophone with the Box Scout band in the La Canada valley. Champin attended Glendale Union High School and was the staff cartoonist for the Stylus. The 1930 Census reveals he was an 18-year-old grocery clerk. He married in 1932.

The 1936 Glendale directory gives his occupation as “attdt Forest Lawn.” It would appear he started in animation in 1937 as in 1987, he was honoured for 50 years in the business at the Motion Picture Cartoonists Golden Awards banquet. The very first edition of the Leon Schlesinger Studio’s internal newspaper, The Exposure Sheet (Jan. 1939), announced the birthday of Champin’s son Jim on February 28, 1938. The younger Champin ended up in the animation business as well.

Unfortunately, the newsletter (published in 1939-40) has little to say about him. He was part of a studio table tennis team that included Bob Matz, Dick Thomas and Bob Holdeman. He appeared in one of the studio’s Sketch Pad comedies before Christmas 1939.

Champin’s first screen credit for animation was in Daffy–The Commando, released Nov. 28, 1943. The final short with his name is Pests For Guests, released January 29, 1955. This was apparently animated before the cartoon studio shut down for the last six months of 1953.

Sources on-line indicate Champin drew some Disney comic books and (in conjunction with ex-Warners artist/writer Dave Hoffman) a Tom and Jerry colouring book. Much of his time in the late ‘50s and 1960s was spent in commercial animation. Television magazine of Sept. 5, 1960 reported on the creation of Filmfair “by several executives formerly with Ray Patin Productions.” One was Champin, who was named their animation director and was later a vice-president.

He passed away on Feb. 25, 1989 in Palm Springs.

(No, I didn’t “forget” other credits. This is not a filmography. You can find lists elsewhere on-line).

In 1920, the Merchantors’ Division of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce came up with a semi-annual Dollar Day. Not only did businesses take out full-page ads in the Hollywood Citizen-News, it commissioned a one-panel cartoon to comically promote it. Champin was the artist. Here are some of the examples.

January 26, 1937

January 29, 1937

July 27, 1937

July 26, 1938

July 27, 1938

July 28, 1938

July 29, 1938

Here is a week’s worth from May 1939. Champin shows a good sense of composition. I really like his struggling horses pulling a streetcar.

May 15, 1939

May 16, 1939

May 17, 1939

May 18, 1939

May 19, 1939

There are actually quite a number of others ending, it seems, on May 16, 1941 with a couple of Africans. I don’t want to make this post too long, so we’ll end with these. Toward the end, Champin focuses on World War Two (Pearl Harbor hasn’t happened yet).

July 31, 1939

August 1, 1939

August 2, 1939

August 4, 1939

October 12, 1939

October 14, 1939

February 3, 1940

January 27, 1941

May 13, 1941

May 14, 1941

May 15, 1941

Friz Freleng lived long enough where he was honoured and interviewed many times over later in life. So was Virgil Ross, who spent a large portion of his career in the Freleng unit. Champin doesn't seem to have been as fortunate, but perhaps this fills in a few blanks.