The IAD Forums
ArcLordOne
a year ago
Caught my first glimpse of The Woody Woodpecker Show last Saturday (I don't have cable, but my grandparents do)! It was a not-so-great selection of Paul J. Smith, but at least there was an Andy Panda, my homeboy! @RareSox , I saw that one with your profile picture cat in it.
Bobby Bickert
a year ago
MeTV is not a cable TV channel. It's a regular broadcast channel (usually operated by one of an area's local TV stations) that you can receive with an antenna. (One of its competitors is even named Antenna TV.) My youngest nephew (age eight) and my niece (age six) have watched Saturday Morning Cartoons on MeTV, and they don't have cable TV. (Their parents won't let them have it.)
Bobby Bickert
a year ago
Of the seven cartoons that aired on "The Woody Woodpecker Show" yesterday morning, the only ones that I hadn't before were "Mother's Little Helper" (which had more vivid animation than the other Beary Family cartoons I've seen, probably because it was directed by Jack Hannah) and "Chiller Dillers". But I must not have seen "Smoked Hams" in a while because I had never noticed that "You're A Horse's Ass" plays when Wally's bed falls apart. (And "Smoked Hams" looked like it was a victim of DVNR. I think I spotted DVNR in one scene in "Well Oiled" too.)

Another Maw and Paw cartoon written by Michael Maltese, which played out even more like a Road Runner cartoon, complete with "blueprints" and even the "dropping a boulder on a teeter totter" gag (more than once). It also had the "character tied to a rope gets pulled through numerous objects" gag, which was later used in a Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry. (Disney did it before this, in "Three For Breakfast". And in recent years it was done in live action in Son of the Mask, which I watched part of on TV one day.)

My niece (age six) likes pandas. But I don't know if I would want her to watch "The Painter and the Pointer", which I well remember from my younger years. ("Now if you move, BOOM! No more doggie!") A member of the GAC forums wondered if this was Andy Panda's evil twin brother, maybe because of the weird character design.
nickramer
a year ago
Unfortunately, next Saturday's line-up of Lantz shorts looks like will be a "Worst of Paul J. Smith" marathon. Actually, I probably won't be seeing it anyway as I'll be on vacation in Hawaii.
Bobby Bickert
a year ago

Unfortunately, next Saturday's line-up of Lantz shorts looks like will be a "Worst of Paul J. Smith" marathon.

Originally Posted by: nickramer 



And all but one of them were from the early 1970's. So they managed to squeeze in eight cartoons instead of the usual seven again. And I hadn't seen any of them before. But don't worry, I'm only going to comment on a few of them:

In "Kitty From the City" Woody says "Now I've seen everything!". But it's not followed by what would happen if this cartoon had been made by Termite Terrace. And there's no voice credit for whoever voiced the husband. I'm guessing that it was an unknown rather than someone from Lantz's stock company of voice actors and actresses.

"Moochin' Pooch" is another cartoon that reflects Walter Lantz's love of Great Danes.

And the "pyramid" of waterskiiers is a reference to Florida's now-defunct Cypress Gardens, which is now Legoland. (The Esther Williams movie Easy To Love, which occasionally airs on Turner Classic Movies, was filmed at Cypress Gardens. The water ski show was choreographed by Busby Berkeley.)

http://www.visitcentralflorida.org/blog/cypress-gardens-was-floridas-first-tourist-attraction/ 

Bobby Bickert
a year ago

They only do that on the weekends when the kids are home. It's uncut on weekdays.

Originally Posted by: nickramer 



So much for MeTV not editing out characters blowing their brains out on "Toon In With Me"...



nickramer
a year ago
I believe this aired before on METV and it was also censored the last time.
RareSox
a year ago
"WhY nOt JuSt ReMoVe GuNs AlToGeThEr"


It's bad enough Marvin shooting Duck Dodgers through the monitor was cut on my feed.
ArcLordOne
a year ago

"WhY nOt JuSt ReMoVe GuNs AlToGeThEr"


It's bad enough Marvin shooting Duck Dodgers through the monitor was cut on my feed.

Originally Posted by: RareSox 


How lasers in place of bullets are offensive is beyond me. My gosh, kids haven't killed each other over Star Wars--I never did, and I've been a fan since I was five.

RareSox
a year ago
No, I'm just saying that MeTV is going to start cutting into the violence next if the mail keeps coming. Expect more Beary Family. A lot more.
Bobby Bickert
a year ago

No, I'm just saying that MeTV is going to start cutting into the violence next if the mail keeps coming. Expect more Beary Family. A lot more.

Originally Posted by: RareSox 



No Beary Family yesterday, only two cartoons directed by Paul J. Smith (one with gunfire and explosions), and a 1940's Woody directed by Shamus Culhane.

I had only seen "Goodbye, Mr. Moth", "Woody Dines Out" and "Pigeon Holed" before yesterday, but I must not have seen "Pigeon Holed" in a long time because I didn't make the connection to Mr. Magoo until yesterday. (Maybe Homer Brightman was a fan.) And I looked up Bernie Kreisler; he was the head of Universal's short subject department.

Just a couple of other comments. I'm surprised that Universal re-released so many 1930's "Cartune Classics" since two-strip Technicolor has such a limited palette, even compared to Cinecolor. And it's nice to see that the Lantz studio was still making cartoons set to classical music in the early 1960's.

(Also, I got to watch all of Saturday Morning Cartoons yesterday because my sister is out of town until Wednesday. I didn't know that MeTV was airing the Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies. I wonder if they came from WB or if MeTV is just using the ones that are PD?

Bobby Bickert
a year ago
There were only two cartoons I hadn't seen before in the January 27th broadcast of "The Woody Woodpecker Show", "Phoney Express" and "Bee Bopped". (And it certainly was strange seeing Inspector Willoughby's head on a bee in "Bee Bopped" right after the Inspector Willoughby cartoon, followed by "Rubber Check Charlie" in the clip from "Billion Dollar Boner".)

There wasn't enough inbetweening during the big fight scene at the end of "Phoney Express". The animation in the whole cartoon seemed more limited, and the backgrounds were simpler than what was the norm for Lantz. I wonder why?

And I was surprised that Sara Berner got screen credit for doing Chilly Willy's voice in his debut cartoon, since Walter Lantz didn't regularly give screen credit for voice actors (and actresses) until around 1955. The only instance I know of before this is Hans Conreid getting screen credit for narrating "The Sliphorn King of Polaroo". (Of course he also got screen credit for narrating "Johann Mouse", one of only two pre-1960's MGM cartoons that did so. Was he really famous by then?) It was nice to see her get screen credit since she did so much uncredited voicework, including voicing the "Katharine Hepburn" camel in Road To Morocco.

Bobby Bickert
a year ago

There wasn't enough inbetweening during the big fight scene at the end of "Phoney Express". The animation in the whole cartoon seemed more limited, and the backgrounds were simpler than what was the norm for Lantz. I wonder why?

Originally Posted by: Bobby Bickert 



Someone on YouTube commented on the "janky" animation in "Pest of Show". Someone else replied that "Pest in Show" was mostly animated by Roy Jenkins, who was known for his stiff animation. So I brought up the big fight scene in "Phoney Express" not having enough inbetweening, and also only the villain's mouth moving when he talked. The reply was that those scenes were animated by Roy Jenkins too. (But that still doesn't explain the simpler backgrounds.)

"Pest in Show" was the only cartoon in yesterday morning's "The Woody Woodpecker Show" that I hadn't seen. But I must not have seen "Drooler's Delight" in awhile because I had forgotten about the gag that pre-dates "Nice booby trap!" in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

I noticed that some of the characters in "Scrappy Birthday" and "Pixie Picnic" had a strong resemblance to certain Disney characters. I'm sure it was because of Dick Lundy, Fred Moore, Grim Natwick and any other Disney animators who were working at Lantz at the time.
Bobby Bickert
a year ago
Of the seven cartoons that aired on "The Woody Woodpecker Show" yesterday morning, I had only seen "Log Jammed", "Apple Andy" and "Jittery Jester" before. I definitely hadn't seen "Pesty Guest" before because I certainly would have remembered seeing a Tasmanian Devil in a cartoon from a rival studio. (Now knowing that Sid Marcus created "Taz Boy", it makes sense.)

I have a long history with "Log Jammed". When I was in elementary school, the church my family went to had a screening of cartoons one day during Christmas break. This is what I can remember them showing:

"Pluto's Christmas Tree"
"Lend A Paw"
"Log Jammed" (B & W print)
Two "Winsome Witch" shorts (I can remember the plots but not the titles.)

I'm surprised that they were showing a character putting a gun to his head in a cartoon as late as the early 1960's. (Even though it turned out to not be a real gun.) I saw that "Corny Concerto" was written by Dave Detiege. I guess he wasn't tied down to one studio. (And I assume that he came with Jack Hannah from Disney.)

And I wonder if Dick Lundy worked on "Donald's Better Self"?
Bobby Bickert
a year ago
I think "The Screwball" was the first "repeat" on "The Woody Woodpecker Show"on MeTV. I had already seen everything that aired this past Saturday morning. But I still have some comments to make...

I had watched "The Flying Turtle" online fairly recently, because both of my sisters love turtles. But I somehow completely missed that a certain piece of classical music ("Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!") is in it, before Chuck Jones used it.

Grant Simmons must have really liked "Symphony in Slang" and decided to (partially) "recycle" the idea in "Broadway Bow Wow's". (And Sid Marcus must have liked how "Half Baked Alaska" ended, because "Pesty Guest" (which, according to Wikipedia, was the next Chilly Willy cartoon) pretty much ends the same way.

Interesting that both "Grantray" cartoons released by Walter Lantz have a screen credit for the narrator, before Lantz started regularly giving screen credit to his stock company of voice actors (and actresses).

Obviously Daws Butler did most of the voicework in "Half Baked Alaska". But the scream of pain in the barbershop scene sounds like Dal McKennon to me. (And that gag was recycled in The Muppets.)
RareSox
a year ago
They fucked up Cross Country Detours, and I'm forced to cope a Liberty Mutual ad with it.

If you'll excuse me, I'll carry the circus for now on
Bobby Bickert
a year ago
I'm surprised that no one else has brought up how "The Woody Woodpecker Show" on MeTV began and ended this past Saturday morning. Here's the beginning of the version of the first cartoon that was shown:



(I think the slightly shortened version of the opening titles music was taken from "Convict Concerto".)

At least the Gracie Lantz narration was limited to that little bit at the beginning since Woody is asleep for most of "Sleep Happy". But it's heard throughout the last cartoon, "Born To Peck", which I don't think had any dialogue at all to begin with (not counting the "gibberish" by both of Woody's parents).

Also, here's the version of "The Flying Turtle" that aired on MeTV the previous Saturday:



Thankfully the Gracie Lantz narration was limited to the opening titles. And I suppose I could understand this happening with a one-shot cartoon that hasn't been released on DVD yet. But unaltered versions of "Sleep Happy" and "Born To Peck" (and all of the other Woody cartoons up through "Jittery Jester") were released on DVD, so I don't see how this happened. It's a good thing that I had already seen unaltered versions of those two cartoons (as well as "The Great Who-Dood-It" and "Under the Spreading Blacksmith Shop").

EDIT: Here's the opening of the cartoon that ended "The Woody Woodpecker Show" the previous Saturday morning:



I suppose I could understand Universal slapping their logo on the Lantz cartoons that were released by United Artists. But I don't see why they replaced the Universal-International logo with an earlier Universal logo, including replacing part of the soundtrack, which in this case was unique opening title music.
nickramer
a year ago


Thankfully the Gracie Lantz narration was limited to the opening titles. And I suppose I could understand this happening with a one-shot cartoon that hasn't been released on DVD yet.

Originally Posted by: Bobby Bickert 



"The Flying Turtle" was released on the Columbia House "Woody Woodpecker and Friends" video/DVD series. It's on Volume 2.
Bobby Bickert
a year ago
But those DVD's were notorious for using prints from (the original) "The Woody Woodpecker Show", sometimes with Gracie Lantz narration. The YouTube member who uploaded the MeTV broadcast of "The Flying Turtle" said that a version with theatrical titles had been "rare".

At least everything that aired on MeTV this past Saturday morning was unaltered, including "Hypnotic Hick" having its original opening. (I remember it having the standard opening tacked on when I watched it in my younger years.)

I definitely hadn't seen the Beary Family cartoon and the Chilly Willy cartoon before. I don't think I had seen "A Fine Feathered Frenzy" before, but I'm not positive.

The first Ma and Pa Kettle movie (not counting The Egg and I) is about Pa Kettle winning a "house of the future" by entering a slogan in a contest. (But that house was already built.)

It's interesting that the gopher in the Beary Family cartoon is named Joe. That's also the name on the model sheet for the gopher from "Gopher Spinach". Once again someone said "Now I've seen everything!" without what would usually follow in a WB cartoon. And it seems like a lot of the Beary Family cartoons end with Charlie crying, just like most of the Little Audrey cartoons end with Little Audrey laughing.

And it's strange that the Chilly Willy cartoon recycled a running gag from one of Tex's cartoons from over a decade earlier.
Bobby Bickert
a year ago
Another "repeat" this past Saturday morning. I thought it was because there was going to be a "theme" of pet dogs, but that was abandoned after the first three cartoons. Partly because of the "repeat", there were only three cartoons that I hadn't seen before: "Canned Dog Feud", "The Rude Intruder" and "Mouse Trapped".

No screen credit for June Foray in "The Unbearable Salesman", even though she got screen credit in "The Bongo Punch", which I think was released the same year. The bear saying "He talks too much." was a criticism of Woody's later cartoons on the GAC forums. And "How are you fixed for blades?" was a slogan for razor blades in the 1950's. (My copy of Mighty Minutes is in storage, but I seem to remember the (animated) commercials having a parrot who said that. And the brand might have been Gilette.)

More Dick Lundy influence in "Dog Tax Dodgers": Andy Panda's dog has Goofy's buck teeth, plus a similar head shape. That plot could have been done with Mickey, Pluto and Pete. (And it sort of did get used in "Mr. Mouse Takes A Trip".)

"The Rude Intruder" missed a chance to have a cameo by Wally Walrus. And the cannon fight was lifted directly from a Roland and Rattfink cartoon, "War and Pieces".