50 Greatest Cartoons... and other classic animation from the days of yore

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Missed it again. Come to think of it: 3 hours of 6 episodes = 1 episode Mondays to Saturdays. Plus, it wouldn't be out of place if placed on This TV's morning cartoon block.


Even as a syndicated package rather than separate shorts, the cartoons should be released on DVD. Unfortunately, only some Baby Boomers and animation geeks are familiar with the cartoons since the characters are now virtually obscure to the public.

Though there's some Columbia/UPA shorts on YouTube.

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10 favorite Academy Award winning cartoons


"Three Little Pigs" (1933 winner/Disney)

One of my favorite Disney "Silly Symphony" cartoons about the classic fable. Featured the song "Who's Afriad of the Big Bad Wolf?" that was popular during the Depression. 1933 winner

"Tortoise and the Hare" (1934 winner/Disney)

A "Silly Symphony" about the classic fable Many Warner Bros. animators and directors have stated that Max Hare is part of the influences of Bugs Bunny, which appeared in several 'Tortoise vs. Hare' cartoons himself. Though Max is more arrogant (ie 50's Daffy) and not much of a smart alec.

"Der Fuehrer's Face" (1942 winner/Disney)

One of the greatest WWII propaganda shorts I've seen which is anti nazi. Many of the images  of the cartoon maybe taken out of content, but have be considered that it was made in WWII. It's about Donald having a nightmare that he's  forced to work at a munitions factory and had to salute the evil dictator. At first, It features the title song, which is done by  Spike Jones & The City Slickers. Also the only Donald Duck cartoon that won an Oscar.


"Yankee Doodle Mouse" (1943 winner/MGM)

Tom vs. Jerry in a basement and with WWII theme  with fire works and, Jerry riding a cheese grater like a jeep and a plane made from a box.

"Quiet Please" (1944 winner/MGM)

Tom tries not to wake-up Spike while Jerry purposely making noises. One of the few cartoons Tom actually utter a few words.

"The Cat Concerto" (1946 winner/MGM)

Jerry interrupts Tom during his piano recital, which is similar to "Rhapsody Rabbit" featuring Bugs Bunny, which caused controversy.  Both featured the characters playing Lizt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2".

"Tweetie Pie" (1947 winner/Warner Bros.)

First pairing of Slyvester & Tweety (directed by Friz Freleng). Though not one of my all time favorite Looney Tunes short, it's one of the better featuring the duo. Strangely, Sylvester is called "Tom".  Atleast it was before Tweety relies on help from Granny & the bulldog and still had a bit of an edge from his early cartoons directed by Bob Clampett. Also the first WB cartoon to win and first pairing of the cat & canary.


"The Little Orphan" (1948 winner/MGM)

One of the earliest appearance of Nibbles (or Tuffy, which later named), who's a baby mouse who's always hungry. The mice are against Tom on the dinner table during Thanksgiving.

"Speedy Gonzales" (1955 winner/Warner Bros.)

Hungry Mexican mice gets help from Speedy to get cheese from a factory gaurded by Sylvester.

"The Pink Phink" (1964 winner/DePatie-Freleng)

Debut animated short of The Pink Panther, which spun-off from the title sequence from the film series  from DePatie-Freleng (produced the theatrical shorts) which it marked the first time a studio won with it's first animated short. Directed by Friz Freleng, who had previously won 4 awards with his work for the Looney Tunes cartoons from Warner Bros. The short features the  Pink Panther messing around with the man with the big nose while he's painting his house blue.



Top 10 Oscar snubs that should've won

10. "Donald's Crime" (1945/Disney)
9. "Tabasco Road" (1957/Warner Bros)
8. "Crazy Mixed-up Pup" (1954/Lantz)
7. "The Brave Little Tailor" (1938/Disney)
6. "A Night Before Christmas"  (1941/MGM)
5. "Swooner Crooner" (1944/Warner Bros.)
4. "Popeye the Sailor meets Sindbad the Sailor" (1936/Fliescher)
3. "Puss Gets The Boot" (1940/MGM)
2. "The Blitz Wolf" (MGM/1942)
1. "A Wild Hare" (1940/Warner Bros)

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AOL Slashcontrol video streaming site recently removed Looney Tunes and everything from the "Kids WB" section. Only a few shows are listed under "WB" & "Classic WB".

Shame since the Kids WB site only features over a dozen shorts with no changes or rotation of the cartoon selection. (then again, so did Slashcontrol despite there were about 70 shorts)

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Finally taped another batch of "Totally Tooned In" episodes featuring rare Columbia & UPA theatrical cartoons. Noticed it's not shown in order since there's a preview of "next week's show" towards the end, but the episode Antenna TV aired featured different cartoons.

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"When Magoo Flew", a 1954 Oscar winning short, aired on "Totally Tooned In". Near sighted Mr. Magoo decides to watch a movie, which he's actually inside of an airplane (and even walks on the wings during flight!).

It was OK hough honestly prefer Columbia Color Rhapsodies & Fox & Crow shorts over most of the UPA cartoons I've seen.

"Crazy Mixed-up Pup" (Tex Avery/Lantz) was also nominated that year for an Oscar, which featured a dog and it's owner's personalities being switched over. That cartoon is much funnier and Tex Avery would've finally gotten an Oscar. (he was nominated several times in the past including "A Wild Hare", the first Bugs Bunny cartoon, and "Blitz Wolf", his directorial debut for MGM). 

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"Imagination" (1943/Columbia) was nominated for an Academy Award, which lost to "Yankee Doodle Mouse" (Tom & Jerry/MGM)

Directed by Dave Fleischer, who previously owned an animation studio that produced Popeye & Betty Boop shorts for Paramount until it took over (renamed Famous Studios).

It's a decent cartoon featuring dolls coming to life, which the typical 'stache & top hat villian kidnaps girlfriend and the guy trying to save her. While it's not a bad cartoon, there's many classics that were released that year that should've been nominated.

Very much common. Especially with objects coming to life. Also the scene with he male doll dresses in drag as his girlfriend to trick the villian,  have been done on other cartoons around the same time (ie Bugs & Daffy).


Coumbia Screen Gems/UPA cartoons nominated for an Oscar:


"Holiday Land" (1934)
"The Little Match Girl" (1937)
"How War Came"  (1941)
"Imagination" (1943)
"Dog, Cat, & Canary"  (1944/Fippy the Bird)

"Rippling Romance" (1945)

UPA:
"Magic Fluke" (1948/Fox & Crow)

"Robin Hoodlum" (1949/Fox & Crow)
"Trouble Indemnity" (1950)
"Rooty Toot Toot" (1951)
"Madeline" (1952)
"Christopher Crumpet" (1953)
"The Tell Tale Heart" (1953)
"Gerald McBoing Boing on Planet Moo" (1956)
"The Jaywalker" (1956)
"Trees & Jamica Daddy" (1957)


Have seen "Madeline", "Little Match Girl", "Gerald McBoing Boing on Planet Moo", and the two Fox & Crow shorts out of the nominated shorts.


Winners: (all done by UPA)

"Gerald McBoing Boing" (1950)
"When Magoo Flew" (1954)

"Mr. Magoo's Puddle Jumper" (1956)


"The Columbia Crow's Nest", site that explains about the history of theatrical cartoons distributed by Columbia Pictures

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Spoof of trailer of the upcoming "Red Riding Hood" movie with various Bugs Bunny cartoons. 

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"Totally Tooned In" just finished it's 65 episode run, though will repeat again. Have taped most of the episodes and only watched about a quarter (plus skipping the mediocre Mr. Magoo).

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Favorite cartoons I've seen from "Totally Tooned In". Columbia's Screen Gems animation wasn't as polished as Disney or hilarious as Warner Bros, though most tend to range from mediocre to average.

Honestly would say the same for UPA despite their more artistic use of limited animation. "Family Circus" (not the comic strip, but a girl jealous of her baby brother) was OK, though can't get into many of the cartoons.





Favorite Fox & Crow cartoons:

In the comics, they were given names: Fauntleroy Fox & Crawford Crow.

"The Fox & The Grapes" (1941)

Chuck Jones had stated that the cartoon was among his inspirations for his Coyote & Road Runner cartoons, which like Wile E. Coyote's backfiring plans, the  Fox uses many elaborate ways to get the grapes from the conniving crow with no avail (and a surprised twist at the end).


Woodman Spare That Tree (1942)

The Crow tries to stop the Fox from cutting down his tree.
 
Way Down Yonder In The Corn (1943)

Crow disguise as a scarecrow to gaurd the Fox's garden. Despite the beak is an obivious giveaway, the Fox doesn't notice until towards the end.

"Be Patient, Patient" (1944)

Crow manipulates the Fox thinking that he's sick. Similar to the Hubie & Bertie cartoons from Warner Bros.
 
"Tooth Or Consequences" (1947)

When Fox gets a toothache, the Crow pretends to become a dentist to get some money.

"The Magic Fluke" (1949)

One of the three UPA Fox & Crow cartoons and probaly the best though was done better few years later by Tex Avery at MGM with "Magical Maestro". After Fox becomes a classical conductor, the Crow mistakenly gives him a magic wand when didn't have his baton. Franz Lizt's "Hungarian Rhapsody #2" is played, which was also featured in many different cartoons from "Convict Concerto" (Latnz), "The Cat Concerto" (MGM), and "Rhapsody Rabbit" (Warner Bros.).

 
Other cartoons:

"Glee Worms" (1936)

Typical '30's cartoon with insects and "guy saves girl" plot, which a fire fly saves his flame from a spider. The fighting scenes are slightly similar to "The Cobweb Hotel".


"Horse On A Merry-Go-Round" (1938)

Great visuals at the fun house, where the horse ventures into after leaving the carousel when the amusement park closed at the night.


"Mad Hatter" (1940)

Nothing to do with "Wonderland". Interesting short that starts off with Maisie literally racing her way to work and shifts towards on demented hats designers when she decides to buy a hat after work.

"Cinderella Goes To A Party" (1942)

While it's not as hilarious as "Swing Shift Cinderella" (MGM/1945) though featured some topical WWII era gags such as the plane being made from pots & pans (ie scrap metal) to the the title character going to a USO party. Like the MGM cartoon, both Cinderellas worked at Lockheed.


"Big House Blues" (1947)

Flippy imagines that that he's a prisoner escaping (since he's confined to his cage) and  being after the prision gaurd (the cat).


"Up N’ Atom" (1947)

A hilarious and fast paced cartoon with a smart alec cat outwitting the dumb dog, who tries to lure him wih a sexy female cat puppet.

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I'd add "Heavy Metal", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (though technically live action/animation), "Bambi", and "Alice In Wonderland". Also "The Three Caballeros", which is one of the better '40's Disney "package films".



"Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie" at #3? Seriously? It's OK, but it's basically a compilation of classic. I'd add it towards the end as filler, though would advise to watch the cartoons individually since most are edited and the last 25 minutes is basically a montage of Road Runner shorts.





I'd like to see a list from Cartoon Brew. Though technically every list is subjective...

 

Time Magazine’s 25 All-Time Best Animated Features

 June 24, 2011 11:00 am


Richard Corliss has compiled a list for Time Magazine of “25 All-Time Best Animated Features”. I’ve posted his choices below.

1. Pinocchio (1940)
2. WALL-E (2008)
3. The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)
4. Dumbo (1941)
5. Spirited Away (2001)
6. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
7. Up (2009)
8. The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
9. Finding Nemo (2003)
10. The Little Mermaid (1989)
11. Toy Story 3 (2010)
12. Toy Story (1995)
13. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
14. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
15. Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
16. Happy Feet (2006)
17. Akira (1988)
18. The Lion King (1994)
19. Tangled (2010)
20. Paprika (2007)
21. Kung Fu Panda (2008)
22. Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
23. Yellow Submarine (1968)
24. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
25. Lady and the Tramp (1955)

With all due respect, Mr. Corliss, this list is flawed. Very flawed. Where’s Bambi, The Incredibles, Toy Story 2, The Iron Giant, or Ice Age? What about Fritz the Cat or Heavy Traffic? Allegro Non Troppo and My Neighbor Totoro? Perhaps Nightmare Before Christmas or Mr. Bug Goes To Town?

And c’mon, even I can’t put The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Movie on such a list, much less at #3. It was essentially a compilation from classic shorts. Horton Hears A Who? You’ve got to be kidding.

Check out the original post on Time’s website. Each of his choices includes a brief write-up and an embed of the trailer. What else do you think Corliss forgot? Perhaps we’ll compile the Cartoon Brew Top 25 Animated Features as a rebuttal.

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20 years ago on this day, Nickelodeon started airing original cartoons, dubbed "Nicktoons", featuring "Doug", "Rugrats", and "Ren & Stimpy".

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70 years ago today (December 5th) Columbia Screen Gems' "The Fox and The Grapes" was released, which marked the debut of the Fox & Crow. While now obscure, the duo appeared in 24 cartoons within a decade and appeared in comic books for 30 years.