{"id":111734,"date":"2025-02-26T18:38:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T18:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/animation\/cartoons-about-cartoons-part-24\/"},"modified":"2025-02-26T18:38:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T18:38:05","slug":"cartoons-about-cartoons-part-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=111734","title":{"rendered":"Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 24) |"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Another broad array of studio representation today, the absentees being MGM, which was nearing the end of the trail as to cartoon production, and UPA, who was not often known to break the fourth wall. Disney presents a charmer, while the laughter is well-provided by Warner Brothers, Terrytoons, and Walter Lantz, whose pacing and timing were picking up during a brief renaissance in the days following the retirement of Tex Avery. Magic pencils and paintbrushes abound, while others continue to provide savvy interaction with audience, and backstage stories of studio politics among the toons.<\/p>\n

\"\"Gee Whiz-z-z-z<\/strong> (Warner, Road Runner<\/em>, 5\/15\/56 \u2013 Charles M. (Chuck) Jones, dir.) \u2013 The Road Runner and Wile E. are up to their old \u2013 and new \u2013 tricks again. Wile E\u2019s skills in communicating with signs have improved, now allowing him not only to address the audience, but the powers that dictate the production of the cartoon as well. In the introduction (where collision between Wile E. and a truck is integrated into the opening credits), the coyote reacts to the Road Runner\u2019s extra burst of speed that sends him off over the horizon, by raising a pair of signs to the audience. The first reads, \u201cEgad\u201d, while the second sign merely adds several exclamation points! Gag sequences include the popular Batman suit clip (reused in the pilot \u201cThe Adventures of the Road Runner\u201d). with Wile E. crashing into the opposite canyon wall just as he is getting the hang of flying. Also, painting of a backdrop depicting a bridge out over a ravine. However, the Road Runner runs right through the painting as if made of the paper it\u2019s painted on, while the coyote enters the work of art, falling straight into the illustrated ravine. Finally, a rocket jet is ridden by the Coyote off a cliff, running out of gas just before it can reach the opposite side of the canyon. As the inevitable fall begins, the Coyote again resorts to a pair of signs, this time directed to whoever is in charge of this picture. The first reads, \u201cHow about ending this cartoon before I hit?\u201d In response, an iris starts to slowly close, and before it fully removes our view, Wile E. replies with a second sign, reading \u201cThank you.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\u2022 \u201cGee Whiz-z-z-z\u201d is on Facebook \u2013 Click Here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\"\"The Talking Dog<\/strong> (Lantz\/Universal, Maggie and Sam<\/em>, 8\/27\/56 \u2013 Alex Lovy, dir.) \u2013 First, a word about the film\u2019s director. If anything might be said of Alex Lovy, it would be that he was considerably flexible, and a quick study. He had made his way up in the ranks of Lantz animators, achieving director status in the early 1940\u2019s. His original style was cute but deliberate in pacing. His timing improved considerably during a brief stay at Columbia, under the production supervision of the Katz-Binder regime, picking up a bit of Warner-style influence along the way. In the early 50\u2019s, he would return to the re-formed Lantz units, and appears to have been fortunate enough to understudy and follow closely the methods and modes of Tex Avery during the latter\u2019s brief 4-cartoon run at Lantz. Like Michael Lah whom Avery left behind at MGM, Lovy learned the ropes of quick, tight timing, well-defined poses, and the general look and movement of Avery productions, and when Tex left, Lovy was the obvious heir apparent to what creations Avery had left behind. Two assets had been bestowed upon Lantz by way of Avery\u2019s pen \u2013 a completely redesigned and redefined penguin who would provide steady income to Lantz right up to the closing days of the studio (Chilly Willy), and a frustrated wife and Milquetoast husband suitable for domestic comedies (Maggie and Sam, created for the Avery one-shot \u201cCrazy Mixed-Up Pup\u201d). Lovy would be placed in charge of both properties, helming series of the shorts until his departure for Hanna-Barbera. His work seldom reached the heights of the Avery originals, but still provided for considerably enjoyable action \u2013 perhaps more frequently scoring than Lah\u2019s corresponding follow-up product at MGM. While the Maggie and Sam\u2019s didn\u2019t catch on to any great degree, spawning only a handful of follow-up episodes, the short in particular discussed below is an obvious attempt to homage the legacy of Avery, not only reviving a third principal character from \u201cCrazy Mixed-Up Pup\u201d, but incorporating a brief opening setup (often missing from television prints) that harkens back to Avery\u2019s days at Warner Brothers. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The titular dog (originally Sam\u2019s dog in Avery\u2019s episode, who baffled everyone when he acquired human traits and speech abilities from a mistaken transfusion of human plasma) opens the film by standing in the screen foreground before the title of the picture, and engages in the old Bugs Bunny bit from Avery\u2019s \u201cTortoise Beats Hare\u201d, reading the title aloud. Then, the dog reacts with surprise. \u201cWha\u2026.?\u201d In close shot, the canine turns to the camera, and tel;s the audience, \u201cHeh\u2026I don\u2019t believe it!\u201d (One of those circular illogical remarks that will make a computer blow up trying to figure it out in the old sci-fi epics.) The remainder of the film contains little in the way of cartoon self-consciousness, but still a supply of reasonable laughs. Erasing memory of the first cartoon, here Sam and the dog have never met. Maggie places Sam in charge of depositing money in the bank for payment of the mortgage. On the way, Sam (and his wad of cash) are spotted by a fast-talking street-hawker. The quick-pitch man starts suggesting purchases of such varied items as a skunk-fur coat, little gem money-maker, and a line of Davy Crockett reject coonskin caps. But leaning against a fire hydrant is our canine friend, who casually asks, \u201cHey, bub, you wanna buy a dog?\u201d Sam, who has resolutely passed every other temptation by, freezes in his tracks. \u201cYou talked!\u201d The hawker chimes in, taking control of negotiating the sale. \u201cBut if he\u2019s a talking dog, why do you want to sell him?\u201d, asks Sam. \u201cWell, uh\u2026he talks too much\u201d, ad-libs the salesman, visually wincing at his own fib.<\/p>\n

\"\"Oddly, there is no clue of mere ventriloquism here. It appears the dog can really talk. However, he seems to share an obstinate tendency with Michigan J. Frog (who would soon appear at Warner Brothers) of talking only when he wants to, and only to those he wants to. When irate Maggie hears that Sam has squandered the mortgage money to purchase him, she flings a series of insults at the mutt, then challenges him to say something. After that greeting, all the dog will say to her is \u201cBow wow\u201d. Sam and the fido are tossed out on their ear, with orders not to come back without the mortgage money. Apparently having no idea where to find the street hawker for a refund, Sam takes his chances in seeking fame, bringing the dog to a theatrical booking agency. The agent, however, has a strict policy of taking on no dog acts. Sam can\u2019t complete the sentence that his dog talks, and receives such greetings from the agent as a sock from a boxing glove on a telephone extender, with the inscription upon the glove of the words, \u201cI said NO!!\u201d Only when an effort by the agent to wait for Sam\u2019s entrance at the door, armed with a baseball bat, backfires by the bat hitting a lighting fixture, bringing the agent and the fixture down together with a crash, does the dog himself speak up, reflexively asking. \u201cAre ya hurt, Mac?\u201d \u201cA talking dog!\u201d, shouts the agent, now eager to book the dog into the big time. <\/p>\n

\"\"The dog is booked into a one-night-only sellout performance at the Met. (Who knew the dog could sing as well as talk?) Maggie and Sam wait in the wings, anxiously awaiting the money that will pour in from the evening\u2019s receipts, and making plans for use of what will be left over after paying off the mortgage, \u201cNext week, Las Vegas\u201d, remarks Sam. The dog makes a stage entrance dressed in Musketeer garb, and at the conductor\u2019s cue, opens his mouth as if to sing. All that is heard is \u201cMeow\u201d. A stray cat is brushing up against the curtain at stage right. The dog tries to sing again, but is interrupted by another \u201cMeow\u201d. That\u2019s all a canine can stand, and all hope for the performance disappears, as instinct takes control. The chase is on, as the dog pursues the kitten up staircases, ramps, and into the rafters, knocking loose every curtain, lighting fixture, and scaffold they encounter. Everything comes crashing down upon Maggie and Sam, who pop out of holes in the fallen curtain, allowing Maggie to remark, \u201cYou and your talking dog\u201d, and produce a rolling pin from nowhere to sock Sam repeatedly over the head. The final sequence dissolves to a night shot of the lot where Maggie and Sam live, but with a major change. The home that once stood there has been physically removed from the lot, leaving only a foundation in the ground, and in its center, Maggie, sitting among what remains of their furniture \u2013 one chair, and a television set. \u201cSam, are you in bed?\u201d, she calls to the back yard. There, a small dog house has been constructed. Sam appears in the doorway, responding \u201cYes dear, good night.\u201d Also inside is the dog, who completes the sentence to Maggie: \u201cYou disagreeable wench.\u201d Still believing only Sam can talk, Maggie throws her rolling pin once more, scoring a direct hit upon Sam\u2019s dome, so it\u2019s lights out for Sam for the evening, as the scene fades out.<\/p>\n