Category: Cartoons from the 40’s

My personal favorite decade from Warner Bros. The majority of my favorites came from this era. (It was the last one where we still had Avery and Clampett)

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Baby Bottleneck

“I do all the woik, and the fadders get all the credit.”

You didn’t think that I wouldn’t talk about Porky more after the last post did you? Also, I’d say sorry for no update on Tuesday, but next to no one comes here anyway so I’d only be apologizing to myself… On to the cartoon.

After World War 2,  people keep pumping out babies and it’s taking its toll on the stork. He quits and some inexperienced people try to make the deliveries themselves, but they make plenty of mistakes. Such as kittens to mice, gorillas to kangaroos and an alligator to a pig. (There is actually a censor that has never been restored. When the reptile tries to nurse at her teat, the sow originally said “Don’t touch that dial” If you don’t blink, you can see a brief frame of the line about to be said)

Replacing those idiots are Porky and Daffy. Daffy mans the phones and makes wisecracks to Cantor, about his lack of getting a boy and Mr. Dione for asking for a little too much. Porky is in charge of the assembly line which gets the babies ready for delivery. The only problem is one egg has no address. Porky asks Daffy to sit on it (Look how huge his hat got!) but Daffy refuses. A chase ensues which ultimately ends with the two running on the assembly line, getting dressed up like a baby, and shipped to Africa. Mother gorilla is in for quite the shock .

Personal Rating: 4

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Kitty Kornered

“I hate p-p-p-p-p-pussy cats.”

About time I talked about the great and hilarious Porky again! Its nine o clock and everyone is putting their cat out. Porky has 4. A kitten, a midget cat, a drunk cat, and Sylvester. (Don’t let the yellow eyes and black nose fool you. It’s him. You can trust me) However, they have no intent on being outside and they toss Porky out in their stead.

They decide to party with cigars, wine, and chocolates when Porky re enters. He chases them, and at one point pulls Sylvester off a moose head and pulling out a full moose. Porky gets rid of them by using a shadow puppet of his dog and they flee. Sylvester comes up with a plan, and they don martian get ups to scare Porky out into the snow. The pig asks the audience if they know of any houses to rent.

Personal Rating: 4

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Tweetie Pie

“Kiss the ittle birdie!”

This is it! this is THE cartoon. What is THE cartoon? This is the first Looney Tune that won an Oscar. (Ironicly “Tom and Jerry” had been winning tons of Oscars. Why? Are Tom and Jerry better than Looney Tunes? Fun fact: not always) Actually, in this cartoon Sylvester is called Thomas. Oh, and this is the canary and putty tat’s first time together, too.

It’s winter and Tweety is out warming himself by a cigar butt. Thomas (Sylvester) grabs him and almost immediately gets caught by his owner. She takes Tweety in and puts him in a cage, warning the cat to leave him alone. When she’s gone, Sylvester builds a stack of furniture that Tweety chops down. (The owner hits Sylvester with a broom) He builds one out of metal furniture and Tweety uses a blowtorch to destroy it. (Sylvester gets hit with the broom again)

At one point Sylvester has Tweety under a glass so Tweety can’t call for help. So the bird pokes Sylvester with a pin and the owner throws him out. After failing to get in through the fireplace, and a Rube Golberg device doesn’t work, he saws the area around the cage which brings the whole ceiling down. Sylvester throws the broom in the fire only to get hit by a shovel. Wielded by Tweety.

Personal Rating: 3

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Bad ol’ Putty Tat

“I tawt I taw a *wolf whistle!*

The cartoon must have started without us, since we begin by seeing a hurt looking Sylvester starting at Tweety’s barbed wire covered tree house. For his next attempt he constructs a trampoline and bounces up. Every time he comes up however, Tweety hurts him in various ways.

Tweety escapes on a clothes line, but learns it’s connected to Sylvester’s tooth. Tweety attaches his end to a rocket, and the putty tat loses his teeth. Sylvester paints his finger to look like a female canary (See? Tweety IS a boy) and Tweety takes the bait. He only discovers what’s happening after he tries to pull her to safety and her hat flies off, revealing a claw. Tweety switches hats, and Sylvester chomps a delicious finger.

Now, Tweety runs to a badminton game, and accidentally ends up as the birdie. Sylvester joins the game, but only gets a firecracker in his belly. Finally, he disguises his head as Tweety’s house and Tweety falls for it. Yep, Sylvester got him. But the bird’s not in his stomach, he’s in his head. Playing train, Tweety makes the putty tat crash into a brick wall.

Personal Rating: 3

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Mouse Wreckers

“What’d I do? What’d I do?”

Hubie and Bertie are happy to find a new place to call home, but there’s one problem with it: Claude. According to all those trophies, he’s a champion mouser and the mice are going to have to get rid of him if they are to live there. They hide on the roof, and Hubie lowers Bertie down the chimney to the cat, to torment him and get away quickly. They use sticks, bellows, and even a dog to drive Claude crazy. They even tie a rock to his tail and throw it off the roof, dragging him along with it.

Claude is shaken to say the least, but he convinces himself it was all a dream. While he sleeps the mice try their coupe-de-gracie. They nail all the furniture to the ceiling, somehow get the celing lamp to point upward and put it on the floor, and wake up Claude. He is scared to find himself on the ceiling but freaks out even more when he climbs into the next room, and finds its right side up, but the windows show upside down horizons and underwater scenery. He runs screaming from the house as the mice get comfortable

Personal Rating: 3

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The Dover Boys at Pimento University or the rivals of roquefort hall

“Hark! The Dover Boys.”

I used to think this one was underrated and unknown by extension, but apparently I was (happily) mistaken. The title characters did appear in “Space Jam”, and “Wakkos Wish”. Dan’s hilarious outbursts make wonderful memes (Better than that “chungus” crap That scene was already funny. It didn’t need any help.)

At good old P.U. (Pimento University) the most popular boys are the Dover boys (based on the “Rover Boys” series of books) As we pan over to them, we see a sailor guy. Pay attention to him, we’ll see him again. The boys are going to play hide and seek with THEIR finance Dora Stanpipe. (I guess they are polygamous? I suppose if it’s good enough for them…)

On their way to the park they pass a bar where inside their nemesis Dan Backslide, lurks. He loves Dora…s father’s money and despises the Dover boys. He watches them (and the sailor) walk by, and seethes. During their game, the boys decide to hide in a place where they won’t be found… the bar!

Realizing that Dora is alone, Dan kidnaps her, but Dora (and the sailor) are spotted by the boys and they rush (freeze) to her rescue. While she screams for help, she pummels Dan and soon he is yelling for help too! The boys finally arrive, and only end up knocking themselves out, Dora leaves with the sailor.

P.S. the narrator in this short, is the same narrator who was with Goofy in those “How to” cartoons Disney made

Personal Rating: 4 (But don’t be too surprised if you don’t enjoy it as much as you should be on your first viewing. Like many a work of art, it takes time to be appreciated)

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Slick Hare

“If it’s rabbit baby wants, rabbit baby gets.”

At the Mocrumbo restaurant, (a takeoff of the real Mocombo , it seems like every star in Hollywood is there. Leopold Stokowsky conducts a jukebox, Gregory Peck cuts his steak with a razor, and Sinatra gets sucked into his own straw. Humphrey Bogart is ready to order, and despite Elmer telling him they are out, he demands fried rabbit. He tells Fudd he has twenty minutes to comply and if not… well…

Elmer finds Bugs and tells him that Bogart wants him for dinner. Bugs is happy to oblige until he finds out what is on the menu. He disguises himself as Groucho, only to find Elmer as Harpo. (Where did the real Harpo go? He was right there.) Running away, he hides in Carmen Miranda’s headdress.

One great dance scene later, he tricks Elmer into giving him pies to throw back at him. Fudd gets wise and throws one, only to hit Bogart. He demands his rabbit and Fudd fearfully tells him there is none. Humphrey says that his wife will just have to settle for a ham sandwich. Hearing this, Bugs is more than happy to let Lauren Bacall eat him.

Personal Rating: 3

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Rabbit Transit

“Lets agree not to cheat.”

(Note: Every time Cecil was used, he was with a different director. I don’t know. I think it’s fascinating.)

At an animal sauna (geysers) Bugs is reading the classic fable, “The tortoise and the hare.” He finds it ridiculous that a hare got bested by a tortoise. Yeah, Cecil is there too. He says he can beat Bugs. (This short forgets about the past two races. Shame, I was liking the continuity.) So a race is held to prove it.

Cecil is planning to cheat, but Bugs gets rid of almost all of his tricks. He did not however get rid of his rocket powered shell. Easily outrunning Bugs, he has time to send him a postcard. Feeling guilty Bugs sends a gift back. When Cecil gets it, Bugs jumps out and is in the lead again.

Cecil charges, but Bugs takes the shell for himself. It breaks down, and Cecil fixes and takes it back again. Bugs, however, puts water in it shorting it out. Soon, they are near the finish line and Cecil throws the race. Bugs boasts about how fast he was going, a 100 easy! Cut to the cops standing near a 30mph sign. Bugs swears revenge at the toitle as he is arrested. Iris out.

Personal Rating: 3

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Tortoise beats Hare

“I tell ya, it just don’t make sense.”

Sorry for the delay. Christmas came and with it, Looney Tunes. I have been watching a lot of new ones and now I am ready for more action!

This is an early Bugs Bunny cartoon, number 3 for him. It was also one of the few made by Tex Avery. (I just noticed, he directed Daffy, and Bugs’ first cartoons.) Back on topic, Bugs comes out and reads the title and credits. (Pronouncing them wrong) When he gets to the title, he freaks out and demands a race with the tortoise. Winner gets ten bucks.

When the race begins, Bugs is off and Cecil calls nine other turtles to help him cheat. Bugs is still running and passes one of them. Needless to say, he is dumbstruck. He leaves him behind, but no matter how fast he goes, he keeps finding a tortoise ahead of him. He tries leaving various debris in the path, and destroying a bridge, but when he comes to the end, Cecil is already there.

Bugs gives him the money and wonders if he was tricked. Cecil and the turtles (each holding a dollar) tell him its a possibility. (I should have talked about this one before the second one.)

Personal Rating: 4

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Little Red Riding Rabbit

“Hey grandma! That’s an awfully big nose for you… ta have!”

Just like the original story, we open with Red going to her grandma’s house. She is an annoying, loud, bobbysoxer, who is obsessed with getting the story right. She is going to give her grandma a rabbit and as to be expected, a wolf makes it there first. (Grandma is not home.)

When Red arrives, the wolf kicks her out because all he wants is the rabbit. He chases Bugs through a great gag involving lots of doors. After this, Bugs decides to be helpful and show where he is hiding. Throughout this whole cartoon, Red keeps coming in to say her lines only for the wolf to throw her out again.

In the climax, the wolf is dangling over a pan of hot coals, and just as Bugs is about to make him fall, Red comes in again. Fed up, Bugs switches her with the wolf. Now the two are pals. It looks like a beginning to a beautiful friendship.

Personal Rating: 4