SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS

Rocky and Bulwinkle: the Cold War comes to Frostbite Falls

When we were kids, Saturday morning meant (1) no school! and (2) cartoons! We'd pour a big bowl of Coco Puffs and plant ourselves in front of the TV for a crazy cavalcade of cartoons that rolled from pre-dawn darkness to early afternoon, watching old classics like Bugs Bunny and newer shows like Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Beany and Cecil. Around noon, the cartoons finally trickled off and the local affiliate broadcast an old Tarzan movie or maybe Abbott and Costello, and we'd watch that for a while, get restless, and finally go outside, blinking like surfacing moles. By then, Mom and Dad were up anyway and the adults were back in charge. But we'd had our taste of freedom, and our imaginations were ringing with cartoons for the rest of the day.


Beany and Cecil spoofed Disney in this oddball cartoon by Bob Clampett

Looking back, I realize not every cartoon was great. Memory plays tricks, and I've probably blocked out plenty of schlocky cartoons, but there were plenty of great ones. Nowadays (warning: geezer screed coming) cartoons seem to exist only as extended advertisements, little half hour pitches for toys, and the cartoons are secondary, created after the fact. Sure, we had toys back then, but a toy only followed a successful cartoon, and didn't precede it. Enough geezer grumbling. Still (I can't stop!) I'd hold up Bugs or Bullwinkle to Transformers or Strawberry Shortcake anyday.


Old classics also ran on Saturday mornings, and we loved Bugs Bunny. "What's Opera Doc?" still one of my all-time favorites. For many of us, this was our first exposure to classical music.

Do you remember Saturday morning cartoons? Or are we just too geeky for our own good? What were your favorites?

The Beatles were big and we watched this semi-terrible cartoon for a tiny sliver of Beatle music. Did we say semi-terrible? On second thought, it was all terrible. But the songs were great!

HOW DISNEY CARTOONS ARE MADE

Ever heard of Walt Disney? Sure you have. He singlehandedly owns your childhood dreams. Joseph Campbell spoke about the "mono-myth," the underlying archetypes in myths and folk tales worldwide, and in the USA and much of the Western World our mono-myth has a copywrite mark from Disney Productions. In the land of the imagination, Disney redesigned our childhood fantasies and fears. He fit our subconscious mind like a three-fingered glove.

Here's an old documentary from the 1930s about making cartoons, Disney style. Of course, they no longer make them this way. Still, it will give you a glimpse into the Golden Age of Cartoons, when the Empire was young.

FUNNY LITTLE BUNNIES! AN EASTER CARTOON

This Silly Symphony cartoon from the Disney Studios was made in 1934. These funny bunnies are busy decorating eggs. You get the idea.

TV OF TOMORROW!

Here's "TV of Tomorrow," directed by the great Tex Avery in 1953.

Tex Avery, pointing his finger.

THE SHANTY WHERE SANTY CLAUS LIVES (1933)

A Hugh Harmon-Rudy Ising Merrie Melodies in which a poor boy visits the North Pole and sees the toys come to life. Yes, this is a true story, kids. Great animation unfortunately includes some blackface stereotypes not uncommon in the period (1933), but apart from that contains jaunty musical numbers and a wonderful Santy Claus.

WHAT...NO SPINACH!?!

Unpublished Fleischer drawing from 1936. Click to enlarge.

Golden Age Comic Book Stories has a lot of great preliminary drawings from the good old days of comics. Check it out. http://goldenagecomicbookstories.blogspot.com/

KARTOON KORNER

Krazy Kat, a classic cartoon from the great George Herriman (1880-1944)


Click to enlarge