Classic Theatrical Cartoons

We've seen threads dedicated to specific studios and their characters, but it strikes me that we've never had one that was a catch-all for all the theatrical cartoons of the "classical" era. The parameters here are that the cartoon has to have been made to be initially shown in movie theaters, and it has to be from before 1970 (so, great as they are, no Pixar shorts or any of the recent Disney shorts; they have their own thread anyway). Feel free to discuss Disney, Warner Bros, Universal, Famous Studios, Terry Toons, George Pal, Fleischer Bros. From Winsor Mc Kay to the Pink Panther, and whatever else you can think of.

My favorites are the Warner Bros. and Fleischer cartoons. Wonderful stuff!

This article should interest some of you - it's all about the use of commercial recordings on the soundtrack to classic Fleischer and Iwerks cartoons.

For an example, take the best part of the 1935 Fleischer cartoon The Kids in the Shoe, the upbeat version of "Mama Don't Allow" about 4 minutes in:

Compare with this 78 rpm record of the tune by Smiley Burnette... and you'll see it's the exact same rendition.

Funny thing, this week I have watched all of the theatrical Superman shorts.

While watching the ones I use to see on Cartoon Network from time to time, I watched some shorts that hardly aired. Two of which caught my attention:

• Japoteurs reminds me how delightfully racists the Golden Age of Cartoons were. Seriously the title alone is major red flag and the main villain is a yellow faced Japanese with buck teeth and speaks in broken English. I'm honestly surprise Superman didn't went to full Superdickery mode and called one of the guys "Pieface" or some other racist term like Bugs Bunny in that one cartoon. So yeah I like it for all the ridiculous War Propaganda it is trying to sell.
• The Underground World makes me think it should of been a crossover with Hawkman. I mean seriously, a society of bird like people living in a secluded area? Makes me think of the time Hawkman encounters the bird people of Featheria back in the Golden Age of Comics.

If you use freeze-frame when Perry White is burning Lois's write-up at the end of "The Underground World" you'll see that it is an actual transcription of the events of the cartoon, written up like a news story. The level of detail in the Fleischer Superman shorts is amazing.

What'd you think of ''The Eleventh Hour," where Clark and Lois are actually trapped in wartime Japan? Or the Native American antagonist of "The Electric Earthquake?"

Oh, and there's a point in "The Magnetic Telescope" where some citizens duck into a subway tunnel to get out of the way of the meteor (or whatever), and you can see the word "Batman" pretty clearly on a poster behind them.

edited 20th Oct '16 5:03:01 PM by Robbery

Hmmmm....

I can only imagine how the Fleischer Bros and Paramount would have done a Batman theatrical cartoon short series.

Electric Earthquake was an interesting subversion as usually Native American villains of the time are usually Zerg Rushing savages who wear stereotypical garb. Here the villain was essential Lex Luthor in Indian form. So I really enjoy it.

As for Eleventh Hour it was a lot better than the the Japoteur short as it dials back on the stereotypes and gave an interesting side plot of Clark and Lois being prisoners of war. It's ironic though in that other short its presented as a bad thing for the Japanese to sabotage US weapons, but here when American hero Superman does that to the Japanese is good and heroic. It's a war propaganda Cartoon, what did I expect.

Also interesting Easter eggs. I should check out the shorts again to look for them.

Well, of course. It's an American cartoon, with an American perspective, produced when the US was at war with Japan, in a time when "rah rah for us" was accepted without much irony. To expect anything else would be kind of ridiculous.

In regards to "The Electric Earthquake," I can't think of any other instances, even to this day, of a Native American mad scientist. My favorite villain is still the tuxedoed mastermind from "The Mechanical Monsters." You just came away wondering what the guy's story was.

I've heard it said that Superman went from leaping to flying for the cartoons, because the Fleischers told DC that animating Superman leaping looked kinda silly. Still, even when he's out-and-out flying, he still has the appearance of hurling himself through the air. He never just takes off, either; he has to jump to launch himself. One gets the impression that they were splitting the difference. All through the years when Siegel and Shuster were in charge of the studio producing Superman comics (most often drawn by John Sikela) , even after he was officially flying, they always made him look like there was considerable effort behind the flight, less like he was swimming through the air than hurling himself through it.