The Office Boy

As I've already said in a previous post, the Ub Iwerks studio produced during the Thirties some cartoons filled with naughty gags. One of the best examples (and, in my opinion, one of the best Flip cartoons) is "The Office Boy" (1932).
In this cartoon, Flip the Frog gets a job as an office boy (of course...). While doing his work, Flip flirts with a (beautifully animated) secretary who works in the same office. After dancing with her, Flip tries to get rid of a mischievous mouse, with disastrous consequences, and in the end Flip is fired by his boss.
In this naughty pre-Code cartoon, there's space for lots of sexual gags, and in one scene we even see an on-screen toilet.

Cartoon of the Month: "Scrap Happy Daffy"

This month's cartoon is Frank Tashlin's WWII classic "Scrap Happy Daffy", which is, in my opinion, one of the best WWII-themed WB cartoons, as well as one of the greatest examples of Tashlin's directorial skills.
For this reason, I think it would have made a nice addition to the already excellent Tashlin disc featured in this year's Looney Tunes Golden Collection. If the inclusion of a future wartime disc would be planned, I'd love to see this cartoon on it!
And now, on to the cartoon itself!
(By the way, the one to post the exact lines of the first song number, with all the names of the objects that Daffy mentions at a speeded voice, will win the Rock of Gibraltar delivered personally by my friend Duck Dodgers! :P)

Scrap Happy Daffy
Uploaded by LanceMurdock

Brought to you by
mmm...donuts

Disturbing Cartoons: "Cocky Cockroach"

A recent post by the great Milton Knight in an animation forum gave me the idea to make a series of posts devoted to disturbing cartoons.
Here's some disturbing screenshots from "Cocky Cockroach", a 1932 Terrytoon.
Near the end, the hero, to save his girl, kills a spider with a sword.
The sword goes right trough his heart!!
Then we can see the bloodied sword as he gets rid of the villain's body!
Enjoy ( if this can be considered a pleasure...)



















"Oh Yes. Let's celebrate the bloody death that I caused with an hot kiss!" ( Disgusting, isn't it?)




A Duck Dodgers Post

Big Bad Week- Act III

Time for a Paul Murry story, from WDC&Ss 78!










Best,

Andrea

The Frog Pond

Here's another rare Ub Iwerks cartoon: The Frog Pond was released on 12th August 1938, and it's one of 14 Color Rhapsody cartoons made by Iwerks for Columbia/Charles Mintz studio. After the loss of distribution contracts with MGM and Celebrity Productions, and the departure of a major part of his crew, Iwerks has lost his status of the independent producer, and he was forced to find some other ways to make a living. First, he was subcontracted by Leon Schlesinger to produce some Looney Tunes. Only two cartoons were made from this arrangement: Porky and Gabby and Porky's Super Service. Despite carrying the credit "Supervised by Ub Iwerks", these two cartoons were in fact co-directed by Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones.



A contract with Charles Mintz of Columbia (later Screen Gems) studio has proved to be more successful and lasting. Iwerks was responsible for the half of Color Rhapsodies produced from 1937 to 1940. These cartoons were made at Iwerks' new studio at Santa Monica Boulevard, and it's interesting to notice how these cartoons weren't much different from the ones produced by Columbia/Mintz. Two artists most responsible for the particular look and character design of Iwerks cartoons from the first half of '30s were Grim Natwick and Berny Wolf. Without them, Iwerks has lost lot of his distinctiveness. His cartoons for Columbia are still quite good and well done. Some of the very best are Skeleton Frolic, (a remake of Disney/Iwerks classic "The Skeleton Dance"), Midnight Frolics, and Merry Mannequins (a striking art-deco inspired cartoon).

The crew who worked on these cartoons is a complete mystery to me. These cartoons are not carrying any credits, so we can only guess who were the artists. The only certain name is composer Joe DeNat who wrote the music for all Columbia cartoons at that time. Paul Etcheverry has identified one of the animators on "The Frog Pond" as Irv Spence.

So, enough with the talk, here are the screenshots.
And don't forget, for all your Ub Iwerks-related questions and needs, go straight to Bruce's Understanding Animation blog .
I'm planning to make a post about one more Iwerks cartoon this week, and it will be a rarely seen and extremely politically incorrect Flip the Frog cartoon.