There are some issues with having an objective view of all cartoons from 1939. Primary among these is exposure. Various sets of cartoons have had differing levels of exposure through the years, and there may be a tendency to overvalue (or possibly undervalue) familiar cartoons compared to new to the viewer cartoons. I was born n the mid-'70s, and grew up mostly in the Detroit television market. Consequently, I have no recollection of ever seeing a Columbia Screen Gems cartoon as a kid. I remember seeing Terrytoons, but I'm not sure I saw any from 1939; Gandy Goose and Sourpuss were not very familiar to me from my childhood, and the bias against black and white cartoons was apparently common for programmers at the time (tho I remember black and white Disney, WB, and especially Fleischer cartoons). I'll see if any Terrytoons feel familiar in the viewing. Fleischer, WB, Disney and Lantz all had a good deal of exposure for me in my youth, although Lantz may suffer for most of the year as they made a full switch to color late in the year, and the anti-black and white bias was in effect for those programmers as well.
An objective view won't alter things like synopses or data, but it may impact my perceptions and thus my comments. There's a larger issue of the era being less familiar to me than cartoons from just a few years later, as well, but that should at least affect the studios more across the board. By the end of the year, these issues of general familiarity will hopefully be long gone. And with a little luck, this blog will help increase familiarity with 1939 cartoons among a wider audience than simply myself.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Thad Komorowski for helping me gain access to many of the cartoons I'll be looking at in this blog. Visit his site at http://thadkomorowski.com .
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Old Acquaintance, Brought to Mind
They say 1939 was Hollywood's golden year. What about cartoons?
Using Of Mice and Magic's (1980) filmographies (and assuming Hollywood to mean major US studios' cartoons in general), here are the basic numbers:
Disney: 13 shorts
Fleischer: 18 (plus the feature Gulliver's Travels)
Terrytoons: 26
Lantz: 20
Columbia: 23
WB: 44
MGM: 14
So, 158 shorts in total. A somewhat daunting pack of cartoons, but probably viewable in a single 24 hour span if you had to. Or one a day for 5-6 months. Or one a week for three years.
I do not plan on viewing them in a single 24 hour span. At least not anytime soon. Maybe when it's over. I do plan on watching them. In their stated release order. And then posting a synopsis, my comments, and screenshots of each of them as I go through them. I'll be shooting for finishing by a year from now, New Year's Eve 2010. It's a reasonable goal, but I'm not going to lose sleep if I don't make that date. If I get too far ahead I might start holding back posts tho. I will have some posts relating to non-cartoons in 1939.
About a quarter of these cartoons are available commercially on in print DVDs. I will have access to most of the rest shortly (and won't actually start until I have those in hand). However, the Terrytoon released July 28th, The Old Fire Horse, is not available to me at this time, and I have been unable to find confirmation that it still exists. If you can confirm its existence, or better yet can provide me access to it, leave a comment. At the end of this post is the list I'll be using. Comments correcting the list are welcome (keeping in mind that obvious spelling errors and lack of "the" are likely to be corrected without your help). If you can provide me with other 1939 cartoons (foreign, ads), I'd be happy to include a few, but they're outside the primary focus of this blog.
Have a joyous 1939 everyone.
01/07/39 W The Lone Stranger and Porky
01/09/39 L Soup to Mutts
01/13/39 C Scrappy's Added Attraction
01/13/39 D Donald's Lucky Day
01/13/39 T THE OWL and THE PUSSYCAT
01/14/39 M Petunia Natural Park
01/14/39 W Dog Gone Modern
01/23/39 L I'm Just a Jitterbug
01/26/39 C Peaceful Neighbors
01/26/39 F Always Kickin' 600d6
01/27/39 C Krazy's Bear Tale
01/27/39 F Customers Wanted
01/27/39 F My Friend The Monkey
01/27/39 T ONE GUN GARY (IN NICK OF TIME?)
01/28/39 M Seal Skinners
01/28/39 W Hamateur Night
01/28/39 W It's an Ill Wind
02/03/39 D Society Dog Show
02/10/39 T THE THREE BEARS
02/11/39 M Mama's New Hat
02/11/39 W Robin Hood Makes Good
02/13/39 L The Magic Beans
02/18/39 W Porky's Tire Trouble
02/24/39 C The Gorilla Hunt
02/24/39 D Practical Pig, The
02/24/39 T FROZEN FEET
02/25/39 M Jitterbug Follies
02/25/39 W Gold Rush Daze
02/27/39 L The Birth of a Toothpick
03/03/39 C Scrappy's Side Show
03/10/39 T G-MAN JITTERS
03/11/39 W A Day at the Zoo
03/11/39 W Porky's Movie Mystery
03/13/39 L Little Tough Mice
03/17/39 D Goofy and Wilbur
03/18/39 M Wanted: No Master
03/24/39 T THE NUTTY NETWORK
03/25/39 W Prest-o Change-o
03/27/39 L The One-Armed Bandit
03/31/39 C Happy Tots
03/31/39 F So Does An Automobile (NY/MIAMI CROSSOVER?)
04/06/39 C Golf Chumps
04/07/39 D Ugly Duckling, The
04/07/39 F Aladdin And His Wonderful Lamp
04/07/39 T THE CUCKOO BIRD
04/08/39 W Bars and Stripes Forever
04/10/39 L The Crackpot Cruise
04/14/39 C The House That Jack Built
04/15/39 M The Little Goldfish
04/21/39 F Small Fry
04/21/39 T THEIR LAST BEAN
04/22/39 W Chicken Jitters
04/22/39 W Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur
04/24/39 L Charlie Cuckoo
04/28/39 C A Worm's Eye View
04/28/39 D Hockey Champ
04/28/39 F Leave Well Enough Alone
05/01/39 W Porky and Teabiscuit
05/05/39 T BARNYARD EGG-CITEMENT
05/06/39 W Thugs With Dirty Mugs
05/08/39 L Nellie of the Circus
05/12/39 C Krazy's Show Shop
05/12/39 F Musical Mountaineers
05/13/39 M Art Galley (GALLERY?)
05/13/39 W Kristopher Kolombus Jr.
05/19/39 D Donald's Cousin Gus
05/19/39 F Wotta Nitemare
05/19/39 T NICK'S COFFEE POT
05/20/39 W Naughty But Mice
05/26/39 C Lucky Pigs
05/28/39 L Bola Mola Land
06/02/39 C Scrappy's Rodeo
06/02/39 T THE PRIZE GUEST
06/03/39 W Believe it, or Else
06/03/39 W Polar Pals
06/09/39 D Beach Picnic
06/09/39 F The Scared Crows
06/10/39 M The Bear That Couldn't Sleep
06/14/39 F Ghosks Is The Bunk
06/15/39 M Goldilocks and the Three Bears
06/16/39 T A BULLY ROMANCE
06/17/39 W Hobo Gadget Band
06/19/39 L The Bird On Nellie's Hat
06/24/39 W Scalp Trouble
06/30/39 C Nell's Yells
06/30/39 D Sea Scouts
06/30/39 F Barnyard Brat
06/30/39 T AFRICA SQUAWKS
07/01/39 W Old Glory
07/03/39 L Stubborn Mule
07/07/39 F Rhythm On The Reservation
07/14/39 F Hello How Am I
07/14/39 T BARNYARD BASEBALL
07/15/39 W Porky's Picnic
07/15/39 W The Dangerous Dan McFoo
07/21/39 D Pointer
07/28/39 C Hollywood Sweepstakes
07/28/39 T Old Fire Horse (MISSING?)
07/29/39 W Snow Man's Land
07/30/39 F It's The Natural Thing To Do
07/31/39 L Arabs with Dirty Fezzes
08/05/39 W Wise Quacks
08/07/39 L Snuffy's Party SNUFFY SKUNK'S PARTY
08/11/39 C Jitterbug Knights
08/11/39 D Donald's Penguin
08/11/39 F Yip Yip Yippy
08/11/39 T THE TWO-HEADED GIANT
08/12/39 W Hare-Um Scare-Um
08/21/39 L Slap Happy Valley
08/25/39 T THE GOLDEN WEST
08/25/39 W Detouring America
08/26/39 M The Bookworm
08/28/39 L Silly Superstition
09/01/39 C Charm Braclet
09/01/39 D Autograph Hound
09/02/39 W Little Brother Rat
09/02/39 W Porky's Hotel
09/04/39 L A-Haunting We Will Go
09/09/39 L Life Begins for Andy Panda
09/09/39 W Sioux Me
09/22/39 C Crop Chasers
09/22/39 T SHEEP IN THE MEADOW
09/23/39 W Jeepers Creepers
09/23/39 W Land of the Midnight Fun
09/28/39 T HOOK, LINE & SINKER
09/29/39 F The Fresh Vegetable Mystery
09/30/39 M One Mother's Family
10/06/39 C Little Lost Sheep
10/06/39 T THE ORPHAN DUCK
10/07/39 W Little Lion Hunter
10/10/39 D Officer Duck
10/20/39 C Dreams On Ice
10/20/39 T THE WATCHDOG
10/21/39 W The Good Egg
10/28/39 M The Blue Danube
11/03/39 C Mountain Ears
11/03/39 F Never Sock A Baby
11/03/39 T ONE MOUSE IN A MILLION
11/04/39 W Fresh Fish
11/04/39 W Naughty Neighbors
11/04/39 W Pied Piper Porky
11/17/39 T A WICKY-WACKY ROMANCE
11/18/39 W Fagin's Freshman
11/18/39 W Porky the Giant Killer
11/20/39 L Scrambled Eggs
11/24/39 C Millionaire Hobo
12/01/39 T THE HITCHHIKER
12/02/39 W Sniffles and the Bookworm
12/04/39 L The Sleeping Princess
12/09/39 M Peace On Earth
12/15/39 T THE ICE POND
12/16/39 W Screwball Football
12/16/39 W The Film Fan
12/18/39 C Mother Goose In Swingtime
12/22/39 C Park Your Baby
12/22/39 F Gulliver's Travels (NOT A SHORT)
12/29/39 T THE FIRST ROBIN
12/30/09 M The Mad Maestro
12/30/39 W The Curious Puppy
Using Of Mice and Magic's (1980) filmographies (and assuming Hollywood to mean major US studios' cartoons in general), here are the basic numbers:
Disney: 13 shorts
Fleischer: 18 (plus the feature Gulliver's Travels)
Terrytoons: 26
Lantz: 20
Columbia: 23
WB: 44
MGM: 14
So, 158 shorts in total. A somewhat daunting pack of cartoons, but probably viewable in a single 24 hour span if you had to. Or one a day for 5-6 months. Or one a week for three years.
I do not plan on viewing them in a single 24 hour span. At least not anytime soon. Maybe when it's over. I do plan on watching them. In their stated release order. And then posting a synopsis, my comments, and screenshots of each of them as I go through them. I'll be shooting for finishing by a year from now, New Year's Eve 2010. It's a reasonable goal, but I'm not going to lose sleep if I don't make that date. If I get too far ahead I might start holding back posts tho. I will have some posts relating to non-cartoons in 1939.
About a quarter of these cartoons are available commercially on in print DVDs. I will have access to most of the rest shortly (and won't actually start until I have those in hand). However, the Terrytoon released July 28th, The Old Fire Horse, is not available to me at this time, and I have been unable to find confirmation that it still exists. If you can confirm its existence, or better yet can provide me access to it, leave a comment. At the end of this post is the list I'll be using. Comments correcting the list are welcome (keeping in mind that obvious spelling errors and lack of "the" are likely to be corrected without your help). If you can provide me with other 1939 cartoons (foreign, ads), I'd be happy to include a few, but they're outside the primary focus of this blog.
Have a joyous 1939 everyone.
01/07/39 W The Lone Stranger and Porky
01/09/39 L Soup to Mutts
01/13/39 C Scrappy's Added Attraction
01/13/39 D Donald's Lucky Day
01/13/39 T THE OWL and THE PUSSYCAT
01/14/39 M Petunia Natural Park
01/14/39 W Dog Gone Modern
01/23/39 L I'm Just a Jitterbug
01/26/39 C Peaceful Neighbors
01/26/39 F Always Kickin' 600d6
01/27/39 C Krazy's Bear Tale
01/27/39 F Customers Wanted
01/27/39 F My Friend The Monkey
01/27/39 T ONE GUN GARY (IN NICK OF TIME?)
01/28/39 M Seal Skinners
01/28/39 W Hamateur Night
01/28/39 W It's an Ill Wind
02/03/39 D Society Dog Show
02/10/39 T THE THREE BEARS
02/11/39 M Mama's New Hat
02/11/39 W Robin Hood Makes Good
02/13/39 L The Magic Beans
02/18/39 W Porky's Tire Trouble
02/24/39 C The Gorilla Hunt
02/24/39 D Practical Pig, The
02/24/39 T FROZEN FEET
02/25/39 M Jitterbug Follies
02/25/39 W Gold Rush Daze
02/27/39 L The Birth of a Toothpick
03/03/39 C Scrappy's Side Show
03/10/39 T G-MAN JITTERS
03/11/39 W A Day at the Zoo
03/11/39 W Porky's Movie Mystery
03/13/39 L Little Tough Mice
03/17/39 D Goofy and Wilbur
03/18/39 M Wanted: No Master
03/24/39 T THE NUTTY NETWORK
03/25/39 W Prest-o Change-o
03/27/39 L The One-Armed Bandit
03/31/39 C Happy Tots
03/31/39 F So Does An Automobile (NY/MIAMI CROSSOVER?)
04/06/39 C Golf Chumps
04/07/39 D Ugly Duckling, The
04/07/39 F Aladdin And His Wonderful Lamp
04/07/39 T THE CUCKOO BIRD
04/08/39 W Bars and Stripes Forever
04/10/39 L The Crackpot Cruise
04/14/39 C The House That Jack Built
04/15/39 M The Little Goldfish
04/21/39 F Small Fry
04/21/39 T THEIR LAST BEAN
04/22/39 W Chicken Jitters
04/22/39 W Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur
04/24/39 L Charlie Cuckoo
04/28/39 C A Worm's Eye View
04/28/39 D Hockey Champ
04/28/39 F Leave Well Enough Alone
05/01/39 W Porky and Teabiscuit
05/05/39 T BARNYARD EGG-CITEMENT
05/06/39 W Thugs With Dirty Mugs
05/08/39 L Nellie of the Circus
05/12/39 C Krazy's Show Shop
05/12/39 F Musical Mountaineers
05/13/39 M Art Galley (GALLERY?)
05/13/39 W Kristopher Kolombus Jr.
05/19/39 D Donald's Cousin Gus
05/19/39 F Wotta Nitemare
05/19/39 T NICK'S COFFEE POT
05/20/39 W Naughty But Mice
05/26/39 C Lucky Pigs
05/28/39 L Bola Mola Land
06/02/39 C Scrappy's Rodeo
06/02/39 T THE PRIZE GUEST
06/03/39 W Believe it, or Else
06/03/39 W Polar Pals
06/09/39 D Beach Picnic
06/09/39 F The Scared Crows
06/10/39 M The Bear That Couldn't Sleep
06/14/39 F Ghosks Is The Bunk
06/15/39 M Goldilocks and the Three Bears
06/16/39 T A BULLY ROMANCE
06/17/39 W Hobo Gadget Band
06/19/39 L The Bird On Nellie's Hat
06/24/39 W Scalp Trouble
06/30/39 C Nell's Yells
06/30/39 D Sea Scouts
06/30/39 F Barnyard Brat
06/30/39 T AFRICA SQUAWKS
07/01/39 W Old Glory
07/03/39 L Stubborn Mule
07/07/39 F Rhythm On The Reservation
07/14/39 F Hello How Am I
07/14/39 T BARNYARD BASEBALL
07/15/39 W Porky's Picnic
07/15/39 W The Dangerous Dan McFoo
07/21/39 D Pointer
07/28/39 C Hollywood Sweepstakes
07/28/39 T Old Fire Horse (MISSING?)
07/29/39 W Snow Man's Land
07/30/39 F It's The Natural Thing To Do
07/31/39 L Arabs with Dirty Fezzes
08/05/39 W Wise Quacks
08/07/39 L Snuffy's Party SNUFFY SKUNK'S PARTY
08/11/39 C Jitterbug Knights
08/11/39 D Donald's Penguin
08/11/39 F Yip Yip Yippy
08/11/39 T THE TWO-HEADED GIANT
08/12/39 W Hare-Um Scare-Um
08/21/39 L Slap Happy Valley
08/25/39 T THE GOLDEN WEST
08/25/39 W Detouring America
08/26/39 M The Bookworm
08/28/39 L Silly Superstition
09/01/39 C Charm Braclet
09/01/39 D Autograph Hound
09/02/39 W Little Brother Rat
09/02/39 W Porky's Hotel
09/04/39 L A-Haunting We Will Go
09/09/39 L Life Begins for Andy Panda
09/09/39 W Sioux Me
09/22/39 C Crop Chasers
09/22/39 T SHEEP IN THE MEADOW
09/23/39 W Jeepers Creepers
09/23/39 W Land of the Midnight Fun
09/28/39 T HOOK, LINE & SINKER
09/29/39 F The Fresh Vegetable Mystery
09/30/39 M One Mother's Family
10/06/39 C Little Lost Sheep
10/06/39 T THE ORPHAN DUCK
10/07/39 W Little Lion Hunter
10/10/39 D Officer Duck
10/20/39 C Dreams On Ice
10/20/39 T THE WATCHDOG
10/21/39 W The Good Egg
10/28/39 M The Blue Danube
11/03/39 C Mountain Ears
11/03/39 F Never Sock A Baby
11/03/39 T ONE MOUSE IN A MILLION
11/04/39 W Fresh Fish
11/04/39 W Naughty Neighbors
11/04/39 W Pied Piper Porky
11/17/39 T A WICKY-WACKY ROMANCE
11/18/39 W Fagin's Freshman
11/18/39 W Porky the Giant Killer
11/20/39 L Scrambled Eggs
11/24/39 C Millionaire Hobo
12/01/39 T THE HITCHHIKER
12/02/39 W Sniffles and the Bookworm
12/04/39 L The Sleeping Princess
12/09/39 M Peace On Earth
12/15/39 T THE ICE POND
12/16/39 W Screwball Football
12/16/39 W The Film Fan
12/18/39 C Mother Goose In Swingtime
12/22/39 C Park Your Baby
12/22/39 F Gulliver's Travels (NOT A SHORT)
12/29/39 T THE FIRST ROBIN
12/30/09 M The Mad Maestro
12/30/39 W The Curious Puppy
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