Opening Remarks

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 .