Saturday, June 26, 2010

BoxOffice, June 24, 2010

http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_062439


p5: Releases to suck in the summer

p10 Disney mention in RKO ad

Jack Benny Man About Town pp7, 17-20

p21 RKO story (internally inconsistent regarding number of Disney shorts)
"RKO will have 14 top bracket pictures for 1939-40. This is exclusive of 'Pinocchio,' the second Walt Disney feature cartoon, and 'The Ramparts We Watch,' the initial March of Time feature, both of which will be sold separately.
...
Almost two years in the making, 'Pinocchio' will be released around the Christmas holidays.
...
Donald Duck in 12 of 14
Of the 14 Disney shorts now in production, 12 will star Donald Duck, it was stated.
...
The Shorts Lineup
...
An undetermined number of Walt Disney cartoons and March of Times subjects."

p34
Pinocchio signing
They apparently did a funny version at a convention.



"Ned E. Depinet, RKO vice-president in charge of distribution, and Roy DIsney, general manager of Walt Disney Enterprises, look on, all smiles, as George J. Schaefer, RKO president, and Gordon E. Youngman, attorey for the company, sign the contract for the distribution of DIsney's second animated feature, "Pinocchio." The event took place befoe the opening of the convention, but at the sessions at Rye. Depinet and Disney celebrated by staging a mock signing for the beneft of the delegates. Which created no end of laughs."

p36
Apparently, a print for a feature cost $2,045 (but that could have included attorney's fees, consequential damages, etc.).

p38
"Dismiss Philly Suit
Against 'Fantasia'
Philadelphia - Judge Joseph L. Kun has dismissed the suit seeking to prevent Leopold Stokowski and Walt Disney from producing the motion picture 'Fantasia.'
Mark Tutelman, local advertising man, sought the restraining order on the ground he originated the plan for synchronizing classical music with animated cartoons that would depict the story of the musical composition."

p38B
Review of She Married a Cop (no mention of the animation)

p38D
Kleckner to Jam Handy
Detroit - Joseph B. Kleckner has joined Jam Handy, animated cartoon makers, in an executive capacity. Until recently, he was president of Motiograph, Inc.

p74
"Now in Cartoons -
Producer Leon Schlesinger presents the initial print of America's first patriotic animated cartoon, 'Old Glory,' to William L. Wilson, California Department Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The one-reel Technicolor subject, for Warner release, will be sponsored by the VFW for screenings throughout the United States beginning July 4."
Did the VFW partially pay for the prints of Old Glory, or were they just working as the street team to pimp it to their grandkids?


p78 on RKO sales convention

"The Walt Disney output of cartoons for the 1939-40 season was the subject up for discussion by Roy Disney, who headed for New York accompanied by Gunther Lessing, a Disney executive."

p109 MIami
"DOwn here for produciton conferences with officials of the Fleischer Studios, is Dick Murray from the New York Paramount offices... "

p121 Ad for BoxOffice itself is a reduction of a shorts review page with Little Hiawatha and Porky and Gabby on it, from July 11, 1937.

p133 "Polar Pals
Vitaphone (Looney Tunes) 7 Mins.
Porky lives at the North Pole and is the protector of all the iceland animals living there. When a hunter comes along, Porky drives the villain away and becomes a hero to his animal pals. The cartoon is average for humor content."

p137
Letting kids in for "free" for two magazines in Detroit at the Rainbow Theatre to see a "number of special shorts" was designed to get them to stick around and pay for the regular matinee.

Friday, June 25, 2010

084 Scalp Trouble



Title: Scalp Trouble
Studio: Warner Bros.
Date: 6/24/39
Credits:
Supervision
Robert Clampett
Animation
Norman McCabe
Story by
Ernest Gee
Musical Direction
Carl W. Stalling
Series: Looney Tunes
Running time (of viewed version): 6:58

Synopsis: Daffy is a military commander involved in manifest destiny.






















Comments: While a sign says no dogs around post, the sentry (along with most of the rest of the troops) is a dog man. General Daffy Duck's scabbard is a bit sausagey. Daffy in a position of authority. Reuse of gun spitting gag, which then is more literally turned into duck spitting bullets. One of the Indians sounds like Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. Yanks beat Indians is a baseball reference, of course. There's an opening sequence of backgrounds, common in these Clampetts. Yet another shadow shot. Hotel ritz towel loin cloth. This is an especially ugly copy.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Popular Science, June 1939

Popular Science, June 1939

http://www.popsci.com/archive-viewer?id=PCkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=80&query=cartoon+1939

Here we have a piece on stop motion animation. The piece is more or less entirely silent on what it is actually about. However, Thunderbean Animation's new DVD "Stop Motion Marvels" contains a later cartoon with the hedgehog character in it, which lets me know the character is named Mecki, and the maker was named Gebruder Diehl.






Most of the material I can find on Diehl is not in English, and I am uncertain exactly when the pictured film would have come out; my assumption was it was The Hare and The Hedgehog, but I can see dates from 1937, 1938 and 1939 for the release of that film. Perhaps it was released in 1939 in the US (in what form, I don't know; I can't find a release notice in an online search of BoxOffice); not much of a publicity machine if they can't even associate the name of the cartoon with the piece.

You can see a non-English documentary on Diehl at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElFaAdmKqyY and find many links on the side to his work.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

083 The Bird On Nellie's Hat




Title: The Bird On Nellie's Hat (Castle print retitled Runaway Choo Choo)
Studio: Walter Lantz
Date: 6/19/39
Credits:
Director ... Alex Lovy
Story ... Victor McLeod / James Miele
Music... Frank Marsales
Animators ... George Grandpre / Hicks Lokey
Series: Mello-Drama
Running time (of viewed version): 6:48

Synopsis: Ratbone ties Nellie to the railroad tracks after she flirts with her body and blackens his eye when he tries to park; blacksmith Dan is alerted to her plight by the living bird stapled to her hat and saves her.


















Comments: I note that the Castle retitle carries a 1953 copyright on it; the PD DVD/VHS companies who retitle their things and add a new copyright weren't the first set of people to try their hand at that, I see. The opening sequence with Dan and the horse feels similar to Ren and Stimpy in some way I can't quite identify (slack jawed and lots of eye stuff, maybe). Ratbone has 5 fingers in at least one scene, four in others. Carrying the horse is funny. The train ripping apart is kinda good. Nellie uses a very small amount of ankle to tempt Ratbone. Nellie displays her trademark tongue. Dan looks like an alien insect at the end.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

BoxOffice, June 17, 1939

http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_061739

p9
"RKO's short subject program of 13 March of TIme reels, 18 Walt Disney Subjects, 39 singles and 24 doubles will continue without change, conventioneers will be informed Tuesday when the 1939-40 product announcement is made at the Westchester Country Club, Rye.
...
Roy Disney and Hal Horne of Disney Productions will attend."


ad mentioning Lantz, p17

p26
"Cupid Over Miami
Miami - This city appears to be a mating ground for Max Fleischer's personnel since he moved his production facilities from New York.
Since production of "Gulliver's Travels" got under way there have been at least six marriages and a number of others have filed intentions to wed.
One marriage which gained considerable publicity was that of Jack Mercer (Popeye) and Margie Hines (Olive Oyl)."

p29: photo of RKO and DIsney people, including Gunther Lessing, Roy Disney, William Levy, W. B. Feignoux, Kay Kamen, and Hal Horne.



p30: list of Disney people at RKO meeting

p30A:
Regarding Paramount's production budget:
"... 13 single reel shorts are being lopped odd the new schedule and the money heretofore allocated to this group of brevities now is tacked on to the feature lineup.
...
Max Fleischer is concentrating his short subject production on 12 Popeyes in addition to "Gulliver's Travels," cartoon comedy feature being animated in Miami."

30h
"To Talk 'Snow White' Deal WIth Soviet Interest
New York - Reginald Armour, Continental European RKO manager, plans to visit Russia in the fall with the purpose of selling "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" to the Soviet. The price offered by Russia has been too low so far, according to Armour."

p31
"The national labor relations board has set July 10 as the hearing date on the Screen Cartoon Guild's request to be designated bargaining agent for cartoonists at M-G-M. Screen Publicists Guild and producer negotiating committees are still deadlocked over terms of a proposed working code."

p31
"Quimby Closes Caroton Studio Until July 5
Metro's cartoon studio, under the supervision of Fred Quimby, will shut down for a vacation from June 17 to July 5, to permit extensive alterations and additions to be made to handle the new season's output. Deliveries are now being made at the rate of one release every three weeks. The Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising story units, however, will remain open. "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is rapidly being completed for release."

p35: note, "yclept" is an actual if archaic word, meaning "going by the name of".
"A noteworthy and highly commendable contribution to Hollywood's still unofficial Americanization campaign is the 'Merrie Melodie' yclept 'Old Glory' which Producer Leon Schlesinger has rushed to completion for a July 4 release by Warner. Filmed in Technicolor, masterfully animated and edited, and treated to an exceptionally stirring musical score, this nine minutes of light, but topnotch, entertainment can conceivably accomplish more in impressing Americans - particularly the younger generations - with their many democratic advantages than some of the feature-length, more ponderous and provocative documents undertaking comparable preachments.
It is the first cartoon devoted to the currently popular production pastime of selling America and its benefits to her own citizens, and clearly indicates that more of its ilk would not be amiss; particularly in view of the fact that Metro has shelved plans for the production of Sinclair Lewis' 'It Can't Happen Here,' that Warner might similarly treat 'Boycott,' 'Underground' and 'The Bishop Who Walked With God,' all four of which have been acclaimed as formidable broadsides in the Americanization campaign."

p37 "Walter Bradfield of Paramount's publicity staff goes to Miami, June 21. He'll spend four months there handling the campaign on the new feature-length cartoon being produced by Max Fleischer..."

p44 Milwaukee: "Tommy Tucker, sound man who has lent his imitations to many Walt Disney 'Silly Symphonies,' was a local visitor"

p82
"Two Miamians Win Roles In "Gulliver's Travels"
Miami - Awarding of two roles in "Gulliver's Travels," the full-length, all color feature being produced in the Miami studios of the Fleischer organization, is announced. The title role goes to Sam Parker, announcer on the local radio station WIOD. He will serve both as the model and the voice for the adventurous sailor.
Sam, whose brief career has included service in China when Chang-Kai-Shek was engaged in his work of consolidation, is the subject of considerable good-natured ribbing from his friends who observe that he came south in search of pearls. (He had planned to join a Pacific-bound pearl-diving expedition; had come to Miami for that purpose. Then, when the expedition failed to materialize, joined the staff of WIOD. That was three years ago.) He was selected out of a field of 500 applicants.
The other casting announced is of another Miamian, now in New York, Lovey Warren. Not only a dancer but a producer of stage shows as well. Lovey made her last appearance here when she directed the chorus and the stage show at the Royal Palm Club last season. Like Sam, she will serve as both the model and the speaking voice of the role for which she has been selected, 'Princess Glory.'"

p93
"Old Glory
Vitaphone (Merrie Melody) 7 Mins.
Probably the first animated capsule of Americanism handled in a manner which will make exhibitors wonder why they have to pay for it. It's strictly flag waving and has only bits of fine cartoon work to recommend it. Porky Pig gives up trying to memorize the Pledge of Allegiance. He falls asleep over his history book and Uncle Sam explains to him how American won its freedom. A fine drawing of Lincoln climaxes the reel."

Yes, American with an N in the second to last sentence.
The political wing of the mag apparently did not control the short reviewer (see p35).

p96 "Mickey Mouse Club is Strong After 7 Years
Miami - Seven years after the establishment of Miami's first Mickey Mouse Club at the Biltmore Theatre (also, incidentally, the first such club in the south), Wometco theatres and the Miami Daily News are still holding the interest and membership of some 10,000 Miami children.
Gordon Spradler, the present Mickey Mouse co-ordinator for the activities of these clubs in the five Wometco neighborhood theatres, is "recuperating" from the annual talent tournament of club members, held this year at the new Strand. Twenty representatives from the clubs at the Tower, Grove, Rosetta, Strand and Biltmore clubs sang, danced, mimiced and stunted on this gala Saturday afternoon program. An entire page layout was given over to pictures in the audience and performers in the Daily News rotogravure section.
What happens to Mickey Mousers when they grow up is most brilliantly illustrated by Bob Wright, who, as a student in music at the Universty of Miami, was leader of the orchestra, which was featured on the weekly broadcasts of the original Miami Club at the Biltmore. Bob now is working on scores in Hollywood at M-G-M where he collaborates with Chet Forrest on such numbers as the "Donkey Serenade."
Annual Circus Day
One of the most popular of the many stunts utilized to keep club members interested is the annual circus day when pink lemonade and hot dogs are given away. All holidays are occasions for special celebrations, of course, with the Hallowee'en party being the most elaborate. Other peak points in Mickey Mousers' year are the annual Easter Egg huntand the fire drill fo which the fire department runs out its big ladders and puts on a dramatic demonstration for the juniors.
Special membership cards are printed for each of the five clubs, bearing the club creed on the reverse side. Files are kept on each member's birthdate so that a specially mimeographed greeting from the "chief mouser" can be sent each year.
One of the most recent stunts worked out for the Biltmore club's program was a dramatization, following a showing of 'Ferdinand the Bull,' in which two of the Biltmore ushers cooperated as the 'inside works' of a Miami-made Ferdinand which 'Chief Mouser' Spradley unsuccessfully sought to provoke. His ferocious toreador act was not provoking enough to lure Ferdinand away from his obvious delight in the heady perfume of pink frangi-pani (blooms of the sacred temple tree of India to non-FLoridians).
Other Teaser Methods
Other interest-teaser devices include the use several times a year of a file of telephone numbers - (does this make the youngsters feel important!); and of ten free admissions weekly. Names of four of these ten are printed each Saturday in the club bulletin; the other six are posted in various theatre lobbies during the week.
From the inauguration of the first club, these Mickey Mouse activities have been of particular interest to Sidney eyer, who with Mitchell Wolfson, heads the Wometco organization.
Several years ago, Birmingham claimed the largest Mickey Mouse organization in the south. Miami would be interested to know if the Alabama metropolis still claims to top the local organization."

Monday, June 21, 2010

082 Hobo Gandget Band



Title: Hobo Gadget Band
Studio: Warner Bros.
Date: 6/17/39*
Credits: None listed on print (but Hardaway and Dalton directed)
Series: Merrie Melodies (according to Blue Ribbon title, and BoxOffice short review)
Running time (of viewed version): 7:17

Synopsis: Hobos live their lives and break into stardom, before giving it up for their inveterate hobo lifestyle.



























Comments: More "land of the dogmen". I wonder if 'A Face In The Crowd' was based on the music career in this... After a pastoral pan, the cartoon breaks into music from the song that goes "nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning", and ends with California Here I Come. There was a big hobo culture that died out more or less by the end of WWII. This was probably technically after the golden age of hoboism, but it may be too early to really be the fauxbos of today who pretend at being hobos. It begins as a cartoon that takes a specific thing and explicates how that thing would live life as if it were the America of its time, like the Fleischer Stone Age cartoons (this even has a bird based alarm clock ringer), or many cartoons talking about a more recent history. The lead hobo has a Goofy accent. Maybe Pinto Colvig. The art on the cels is diverse but roundly unimpressive in specifics (but not uninteresting), tho the series of closeup reactions at the train announcements is cool. It shines a little more in the music department. There is one eyes out of head take that certainly makes me think Avery in the '40s more than Hardaway/Dalton in the '30s.


* There appears to be a discrepancy over when this cartoon was precisely released. Of Mice and Magic and Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald's Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies list the release date as June 17; other sources (including the Big Cartoon Database) list it as being released May 27. I am having trouble locating it in BoxOffice's shorts booking chart, and I kept checking until months ahead. It does appear in the BoxOffice Short Subject reviews, page 83, on July 1, 1939
http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_070139
along with the cartoons Nick's Coffee Pot, A Bully Romance, Lucky Pigs, the Bear That Couldn't Sleep, and the Scared Crows.
It does appear as a Blue Ribbon reissue in 1948
http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_052948
but that doesn't help me locate its original release very well.

Ultimately I do not know the basis for either choice. I had assumed that release date information was taken from something like BoxOffice's release data; while that may still be accurate, it does not appear that it is actually taken from BoxOffice itself, as it appears to not have this information at ay point (tho the available online issues of 1939 do not appear to all be there, so it is possible it did appear in one of the missing issues). Either date is feasible based on the BoxOffice review and the other reviews around it. It would be the latest release reviewed by one day assuming the June date, and it would be eight days after the earliest review assuming the May date.

Additionally, there might be other situations like this that I haven't noticed. So it is possible the order of cartoons are wrong in my list, and it is possible there are cartoons missing or not actually '39 cartoons present. But in the absence of better clear evidence, I think my list is as good as is available at this time.

(looking into the short to try to find the reasons for the dating led to Gene Walz's "Charlie Thorson and the Temporary Disneyfication of Warner Bros. Cartoons" in _Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation_, 1998:
http://books.google.com/books?id=zd_WTZZjvqkC&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60&dq=%22hobo+gadget+band%22&source=bl&ots=fQ2Kv7t9Tn&sig=yBvsLmLkZ9Hn8uGBtKOk1BbgkhY&hl=en&ei=b3rIS6XzDc6h8AaAvOTrAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAUQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=%22hobo%20gadget%20band%22&f=false
which analyzes the cartoon, the WB cartoons at the time, and mentions Charlie Thorson designed all the characters.