Yabba Dabba Doo! How ‘The Flintstones’ Made (Pre)History:

Nowadays, the TV schedule is saturated with animated situation comedy, so much so that it’s easy to forget how it all started. With shows such as The Simpsons remaining on the air for a great number of years, the animated sitcom has comfortably settled in our living rooms, unlikely to leave any time soon. It’s no revelation, of course, that the television pioneers who started it all were none other than the great Hanna/Barbera – once kings of the television cartoon. Responsible for the likes of Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear and Top Cat, Hanna/Barbera’s foray into the now-ubiquitous world of half-hour animated comedy was accompanied by a family with whom we’re all profoundly familiar, whether you’ve even seen a single episode or not; a family whose names have gone down in animation (pre)history: The Flintstones.

By the time William Hanna and Joseph Barbera transitioned to television, they were already big names in the animation industry. After Fred Quimby retired in 1955, they were in charge of MGM cartoons – responsible, most memorably, for the seven-time Academy Award-winning Tom and Jerry shorts. Due to budgetary issues, however, the animation studio closed in 1957. Hanna/Barbera sought to cut costs and, securing a contract with Screen Gems (Columbia Pictures’ television subsidiary), they proceeded to create a number of memorable TV shows utilising limited animation. This cheaper style was basic in practice, but nonetheless effective, mobilising only the body parts and items that required movement, such as mouths and heads, with the rest of the body remaining completely still – essentially remaining part of the background. After The Ruff and Reddy Show, they went on to create the more popular The Huckleberry Hound Show, which featured segments involving Yogi Bear and Pixie & Dixie. It was successful, and was the first cartoon to win an Emmy for Best Children’s Programme, in 1959.

In 1960, Hanna/Barbera seized the opportunity to establish a full, half-hour, animated situation comedy, after a sponsor showed interest in the genre, which was as of yet unheard of. They began to develop a show set in the Stone Age, which bore a strong resemblance to The Honeymooners (1955-56). Initially branded The Flagstones, the title of the show was altered to The Gladstones early on in development upon the realisation that the comic strip characters ‘Hi and Lois’ already used that as their surname. Finally, The Flintstones was born, and was the first animated series to air on prime-time television, attracting a number of celebrity cameos. Its then unique style appealed to both young and old alike, and was ultimately more sophisticated than other shows produced by the company.

The Flintstones was unique in that it poked fun at contemporary American society and family life in a context that perfectly (if anachronistically) drew direct parallels to prehistory. Most of the time, the comedy derived from the use of animals posing as modern-day gadgets, such as a woolly mammoth in the role of a shower, or a bird as an apple corer. In that sense, the show was merely staged as though it were set in a Stone Age, from which its obvious anachronisms provided the predominant source of humour, in addition to its accompanying social commentary. Aside from the innovative concept and colourful designs, one other memorable aspect of the show is its voice cast, which includes cartoon veteran Mel Blanc, of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies fame, as Barney Rubble, Alan Reed as Fred Flintstone, Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma Flintstone, and Bea Benederet, another renowned voice actor and television personality, as Betty Rubble. The show came to an end in 1966, after 166 episodes on the air.

The Flintstones is often perceived to be a forerunner to other animated sitcoms of the present day, including The Simpsons. As a matter of fact, the original opening sequence bears a strong resemblance to the opening of the aforementioned programme, the only major difference being that it takes place in the Stone Age. Its limited style ironically enabled the demand for an entirely new aspect of animation, broadening the scope of the cartoon, and innovatively broaching a genre whose appeal still resonates in the 21^st Century. Indeed, The Flintstones remains just about as relevant as it ever was, and not nearly as ‘prehistoric’ as it makes itself out to be.

 

For more info, check out this book:

Beck, J. Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, the Illustrated History of Cartoon, Anime and CGI. (2004) London: Flame Tree Publishing.

Image Source:

The Flinstones: Bumper Edition. [VHS] (1996) Turner Pictures Worldwide, First Independent Films.

Cartoons for the Military: Private Snafu and World War II

Between 1943 and 1945, Warner Bros. produced a total of 26 cartoons for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. This batch of cartoons was known as the “Private Snafu” series, and was presented as part of the Army-Navy Screen Magazine, which was distributed to military bases worldwide. The average cartoon is three minutes in length, and utilises all of the Warner Bros. directors, voice artists, and the music of Carl Stalling. The character of Private Snafu is depicted as the worst soldier in the Armed Forces – essentially portraying what not to do in the army. The name ‘Snafu’ itself was an acronym which stood for ‘Situation Normal – All Fouled Up’. Due to the fact that the intended audience was solely male soldiers, the cartoons were notably more risqué than most of Warner Bros’ general output. Since these were not produced for mass audience consumption, these shorts have rarely been seen since, and only a small number of them are available on home media. A large quantity of these seldom-seen black-and-white cartoons were written by Theodore Geisel, better known today as Dr Seuss, with a number of them written in rhyme. Examples of the cartoons include the following:

Coming!! Snafu (June, 1943; directed by Chuck Jones): The very first Snafu cartoon introduces the inept soldier in the style of a ‘coming attraction’ by a narrator who refers to him as the ‘goofiest soldier in the Army’ (Beck, Friedwald, 1989: 380). Although regarded as a short itself, it is in the style of a trailer or preview.

Spies (August, 1943; directed by Chuck Jones): In this film, an inebriated Snafu inadvertently leaks military secrets to enemy agents, including a beautiful woman who keeps a radio transmitter in her bra. Consequently, Hitler torpedoes Snafu, sending him to Hell, where Hitler reappears in the form of the Devil.

Rumors (December, 1943; directed by Friz Freleng): Snafu instigates a rumour about a bombing he believes is a fact. The rumour is represented by ‘baloney’ gremlins who overrun the base, eventually leading to a quarantine for ‘rumoritis’.

Booby Traps (January, 1944; directed by Bob Clampett): Snafu finds a harem in the desert, and proceeds to serenade the beautiful women within on a piano, little realising it is triggered to explode once a particular key is pressed.

Snafuperman (March, 1944; directed by Friz Freleng): Snafu’s personal ‘Technical Fairy First Class’ transforms Snafu into Snafuperman, granting him superpowers to take out enemy forces. However, in his reluctance to study manuals and maps, he winds up nearly destroying the U.S. military base and its troops.

Although 26 were produced, the final two cartoons (Going Home and Secrets of the Caribbean) were never released. A number of the shorts are available on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, volumes 3, 4 and 5. For further information on the impact of cartoons during the war, take a look at this earlier post on cartoons produced for general audiences during the war:

http://idonthaveanose.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/this-means-war-world-war-ii-and.html

 

Sources:

Beck, J. Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, the Illustrated History of Cartoon, Anime and CGI. (2004) London: Flame Tree Publishing, pp 88-89.

Beck, J. and Friedwald, W. (1989) Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. New York: Owl Books, Donald Hutter Books, Henry Holt and Company, pp 379-380.

Image Sources:

Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume Three. [DVD] (2006) Warner Home Video, Burbank, California.

Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume Five. [DVD] (2007) Warner Home Video, Burbank, California.

The Iron Giant Signature Edition Extra Scenes: A Giant Blunder?

Brad Bird’s directorial debut, the modern masterpiece The Iron Giant (1999), is being rereleased as a ‘Signature Edition’, to be screened at selected cinemas in the US later this month. That’s the good news. The news that follows isn’t *bad* as such but it doesn’t instil me with confidence: The rerelease will feature two newly animated sequences produced by Duncan Studios, both of which were storyboarded by Bird prior to the original release but cut due to time and budgetary restraints. At first this sounds like an intriguing idea, giving us an insight into how Bird initially intended the film to look. But is it really what we want to see?

Essentially what we’re getting, according to these reports, is a director’s cut of the film, presenting the ‘lost’ scenes that initially never made it beyond the storyboarding stage. On the one hand, this is interesting – as interesting as it always is to discover lost or abandoned footage. But therein lies the issue – it was evidently abandoned for a reason. Extending the film now would easily disrupt its pacing – if the film can do without the scenes, why include them at all?

The Iron Giant is certainly not the first animated feature to be rereleased containing extra footage. Needless to say, this is a trait Disney is guilty of, having repeatedly distributed classic films with extra songs and scenes. The 2004 release of The Lion King: Special Edition contains the song ‘Morning Report’, performed by Zazu. Although present in the Broadway adaptation, the song was absent from the original 1994 release, for the sole reason that it serves very little purpose. Likewise, Pocahontas (1995) was re-edited for its 2005 Special Edition release to include ‘If I Never Knew You’, a recurrent, ‘motif’ song initially assigned to the credits. Naturally, its presence in the film disturbs the pace, and drastically at that. The only alteration to a Disney film that was vaguely justifiable was the ‘Human Again’ sequence added to the 2002 re-release of Beauty and the Beast (1991). Unlike the other additions, it serves a purpose to the narrative, in that it provides development to the inhuman characters and their yearning to be human, not to mention acting as a subtle tribute to the late Howard Ashman. That said, its positioning in the film remains rather jarring, being as it is sandwiched between two other musical sequences, providing a logical and just reason for its removal.

Now, Warner Bros’ The Iron Giant will likely not be adding a musical sequence (unless Bird bears a strong desire for the inclusion of a severely ill-placed show-tune), but my point remains valid. All of these scenes were initially cut for a particular reason, and the film’s pacing, as it is, is faultless. Depending upon the magnitude and length of these scenes and the events that occur within them, Bird could risk tarnishing an otherwise near-flawless masterpiece. In any case, there’s nothing to do besides wait it out and see for ourselves, but by tampering with what is often regarded as a modern classic, Bird could be making a giant blunder.

View the trailer for the rerelease below:

Sources:

Variety: http://variety.com/2015/film/news/iron-giant-new-scenes-remastered-edition-release-date-1201601135/

Image Source:

The Iron Giant. [DVD] (2000) Warner Bros Family Entertainment, Burbank, California.

Felix’s Fact File: Animation Pioneers (6) – George Pal (1908-1980)

Born in Hungary in 1908, Gyӧrgy Marczincsák (aka: George Pal) initially wanted to train as an architect at the Budapest Academy, but an administrative blunder resulted in his alternatively being made to take illustration classes. Pal went on to work at a Budapest advertising company, where he produced cut-outs for animated commercials. In 1930, he relocated to Berlin where he worked as a set designer for the UFA (Universum Film, A.G.).

George Pal

After having been driven out of Berlin by the Gestapo, he attempted to start up his own personal studio in Czechoslovakia, but was unable to find a camera for the purposes of frame-by-frame shooting. He then proceeded to form a studio in Paris, and thereafter relocated again to Holland, where he established another studio for the production of advertisements, along with business partner Dave Bader. He remained at his Holland studio for five years.

Het Aetherschip (1935)

Pal began producing advertisements for Philips, the electrical company, and Horlicks malted drink after having signed a contract with advertising conglomerate J. Walter Thompson. These were essentially entertainment films but with a subsequent tagline representative of the sponsor. The first of these was titled Radio Valve Revolution (1934), which was produced using traditional animation. The following year, Pal began to develop his own style with the use of animated puppet films. Highlights include Het Aetherschip (1935) and On Parade (1936), a humorous commercial in which a soldier drinks Horlicks to get a decent night’s sleep to wake up bright and refreshed.

Tulips Shall Grow (1942)

Pal pioneered an unprecedented form of animation in his series Puppetoons, which utilised stop-motion techniques as well as a procedure he referred to as “replacement figure puppetry” (Beck, 2004: 71). A standard eight-minute film involved the use of between 3000 and 5000 wooden figures. Although the head and limb attachments were able to be changed and moved, if a character were to speak, it would require numerous head sculptures. The sets were approximately fifteen feet wide, and each film took at least one month to produce, at a cost of roughly $15,000. Pal was then invited to the US in 1939 to produce animated shorts in his own unique style.

Jasper in Olio for Jasper (1945)

Pal moved to Hollywood to work for Paramount in the early 1940s, where he hired Ray Harryhausen, who later became famous himself for his stop-motion monster movies. Harryhausen worked on the Puppetoons for around two years. Willis O’Brien, the animator behind King Kong (1933) also stepped in but both he and Harryhausen claimed the process was too frustrating. Regardless, they were successful – the first film to be produced under the Puppetoons label was Dipsy Gypsy (1941), and was swiftly followed by the Jasper series, featuring popular characters such as Rusty, and teens Punchy and Judy.

Puppetoons episodes were nominated for an Academy Award six times, and Pal was awarded an Oscar in 1943 for the unique techniques he employed. He achieved greater success with live action features. His first was Destination Moon (1949), and he went on to produce a number of other classic features such as The War of the Worlds (1953), The Time Machine (1960) and The Seven Faces of Dr Lao (1964).

In 1980, Pal suffered a heart attack and passed away. A compilation of his films, titled The Puppetoon Movie, was released posthumously in 1987.

 

Sources:

Beck, J. Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, the Illustrated History of Cartoon, Anime and CGI. (2004) London: Flame Tree Publishing.

Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Pal

The George Pal Puppetoon Site: http://www.awn.com/heaven_and_hell/PAL/GP12.htm

Image Sources:

The George Pal Puppetoon Site: http://www.awn.com/heaven_and_hell/PAL/GP12.htm

George Pal – Olio for Jasper (1946): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCkTDoOyZHU

George Pal – Ship of Ether (1934): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msbDW1WxE2s

George Pal – Tulips Shall Grow (1942): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeQ5vmbvgxM&list=PLAtQ0F27vfI54bKfzpZ2-rFxe5GYbNfgm

Felix’s Fact File: Animation Pioneers (5) – Yoram Gross (1926-2015)

“I knew that I could never compete with Disney – the magnificent job he had done. Instead, I chose to put animated cartoon characters on live-action backgrounds. (The technique) is nothing new in the film industry, but it is quite rare”, Yoram Gross (in Beck, 2004: 264).

Yoram Gross

Born in Krakow, Poland, in 1926, Yoram Gross became Australia’s leading animation director/producer. He and his family were Jewish, and were on Oskar Schindler’s list, forcing them to live in hiding. Gross had a love of music, which he studied at Krakow University. He entered the film industry at the age of 20, and began his career as an assistant to Polish film directors Buczowski, Cenkalski and Dutch director Yoris Ivens. In addition, he studied scriptwriting under Carl Forman.

In 1950, he moved to Israel, where he worked as a cameraman for newsreels and documentaries, before becoming an independent film producer, earning him numerous prizes at film festivals worldwide. These films include Joseph the Dreamer (1961), a biblical adaptation, and comedy One Pound Only (1964). Throughout his career he amassed more than 80 awards for his films. In 1968, he and his wife and family relocated to Sydney, Australia, where they established Yoram Gross Film Studios (which later became Flying Bark Productions).

Dot and the Kangaroo (1977)

Since 1977, Gross has been noted in particular for his animated features and series, establishing a number of prizes in his name, including the Yoram Gross Award for Best Animated Film at the Sydney Film Festival, and the Yoram Gross Best Animation Award at the Flickerfest International Film Festival. A key distinguishing aspect of Gross’ work was not so much the utilisation of live-action backgrounds (as seen in their first feature Dot and the Kangaroo (1977)), but a focus on Australian life in particular. Dot and the Kangaroo, won the first prize at the Television Children’s Film Festival in Teheran. Despite its predominantly ‘Australian’ appeal, it was translated into a number of foreign languages and was well-received worldwide.

Blinky Bill (1992)

Numerous other ‘Dot’ movies followed throughout the following decade, before attention was drawn to Gross’ 1992 animated TV show Blinky Bill, a faithful adaptation of Dorothy Wall’s stories about a mischievous koala. Gross’ work mostly pertained to younger audiences, corroborated by his numerous appearances at the Australian Children’s International Film Festival. In 1995, he was awarded the Order of Australia, for his achievements in film. Gross celebrated his 60^th anniversary in the industry in 2007, further honoured by a screening of his career highlights by the New South Wales Film and Television Office. Other notable works by Gross include feature The Magic Riddle (1991), inspired by classic fairy-tales, Tabaluga, a TV series about a little dragon, and Flipper and Lopaka, about a boy and his unique ability to talk to sea creatures. Latter works such as these TV shows were largely produced as part of a collaboration with European company EM-TV.

Blinky Bill (StudioCanal, 2015)

Yoram Gross died on the 21^st September 2015, leaving behind a vast catalogue of films, animated features, TV series and books. A key figure in Australia’s animated film industry, Gross’ work continues to charm and delight worldwide. Plans for a feature film adaptation of Blinky Bill were revealed in early 2015.

Sources:

Beck, J. Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, the Illustrated History of Cartoon, Anime and CGI. (2004) London: Flame Tree Publishing.

The Hollywood Reporter – Yoram Gross, Australian Animation Pioneer, Dies at 88: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/yoram-gross-australian-animation-pioneer-826069

Yoram Gross: http://www.yoramgrossfilms.com.au/bio2.html

Image Sources:

1993-1995 The Adventures Of Blinky Bill – OPENING THEME: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Ngc5mYuBg

BLINKY BILL THE MOVIE OFFICIAL TRAILER [AUSTRALIA] September 17/24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc9SSM8PuBc

Dot and the Kangaroo (1977): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WojuR_qI434

Yoram Gross: http://www.yoramgrossfilms.com.au/bio1.html

An Animated Awakening: Brad Bird and the Return of the Hand-Drawn Cartoon

It’s no revelation that the hand-drawn animated feature has become essentially non-existent, particularly where major studios such as Dreamworks and Disney are concerned. It’s a sad truth, but with the proliferation of CGI flicks throughout the noughties, the traditionally animated film has become increasingly obsolescent; it’s on life support until somebody comes to its aid. Despite some notable attempts to resurrect the genre, there are no hand-drawn features in the pipeline from any studio, which rather begs the question – is now the time to resuscitate the cartoon?

Director Brad Bird wants a hand-drawn animation revival

Disney have attempted, unsuccessfully, to bring about a reprisal in traditional techniques. For a long time, the mediocre Home on the Range (2004) marked their final feature utilising the arduous, hand-drawn technique as practised by Walt Disney. In 2009, they decided to return to the animation style that has become synonymous with the Disney company, with The Princess and the Frog; a film whose reception was decent, if somewhat unfairly lukewarm. Ironically, had the feature instead represented the final traditional animation, as opposed to a resurgence, the hand-drawn feature would have at least had the chance to go out on a more dignified high note. Since this release, Disney have also released the comparably low-key Winnie the Pooh (2011), a charming, if slightly rudimentary film by today’s complex standards. Few other companies have attempted to broach the threshold of reinstating traditional animation as a prolific medium. Dreamworks’ final hand-drawn feature was Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), a film whose cold reception would imply that they bear little to no desire to return to the obsolescent art form. Indeed, what was once the ubiquitous cartoon has now faded into obscurity.

The Iron Giant (1999)

The sad truth is that traditional animation has potential that is yet to be explored and exploited – a notion acclaimed director Brad Bird condones (you can see his full interview with Collider by clicking on the link in the sources at the bottom of the page). Currently promoting the release of The Iron Giant: Signature Edition – a rerelease of his classic 1999 animated flick – Bird is of the opinion that the traditional bears far more validity in today’s modern age of CGI ventriloquy, even going so far as to proffer another genre yet to be explored by the animated genre: horror. Naturally, this has potential not only in the technological sense, but also in the sense of the animated film’s marketability, being as it represents a diverse concept, wholly disparate from your average family-friendly fodder. A problem presents itself, however, in that it also represents a fairly substantial risk, taking into account the unspoken alignment of cartoons and children – an audience an animated horror would surely set out to avoid. Regardless, it’s an interesting concept, and one that does indeed have validity.

Brad Bird is currently working on a sequel to The Incredibles (2004)

So, will we see a return to traditional animation? Possibly – particularly if even directors such as Brad Bird continue to maintain an interest in the medium. However, Bird’s forward-thinking notion concerning the possible resurrection of the hand-drawn feature is extremely ambitious. While the traditionally animated feature does indeed bear the potential for greater scope and a wider, more diverse dissemination, the general audience might think a little differently about the prospect of an animated horror. In any case, Bird is right: there is a great deal of ground that the animated film is yet to cover, and a hand-drawn feature, in some cases, might accomplish it more effectively. Whether the audience is ready is a separate matter, but Bird paints us a concept that is far too enticing to overlook.

Sources:

Collider: Brad Bird Hopes to Make another Hand-Drawn Animated Film: http://collider.com/brad-bird-wants-to-make-a-new-2d-animated-film/

Image Sources:

The Incredibles: 2-Disc Collector’s Edition. [DVD] (2004) Walt Disney Home Entertainment, Burbank, California.

The Iron Giant. [DVD] (2000) Warner Bros Family Entertainment, Burbank, California.

Felix’s Fact File: Technological Innovations (2): Eadweard Muybridge and the Zoopraxiscope

Born in 1830, Eadweard Muybridge made a name for himself as a skilled photographer and inventor, and, in a sense, inadvertently became a vital component, not only in the establishment of film, but also of traditional animation. After having been acquitted for the murder of his wife’s paramour (!!!), Muybridge made a revolutionary discovery in aid of the capturing of motion on film; a process which provided the foundations for an as-of-yet undiscovered industry – that of motion pictures.

 

Born Edward James Muggeridge, Muybridge immigrated to America at the age of twenty, to work as a bookseller in New York. He later relocated to San Francisco, and developed an intense interest in photography. During a business trip, he was injured in a stage coach accident, resulting in a notable behavioural alteration, which modern neurologists claim might have led to his eccentricity in later life. After having recovered, he took up photography full-time. He most famously photographed Yosemite Valley, amongst other panoramic landscape scenes.

In the late 1800s, California Governor Leland Stanford contacted him in aid of research into whether all four hooves of a horse left the surface at any one time. Since this could not be observed by the naked eye, photography posed a potential solution. In 1872, Muybridge experimented sequential photography with a total of twelve cameras. In 1875, he shot and killed his wife’s paramour, Major Harry Larkyns, believing that he had fathered their son. Remarkably, Muybridge was acquitted, on the grounds that his actions were somehow justified. Astoundingly unfazed, he resolved to continue his work, and in 1879 he managed to perfect his galloping sequence (entitled Phases of a Stride by a Pony While Cantering and, alternatively, The Horse in Motion), concluding that all four hooves did indeed leave the ground.

The Horse in Motion

Between 1883 and 1886, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, producing a vast quantity of similar sequential photographic material, capturing animals and humans in motion. In 1879, he invented the zoopraxiscope, considered by many to be a prototypical device for the projection of moving pictures. He toured Europe and North America, presenting his device to the masses, in addition to publishing a number of books on the subject of motion capture.

Muybridge died in 1904, at his cousin’s house, having laid the foundations for motion capture – establishing him as a significant figure in the development of film and animation.

 

Sources:

Biography.com: Eadward Muybridge Biography: http://www.biography.com/people/eadweard-muybridge-9419513#personal-life-and-death

Tate: Eadward Mutbridge: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/eadweard-muybridge

Wild Film History: http://www.wildfilmhistory.org/person/180/Eadweard+Muybridge.html

 

Image Sources:

Meet the Art – Eadweard Muybridge Photographs of Motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYKZif9ooxs

Warner Bros in Black-and-White: Meet Bosko, the Original Looney Tune

It’s hard to believe that Warner Bros’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series has been going for so long. Indeed, with their longevity, the cartoons, collectively, comprise one of the longest-running theatrical cartoon series in history – which is a remarkable feat. Of course, while in recent decades their popularity has seemingly receded somewhat, we still get the occasional burst of Looney-ness with spin-off TV series and straight-to-DVD releases (including the latest special Rabbits Run). But what was it like in the beginning? Who was the first Looney Tunes character and how did it start?

We’ve all heard of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig… Even the Tasmanian Devil (or ‘Taz’), who starred in only five cartoons in the Golden Age. But the character who started it all was in fact a small, rubber hose, African American caricature by the name of Bosko. He isn’t heard of so much these days for a number of glaringly obvious reasons. For one thing, while not a severe example he is a racial stereotype – allegedly something his creator Rudolf Ising was completely unaware of (Kanfer, 1997: 86). Otherwise, his cartoons weren’t in any way unique; rather, they mostly derived inspiration from other cartoons from that era, implying not one of them was all that memorable. All the same, it’s interesting to look back on these prototypical Tunes as products of their time, and recognise them as forerunners to a series that was to become one of the biggest in animation history.

Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid (1929)

Bosko first appeared in an unaired pilot short made by Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Friz Freleng, entitled Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid, in 1929. In early 1930, Harman and Ising managed to convince entrepreneur manager of Pacific Art and Title, Leon Schlesinger, to open a cartoon studio, and he subsequently managed to get Warner Bros to distribute their produce. In return, Warner Bros requested that the Bosko shorts utilise songs from the company’s own catalogue. Harman and Ising consequently gave the series the name Looney Tunes, inspired not only by its logical marketability, but also in mimicry of the Silly Symphonies canon produced by Disney simultaneously.

Sinkin' in the Bathtub (1930)

The first short to be officially released was titled Sinkin’ in the Bathtub (1930). This evidently posed stiff competition for Disney, in that its utilisation of popular music meant that it bore an unprecedented appeal to contemporary audiences. However, story-wise, the early Looney Tunes lagged somewhat. Certain plots were rehashed, some were essentially non-existent – and others conspicuously mimicked Disney’s narratives. For example, the Bosko short Congo Jazz (1930), which sees Bosko in the role of a hunter, bears a direct parallel to the Disney Mickey Mouse short Jungle Rhythm from the previous year (Beck, 2004: 43).

Congo Jazz (1930)

Regardless, Bosko became popular with audiences, resulting in the commissioning of a new series – Merrie Melodies. While nowadays the LT and MM series are perceived to be essentially synonymous with each other, in its inception the MM series represented a cartoon that was completely distinct from the LT series it succeeded. While LT utilised music more subtly to propel their narratives (what little they had!), MM proved to be blatant advertisements, with song showcases becoming the series’ central aspect. Characters would often break into song partway through, whether it was pertinent to the film or not – and often it wasn’t.

Buddy in Buddy's Day Out (1933)

New characters began to emerge, but they were not nearly as durable as Bosko. One of these characters was called Buddy. A profoundly unmemorable and uninteresting character, Buddy was devoid of personality, and somehow lacked the appeal of Bosko – an unfortunate development considering that he represented a fairly major advancement for the studio, in that his movements were more anatomically based, with discernible joints, as opposed to the then-ubiquitous, basic rubber hose animation characteristic of the standard cartoon of that era.

Bosko’s final cartoon under Warner Bros was in 1933, after which Harman and Ising turned to MGM following a budgetary dispute with Schlesinger. MGM initially kept Bosko’s original design, but his appearance gradually mutated entirely, leading to his eventual dissolution. Warner Bros Animation, meanwhile, was to move on to better, more mature, satirical cartoons whose appeal far exceeded the basic Bosko batch.

Bibliography:

Beck, J. (2004) Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, the Illustrated History of Cartoon, Anime and CGI. London: Flame Tree Publishing.

Kanfer, S. (1997) Serious Business: The Art and Commerce of Animation in America from Betty Boop to “Toy Story”. New York: Da Capo Press.

Image Sources:

Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume One. (2003) Warner Home Video, Burbank, California.

Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume Three. (2006) Warner Home Video, Burbank, California.

Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume Six. (2008) Warner Home Video, Burbank, California.

Felix’s Fact File: Animation Pioneers (4) - Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981)

German animator Lotte Reiniger, born in 1899, initially yearned to be an actress, and so studied theatre in Berlin, under the guidance of Max Reinhardt. Reiniger had a penchant for making free-hand paper silhouettes – an original technique which eventually gained the attention of director Paul Wegener, who invited her to make silhouettes for the intertitles for some of his films. Wegener introduced Reiniger to a newly established studio – the Berliner Institut für Kulturforschung, for whom she produced her first film, Das Ornament des verliebten Herzens in 1919.

Reiniger most often derived inspiration from fairy-tales for her animations, creating Aschenputtel (based on Cinderella) and Dornrӧschen (Sleeping Beauty) in 1922. In 1923 she began working with her husband, film director Karl Koch, on a feature-length production comprised entirely of silhouetted animation. The film was called Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed) and is regarded as her most famous work. Following this accomplishment, Reiniger never pursued a feature-length production again, resorting instead to focusing her attention on shorts and sequences for external productions. In addition, she also invested some of her time in book illustrations and commercials.

Aschenputtel (1922)

 Overall, Reiniger made almost sixty films, although only two-thirds of this vast collection have been recovered. Her techniques in fact developed beyond Prince Achmed, in that they evolved into something more delicate and graceful, as demonstrated by her work in the 1930s, such as in Harlekin (1931) and Der Kleine Schornsteinfeger (The Little Chimney Sweep, 1934). In December 1935, Reiniger and Koch moved to England, where they produced The King’s Breakfast (1936) for John Grierson, as well as other films, and a shadow-play sequence to Renoir’s La Marseillaise in 1937. During the war years, Reiniger’s only film was Die Goldene Ganz (1944). Sadly many of her prints were destroyed, though some were able to be subsequently reconstructed.

In the post-war period, they became British citizens and set up Primrose Productions, which led to the creation of a number of films for American television, adapted from fairy-tales. The Gallant Little Tailor (1954) was awarded the Silver Dolphin at the Venice Festival. After Koch’s death in 1963, Reiniger disappeared for a few years, but was invited back to Germany in 1969 following a resurgence in the popularity of her films. Her work was finally recognised around this time, resulting in her being awarded the Filmband in Gold in 1972, and the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit) in 1979, on her 80^th birthday. She performed a number of lectures in North America, and briefly returned to filmmaking, producing two final films for Canada. Her very last film was entitled Die Vier Jahreszeiten (The Four Seasons, 1980), which was made for the Filmmuseum before she passed away in 1981.

Sources:

Beck, J. Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, the Illustrated History of Cartoon, Anime and CGI. (2004) London: Flame Tree Publishing.

Screen Online: Reiniger, Lotte (1899-1981) www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/528134

Image Obtained From:

Cinderella (Aschenputtel) – Lotte Reiniger (1922) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kku75vGDD_0