This is topic What is your fav. single reel cartoon? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 03-19-2001, 12:17 PM:
Yep, those 7.5 or 8 min cartoons in the rusted cans from the depot from hell. Inside those cans that required a hammer to open were the gems of the industry.What was your favorite?
Mine has to be the Bugs Bunny Porky take-off on Wagnerian opera. The first time I saw it, I was laughing so hard and so spastic that I couldn't thread the next reel.
"Oy-yo, to-ho! Oy-yo, to-ho! Be vewwwy qwiet, I'm hunting wabbits!"
Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 03-19-2001, 01:15 PM:
Are you referring to "What's Opera Doc?" Was it the one with the "Kill the Wabbit, Kill the Wabbit" song in it?
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-19-2001, 01:34 PM:
My favorite is Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam in "Knighty Knight Bugs." It's the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win an Oscar."Whoa dragon...whoa...whooooooooooa!!!! (WHAPPP!!) When ah say whoa....ahhhhhh meeeeean WHOA!"
Or any other Bugs/Yosemite Sam cartoon will do in a pinch.
Very close second choice: Any Chuck Jones-directed Road Runner pic.
Posted by Jerry Chase (Member # 660) on 03-19-2001, 01:34 PM:
That's the one. I was able to get a tape of it a few years back. Twuwey a cwassic. IIRC, it was done as a response to Fantasia?
Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-19-2001, 01:44 PM:
'Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarves' (1943). Although it's long been condemned as racist, in fact it's really using African-American culture as a way of sending up cutesy Disney sentimentality (Coal Black is a singer in a Harlem nightclub). I've only ever seen it once on a bootleg b/w 16mm copy, and have been told that Warners refuse point blank to allow any public showings or TV broadcasts because they fear the bad publicity that could result.Close second: 'Herr or Hare?' (1944) in which Elmer Fudd plays Hitler. Porky (Goering) presents him with a freshly caught Black Forest rabbit (Bugs), making a Nazi salute and saying 'H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-Heil Hitler!'. Elmer replies 'Heil me!', opens the bag, and out pops Bugs in a Cossack uniform!
Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-19-2001, 02:47 PM:
Actually "Corny Concerto" was done as WB's sendup of The Mouse' "Fantasia." It even featured Elmer doing his best Deems Taylor narrator impression.And sadly "What's Opera Doc?" was Arthur Q. Bryant's last performance as Elmer's voice--he died not long after that one was completed.
My favorite? "Cheese Chasers" with the two mice Hubey and Berty, and Claude the cat. The poor dog trying to figure things out with an adding machine at the end still gets me after seeing it hundreds of times. "It just don't add up!" 
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-19-2001, 02:48 PM:
Did anyone else see the Columbia Cartoons retrospective that was part of the Columbia 75th fest? The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA. ran it, but I don't think it played in many other theatres.Anyway, it featured a great collection of Columbia shorts from the '30s through the early '50s. I typed up the program notes at the time, so I just did a slap-dash HTML conversion (it's kind of ugly); here's the link:
Columbia 75th Cartoon Fest Program Notes
Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 03-19-2001, 03:13 PM:
Great cartoons! One of my favorite topics. Here are some of my favorites:Swing Shift Cinderella (Tex Avery) - Some of the best timing of any cartoon ever. And "Red" is magnificent!
Magical Maestro (Tex Avery) - One great projection gag, other than that, pure lunacy.
Robin Hood Daffy (Chuck Jones) - Yoikes and Away!
Any of the Bugs/Daffy/Elmer series, especially the one with the line "Pronoun Trouble!"
One Froggy Evening (Chuck Jones) - Michigan J. Frog
Stimpy's Invention (John Kricfalusi) - OK, it never played in a theatre, but this is about as crazy as they come. "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy"
But my very favorite of all time is a Chuck Jones masterpiece featuring Daffy called DUCK AMUCK. This breaks every possible rule and plays with the entire concept of animated cartoons. A masterpiece.
That's a good enough list for now...there are so many more!
Mark Lensenmayer
------------------
"As a moral to young men who come down to the city, don't go round breaking people's tambourines."
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-19-2001, 04:57 PM:
Are the Looney Tunes still available for bookings? We ran a bunch of them several years ago when they were handled by Kit Parker Films. Some of the prints were horrible shape, but some weren't too bad.
Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 03-19-2001, 05:40 PM:
Tom & Jerry "Heavenly Puss"Popeye "Popeye Meets Hercules"
Tex Avery "Who Killed Who" and "King Size Canary"
Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 03-19-2001, 06:26 PM:
Yes, Mike, Kit Parker still handles the WB toons. I used 'em recently re-opening a drive-in to play before the features.Their website is www.kitparker.com and their number is (831) 393-0303.
Print quality is touch and go, though.
Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 03-19-2001, 08:02 PM:
In no particular order as they are all fantastic...Zoom and Bored with Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote (Genius).
Rabbit Seasoning. (Yaes! Ah would just Loooove a duck dinner!)
Duck Amuck. (Hey! What are YOU doing up there?)
One Froggy Evening. (Hello My Sweetie...)
Gone Batty. (They're bringing the MASCOT into the game!) (an elephant)
Duck Dodgers In The 24 1/2 Century. (I claim this planet on behalf of Planet Earth...BBBBB Big Deal!)
There are many more but...
Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 03-20-2001, 12:14 AM:
Darn-near ANY Tex Avery... the master of exaggeration and timing.------------------
Better Projection Pays!
Posted by Tod J. Weitzel (Member # 760) on 03-20-2001, 03:15 AM:
My favourite Warner cartoon of all time remains "Feed the Kitty." The dog's facial expressions are some of the most hilarious drawings ever committed to animation cels.-Tw?
------------------
Resident nerd.
Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 03-20-2001, 09:48 AM:
Tim,There was a laserdisc box set containing, I believe, all of the cartoons that Tex Avery did for MGM. I love to get that out and watch some of those occasionally. Some are really strange. Ahhh, if they'd just put it on DVD. The set was called "The Complete Tex Avery" or something like that. If you can find this set, it's well worth having.
Just seeing my friends' reaction to "Swing Shift Cinderella" was priceless. They were laughing out of control. I forget that the younger generation was not raised on those types of cartoons like I was.
Evans A Criswell
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 03-20-2001, 11:02 AM:
I gotta' agree with Evans about "What's Opera, Doc?"That particular cartoon is probably the first real exposure to classical music that kids get nowadays!
My second has got to be "Rabbit of Seville" (I think that's the title.) Same reason.
Tell me... how many people can listen to a recording of "Barber of Seville" without flexing your fingers in time to the music? (Ala Bugs putting hair tonic on Elmer?) 
Posted by John Keegan (Member # 290) on 03-20-2001, 11:41 AM:
I agree with a bunch of you in "What's Opera Doc", but one of my favorites has to be the one with Bugs Bunny with the Big Orange Monster when Bugs does all those nasty things to him..does nails, etc. I don't remember the name of it but I always get a big laugh when I see it. I also enjoy Road
Runner and Wile E Coyote cartoons. But I don't see many of them around anymore. Anyway, my two cents.
Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-20-2001, 01:32 PM:
The best parts of the Road Runner cartoons are the facial expressions of Wile E. when he's about to get blown up or whatever. I love it when he pulls out a parasol just as a boulder's about to fall on his head.
Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 03-20-2001, 01:41 PM:
Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner were the all-time best. I managed to find a laserdisc with 14 of them, including the first one made.What I love about these (and other) cartoons are the wonderful laws of physics that apply. I actually compiled a very large list of such laws from a thread discussing them on USENET back in the 1993-1995 time frame. When I got the Tom and Jerry laserdisc box sets, I wrote a bunch more and added them to the end. You can get this interesting list here . It's a plain text file, so you can view it with the browser, or download it and email it around. It was a lot of fun to write!
Evans A Criswell
Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-20-2001, 06:35 PM:
I'll second Randy on 'The Rabbit of Seville'. Bugs plays Leporello, Porky is Figaro and Daffy (in drag) is the girl (so long since I've heard any of the actual opera that I can't remember what she's called).Some of the mid-40s Tom & Jerry (i.e. when Tom actually walks on four legs, mieows and has recognisable cat fur) is good fun too, but, as with 'Coal Black', the Mammy character limits its circulation nowadays. There's even one episode in which Tom dresses up in blackface to fool another cat into thinking he's Mammy (she issued them with an ultimatum: he who fails to catch the mouse is going 'O-W-T - OUT!') and so relieve him of the captured Jerry, complete with "Shortnin' Bread" on the soundtrack.
I guess it would probably be illegal to show much of this stuff now, not least because of anti-animal cruelty legislation...
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 03-20-2001, 08:16 PM:
The monster's name is "Gossamer". He is such an IN-teresting monster!Don't forget about "Michigan" the singing frog!
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 03-20-2001, 08:29 PM:
Everready a rather perverse silent cartoon also Thank you masked man
Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-21-2001, 08:30 PM:
Every couple of years or so, "Bugs Bunny on Broadway" concert show makes the rounds. Last appearances in SoCal were October 1996 and July 1999--so maybe they're about due for a reappearance. This is a live concert with a click-tracked 50-piece orchestra playing the scores as these films run on a screen overhead (1" Type C instead of 35mm unfortunately). Naturally all of the classical-based WB titles are in this show--a real treat if you ever get a chance to see (or run) it!
Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 03-21-2001, 08:46 PM:
There's a CD of music from (and inspired by) the B.B. (and other W.B.) soundtracks. It's called "The Carl Stalling Project".
Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 02-26-2006, 06:49 PM:
It has been 1802 days since the last post.
Posted by Timothy Eiler (Member # 383) on 02-26-2006, 06:49 PM:
Any Cartoons with Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd
Posted by Don Furr (Member # 1469) on 02-26-2006, 07:13 PM:
It's got to be Woody Woodpecker's WELL OILED.
Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-26-2006, 09:50 PM:
What about the Mirisch Productions (UA release) of the "Pink Panther" antics with "the Inspector"? Also from Mirisch was the "Ant and the Aardvark" series. Both contained music from Mancini.
These were dime a dozen rentals for a lot of small town houses and drive-in's.
Yep the Universal releases of those Walter Lantz's "Woody Woodpecker" series. There were three generations of Woody, and the first and second generation of Woody were the greatest.
Then, we have Fox's "TerryToons" with MIGHTY MOUSE, Paramount's Fleischer's "Popeye", MGM's "Tom and Jerry" .. a small selection that were just as great as the WB and Disney characters.
In 1941 Warner Bros actually had a moment when they were the king of the animated shorts - over Disney.
But, oh we can't forget Maroon Studios for "Roger Rabbit" and ToonTown (LOL)
-Monte
[ 02-27-2006, 01:16 PM: Message edited by: Monte L Fullmer ]
Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 02-27-2006, 10:25 AM:
Duck Dodgers, Feed the Kitty, Rabbit of Seville, What's Opera Doc?, Road Runners and hundreds of other great WB cartoons were all done by Chuck Jones. He used to say that he made cartoons for himself and his pals, not for kids. He was a genius who in 1977 was the first animator to get a retrospective from MOMA. (He also said that visiting Telluride at 8750', which he did over a dozen times, was "the most fun I ever had without breathing.")
But my vote for the greatest cartoon is Betty Boop's "Snow White." It is the most surreal, off-the-wall cartoon I've ever seen. Looking at the backgrounds and the story, you have to ask: "What were these guys smoking?!"
Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 02-27-2006, 10:53 AM:
One of my favorites is "To Hare Is Human" which features Wily Coyote against Bugs Bunny instead of the Road Runner. Coyoyte acutally speaks in this one ("This is no ordinary rabbit")
Posted by Jim Henk (Member # 3628) on 02-27-2006, 08:42 PM:
I still remember running Quest For Fire in 70mm, and "Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a Halfth Century" was on the first reel. Oh my... (few years ago...)
Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-27-2006, 10:33 PM:
I'll gladly watch ANY Warner Bros or Tex Avery cartoon any day of the week......
Mark
Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 02-28-2006, 02:31 PM:
about 7 years ago, I saw a screening of The Zoot Cat (1944 Hanna Barbera - Tom & Jerry) ... after seeing it I learned that it got split in half during that showing (no, I didn't thread it - wasn't at my theatre) ... too bad.
as for a favorite ... no way ... can't pick just one.
BTW, Leo, I came across Coal Black online, but the quality is pretty crappy, and the aspect ratio is way off.
About three years ago, El Capitan in Hollywood showed Sleeping Beauty in 70mm ... a 35mm scope Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom played before it. As far as I could tell it was shown uncut, despite the stereotypes.
Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 02-28-2006, 02:55 PM:
Walter Lantz "Pass the Biscuits Mirandy" (1942)
Disney "Der Fuehrer's Face" (1943)
I've been looking for the Lantz cartoon for years. It seems to have vanished from the Earth.
Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-28-2006, 03:31 PM:
Actually, my all-time favorite are the Disney science series of "My Friend,the Atom", "Man in Space" and "Mars and Beyond" - these films are on DVD in the "Adventureland" metal can set.
But, we can't forget the Bell Science Educational Films with Dr. Frank Baxter...all on 16mm films that we saw in school...
sorry to got off-topic on this one...but stil were excellent films.
Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 02-28-2006, 04:09 PM:
My favorite single reel cartoon is "Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century" in 70MM.
The print was struck to be played with select engagements of "Close Encounters" for Spielberg. It played with a few other features over the years like "Quest for Fire", "Divine Madness".
Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 02-28-2006, 04:20 PM:
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