ThadBlog

I’m not talking about assholes (because by the broadest definition nearly any character qualifies as one), I mean just really slimy scumbags. The kind of character that would let his 93 year-old grandmother walk home in the rain if she wouldn’t give him cigar money. What also played a role in each of my choices was how affective the voice behind each scumbag was.

The Dick Lundy version of Buzz Buzzard is my all time favorite cartoon scumbag. The original design of him used in his first three appearances is beautiful. Everything about it just reeks of the kind of conman you’re liable to find in a downtown pool hall/dive, yet it’s so aesthetically pleasing. Lionel Stander provided the wonderful voice for Buzz in these pictures, and it’s a shame Lantz didn’t bring him back when they decided to have dialogue in the woodpecker pictures again. Maybe Stander being blacklisted by HUAC had something to do with it.

Ed Love animation from Drooler’s Delight (1949)

The source of torture for a cat and mouse in Chuck Jones’ Chow Hound (1951), the dog, would be next. Nothing is too low for this guy to stoop to in his quest for a full stomach. John T. Smith provided the voice of him and many other scumbags in the early 1950s Warner shorts (the construction worker in Homeless Hare and No Parking Hare, Crusher in Bunny Hugged), as well as some other notable Bugs Bunny rivals (the scientist in Water Water Every Hare, Pumpkinhead Martin in Hillbilly Hare).

Ben Washam animation from Chow Hound

And of course, last but not least, Bluto, whose classification as scumbag needs no explanation. I personally love Gus Wickie and Jackson Beck as Bluto, but think Pinto Colvig and William Pennell did lackluster jobs. I know I’m going to hear from a few Fleischer freaks about how Famous ruined Bluto (and Popeye too), but they can go argue with Morey Reden’s ghost (the animator primarily responsible for Bluto’s new dynamic design, and, from others’ accounts, a really crotchety coot).

I’ll admit, he really did get too handsome for a scumbag as time went on, like in this clip from Symphony in Spinach (1948) (mostly animated by Johnny Gentilella, and contains my favorite Famous Popeye one-liner of all time: “Don’t B-Flat, B-Natural!”). No wonder Olive always fell for him before the inevitable rape attempt.

I just realized that this blog is over two years old now (it launched on March 26th, 2006). It’s ‘evolved’ from fanboyish rantings (in attempt to earn free rides from assholes) to more articulate writings. In honor of the anniversary, here’s a post on the topic of Famous Studios. Until recently, it was a dirty secret to admire anything about those cartoons.

While watching more Famous cartoons than most health specialists normally recommend, I’ve come to the conclusion that Marty Taras is my favorite of all the New York animators. His drawing and timing skill stood out to me as far superior to the other animators when watching Harveytoons as a kid. Taras would have probably been right at home in Tex Avery or Bob Clampett’s units. He joins Art Davis as one of the only masters of feline torture who didn’t work on Tom and Jerry.

Clips taken from Naughty But Mice (1947), The Old Shell Game (1948), Hep Cat Symphony (1949), Mice Meeting You (1950), Mice Paradise (1951), As the Crow Lies (1951), Scout Fellow (1951), Off We Glow (1952), Starting from Hatch (1953), Winner By a Hare (1953), Better Bait Than Never (1953), Rail Rodents (1954), and Git Along Lil Duckie (1955).

Look for the new Baby Huey book featuring Taras’ artwork (and Dave Tendlar’s) compiled by Jerry Beck and Leslie Cabarga coming out this summer.

Jaime Weinman has reprinted a 1933 interview with Tex Avery. As you know, this was during his time at the Lantz studio.

While watching the horrible Hitchcock movie Torn Curtain (1966) a week or two ago, I was reminded of John McElwee’s great post on Hithcock’s weaker later work. It’s a fairly recent post, and definitely worth a read (though I wish John would work on making the layout of his blog a little easier to read).

It reminded me of the flood of comments on Chuck Jones’ decline in his later years, and how of all the animated short filmmakers, Jones is probably the closest to Hitchcock, for his darker takes on life (Fresh Airedale, Chow Hound, his best Daffy Duck’s), and for the Road Runner, the first intentional animated MacGuffin.

A scene animated by Bobe Cannon from Tex Avery’s Doggone Tired (1949). I wonder how Mr. “No-Conflict” felt about animating carnage so gross Tex won’t even let you see it.

My favorite of the Famous Studios ‘paper cut-out’ UPA-influenced shorts of the late 1950s by Al Eugster.