Cartoonatics' 2nd Anniversary: July 9, 2010-July 9, 2012

Thanks for stopping by over the past two years.  

Gnu with the Gnews.

Platypus Duck, checkerboard, incoming.

Red Zebra in shades.

Rex at dinnertime.

The Alps.

The Crocodile from Peter Pan -- October Sunset, Monte Nido CA

One Friday evening last October, I was driving home along Las Virgenes Road in Monte Nido, CA, and I glanced toward the sunset.  What I saw prompted me to pull my car over and take a few pictures with my iPhone.  I'm not much of a photographer, and I'm not really a cloud aficionado, but this particular sunset sky seemed unique.  To me, the clouds looked a lot like the tick-tocking crocodile from Disney's "Peter Pan."  Or a fire-breathing dragon version of that character.   Anyway, here's the photographic proof that, every now and then, we get some spectacular sunsets here in Southern California. 

 

Happy 4th of July from Skippy and Slappy Squirrel

"In the land of the free, now that's com-e-dy!"

Cel set-up from the final scene of the Animaniacs episode entitled "Woodstock Slappy," directed by Audu Paden, written by John P. McCann and me, and featuring the "Who's on Stage?" sketch performed by Slappy (Sherri Stoner) and Skippy (Nathan Ruegger).  

Early Wakko

From the Animaniacs Development File:  a pose of Wakko Warner, pre-whiskers, circa 1992, drawn by Dan Haskett.  

Animaniacs Pose Sheet by Dan Haskett

Here's an Animaniacs pose sheet of Wakko and Dot by Dan Haskett, one of the great animation artists who worked on the series. 

This batch of drawings comes from 1992, a year before the series aired, when Wakko did not yet have the whiskers added to his cheeks.  Dan joined other huge talents like Rich Arons, Ken Boyer, Lynn Naylor, Barry Caldwell, Alfred Gimeno and many others to bring life to the early inspirational drawings of Yakko, Wakko and Dot and the other Animaniacs cast members.

Hello Nurse and Dr. Scratchansniff

As they appear in the Animaniacs full-color main model line-up, circa 1993:  Hello Nurse and Dr. Otto Scratchansniff.  

A Cartoonatics Milestone

The Weird Fade-Out Gags of Laurel and Hardy

From 1927 to 1950, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made over 100 films together as a comedy team.  They starred in 23 feature films, 40 short sound films and 32 short silent films.  They also appeared as guest stars in 12 other films.    They remain one of the funniest, most beloved and critically acclaimed comedy duos in the history of cinema.  I have been a huge fan of their work my entire life.  

Many of their movies were domestic comedies -- sit-coms -- in which Stan and Ollie had trouble coping with their wives and their married lives.  They also made a number of brilliant workplace movies, in which the pair managed to wreck everything in sight.  Then there were classic period pieces and costume comedies in which Stan and Ollie went out west, played gypsies, lived in Toyland, joined the foreign legion, went to war, and basically found locations and plots that best suited their unique brand of comedy. 

In most of these films, the slapstick endings seem to be logical conclusions to the plotlines.  But there are a handful of Laurel and Hardy films that have bizarre, unexpected and even macabre endings.  

A mild example of this is the final gag in the short “Below Zero” (1930).   Hiding in a barrel of water, Stan has managed to survive by apparently drinking the contents of the barrel.  The last shot of the film shows a frantic Stan running around with an impossibly distended belly. 

 

Okay, it’s a goofy visual gag.  But it foreshadows darker gags to come at the end of subsequent Laurel and Hardy movies. 

In "Dirty Work," a short from 1933, Stan and Ollie get involved with a mad scientist whose final experiment in the film transforms Ollie into a chimp (that's wearing Ollie’s hat).  Here’s another nice mess Stan has gotten him into.    

In the short “Going Bye Bye”(1934),  a thug’s threat is carried out in the final scene... 

...where we find Stan and Ollie each tied in a knot, with their legs tied tightly around their necks.   

It’s a startling-if-not-funny visual gag but, in real life, no one could survive being twisted into such a body-pretzel.  

At the end of the otherwise-humorous  short “Thicker Than Water “(1935) , a blood transfusion between the two pals switches their personalities and their voices…and even Ollie’s moustache.  Will this change wear off in time?   No hint is given.    

When I saw these Laurel and Hardy shorts as a kid, I always felt a little bad for Stan and Ollie, and wished that the endings weren’t quite so brutal for the pair.  

But in some of the duo’s feature films, the endings were even more distressing – they were sad, bleak even. 

In the feature costume comedy “The Bohemian Girl” (1936),  Stan and Ollie are loyal and true guardians who make many sacrifices over many years to help the title character, only to wind up being sent to the torture chamber,  from which they emerge at the fade out.  Stan has been crushed to the height of a lawn jockey,  while Ollie has been stretched on the rack to a new height of about 12 feet.

   

This freakish ending always disturbed me as a kid.  And it still does.  This has to be one of the most unjustifiable endings  for the heroes of a comedy --  and for a comedy team -- in movie history. 

Three years after “The Bohemian Girl,” the climax of “Flying Deuces” (1939) has Stan and Ollie in an airplane crash.   Stan survives, but Ollie does not.  Ollie’s spirit, with angel wings, rises to heaven.   In the final scene, we see Stan as a tramp walking along a road and he comes upon a horse that calls out to him.  The horse has Ollie’s moustache and hat, and speaks with Ollie’s voice.  The horse tells Stand: “Here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.”

I’ve always found this particular finale to be a creepy and sad way to end a comedy.

And here’s the last weird-not-funny ending to a Laurel and Hardy movie that I can recall.  It’s from their feature film “The Bullfighters” (1945).  

The best of the Laurel and Hardy films were made from 1927 to 1940.  After that date, producer Hal Roach and the team parted ways, and Laurel and Hardy started making movies for 20th Century Fox and MGM.  These later films are not considered  to be among the team’s best.  “The Bullfighters” is one of these.  

In the course of “The Bullfighters” story, an adversary demands that Stan and Ollie must do what he says and, if the two fail, the adversary vows to “skin them alive.”   In the end of this “comedy,” guess what?  Stan and Ollie are shown to be skinned alive.  Their heads and hats and ties remain, perched atop skeletons that walk around.   Ollie tells Stan, “Here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into,” and Stan weeps.

This ending is even more freakish and bizarre and morbid than the ending  to “The Bohemian Girl.”

I’m not sure why these otherwise great comedians decided to tack on these weird endings to a handful of their otherwise enjoyable and humorous films.  It’s well-known that Stan was the comedy leader of the team and was deeply involved in the stories and comic routines for each film, so I suspect he had a hand in these fade-out gags.  If these comic bits are any indication, Stan clearly had a dark side.  And yet,  maybe he just wanted to end these particular films with something no one else had tried before. 

If that was Stan’s goal, he succeeded.   No one has tried using these end gags before -- or since!    

Tiny Toon Adventures on DVD: How I Spent My Vacation

Coming August 14, 2012, on DVD:  Tiny Toon Adventures' How I Spent My Vacation. 

Above:  On the left, the new artwork for the 2012 DVD cover.  To the right, the artwork on the VHS cover, when "How I Spent My Vacation" was first released in 1992 as the first direct-to-video original animated feature.  

Back then, the folks at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment were dedicated to the notion that short movie titles were the only way to go, so they insisted that we change our original title, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," to the insignificantly shorter title that omitted the word "summer."   

These are the same marketing geniuses who demanded that we change the title of the Animaniacs direct-to-video feature from "It's a Wakko Wakko Wakko Wakko Wish" to "Wakko's  Wish."  

I much prefer our original titles on both.  

As for the cover art, new and old, above  --  what can I say?   It's like the current regime at Warner Bros. isn't even trying.    

Animaniacs Probed by "Mental Floss!"

Check out this nifty Animaniacs article at Mental Floss written by Rob Lammle. 

The Huckleberry Hound Show

Here's the cast of The Huckleberry Hound Show in September 1961.  By this point, Hokey Wolf and his sidekick Ding-A-Ling had taken over the slot vacated by Yogi and Boo-Boo, who have moved over to The Yogi Bear Show, premiering that fall. 

               Hokey Wolf, Ding-A-Ling, Huckleberry Hound, Pixie, Dixie and Mr. Jinks

The Quick Draw McGraw Show

The Quick Draw McGraw Show remains one of the greatest cartoon shows ever, and certainly the most underrated cartoon show in the Hanna-Barbera library.   Quick Draw himself was a cockeyed combination of cowboy caricatures, brilliantly voiced by Daws Butler.  Unlike Huck and Yogi, whose voices were parodies of Andy Griffith and Art Carney, Quick Draw's voice was an original and one of a kind.  And the stories were provided by Mike Maltese and Warren Foster, who wrote many of the best of the Looney Tunes at Warner Bros. 

Above is a lineup of the cast from the Quick Draw series.  From left to right, that's Blabber, Baba Looey, Quick Draw McGraw, Augie Doggie with his father Doggie Daddy, and Snooper.  Snooper and Blabber were a team of "detecatives."  Baba was Quick Draw's sidekick.  But you knew that.  

The character pose is taken from an old Hanna-Barbera press release.  The background photo was taken during a family trip last month to the Grand Canyon.  Quick Draw and Baba Looey certainly fit into the terrain. 

Surprisingly,  there were some other Hanna-Barbera characters on hand at the Grand Canyon.  Near the entrance to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, we came upon the roadside attraction pictured below...

Um...Yabba-Dabba-Doo? 

"Tiny Toon Adventures" Early Logo -- Part 3

Here's yet another previously-unpublished Tiny Toon Adventures logo, circa 1990.  This one was among the finalists before we settled on the rings logo.   I believe a variation of this piece was used in some preliminary promotional art.  

Steven Spielberg At Warner Bros. Animation

Here's a photo from one of Steven's visits to Warner Bros. Animation at our Sherman Oaks headquarters in the mid-90's.  This appearance took place following one of Animaniacs' Emmy victories.  Here, Steven picks up his Emmy trophy and addresses the crew.   In the background, standing next to me, left to right, are Lenord Robinson, Rich Arons, Rusty Mills and Ed Haney.  

Tom Pigott -- the Great Irishman

In August 2009, my wife Annie and I went on a tour of Ireland with our old friends Parker and Betsy MacDonell and a bunch of new friends.  For the trip, we signed on with Enchanted Way Tours.  Our guide for the two-week adventure was Tom Pigott, surely one of the best travel ambassadors Ireland could ever want.  

Tom led us on an Irish Folk Music Concert Tour of the Emerald Isle, not only showing us the sights, but regaling us with Irish stories from the past and present, and taking us to unique venues where we enjoyed concerts by great Irish folk artists.  Tom also took us to venues where talented musical members of our own tour group gave concerts as well.  On a number of these stages, Tom himself would sing a beautiful Irish ballad or two.

Paddy Downes was the driver on our tour, with Tom Pigott always there in the co-pilot's seat.  The roads were very narrow, but that never seemed to slow down Paddy Downes.

On one stretch of road, a tiny red car actually drove UNDER our bus.  The red car didn't drive much further after that.  

Brendan Wall worked with Tom and Paddy throughout the tour, transporting various members of our group to different events.  Early one morning, Brendan had to transport a number of the guys to a prestigious golf course many kilometers away in order to make a 7:00 AM tee time.   This round of golf had been scheduled many months in advance in order for the group to play on this booked-up course.  Well, somewhere on the way to Ballybunion, Brendan and the golfers got lost in the fog.  Their tee time was missed by a couple of hours. 

At the spectacular Cliffs of Moher, we went on a boat excursion in hopes of seeing the colorful puffins that nest along the cliffs.  We didn't spot any puffins, but the boat ride made Brendan look pretty colorful -- it was a greenish color, and not what Brendan had in mind.  During the voyage, Tom got a kick out of ribbing Brendan, who recovered quickly once back on dry land.

At one of the concerts, a couple of renown and extremely talented Irish folk singers performed, but our constant whispering and chattering thoroughly irritated the handsome male singer of the duo.  But the guys in our group didn't seem to be too concerned with him.  Our attention was focused on the female singer, although for some of us, her voice was not the main attraction.  

At a pub concert, two members of our tour group, Peter and Colleen Pavarini, sang a duet that seemed to delight one of the locals in the audience, so much so that this audience member felt compelled to get up out of his seat, step onto the stage and plant a big wet smooch on the kisser of Mrs. Pavarini.    Her husband Peter just kept singing -- after all, the show must go.  And besides, what's wrong with a little PDA among music lovers?  

 


Yesterday, Annie and I learned the sad news that Tom Pigott passed away unexpectedly on February 4, 2012, while participating in an Irish Folk Music cruise in the Caribbean.  

Tom was a wonderful and lovable guy.   He had a gentle heart and a great voice.    He took great pleasure in telling a funny story and had a big laugh when your story happened to be funny.    He had a deep love for music, for his homeland, for his children and his grandson.

Tom Pigott and Tom Ruegger, Ireland, 2009

All that knew him will miss him.  He was one of the good ones.  This world won't be the same without him...

Doug and Beth Morgan, Annie Ruegger and Tom Pigott

 We love you, Tom!

On the Lot -- Warner Bros. Animation --1993

Here's a group shot taken in early 1993.  

Following the success of Tiny Toon Adventures, Taz-Mania and Batman: the Animated Series, Warner Bros. Animation was embarking on its second collaboration with Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment:  Animaniacs. 

Pictured above are just a few of the people involved in these productions.   From left to right:  Bruce Timm (producer, designer -- Batman: the Animated Series), Terry Semel (Warner Bros. Co-Chairman & Co-CEO) , Kathleen Helppie (producer, Warner Bros. Classic Animation), Bob Daly (Warner Bros. Co-Chairman & Co-CEO),  Eric Radomski (producer, designer -- Batman: the Animated Series), Steven Spielberg (executive producer -- Tiny Toon Adventures & Animaniacs), Art Vitello, (director -- Tiny Toon Adventures; writer/producer -- Taz-Mania),  Jean MacCurdy (President of Warner Bros. Animation & executive in charge of production), Rich Arons (director -- Tiny Toon Adventures; producer -- Animaniacs), Sherri Stoner (writer/producer -- Tiny Toon Adventures & Animaniacs), Alan Burnett (writer/producer -- Batman: the Animated Series), and some guy named Tom Ruegger (writer/senior producer,  Tiny Toons & Animaniacs; writer/executive producer -- Batman: the Animated Series.)

Please note:  Many hundreds of other people -- not pictured above -- helped to make these shows successful.  

Animaniacs Valentines Card: Hello Nurse!

Happy Valentines Day!