Tex Avery - "Bad Luck Blackie"

It's been a while since I posted anything from Tex Avery so here's "Bad Luck Blackie" and some model sheets to go along with it. So many great gags in this one. And who doesn't love the dog's laugh? Enjoy.

Bad Luck Blackie

Uploaded by klangley

A Foolish Fable - "Dig That Dog"

I'm not terribly fond of a lot of the cartoons made by Lantz when he reopened the studio in 1950. I guess 1956 is probably my cut off point. Anything after that is of little interest to me. This cartoon was made in 1954, shortly before the arrival of Tex Avery and was written and directed by two of Tex's former co-workers at MGM, Ray Patterson and Grant Simmons. Some of the expressions and incidental character designs are very reminiscent of MGM characters. "Dig That Dog" was produced by Patterson and Simmons own studio Grantray-Lawrence for Lantz.

Dig That Dog

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Preston Blair Swipes

I was reading a Speedy Rabbit comic, in fact it's the only issue of Speedy Rabbit and I noticed that the characters and some of the poses looked really familiar. It wasn't 'til I came to the Rudolf The Pup page that I realized that everything was swiped from Preston Blair's Animation 1 book. Which I thought was strange as the issue was drawn by Ben Brown, who if I'm not mistaken, drew the Richie Rich comics. Anyway, I thought it was amusing since I've spent so much time practicing from that book and that so many of the drawings in it pop up as small business logos or mascots for school teams. Here's some scans from the issue with the corresponding drawings from Blair's book.

Art Davis - "Holiday For Drumsticks"

Happy Thanksgiving all! I hope everyone enjoys the holiday. Let's all give thanks to Art Davis and company for making this great Daffy cartoon, "Holiday For Drumsticks". Is Phil DeGuard not one of the greatest background painters ever? I love his paintings on Davis' shorts.

Holiday For Drumsticks

Uploaded by klangley

Famous Studios - "The Voice Of The Turkey"

Here's a Thanksgiving themed cartoon, the 1950 short "The Voice Of The Turkey". I really love Famous Studios cartoons. I know a large percentage of them rely heavily on the same story formulas for each character but I've always loved the animation, the backgrounds, music and voice acting. The backgrounds in this short are really great and were painted by Tom Ford, one of my favorites from any studio.

Tom Ford's backgrounds

The Voice Of The Turkey

Uploaded by klangley

Shamus Culhane - "Jungle Jive"

Here's a clip from "Jungle Jive", directed by Shamus Culhane. I'm very fond of the Lantz Swing Symphonies series even though they're not loaded with a ton of gags. I particularly love the ones that Culhane made with Art Heinemann as his layout/color stylist. The simplified, flat colored backgrounds are unlike what was being done in most other cartoons at the time.

Jungle Jive-Shamus Culhane

Uploaded by klangley

Barney Bear - "Heir Bear"

Another fine Dick Lundy short with the usual great animation by Grant Simmons, Michael Lah and Walter Clinton.

Heir Bear - Dick Lundy

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George Lichty - "Grin And Bear It"

Here's some great panels by George Lichty.

Jim Tyer - "Sno Fun"

I haven't had much time to put together a post this weekend so here's a clip of Jim Tyer's scenes from the Heckle and Jeckle short "Sno Fun" to hold you over. His inventiveness never ceases to amaze me.

Jim Tyer- Sno Fun

Uploaded by klangley

Baby Huey - "Git Along Lil' Duckie"

I mentioned in the Three Bears post my love for overgrown cartoon morons. Well, here's a cartoon of another of my favorites, Baby Huey. Marty Taras animates the beginning scene of Huey and his mother, ain't he great? Plus there's some great backgrounds by Robert Connavale.

Git Along Lil Duckie

Uploaded by klangley

New Animation ID URL

Just in case anyone is having trouble finding Thad's Animation ID blog, he changed the URL.

http://thad-k.blogspot.com/

Chuck Jones - "Bear For Punishment"

This may well be one of the funniest Chuck Jones cartoons ever. Big overgrown morons like Junyer, Baby Huey and Tex Avery's "Lenny types" always crack me up. Junior steals the show, but Mama Bear's dance routine is pretty great too. I believe Ken Harris animated that scene. I posted this model sheet before but I don't think I mentioned that it was drawn by the super awesome Art Heinemann.

A Bear for Punishment

Uploaded by klangley

Another Clampett Goody

Here's a cool clip from an idea Clampett had to merge live-action and animation.

Clampett-Cut Up Process

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Clampett Goodies

Here's a couple of extras from the Beany and Cecil DVD. I'm surprised how much it goes for now, I've seen it for upwards of 100 bucks. Glad I picked it up when I saw it for $10 when it came out. Here's some stop motion animation from 1938 and Bob's test footage for his proposed John Carter Of Mars theatricals.

Clampett-Stop Motion 1938

Uploaded by klangley

Clampett-John Carter Of Mars

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Bob McKimson - "A Ham In A Role"

I love McKimson's late 40s and early 50s shorts, they're always good for beatings. The dog in this cartoon really cracks me up especially in Emery Hawkin's scenes.

A Ham In A Role

Uploaded by klangley

Bugs Bunny - "Foxy By Proxy"

I was over at Thad's blog the other day and he has posted a great Friz Freleng short, "Foxy By Proxy". I realized I had a model sheet from it so here it is.

Art Davis - "What Makes Daffy Duck"

More Art Davis for you, this time it's "What Makes Daffy Duck". As usual there's some great backgrounds from Phil DeGuard and excellent animation by Emery Hawkins, Don Williams and company. I'd really like to see some of Don Smith's layouts for Davis's shorts. Anyone happen to see any online anywhere?

1948 Art Davis

Uploaded by klangley

Tex Avery - "Of Fox And Hounds"

Here's Tex's first use of the George and Lenny characters from "Of Mice and Men". This is also Willoughby's first appearance and I think Tex was credited with providing his voice. One of the greatest run cycles involving a cartoon dog is in this short so I decided to slow it down so we can check out each of those great drawings.

Willoughby Run Cycle (slow motion)

Uploaded by klangley

Of Fox And Hounds

Uploaded by klangley

Chuck Jones - "A Pest In The House"

Here's one of the truly great Daffy shorts directed by Chuck Jones.

A Pest In The House

Uploaded by klangley

Barney Bear - "Unwelcome Guest"

Here's another of the six shorts that George Gordon directed for MGM. I may be mistaken but I believe this was the last one he directed. Theres some beautiful backgrounds here and some great animation from Michael Lah, Ed Barge, and Jack Carr. This cartoon also has one of my favorite scores by Scott Bradley. Enjoy.

The Unwelcome Guest

Uploaded by klangley