OK, this will be the last Andy Panda cartoon I post for a while. It's also the last cartoon that Andy starred in for Lantz. He would show up again in the "Spook-A-Nanny" TV special and in "The Woody Woodpecker Polka". It opens with a great walk cycle by Fred Moore, at least I think it's Moore. I'm pretty sure that Ed Love handles some of the early fox hunting scenes.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Andy Panda - "Scrappy Birthday"
OK, this will be the last Andy Panda cartoon I post for a while. It's also the last cartoon that Andy starred in for Lantz. He would show up again in the "Spook-A-Nanny" TV special and in "The Woody Woodpecker Polka". It opens with a great walk cycle by Fred Moore, at least I think it's Moore. I'm pretty sure that Ed Love handles some of the early fox hunting scenes.
If it wasn't for Heck Allen's name in the writing credits, I could have sworn that I was watching a Tex Avery short at times - that scene with the dog/vacuum was probably the biggest WTF moment in a Lantz cartoon.
ReplyDeleteA shame this was the last Andy Panda short - just when they were getting better, too (ie; Andy taking more control of his own shorts). They at least could have made more use of Buck Beaver: Chiseller characters are always fun to toy with - look at Crawford Crow, for example!
I agree with you, the later Andy shorts were getting much better. It's probably a good thing Andy wasn't revived when Lantz reopened the studio. Woody suffered through some bad animation later, imagine how bad a really low budget Andy Panda cartoon would be.
ReplyDeleteThat does it! Fred Moore is now my favorite animator! The way he draws is so insanely appealing and cute!
ReplyDeleteThe only rival in appeal for the walk cycle is Moore's animation for the Mickey Mouse short The Little Whirlwind.
Hey Kevin. I finally signed up for the Golden Age Cartoons forum and had my registration e-mail accepted after about two months. I hope I don't get into trouble on there, because that's the last thing I want.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it's great to see this one again. I like the design of the chiseling salesman character in this cartoon. I'm very glad they never made any more Andy Pandas. The Woody cartoons of the late 60s are awful and poorly drawn. They look like ten year olds drew them, and actually, I think I drew better than that when I was ten!
"The only rival in appeal for the walk cycle is Moore's animation for the Mickey Mouse short The Little Whirlwind."
Didn't Fred work on that cartoon too? I heard that he was the one who redesigned Mickey.
Hi Roberto, Fred did some great animation in "The Little Whirlwind" (which is definitely my favorite Mickey short). You're also right that Moore was the one who redesigned Mickey.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this, Kevin. Fred Moore did a wonderful job with that walk cycle. Since Fred designed Mickey Mouse, it's no wonder Andy Panda was so much like him once Moore came to Lantz' studio. All he needed was a girlfriend here and presto! Bear becomes mouse!
ReplyDeleteToo bad poor Andy got the worst of it in his final short...
"Didn't Fred work on that cartoon too?"
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's why I said "Moore", you know, Fred's last name.
Anyway, I saw on the DVD box that this final Andy Panda cartoon was a redesign of Andy.
AWESOME walk cycle. Good call that it was by Fred Moore. Immediately it looked like a variation on the Happy double bounce" Mickey Mouse walk cycle. Dick Williams broke it down really well in his masterclass.
ReplyDeleteWhy wasn't Fred Moore given screen credit??
I love Fred Moore's scene in the beginning of the cartoon. Not only does it look like Mickey, but to add insult to injury it has the Woody Woodpecker song in the background. That just OOOOZES subtlety.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I like that walk cycle, and the acting bits Andy does with his girl in the opener. It's skilled.
ReplyDeleteBut on the other hand I don't like it because Fred just turned Andy into a hairy Mickey. There's no indication to me that Andy is a different character - at all. I think that's weird.