Ruff and Reddy

It would seem that Hanna/Barbera "borrowed" the names Ruff and Reddy from this other dog and cat duo that appeared in Peter Porkchops comics. I don't know much of anything about who created these two but I doubt Joe Barbera had anything to do with them. I'm assuming they were created by Peter Porkchops creator Otto Feuer, the difference here is Ruff is the dog and Reddy the cat. This story is from Peter Porkchops #2 published in 1950. Anyone out there know more about these two?

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.

Andy Panda - "Dog Tax Dodgers"

I've been on a bit of an Andy Panda kick lately, so here's another Dick Lundy directed cartoon. There's some great animation by Fred Moore and Pat Matthews in this one. I've posted clips of Moore's and Matthews' animation at half speed. Matthew's scene has some great subtle timing that I found to be really effective. When Wally Walrus starts to yell at him watch Andy's reaction. It's like Wally's words are hitting him right in the face. What an underrated animator. The more I watch the last of the Lantz cartoons before he closed the studio the more I wish that he was able to keep the studio going and retain some of the great talent he had started to accumulate. People like Matthews and LaVerne Harding really developed into strong animators over the years at Lantz. Matthews in particular developed a stand out style that really got watered down during some of the cartoons he worked on later at UPA. (Sorry if the quality of the slow motion videos is crappy.)

Fred Moore

Pat Matthews

UPA - "Family Circus"

Art Babbit directed and animated this 1951 UPA short. I'm not sure what to think of it. I don't dislike it but it's certainly not that great of a cartoon. I looks like a John Sutherland industrial film to me. Not that that's entirely a bad thing. The animation is good but the character designs and layouts are very conservative compared to what UPA was doing at the time. Sorry for the crappy copy but it's all I have and I haven't seen this one anywhere online so I thought I'd share.

Andy Panda - "Playful Pelican"

I posted this model sheet from Dick Lundy's "Playful Pelican" but never the cartoon and since I was just watching it the other day why not repost it with the cartoon.

Dan Gormley - New Funnies

I've been spending time drooling over Dan Gormley's art in some New Funnies comics lately. I know next to nothing about Gormley so I have very little info to share about the artist.

Harvey Eisenberg - Super Rabbit #12

Here's a story by Harvey Eisenberg from Super Rabbit #12 published in 1948. I was unaware that Eisenberg drew for Timely Comics so this story was a real treat. Especially in comparison to the art in the rest of the comic. From the first page I could tell by the posing and staging that it was Eisenberg, only after looking up info on Super Rabbit did I find out he worked on some of the comics. Guess I'll have to start hunting down Timely comics now in hopes of finding even more of his work.

Tex Avery - "The Farm Of Tomorrow"

I know this cartoon is weaker than the most of Tex's shorts at MGM. Some of the gags are so corny they're almost embarrassing. I think even Tex would have admitted that, why else end it with the "Hootenanny" gag. The best or worst (depending on your sense of humor) of the bunch. But what I do love about it is Gene Hazelton's designs. That alone is enough reason for me to watch it over and over.