Category: Cartooning

Two Arms! Two Arms!

Blogging newspaper editor Mike Dobbs has posted some scans from a 1939 magazine article called “The Movies Launch a Kindergarten of Democracy”. [Link] The pictures are scenes promoting the Warner Brothers cartoon “Old Glory”, directed by Chuck Jones. Here’s the cartoon, released in 1940, in all its patriotic, rotoscoped, Technicolor™ old glory.

http://youtu.be/utkBu-mqi-c

Notice the two words that are missing from the Pledge of Allegiance? And of course there are two states missing in the map of the United States.

Hart Has Stopped

B.C. pencil sketch, by Johnny Hart

B.C. by Johnny HartSpeaking of Easter, cartoonist Johnny Hart has died. What does the creator of the comic strips B.C., and The Wizard of Id have to do with Easter? After hitting bottom as an alcoholic, Hart found Jesus, big time. He embraced Christianity in a way that was, shall we say, insensitive to the beliefs of others. Hart’s faith found expression in his work, and was most notably depicted in the controversial comic strip in the upper left corner. Click the thumbnail picture to enlarge. The always even-handed Mark Evanier (and I mean that sincerely) has a remembrance of Johnny Hart. [Link]

Have GunXSword, Will Travel

The latest Animé series we’re watching with Eric is GunXSword, about a western-style character named Van, seeking revenge against a man named Claw, for the death of his betrothed. There are giant robots involved that look like the Transformers. It’s not as silly as it sounds!

In this 10-minute clip there are no robots. Carmen99, overly endowed and scantily dressed, is visiting her hometown. She finds the townsfolk suspiciously happy.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/APR07/GunXSword.flv 425 240]© AIC

A Feud Thar Wuz

The legendary Hatfield v. McCoy feud is once again in the news, nearly 150 years after it began in West Virginia.

Hatfield Men

The name behind all of the fussin’ and fightin’ may in fact be Von Hippel-Lindau. [Link Here] It’s a disease that’s marked by tumors on the adrenal glands that can result in aggressive behavior. And all this time I thought it was due to bad moonshine. Hey, maybe Von Hippel-Lindau disease explains the Shiite v. Sunni conflict!

I first learned of the famous feud from watching a 1938 Tex Avery cartoon on TV, “A Feud There Was”. Ya wanna see? Shore y’all duz. Don’t know why the name Hatfield was changed to Weaver.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/APR07/AFeudThereWas.flv 400 300]© Turner

Note: I transferred this cartoon from LD using a new method that’s both troublesome and slow. But the results are about as good as it gets, folks, without getting ridiculous with the bit rate, or paying real money for a FLV encoder.

He Yam What He Yam

At last! The DVD set I have always wanted, even before DVD’s when I wanted it on LD, will soon become a reality. The Complete Popeye The Sailor.

Going waaaay back, to my earliest memories, ages 4-7, there were two things on TV that I absolutely loved watching. Superman and Popeye. It’s a visceral connection that I feel yet to this day — The Adventures of Superman with George Reeves, and the Popeye cartoons done by the Max Fleischer studio in the 1930’s.

I’ve posted a couple of items about Superman, here and here, but for more background on Popeye I recommend a visit to an excellent tribute site. [Link Here] Note: You’ll need Internet Explorer and the Real plug-in to watch the cartoons. A slightly different take on Popeye is here on DogRat.com. But — d’oh! — the YouTube video I linked to has been pulled. Any wonder why I post my own videos?

I’ve consciously avoided all Popeye releases until now, knowing that eventually the legal hassles associated with the property would be settled, clearing the way for a box set video release. This is super-duper news. Mike Dobbs [Link] is only person I can think of who must be looking forward to this more than myself.