Little Golden Books make for Happy Kids!

Sunday's a good time to turn your brain off and look at things that make you happy.  Maybe that's the appeal for some people to go to church...

The other day on Facebook, a few other art appreciators and I trailed off topic and someone brought up Little Golden Books, one thing led to another and the scanning started.  Below are the Little Golden Books that sit proudly in my collection.  There are a few more stuffed in a box of Christmas type stuff one of which I've already posted here and the rest I'll get to by December, I'm sure.  

These are books that I've carried with my since I was a wee tyke, with the exception of the Bugs Bunny and Road Runner ones which I picked up in my teen years, just because I was starved for real cartoons.  The late 70's was a very bad time for fans of real cartoons.

People ask, why did you keep your children's books?  You're forty-freakin-nine years old?!?  The answer being, even as a tot, when it came time to toss away such things, I knew that there be true art here.  I knew this was something to treasure.

AND I had the best mom in the world and she spoiled me rotten.

I don't apologize for that.  I deserved it.

Drink in these beautiful "LGB patented washable covers" and see if you don't agree.

And see if you don't find a few familiar books from your own past.

Bob Clampett's Beany & Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent.  We had a B&C board game when I was a kid too.  I was born after the TV show was done airing in my area, so my exposure to these great characters was here first.  I was probably in my 30's before I ever saw an episode of the cartoon and in my 40's before I ever saw the puppet show.  I was sure glad I had this when I finally did!

A Hanna=Barbera cartoon that wasn't even a cartoon at the time.  Didn't stop the drawings from being funny though...just looka that twisted horn dinosaur!  Awesome!

That's right.  I know my colors!  Incredible art in this one.

I learned an awful lot about dinosaurs from this book.  Most of the info is now out of date, but these paintings are wonderful!

As a very small child of 4 or 5 years old in Montana reading this one, I remember turning to my brothers Richard and Mike and saying "Wouldn't it be neat if this place was real?".  They smirked, called me a dumb kid and told me it was.  When I was 22 I moved to California where I knew no one, had no where to live and no job prospects.  This is the first place I went, just in case I had to turn tail back home.

I wish I was small enough to play on a toy boat!

The paintings in this one still have me mesmerized as well.

Hanna-Barbera's early "menagerie characters" look even better in book form than they do on their shows, if you ask me.

Ah, Marge's Little Lulu.  What a bunch of appealingly ugly little kids.

Very off=mode for an officially sanctioned book.  Disney did that kind of things for their albums a lot too...it really lends to the fairy tale aspect.

The aforementioned late-comers to the stacks.  Loved none the less.

Another cartoon from before my time...but when I started learning about cartoon history (you know, the IMPORTANT kind of history) I was ahead of the curve because of this book.

I'm sure I was exposed to other takes on Ma Goose as a kid, but this is the one in my minds eye.  Could there ever be a more perfect Simple Simon than Goofy?  I don't think so.

Another book with some really striking paintings.  That bunny and his magic nose are so deeply ingrained in my brain, I don't thinkyou could get them out with a crowbar!

Disney's Winnie is as iconic as Milne's Winnie.  Not often a character can embody two such distinctly different looks and feels and work well in both.

Never understood this one.  School was a chore I could have done without.  learning was great, but did I really need to be subjected to that environment 7 hours a day?  I don't think so.  These drawings were worth being exposed to, though.

Now for the main answer to "Why do I still have these" and maybe you hadn't thought of this yet "Why were they right where you could find them when it came up on Facebook?".  The answer is simple.

Little Golden Books make me happy.

Talk to you soon.

Sunday Funnies June 4, 1955 - part 3 of 4

The Sunday Funnies has a couple of highlights in this section of the Chicago Daily News....real treats.

First up, Walt Kelly's masterful "Pogo".  Every panel a gem, every word balloon poetry.  This is what "awesome" meant before it applied to pizza, too.

Fred Neher's "Life's Like That".  Another multi-single page strip which started to loom on the horizon in the 1950's.  A sign of America's shortening attention span and I''m sure also, a way for newspapers to chop up and give more space over to advertising.  The beginnings of the comics page shrinking.  No offence to Neher, the strip is breezy Sunday morning reading.  He did hsi job.

When I was a kid, the comic book racks were still full of humor comic's based on animated characters.  And I mean all of 'em.  Terrytoons, Looney Tunes, Lantz Tunes, Disney Toons...ALL had their rag newsprint counterparts.  I always had a few laying around (though never collected any avidly) but they were always off-putting slightly,  The characters didn't look the same of act the same as they did on the screen or TV.  I of course now understand that different media call for different ways of story-telling.  I have a new respect for them and the artistry that went into them.  THAT was comic books, my local newspaper never carried any of the strip variations of this phenomenon, so it's nice to see samples like this.  

So much to read, so little time.

Oh...that was a long-winded way of saying..."Here's Bugs Bunny!"

THIS uncredited strip, "Mr. Rumbles" looks pretty interesting.  The art is solid, and the concept a new one for newspapers.  I'm love to see some more.

Happy Sunday, kiddoes.  See ya all for more next week.

Talk to you soon.

Them Old Timey Poster Figures...and Maybe a Little More Thor - "Unca Jeffy's Toy Box"!

Last week I dug a Popeye PVC figure out of my toy box modeled after the bad drawing from an early 1930's one-sheet poster. This was a great idea for a toy series and I kind of wish they'd made more.

Here's the other 3 figures that they DID make!

A more portly Porky Pig than is remembered today from early Friz Freleng Merrie Melodies cartoons, usually as supporting character and as sidekick to Beans the Cat. Beans the Cat anyone?...no I didn't think so. The names Porky and Beans do ring together well though.

Here's the original poster version...


And here's the happy little fat figure.


In the first Might Mouse cartoon, he was originally named "Super Mouse". His yellow costume was even blue to match the man of steels. It didn't take long though before the litigious folks at National Periodical Publications (DC) called a cease and desist, and "Here he comes to save the day!", Mighty Mouse became what we all know.

Here's a relettered but still miscolored poster from the day...

...and here's the uber-cool figure that occupies a space in Unca Jeffy's toy box.

Our sweet little "everyman's girl friend" Betty Boop actually began as a dog and girlfriend to Fleischer's "Bimbo" character, but by the time she became a headliner and appeared on one-sheets, she'd basically taken on the form we all know. She did change a little from the early 30's to the late 30's as the Hayes office made her more matronly and less slutty, but from the days when she was still a little jazz strumpet, here she is on an early one-sheet...

...and here's my little sweetie in 3-D.

Her spinly legs (as opposed to her vivacious thighs) and tiny feet don't let this figure stand on her own, but my fingers in the photo also prevent those sick foot fetishists from enjoying this too much.

I'm all for an individuals expression of their desires, but you foot people are "F"ing sick!

Well, as long as yesterday was the official opening of Marvel's "Thor" movie, here's a cool figure made of pewter I got about 5 years ago, commemorating the 1962 debut of the character...

...with a replica of "Journey Into Mysery" issue 126 (the very first appearance of the character in Marvel Comics. The figure really has a lot of detail.

I didn't think the figure had enough of a Jack Kirby feeling to it, but the way he's seen burting out of a splayed open comic book (like the rest of the figures from this series) is pretty cool.

That's one hammer-weilding mutha' fer ya!

Ah, what the heck! Since we're on a super hero jag here (what with Mighty Mouse and Thor), this guy was hanging out right close to the top of the toy box as well. Where's my "Underdog" movie? Oh, yeah...a bunch of hacks that didn't get the point already made one...it sucks!

But one thing you can't deny...

"When criminals in the world appear
and break the laws that they should fear
and frighten all who see or hear
the cry goes up both far and near
for UNDERDOG!

Speed of lightning, roar of thunder
fighting all who rob or plunder
UNDERDOG!

UNDERDOG!

When in this world the headlines read
of those whose hearts are filled with greed
who rob and steal from those in need

to right this wrong with blinding speed
goes UNDERDOG!

UNDERDOG!!!!"

To watch this show now, the voice of Wally Cox is really it's only redeeming quality. The jokes aren't very funny and the other voices are lack-luster...but that song ROCKS!

Talk to you soon.

Aw Heck...More Banjo Pigs!

There are soooooooooooo many old bad musician jokes just begging to have a pig thrust into the middle of them. Here's another!

Be sure and check out the original dueling banjo pigs (ongoing) between Guy Francis and Stacy Curtis for a lot of great cartooning...also with links to we bystanding knuckleheads that have joined the fray. Really a lot of great takes on a theme.

Oh...and to tie it all together, today is the 102nd anniversary of the birth of the great Mel Blanc, voice of probably the most famous cartoon pig in the world.

Happy birthday Mel...and a great 3 day Memorial Day Weekend to all the piggies everywhere!

Bob Clampett - Animation, Television, Comedy Pioneer

Born May 8, 1913, Bob Clampett would be 97 years old today!

One of the young pups who stepped up to directing at Leon Schlesinger's 'Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies" studio after Tex Avery departed, Bob had worked for years as an animator for both Avery and Friz Freleng where he honed his chops.

Clampett's lunacy and pure "cartoon"-ism in his work is truly inspired. Always forsaking the drudgery of storytelling if a good gag could be had, made his cartoons some of the best.

I always felt, that while Avery's zaniness was a natural, Bob's was learned and reached for. Over the years my opinion has changed somewhat and I really love the haphazard style which achieved true cartooning brilliance.

Here's a couple of Bob's great cartoons. Over the last 11 months of doing this blog I'm sometimes frustrated when I embed a video from YouTube and then somewhere down the line it gets removed because of copyright fears by YT or worse, embedding is suddenly denied by the poster. If you ever happen to see a broken link to a video on my blog, please drop me an e-mail and I'll find a replacement for it.

Now for the cartoons...it IS Saturday morning after all!







Somewhere during his time at "Termite Terrace" Bob worked with the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs on nights and weekends, and he was working on a proposed series of theatrical cartoons based on Burroughs' character John Carter, Warlord of Mars.

An ambitious undertaking for sure. Other than a few characters in Disney features (Snow White) and the Fleischer Bros. "Superman" shorts for Paramount, realistic anatomical characters were not really done. A cartoon figure is much easy to animate than one that appears like you or I.

I'm a big fan of the John Carter books and was surprised to learn of these on a "Beany & Cecil" DVD a few years back...these tests look pretty damn good. I would have liked to see them completed.

After leaving Warner Bros., Bob moved his attention to a new medium, television.

Understanding that animation would be too time consuming and cost-prohibitive for a medium that was in it's infancy and cranked out product so quickly (if Bob knew this in 1949...why haven't producer's learned this in 2010?????????) he turned to another love of his, puppetry.

Creating a cast of characters as puppets and assembling voice talents he had worked with in theatrical animation (Daws Butler and Stan Freberg) they set out to do a daily show on Los Angeles station KTLA. Writing over-the-top horrible puns and sometimes adult oriented humor, this kiddie show smash became just as big a hit with the parents.

Albert Einstein once got up from a Harvard staff meeting and announced he had to go..."It's Time for Beany"...

In the 1960's Bob had seen the success that Hanna-Barbera and others had doing limited animation for TV and produced a syndicated cartoon version of the show.

But remember...we only talk about GOOD things on this blog.

Thanks Bob! For being one of the real pioneers, learning the limits of and stretching every medium you dipped your foot into!

Carl Stalling: Maestro of Symphonies, Melodies and Tunes

Born this date in 1891, Carl Stalling would be 118 years old today.

The musical heart and genius behind 100's of cartoons, Carl taught us about the rhythm and timing of good comedy.

He first befriended a young Walt Disney back in Kansas City, where Walt was producing his "Laugh-O-Gram" and "Alice" cartoons and Carl was a movie house organist. After the success of "Steamboat Willie" and Walt's foray into "sound cartoons", Walt sent for Carl to join his new crew in Hollywood.

Front row above: Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney, Carl Stalling

Carl did indeed join up and added much to the effort. It was Carl who first suggested the "Silly Symphonies" series.

Above: Carl and Ub seated with Walt standing directly over them.

When Ub Iwerks and Walt had their falling out, Carl went with Ub and worked at his studio, creating music for "Flip the Frog", "Willie Whopper" and Ub's "Comi-Color" series'.

After Ub's failure to compete with Disney, Carl made his last move. He joined the team at Warner Brothers, where 3 other Disney confederates had established a real cartoonists haven in the "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" series, Hugh Harman, Rudoph Ising and Friz Freleng.

This is where Carl truly blossomed and left us with a legacy of sounds and music that has become a part of all of us.

Carl's training as a movie theatre pianist/organist had ingrained in him such a library of classical music, and adding to that Warner Music Publishing's vast library which was easily stamped on his grey matter he created a whole new way of cartoon and film storytelling.



...and the "kids" still rock it today!

How boring would life be without the creativity and musical ability of this man running through the backs of our heads?

Very!

Thanks Carl!