Inglorious Identification

I know the title kind of sounds like what you might hear from a Quentin Tarantino film - but with that aside; I hope this post will really interest and stimulate you readers. No, not the inglorious meaning 'disgraceful'...meaning 'obscure'. Well, obscure in the semantic field of animator IDs.

Most of us (animation historians, enthusiasts, fanboys) have had an eye for some animator IDs in some cartoons. Sometimes we reveal whose style it is - other times it IS a mystery. But we all treat animator IDs as a debate - we can never be accurate. The different styles in the Warner Bros. cartoons are probably what make the animation in the cartoons rather effective and even fun to watch - where they are largely noticeable throughout the 1940s and even 1950s. The 1930s style is very obscure (hence the first word of the title). We may probably only come across the style of Irv Spence, and perhaps suspected a Bob McKimson scene there and there....but here, is a new animator ID which has been confirmed..which you will find in the Tex Avery cartoons.

The new animator ID of the Avery cartoons is Bob Clampett's own animation style. You may already be familiar with styles that historians have already mentioned (particularly the 'Daffy Duck' scenes in Porky's Duck Hunt) where he was known to have animated the goony duck we all came to love. Of course, Clampett himself confirmed he worked and animated the scenes of the duck - as well as many devoted historians. 

We all appear to love conversations where it involves 'Clampett vs. Jones'. It's been well-known that Chuck Jones was the superior draftsman than Bob was - we all came to know what Chuck's style looks like as its very evident and controlled in his own cartoons as well as in his animation. But what about Bob? What was his style like, and what examples are there to show he is the superior draftsman?

BUT wait...the rest of you folks will probably already be aware of some styles that you may already suspect Bob Clampett worked on...his drawing collection from Bugs Bunny Superstar where hundreds of drawings from his collection were used for the documentary. Particularly the character layouts where it is shown in Clampett's style from I'd Love to Take Orders From You with the scarecrow trying to scare the little crow away. I even believe it was a Clampett scene. Even some stock footage of Tex acting out the scene as a reference.

Thank Clampett for actually saving and cherishing all this rare material in his own collection whereas it would also help identify the style a bit more of the cartoon. Initially, I never actually noticed such a style in the early Avery cartoons before. It was Devon Baxter who caught my attention to it, who actually noticed the styles itself. He even noticed that style in the comments of one of my reviews. But, as we couldn't automatically whose style it was -- we went to look at more styles of what looked - perhaps identical.

Let's start off with Milk and Money - the animation style that we have attributed to Clampett is pretty evident through the early Avery Porky cartoons where it is rather conservative looking - there is the big goggly eyes, and all. Very serviceable animation. Another scene in the cartoon where it is shown is when the boss hires Porky to be a milkman where the facial expressions are very identical looking.

More to look at in the other B/W Porky cartoons: the vice gag when Porky hammers on a horseshoe in The Village Smithy, or even the scene in The Blow Out when Porky manages to win a bag with plentiful of dough. The facial expressions of Porky there are very evident in the example we have seen in Milk and Money.

With the way Porky is handled - let's take a look at possible styles in Tex's early colour Merrie Melodies - already knowing he did the huge crow scene in I'd Love to Take Orders From You - let's see what else is featured. 

How about a look at Page Miss Glory - the fan dance sequence animated by Clampett. Look at the facial expression of Abner's face when he walks over to the lady - it definitely resembles a Porky looking face that I have shown you in the examples - so, there IS another style there. Another look is the scene of the Father Owl shouting "Out of my house you crooner...you jazz singer, etc." is also shown in that style from I Love to Singa.

That's not all - now to track down with some deeper evidence. Luckily, Clampett also saved in his collection the storyboards for his cartoon Porky's Party where it was revealed in Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 3 as a storyboard reel - where it already revealed it originally was going to show Gabby Goat and Petunia Pig.

Look at the storyboards, compared to the final product. We know Porky looks very appealing in the final film - as well as the characters. However, in the storyboards you will know that Porky and the other characters are drawn in a much more cruder and even more conservative style whereas they don't look polished in the final film. 

Although, that probably happened with the help of Chuck Jones' character layouts provided for the cartoon - who was the superior draftsman. The style of Porky in that cartoon is THERE - the Porky which we have seen in the Avery cartoons - with the eyes, mouth figure and all. Being that both Chuck and Bob both were converted from the Avery unit towards Clampett's new unit - it would be highly improbable that Chuck Jones provided storyboards. He was a much better draftsman, and he was already in charge of the character layouts as well as being a animator. Clampett, however was known to have worked on his own stories before he even had a writer - so it's a very safe bet that Clampett drew the storyboards for this cartoon.

But - to conclude this animator ID theory - we knew that one person would probably help solve the question: Mark Kausler by e-mailing him. The fact we have figured and brought up the fact the style appears in the early Porky cartoons, Miss Glory and even in the storyboards and drawings from his collection - it was pretty clear it was Clampett's style. However...with authoritative confirmation - Mark Kausler got back to me and mentioned the fan dance in Page Miss Glory was definitely animated by Clampett. It was also THROUGH the help of Clampett's son who had revealed there were drawings of the sequence in the collection - which pretty much comes to conclusion. The whole style in those early cartoons were by Bob Clampett.

I hope this has had some interest to you - even though it probably may not have been a surprise. I MAY not have used up every example - as I have left out the pre-1935 cartoons to suggest this style but I feel I've covered up enough to show. I tried to keep it as informative and stimulating as I could. But I'm not the one who is to be thanked. Thank Devon Baxter who spotted it, and even Mark Kausler or Robert Clampett, Jr. who even revealed and confirmed the style. I'll try and not post too many own posts where it evolves around animator I.D.s but I felt this certain style had to be revealed or at least...known.

241. Porky and Teabiscuit (1939)

Warner cartoon no. 240.
Release date: April 22, 1939.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky Pig, Grandpa, Horse Trainers and Race Starter) and Joe Twerp (Race Commentator) (?).
Story: Melvin Millar.
Animation: Herman Cohen.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Porky accidentally wins a nag at an auctioneer, but decides to make use of his horse: Teabiscuit in a steeplechase for a $10'000 prize.

It appears the concept where Porky Pig has a father as a farmer was a concept still used even to this cartoon. Tex Avery started it off in 1936 in two cartoons, and Bob Clampett tried it out at least once - and Hardaway/Dalton here. It appears that NONE of the crew have completely finalised Porky as he is still playing as a child actor.

The cartoon starts off with a farm where the company is called Phineas Pig & Son and it appears to be a type of sign gag with lettering that Ben Hardaway was interested in. Porky's father then steps out and tosses a sack over to the cart. He looks for his son, "Now where's that no-good son of mine?!" and then calls for Porky. Ahh, it appears that his father is rather negative towards his own son, at least the comment he said.

It turns out Porky is riding in the farm on his toy horse which he calls - Cheesecake. Nice little set-up where we believe he's really riding. He walks over to his father, as his father then asks him to deliver the sacks over to the race-track. It catches Porky's attention whereas in the cartoon he aspires to be a jockey.

He leaves the scene as he is ready to begin. He jumps his excitement, and he then walks over to the car which is loaded with sacks. He is about to start up the fumes and the car - but it starts out in a rather dodgy form. It then melts for a while before it continues to ride along as normal. The sound effects of the car starting up is probably my favourite Treg Brown sound effect - but most of it would be first heard in one of the following cartoon Naughty But Mice. Porky's car then spins around the haystacks and then he arrives at the racetracks where the horses are inside the barns. He walks over to catch his money.

Afterwards - Porky walks out with the dough (11 dollars) and counts his amount before placing it through his pocket. Porky already sees an auction where it is already attracting a crowd. He runs over to see what is there. The auctioneer is already standing in front of the crowd as he is carrying onto a piece of rope and is calling out for the numbers for bidders.

Porky and an old timer watch the auctioneer. The old timer asks, 'What time you got, sonny?' Porky looks at his watch, '11 o'clock'. The auctioneer then hears the number being mentioned and gets the wrong idea. There is some good story construction where the old timer doesn't hear and Porky shouts out the number. The auctioneer sells the horse to Porky.

Porky then objects: "But I didn't buy this rope!" - and the auctioneer's response is: "Take it easy, sonny. Just look on the other end and see what you bought". He walks over holding onto the rope and finds he already has a very healthy, fit horse.

Porky looks at the horse with amazement as he shouts, 'Oh boy - a racehorse'. An assistant walks over to collect the horse and responds, 'Pardon me' and takes the racehorse away. He then walks over and he makes a take where he realises that the bid he won was a nag. The nag costs - the whole setup, I feel was at least rather amusing - as we can only feel sympathetic towards Porky. Porky realises the problem and he runs over to the auctioneer who is about to drive away. He demands for his money in return but the auctioneer ignores him.

Porky walks over to the barn feeling rather dejected. He thinks to himself, and even criticises the low quality of the nag, and even expresses concerns of his father; "How will my father hear of this?" The horse (tagged as Teabiscuit) then walks over and licks Porky's cheek. Of course - that is a reference to a famous racehorse named Seabiscuit. Porky then tries to move him away, but then a Negro stable buck walks over, 'You better hurry up - you already got 15 minutes before the steeplechase'.

Of course - it's rather politically incorrect in today's standards to even show he's a Negro barn worker. There is a pan towards a sign that announces of the steeplechase and the grand prize is $10'000. Porky changes his mind and immediately is set out to change him in costume.

Porky places him inside a barn and asks him to stay whilst he changes into a jockey outfit - the question is if he even owns a pair. Meanwhile at the races - the caller then uses his gramophone record to play the race announcement call. Upon hearing the call - Teabiscuit immediately departs the barn as he about to enter the arena.

The band for the event are already playing - and Teabiscuit walks over to the band and watches the trombone that is being played. Teabiscuit uses his head to watch the main slide of the trombone moving up and down. Meanwhile there is already a youngster who blows up a balloon and then it bursts as it hits his behind - this already turns Teabiscuit scared and leaves in such a scurry which is some pretty funny animation. Teabiscuit already leaves the scene in such a hurry.

Meanwhile Porky returns to the barn - already in his outfit but he cannot find Teabiscuit. He calls for his name but doesn't get any luck. As he calls for his name - it turns out that Teabiscuit was hiding under the haystack in the same barn. Porky takes and he grabs onto Teabiscuit to pull him out of the hay.

The big race is about to begin as the referee begins with "On your mark...get set...go!" and then fires his pistol - the race begins. One of the racers looks and finds that the horse is already clamped onto.

The jockeys attempts to unclamp it and the horse just dashes off immediately. Meanwhile there is a commentator (and I think was voiced by Joe Twerp even if it is the same spoonerisms). The commentator comments on the actions and then announces the typical line for horse racing "There they go!". As the race already begins - Porky and his horse - Teabiscuit already rush over to the crowd who are watching the game. Porky asks, 'Which way did he go?' The audience point left with their thumbs.

As Porky tries to catch up with the other competitors - he and his horse end up dashing past some bearded men as they then find (after the dash) their beards are all tied up. As Porky and Teabiscuit attempt to catch up with the crowd - the racers all race past him leaving Porky and Teabiscuit almost stranded. Porky and his horse almost realise the mistake and they then ride back to join in the race.

Porky is now in competition with a racer in front of him - there is a perspective shot which runs in a cycle where Porky tries to overtake the horse but the jock racer blocks him from trying to take over. Teabiscuit finally succeeds by biting the horses' behind and he overtakes - now that is certainly funny.

Meanwhile there is a driver at the scene who enters a 'Slippery When Wet' area. Porky and his horse then enter the 'slippery when wet' area where they slip. They crash into a barrel where the horse is caught inside the barrel - and Porky. Porky pops out and notices that the jockey is about to overtake him. Porky and Teabiscuit escape from the barrel - where the barrel is left bouncing around and traps the jockey and his horse.

As plans are going rather smoothly - Teabiscuit then hears the sound of the orchestra band that are playing. He is caught with the sound and he brakes. He runs over to the band watching what they are playing. As he watches the main slide of the trombone move - Porky is rather annoyed and attempts to get Teabiscuit moving.

The drama continues as the race jockeys are riding closer and closer with a perspective shot which is certainly rather convincing and effective. Meanwhile the mischievous boy with the balloon appears again as he blows the balloon. The balloon then lets go of itself and ends up inside a tuba. Porky tugs at the horse with the reins trying to force him to get on with the race.

The balloon on the tuba then bursts and the horses whinnies loudly that he exits the scene. After all the zooming and pacing - he then finally ends up pass the finishing line, and wins the race. The host declares him the winner. As posies and a wreath are thrown at him - the paparazzi then walk over for a picture. Teabiscuit whinnies and exits the scene - afterwards - we find he then plays the trombone. He plays it rather well before going off coughing rather violently.

Overall comments: My overall impressions of the cartoon is I feel I don't have too much problems with at all. Even though it may be a rather bland cartoon, with a basic storyline and even a typical 1930s Porky entry - I have to say my thoughts on this cartoon was it wasn't too bad. We know from at the beginning that Porky aspires to be a horse jockey, and he accidentally wins a nag at an auction - but somehow the nag is able and fit enough for the race. Some of the cartoon's pacing I thought was rather decent as I feel the speed in this cartoon was serviceable. I do find that the reactions of when Teabiscuit has a balloon burst on his behind to be a funny use of comic timing. The animation drawing of the overall cartoon was a little sloppy on some edges.

It appears to be a quirk in these Hardaway/Dalton cartoons where somehow the cartoons are badly shaped and sized - some of the shots with Porky show he looks way too tall and it is a terrible match. I thought the posing of the real fit racehorse was some solid drawings. Most of the gags in the cartoon weren't special - even at the racehorse. None of them has its merits as they feel like the gags you would expect in a black and white Mickey Mouse or Bosko cartoon. The Joe Twerp commentator is probably what made the racehorse scenes at least appear to look more like a late 1930s cartoons even though it wouldn't have happened without Hardaway's influence of Tex - I'd gather. Porky's father in this sequence is certainly shown as a rather rotten character at the beginning - as I find him rather likeable. Even they had to change Porky's poppa's design - when before that he appeared to actually have a definite design from Avery's and Clampett's cartoons.

240. Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939)

Warner cartoon no. 239.
Release date: April 22, 1939.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Chuck Jones.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Daffy Duck) and Jack Lescoulie (Casper Caveman).
Story: Dave Monahan.
Animation: A.C. Gamer.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: One prehistoric morning, Casper Caveman and his pet dinosaur decide to hunt for a duck to have for breakfast -- he has no luck when he encounters Daffy Duck.

In Chuck Jones' fifth cartoon entry - he appears to try and actually try out a comedy cartoon. After four cartoons of just making four cartoons; Chuck experiments with a comedy style that the other directors were already making. He even uses star character Daffy Duck to help him in his attempt, too. So, this is Chuck Jones' first Daffy Duck cartoon that he has directed; and of course: he would be notorious for revolutionising Daffy's personality by changing him from a screwball duck into a greedy, low-tempered duck who most people came to know in the 1950s.

The cartoon starts off with a title description of where the story take place; it appears to be written as a gag - where the story takes place "millions and billions and trillions" of years ago. Apparently for no particular reason. Well, there IS a reason - that's why the title of the story is called Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur. The last part then reads "probably before any of you people were even born". 

I don't see how any of this is meant to be funny. It isn't. The title card then fades as we view some beautiful backgrounds of a prehistoric jungle in the theme of Rossini's William Tell which is a popular cue for morning scenes. And it certainly is rather splendid to listen to as it goes beautifully with the backgrounds.


Enters the picture is the main character: Casper the Caveman. He steps out yawning and rubbing his eyes. To show - this is Chuck's definite attempt for comedy: Casper Caveman here is a parody of Jack Benny - with voice and all. He walks out and says: "Gee, am I hungry. I could eat a sabre-toothed tiger. Well, anyway - half a one".

As he yawns and clicks his back again he grumbles, "Well this isn't getting me breakfast". He whistles and calls "Here Fido". We would think he's calling for a dog but it turns out that 'Fido' is his pet dinosaur who has the personality of a dog. The setup is certainly odd and amusing but that run really lacks a lot of weight - but it isn't the animators fault. Who on earth would how to animate a dinosaur run or walk when they existed millions of years ago.

Fido walks over as Casper Caveman hands over the bone - Fido drops and the bone lands on Casper which is some funny animation. He thanks him, and then shouts at him, "Well, COME ON, I'm famished!" They walk along. Casper, breaks the forth wall reassuring he's no grouch: "Well - I'll bet you're cranky before breakfast, too".

The next scene - Casper and his dinosaur are out on the hunt for what to eat for breakfast. Casper spots something while looking through the shrubs, he shouts "BE QUIET!" to Fido before he spots something. It's Daffy Duck swimming in the lake enjoying his morning swim.

Casper decides to have some duck for breakfast and grabs his slingshot to aim for Daffy. "Yum, yummy. My favourite vegetable, duck". That's a funny line - considering they aren't vegetables. As he shoots with his slingshot - Daffy turns around and he notices the slingshot shooting straight after him.

He makes a take and zips through the pond trying to avoid being hit by the rock. Impulsively, Daffy then quickly changes into police gear as he halts the stone and pretends to be a traffic officer. He moves a swan over at the scene and then moves the rock over past him - here Chuck Jones has given Daffy approach - he had wits. That part where the swan just moves to the right - out of screen is just poor staging. It looks like she's swimming on the path rather than in the lake. Daffy lets the rock go past and then jumps out rather crazily. Now that is a rather bizarre scene where the rock has motion - and it certainly is a very Avery-ish gag.

The rock then realises the mistake he has almost fallen into but instead then reverts back like a convertible and chases after Daffy. Daffy then zips under Casper Caveman (with the rock shooting after him). Then the dinosaur looks under and and because of his big head; the rock then shoots at his head. Afterwards; he gets back up and we find he is very weary and dazed from the rock that hit him. The close-up is rather goofy and effective.

It feels as though the rock has somehow hypnotised him and he believes he is a dancer. He dances in the theme of Mendelssohn's Spring Song. The timing and movement of the animation is rather beautiful and well staged - but as a gag; its rather dull and odd. It's just rather incoherent for a dinosaur to just act as a dancer - I mean, even Tex Avery and Bob Clampett were more coherent than that.

The dinosaur continues to dance and the animation is certainly rather jerky, and it certainly looks rather on-model as it clearly follows Chuck Jones' character layouts (and style) from the early Clampett cartoons. After that little goofy dance he performs (and it certainly is a use of Chuck Jones' slow pacing and padding here) he then lies down and sleeps like a baby.

Afterwards, Casper Caveman watches Daffy in the lake as he appears to swim backwards and then performs a hatstand on his hands. Casper comments, "Gosh, that duck acts like he's crazy!" Daffy Duck arrives at the moment as he shouts out, "That is correct! Absolutely 100% correct". He grabs the sling in the slingshot and whacks Casper Caveman in the face - and then swims off.

That scene with Daffy there looks very loose and off-model for a early Jones cartoon. After he swims away; Casper Caveman then shouts; "So that's the way it is, eh? Alright then". He then steps out of his own cavemen overlay and we find him wearing his boxer shorts.

Casper Caveman does a run-up and is about to jump right into the lake but Daffy Duck stops him so - and holds out a sign that reads: POSITIVELY NO SWIMMING. Casper Caveman freezes at that spot and reads the message before he moves backwards back into the land. That is Chuck Jones' real good sense of timing and it shows he is definitely capable of comic timing but is unrecognised of his talent, then. The sign gag is pure Jones as it is a sign that would later be one of his notorious trademarks. Casper Caveman jumps back - with some nice Stalling piano striking there. Casper Caveman then walks back carrying his overlay and puts it back on.

He grumblers, "Fine things. Over cavemen get to go swimming and I never get to do anything". He sees his pet dinosaur standing there hopelessly and orders: "Well what'ya looking at? Don't just stand there! Do something! Now - go get him". The dinosaur walks over. "The big lummocks" Casper mutters. The dinosaur sticks his head out of the window and looks to try and catch Daffy. 

His head then reaches out afterward but his head is caught in a knot - Casper sarcastically comments, "Well now, isn't that clever. The hunter's helper. NOW COME ON!" The dinosaur then unties his neck as it is back to normal and I have to say that is very cleverly animated - that could easily be animated delicately. Afterwards they walk out of the scene - probably to try and find other ducks.

Meanwhile Daffy Duck is out of the pond, as he plans to trick Casper Caveman and his dinosaur. He does so by painting a self-portrait of him on a large rock. Afterwards; he comments "Not bad for a guy who's never took a lesson in his life" and he zips out gleefully.

Casper and his dinosaur are out on the search and Casper spots what he believes is Daffy there. He asks for the dinosaur to wait there, and he walks over holding onto his club. He puts the club in mid-air (which is held animation-wise) and he spits on his hands to get the 'duck' ready. 

He grabs the club - swings it back like a bat and whacks straight at the rock. This causes him to vibrate continuously. He walks over to a palm tree where he holds onto it so he can stop vibrating. Instead, the whole camera vibrates which is rather funny. He then walks out but he still vibrates rather vigourously. 

Daffy Duck walks over at the scene and has already got him some water for him with suds on top. He hands it over to Casper Caveman, "Here ya are, girly". After he drinks it - Casper is cured. He thanks Daffy, but Daffy just hands him a card and zips out. The card reads: For the biggest, most luscious Duck you ever tasted - 200 yards this way. I believe that while scene was animated by Ken Harris.

The 'card' has finally made Casper's day as he remarks with joy, 'Well just what I wanted - a duck breakfast. Gee, I can hardly wait. C'mon, Fido'. Casper and Fido walk out of the scene to find the supposed 'Duck' restaurant. The sequence then follows on with a really lengthy sequence of a large amount of signs that read to a direction of the 'Duck'. It's very slow-paced and it's certainly is padded. Perhaps they were added for cartoon length? Most of the signs read the following such as Duck is Brainfood, Try Duck the Food Supreme, With Cavemen it's Duckie's 2 to 1, etc. Certainly a real exaggeration for signs.

As they have walked that many yards; there is a sign on top that reads: 50 ft. to the DUCK. Casper reads the sign and comments, "Gee, we're almost there!". After walking a few steps; he makes a really wild, and wacky eye-take as he notices the nice of the 'duck' which turns out to be inflatable. Chuck even attempts to perform a wacky take that even Tex Avery wouldn't go as extreme until the 1940s.

The duck is inflatable and we see Daffy Duck at the back as he is pumping up the duck. Casper looks at the size as he is rather afraid of it. Daffy Duck walks over - in one of his real tricks and he offers him the knife to stab the inflatable duck.

God knows what will happen next. In that long-shot we watch as Casper Caveman is about to stab the duck. He hesitates before he does so - he turns back but Daffy nods as an encouragement. Casper Caveman then stabs the duck and it causes a huge burst. We then find that Casper, the dinosaur and Daffy have disappeared.

The remains from the inflatable duck and even feathers fly off the scene. We hear the sounds of the harp playing - we vertically pan upwards where we find the dinosaur, Casper and Daffy have died. The dinosaur is playing the harp. Upwards; we then find Casper the Caveman and Daffy have made it to heaven with the halo on top of their heads. They're sitting there rather irritated. Daffy then looks towards the camera and even admits his plan went too far, 'Y'know - maybe that wasn't such a hot idea, after all". Casper then turns to the audience and responds, 'Goodnight, folks' - probably what Benny would say in his radio show. Very funny conclusion, and its pure Jones there where he even shows Daffy's own different side of a personality - and Daffy actually has character where he admits what went wrong - which is usually what Jones would make of Daffy in later cartoons.

Overall comments: Chuck Jones' first attempt at and actually trying to be like the other directors. I must say, I view of Jones' first attempt I would say is - not bad. The cartoon certainly shows some amusing moments, even though a little dated since the Caveman is a caricature of comedian Jack Benny. My view of the cartoon is: it feels like a mixture of Dave Monahan and Chuck Jones in the same cartoon. The first half of the cartoon feels like it was Monahan's control of the script where it feels like more of an Avery cartoon. The scene with the rock (and Daffy turning into a traffic officer) is very Avery-ish as well as the dinosaur acting crazy - also giving the dinosaur a dog personality. The second half - with the signs, inflatable duck and heaven is all pure Jones' contributions there. This cartoon is certainly a sign of what is to come many years later - a good sign perhaps. The signs that is featured is certainly a prototype of a trademark that Jones would use in many cartoons later like the Hunting trilogy or even the Road Runner cartoons.

It's an odd cartoon in many ways - like the way the gags go by, and as well as some good moments there - but there were also some weak gags. The dinosaur dancing may have been funny but it certainly didn't need to be included and it slowed down the cartoon. As a matter of fact, the cartoon's story actually feels like a first draft of a script for a Avery cartoon - except it was handed over to Jones with no rewrites. The ending is also pure Jones as we see the first time that Daffy Duck has probably encountered failure which is Jones' main interpretation of the character in his own cartoons. Daffy really feels human in that ending where he admits his plan wasn't a good idea, other than being a real screwball in the earlier cartoons made by Avery and Clampett. I have to say that I have to give this cartoon a pass - it may not be one of the best cartoons, as it isn't. Certainly isn't a masterpiece but I think it shows Jones is already at a fine start in his own attempt for comedy - but he wouldn't become really funny until 1942.

239. Bars and Stripes Forever (1939)

Warner cartoon no. 238.
Release date: April 8, 1939.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Warden Paws/Main Prisoner/Barber/Fly), Danny Webb (Prison Guard/Other Prisoners).
Story: Jack Miller.
Animation: Rod Scribner.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Life and schedules inside a prison building - until one particular prisoner comes up with a rotten trick and escapes the prison.

Rod Scribner's first animation credit. Rod Scribner (1910-1976) is without doubt, one of the most influential animators of the Warner Bros. animation age; as well as one of the most influential Golden Age animators of all time - most notably for his work for Bob Clampett. He's also probably one of the most discussed and acknowledged animators ever.

Being his first animation credit in 1939; he was first employed at the Leon Schlesinger Studios shortly after Leon opened it in 1933; as he started off as an assistant animator.

It is unknown as to when he was first promoted to being an animator but apparently started off as an animator in the Tashlin unit before Chuck took over that unit. Despite not being credited back then - its likely he served there as a B animator before joining as a full-fledged animator for Hardaway-Dalton and received his first screen credit.

A little bio about Scribner before the review (try to be as brief as possible). Born: October 10, 1910 in Joseph, Oregon, United States to parents to Frederick Farnsworth Scribner (12/8/1882 - 7/5/1965) and Sarah Magee (10/21/1882-6/2/1975). Had an elder brother named John Magee - born 1909 - and recently died in 2008, and a younger sister named Elizabeth C. b. 1914 and d. 2003 (?). Moved to California when he was roughly 6 years of age in 1916 to Burbank, California. Father's occupation was known to be a banker -- listed as "2nd Street". Married Jane Bannister Kieser (md. 4/18/1938 - div. 1966). The couple had three children: Lynn: b. 1940, Judith Kieser, b.1/4/1942 and Charles Roderick b. 3/16/1952. After they divored: Rod married Leona Carmen Acker in 1967 but divorced around February 1969. In his final year, he remarried the third time to Georgie Anne Dieter in 5/23/1976.

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Served as an employee at the Leon Schlesinger Studio around '33 - and remained animating for Warners until the WB shutdown in 1953. Inbetween from around (1945 or '46 to '48) Scribner was diagnosed with TB from a tuberculosis epidemic and was off-work for nearly three years before returning to animate for the McKimson unit. Later animated commercials at UPA, Melendez and even for Ralph Bahski. Mark Kausler recalls meeting him when he was trying to pick up work at Spungbuggy. Described him to have a face with a 'Jose Jimendez' face. Mark greeted him, and acknowledged the work he provided for cartoons like Coal Black and for Clampett, unfortunately Rod couldn't remember working for Clampett and only recalled his last work was for Peanuts for Bill Melendez. I won't go into the details of him escaping in and out of hospitals, looking for work as its been mentioned many times.

Rod Scribner passed away on Dec. 21, 1976 of bad liver (fatty liver, in fact). Here is a copy of his Death Certificate which I have cropped. Joe Campana sent me a copy of it a year ago through e-mail.

Well, onto the review:

The cartoon starts off with a dawn view of a prison island which is some nice details on the backgrounds by Art Loomer. Also some neat overlays of the mist flowing through the island. As we fade in - we find the name of the prison is called Alcarazz which is an obvious reference to the infamous Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco.

We see some sign gags that would likely be sign ideas coming from Bugs Hardaway. The sign gag starts off reading, "Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make". A sign is then pulled back as it reads, "But they sure help!" I wonder whether the spoonerism in the first time was deliberate as it should supposedly read, "Stone Walls Do Not Make a Prison".

Then we pan through as we see a clock tick and pendulum swing. The sign on top reads, "Your Time is Our Time" - nice!! The pan continues as we see the prisoners snoring and the doors open and close. But...wouldn't the doors already be locked so they can't open?

Two prisoners - as they are sleeping on their bunks - the one below is snoring intensely that an iron ball of the top prisoner keeps on moving and then hits the small prisoner. He wakes up and then punches the ball out of the way and into the net like a basketball which is a amusing gag.

The next scene I find to be hilarious where a prisoner is in bed; and is awakened by a fly flying around the scene. As the fly is about to land on his toes, he stretches his toes apart and then catches it. The fly outs out in a loud, agonising voice: "OUCH!" done by Mel Blanc. That animation there is just all solid and well constructed - and the fly's take is just hilarious. All the prisoners in this cartoon are basically seen as 'dog men' which appeared to be a very popular tradition in the WB cartoons and yet appeared to be abandoned around the early '40s.

The next sequences focuses on a small prisoner who uses a chisel to try and escape through the bars. Hang on a minute - the bars are so thick he could easily have gone through. However, he is spotted by a police warden and he improvises by disguising himself as filing his nails. The police warden looks over - even at the big prisoner and walks out. The big prisoner grabs out his slingshot and shoots straight at him.

The warden returns rather annoyed, "Who done that?" The big guy disguises himself by not having any involvement. So, the police warden accuses the wrong person and whacks him with a baton. The effect of where his head vibrates is very funny.

Meanwhile - Warden Paws; the name is a reference to author Lewis E. Lawes. He walks out and it's Mel Blanc impersonating Lew Lehr or Hugh Hebert but I'm more proned to believe it is Hebert - so I'm going to think its more like Hebert than Lehr. The Warden babbles about how it is a wonderful morning and even giggles, everything he says 'Sure'. He walks over to the prison cells and grabs out his little bell and rings it. The animation there of the Warden is certainly very jerky but then again I love the solid posing he goes into. He attempts to wake them up as he orders, 'Can't sleep all day, you know'. I love that little lineup as he remarks, 'I don't sleep all day myself. Insomnia'. Now that is just a hilarious crack-up. Oh, and the theme of the scenes with Warden Paws is The Umbrella Man.

Warden Paws walks over to one of the cells and there is a prisoner who attempts to escape by digging his way out. The prisoner spots Warden Paws walking in to inspect; and he steps out sitting on his bed. Paws looks through and notices the ditch which is being nice. The prisoner comes up with an excuse and remarks, "Mice" have been making the mess.

The Warden then steps out and just remarks to himself about bringing in a mouse-trap. He appears to make a little prison joke about the mice being on parole after bringing in the trap. The next scene we find a prisoner just wakes up and he walks over to his jailbird in a cage and shouts "Good morning, Oscar". The jailbird remarks, "Hi, lug" (?) if that is the line.

The prisoner walks over to pull out the blinds and remarks, "Just get a load of that sea-air". The water then splashes straight inside and wets him - which is a little bizarre. Another scene in prison is where the prisoner is in his own cell brushing his teeth. It turns out the gag is we think he is brushing his teeth - but it is revealed in the mirror that he only has one tooth in his mouth.

The next sequence we fade as there is a silhouetted scene of prison wardens grabbing hold of a squirming and reluctant prisoner. The prisoner squirms, 'No, no - you can't do this to me!' and the wardens continue to keep on pushing them forward. He is then taken over to sit in a chair - and the silhouette here displays the intense drama of what would be seen in live-action - and I like how it is parodied here.

Then we see a silhouetted hand and it looks like its the intense moment where he will get the electric chair. It turns out that the scene features the light flickering on and then off slightly as it appears to have little watts contained in the bulbs. It turns out that the prisoner in the chair is in fact in a barber shop where he is having a trim.

The barber remarks, 'You sure got tough whiskers, buddy' in Mel Blanc's Italian accent of a barber. The way that the whole scene has been setup is certainly very clever as it feels as though its creating a dramatic moment - but we all know its just a parody, but how would it turn out as a set-up? And - the reason why the prisoner's begging not to have a haircut - well, I suppose he hates having his whiskers trimmed.

The next sequence we find the big prisoner and the small one as they are doing their routined duties - scrubbing the floors. The warden walks in to see if they are doing their jobs and then walks on leaving them to it. The big prisoner holding onto the mop asks the small guy "Watch this". He throws the mop towards the warden and the mop is caught on his face.

The warden walks over and asks, 'Who threw that'. The big guy sets up the smaller one - scrubbing the floor and remarks 'Who wants to know?' The warden then grabs the small guy and whacks him with the baton. That real, cool vibrating animation and sound effect certainly is the highlight.

The big guy then suggests he gets back at the warden: 'Why don't you bounce that ball off his dome'. The small prisoner walks over carrying his iron ball and he is about to hit him with the iron ball. The warden turns around - leaving the small prisoner pretending to bounce it with his hands. The warden orders, 'Drop that ball!' after he drops it - the floor breaks and the small prisoner falls down. That scene where he balances the iron ball and even falls - that is just some very sloppy timing. It lacks a lot of weight - and look at the way he falls - such poor timing; as it doesn't feel as fast or even believable.


The next scene it is lunchtime so everybody in the canteen are on their lunch break. The main prisoner of the cartoon looks around - as he has a sneaky plan. He bites on his onion stick and whispers to the next prisoner, '2 o'clock'. Which every other prisoner whisper the same time which is the time for their escape rampage. The main theme in the cafeteria theme (as well as original titles) is St. James Infirmary Blues.

The small prisoner is the last person to past the message but doesn't realise he is standing next to the warden. It feels weird that the small prisoner is sitting on a baby chair.

The small prisoner holds his dish so he doesn't get slammed by the warden. After he feels its safe - the warden gets him with the baton - as per usual. The clock ticks - and it is now 2 o'clock. The escape plan begins. In the next sequence; the big prisoner walks out and is carrying his pistol and is about to escape. As he begins so - two police guards have a shotgun jabbed behind his back. The prisoner looks under to spot and then he immediately breaks into song. I'm not too sure who he is impersonating but it sounds like he's stretching his vowels like Jerry Colonna as the prisonwe sings Daydreaming (All Night Long). He sings the song through substitute lyrics of his dreams of escaping.


As he appears to sing in a poor impression of Jerry Colonna (if it is him) and the warden guards follow him. The prisoner steps through cell through cell. The prisoner walks back as he sings, "all those warden guards - they all bore me". He closes the cell door and the guards are trapped. The scene where he sings about his 'life in prison' and screen grabbed I suspect was a Rod Scribner scene - judging by how loose it looks, and the detailed teeth.


The song then follows as the prisoner continues to sing, and the prisoners wish him good luck. The prisoner kisses his lips towards them: "My lovin' buddies". The whole sequence just is incoherent where he just sings to Warden Paw of him leaving - "About time I scram from here". There is a shot where a police guard uses his shotgun to play the flute.

The singing continues as he sings: "And now I'm going to go?" - flute playing. "Yes I'm going to scram - (then the prisoner sings rather quickly - though I can't make out what is sung)...A Goooooood-bye!" He runs out of the prison managing to quick Warden Paws. He even runs back shaking the Warden's hand before rushing back to shake his hand. Then he rushes out of the prison headquarters and is out of sight.

Warden Paws then waves 'Bye-bye' as we hear Blanc's impersonations of Lew Lehr (or Hebert). Suddenly, he then realises as he shouts: "He's gone, gone, etc." - the moment where he takes - it is horribly timed with the voice acting and animation. It is terrible. He then remarks: 'Why don't somebody do something, maybe I can do something, sure. Hoo-hoo!'. He blows his whistle call and puffs. He can't get a sound out. Afterwards; the whistle blows itself with puff coming out.

The guards are now out at the scene as they are on the search for the escaped prisoner. The whistle blows, and then they all escape in their cars. They arrive at the scene of the prisoner's hideout. The prisoner is shooting outside the windows in his hideout straight at the police guards.

As he fires - the police look up and find that the bullets shoot their police hats off. One officer fires but appears to turn into a twist and then swirls back again. As the prisoner continues to fire (whilst sitting inside the bathtub) one warden guard comes up with a neat idea. He shoots his gun up a drainpipe and the bullets the shower out and attack the prisoner. He then shouts 'ouch' in agony and finds one other way to hide by climbing up the fireplace.

The prisoner climbs up on top of the chimney outside the mouse. All of the police officers then fire and the chimney is about to collapse. The prisoner makes a take as he is about to fall. As he falls - he lands into the police car. The police all whack him with batons and the car itself drives off. I always thought that scene was animated by Rod Scribner - the way the prisoner's eyes cross together up the chimney certainly is a bit of a giveaway - but I can't be 100% certain.

The prisoner has returned to prison and this time been secured inside and definitely properly locked up in case of further escapes. Meanwhile the small prisoner is standing near him - scrubbing the floors. The warden guard walks over to see the work coming along.

As he walks along - the prisoner whacks him with a club and quickly acts innocent. The guard turns around ready to accuse the small prisoner and to let him have it. However, the small prisoner (knowing he will get whacked anyway) grabs the baton and whacks himself in the head with it and his head vibrates. The cartoon ends with a really funny conclusion as the baton gag comes back during intervals of the cartoon until we wait for its ending - I feel it was a funny move.

Overall comments: I'd have to say that this is one of Hardaway-Dalton's better efforts. I feel as though the cartoon at least had some stronger gags to carry through the cartoon - and the pacing of the cartoon's story went through quite well - and at least the song sequence didn't take forever. The prison gags at the beginning with the prisoners were certainly very amusing and there was certainly some fine pacing going on like when Warden Paws came in ringing the bell - in-between gags. Probably because this cartoon's story was written by Jack Miller - who in my opinion, written some pretty strong cartoons of 1939-1940 (Thugs With Dirty Mugs, You Ought to Be in Pictures, etc.). The cartoon also did have some flaws - particularly some of the singing sequences where it sounds like a bad impersonation of Jerry Colonna - although it may not be him.

The way he stretches his vowels sound like it - but there is no other indication. Some of the cartoon had some pretty sluggish animation timing - particularly the 'iron-ball' gag which was just very sloppy. The Warden Paws is rather debatable as I've heard sides debate about it being Lew Lehr or even saying its Hebert - while it does sound like Hugh Hebert to me - I'm just going to leave it so I know for sure. The way that the gags have been set up is certainly rather fun - as I do like the baton gag that goes all through the cartoon. The electric chair gag is certainly very funny. Many of you folks would probably consider this cartoon to be an 'average at best' cartoon - I'd consider it a guilty pleasure of mine since I've known that cartoon for a very long time - through PD tapes.