Loopy De Loop cartoons are full of concepts that Hanna-Barbera did far better earlier, but a few of them contain little gems.
The final Loopy cartoon released by Columbia in the 1964-65 theatrical season was “Big Mouse Take.” It’s different in that Loopy doesn’t show up for the first third of the cartoon, so during that time it seems like you’ve somehow tuned in to some lost H-B TV series from 50 years ago. The second thing I thought watching it was “Hey, that’s Carlo Vinci!” Chatterly the cat shows up on screen in a tail-pumping, awkward-looking run cycle that could only have come from Carlo’s mind. And the cat has a diving exit off screen just like Carlo animated at Terrytoons and in the early H-B cartoons of the late ‘50s.
But then something happened in the cartoon that caused me to stop it, download it, and study it frame-by-frame. Hanna-Barbera characters weren’t known for their big takes in 1965—how can you exaggerate Atom Ant, after all?—but Chatterly pulled off one in this cartoon. And you can’t credit Carlo this time.
The situation is something so warped only Mike Maltese could have come up with it. After a chase inside a home, Chatterly swallows Bigelow the mouse, who becomes stuck inside the end of the cat’s tail. Chatterly tries to evict Bigelow by putting his tail out the window and slamming down the sash. But that means he’s also slammed it down on his tail and he lets out a huge scream. Look at these great drawings.
These fun drawings aren’t the work of Carlo Vinci. I believe it was helpful Howard Fein who mentioned once that the stretched-head was an animation quirk of Hugh Fraser, the former Disney artist who teamed up with Carlo on “The Flintstones” and “The Jetsons,” and pointed to the same sort of thing in the “Miss Solar System” episode. In fact, I found the same head stretch in an episode of the TV Popeyes he animated/directed in 1960.
Fraser began, like many other H-B artists, working for Walt Disney and went back as far as “Snow White.” He ended up working for former Disney director Jack Kinney at his own studio before moving to Hanna-Barbera for a long career. He animated (with former Disneyites Ed Aardal, Ed Parks and Harvey Toombs) on the first episode of “Jonny Quest.” Fraser died on January 6, 1994 at the age of 89.
Oh, the first thing I thought watching this cartoon? “Daws is re-using Fibber Fox’s voice.” Some aspects of the earliest Hanna-Barbera series were derivations of something else, but the studio began to copy itself, and the copies were never as good as the original. Loopy De Loop himself is an example. The idea of a pleasant guy with an accent who gets bashed around then talks at the camera came from Huckleberry Hound (and the Carolinian Huck had far more charm than Loopy and his Québécois dialect). There’s even a version of the “ran-out-of-piddies/finger” gag pulled by Tweety Bird that is tired and pale by comparison. And, in this case, the cartoon co-stars Bigelow the mouse whom the cat afraid of because he’s...Bigelow? I shrug.
At least the short has a few, very brief shining moments thanks to guys who had worked at Disney and Terrytoons, two studios at the opposite ends of the cartoon quality scale.
Here’s one of Carlo’s run cycles for the great-named Chatterly. I’ve slowed it down. The baseboard jerks a bit because the background drawings don’t match up between the last frame and when the first repeats again.
The final Loopy cartoon released by Columbia in the 1964-65 theatrical season was “Big Mouse Take.” It’s different in that Loopy doesn’t show up for the first third of the cartoon, so during that time it seems like you’ve somehow tuned in to some lost H-B TV series from 50 years ago. The second thing I thought watching it was “Hey, that’s Carlo Vinci!” Chatterly the cat shows up on screen in a tail-pumping, awkward-looking run cycle that could only have come from Carlo’s mind. And the cat has a diving exit off screen just like Carlo animated at Terrytoons and in the early H-B cartoons of the late ‘50s.
But then something happened in the cartoon that caused me to stop it, download it, and study it frame-by-frame. Hanna-Barbera characters weren’t known for their big takes in 1965—how can you exaggerate Atom Ant, after all?—but Chatterly pulled off one in this cartoon. And you can’t credit Carlo this time.
The situation is something so warped only Mike Maltese could have come up with it. After a chase inside a home, Chatterly swallows Bigelow the mouse, who becomes stuck inside the end of the cat’s tail. Chatterly tries to evict Bigelow by putting his tail out the window and slamming down the sash. But that means he’s also slammed it down on his tail and he lets out a huge scream. Look at these great drawings.
These fun drawings aren’t the work of Carlo Vinci. I believe it was helpful Howard Fein who mentioned once that the stretched-head was an animation quirk of Hugh Fraser, the former Disney artist who teamed up with Carlo on “The Flintstones” and “The Jetsons,” and pointed to the same sort of thing in the “Miss Solar System” episode. In fact, I found the same head stretch in an episode of the TV Popeyes he animated/directed in 1960.
Fraser began, like many other H-B artists, working for Walt Disney and went back as far as “Snow White.” He ended up working for former Disney director Jack Kinney at his own studio before moving to Hanna-Barbera for a long career. He animated (with former Disneyites Ed Aardal, Ed Parks and Harvey Toombs) on the first episode of “Jonny Quest.” Fraser died on January 6, 1994 at the age of 89.
Oh, the first thing I thought watching this cartoon? “Daws is re-using Fibber Fox’s voice.” Some aspects of the earliest Hanna-Barbera series were derivations of something else, but the studio began to copy itself, and the copies were never as good as the original. Loopy De Loop himself is an example. The idea of a pleasant guy with an accent who gets bashed around then talks at the camera came from Huckleberry Hound (and the Carolinian Huck had far more charm than Loopy and his Québécois dialect). There’s even a version of the “ran-out-of-piddies/finger” gag pulled by Tweety Bird that is tired and pale by comparison. And, in this case, the cartoon co-stars Bigelow the mouse whom the cat afraid of because he’s...Bigelow? I shrug.
At least the short has a few, very brief shining moments thanks to guys who had worked at Disney and Terrytoons, two studios at the opposite ends of the cartoon quality scale.
Here’s one of Carlo’s run cycles for the great-named Chatterly. I’ve slowed it down. The baseboard jerks a bit because the background drawings don’t match up between the last frame and when the first repeats again.
P.S.: If I had just bothered to check the credits before writing this post, I would have seen that Carlo Vinci and Hugh Fraser animated the cartoon.
“And, in this case, the cartoon co-stars Bigelow the mouse whom the cat afraid of because he’s...Bigelow?”
ReplyDeleteNo, more likely because “he’s Bigelow doing James Cagney”!
No mouse has ever picked a better scrapper for a role model!
Well, Doggie Daddy wasn't afraid of Bigelow doing Cagney.
ReplyDeleteThen again, Jimmy Durante is fearless.
Thank you for the 'helpful' monicker. Always glad to, whenever I can. It's odd how after Bigelow's 1961-63 mini-run guesting in Snagglepuss, Yakky, Doggie, and Loopy episodes, he lay dormant for well over a year until this, the last Loopy short. This is the only one with Fraser's animation, which is pretty distinct- especially with large characters. (Fraser animates the 'flamboyant' hip-swiveling duet with Fred and Barney in the celebrated Season 3 premiere guest-starring 'Ann Margrock'.)
ReplyDeleteTrue, Bigelow wouldn't have fit very well with the Flintstones or Jetsons, but would have been funny tormenting some of the studio's other short-subject characters- especially Lippy and Hardy, or Magilla Gorilla. Doug Young was certainly available. Mike Maltese obviously claimed Bigelow as his own, as every short the mouse appears in was written by him. As far as we know, Maltese didn't write for the Magilla/Potamus franchise. Given the disturbing lack of credits for the Gator, Turtle, Lion and Hyena cartoons, it's completely unknown WHO wrote them.
Because Loopy's character was so one-note, and he didn't have nearly the personality of Huck or Yogi, most of the funniest dialogue and gags went to his cartoons' recurring/incidental characters.
While i’m late to the party, This is probably the best Loopy De Loop cartoon that came out. It’s a shame because this was the very last one, but I loved the gags (in one of them when Bigelow hits Loopy’s head with a mallet, how is Bigelow supposed to get a oversized mallet out of the birdhouse without breaking?) some pieces of dialogue and even the ending of this cartoon where Loopy makes dinner for Chatterly, Bigelow + his 3 sons while they chant in unison: “We want dinner!”. All the stuff before Loopy De Loop chases Bigelow for the first time is done by Hugh Fraser (I believe, including the famous “take” after Chatterly slams his window shut on his tail), while the part i mentioned is when Carlo Vinci takes over (by when Bigelow says “Hey, what is this?”). That housewife is pretty unlikeable (“You can shoe yourself out of there”). You ordered your cat to take care of Bigelow yet you kick him out anyway. (Even despite Chatterly swallowing Bigelow through his tail, he even apologized. Chatterly: “I didn’t mean it, Bigelow. Honest. She made me do it. I apologize.”). Thank goodness for Loopy because he was very nice in this one (as he adopts Chatterly and Bigelow with his 3 sons, while Loopy gets his happy ending, which is well deserved given he had to endure being called a wolf or getting a bad ending in some of his older cartoons). I don’t even know who voiced each of the 3 mice sons Bigelow had in this cartoon, but if i have to put my finger on it, One of the sons’ voices may be Doug himself given the range being distinct from Daws’ own “kid” voices (I’m familiar with Daws’ own voices). And while Daws reused his Shelley Berman impression for Chatterly, Chatterly was a pretty funny character even though he only appeared in this one. And Bigelow, probably my favorite mouse character that isn’t Pixie and Dixie in terms of a H-B cartoon perspective appears. Like “Elephantastic!”, he’s very funny here, and you get Doug’s Cagney impression. Here’s my favorite lines from the cartoon:
ReplyDeleteBigelow: “This little piggy went to market” (lifts one of Loopy’s hands off the desk) “This little piggy stayed home.” (followed by Bigelow successfully getting Loopy’s other hand off the desk) “What do you know, I ran out of piggies.”
Bigelow ( + his 3 mice sons in unison): “Ooh, that’s good, That’s real good.” (following Loopy’s “Wait! You will not be homeless, You can live with me.” remark)
Chatterly: “Well, I’m lovable and friendly and cuddly, and I can do a swell soft shoe.” (to his old homeowner, before getting kicked out)
I don’t know if Maltese used Bigelow in any other way shape or form besides this one, “Express Trained Lion”, “Royal Rodent”, “Hand to Mouse”, etc, but despite him only appearing in some cartoons, he was a really funny character despite him being just a Cagney impression.
Then again. Definitely not even close. The best Loopy cartoon. — (C, 8:25)