I remember that going through my head as poor George Jetson gets unfairly blamed and verbally abused by Mr. Spacely throughout the cartoon, yet still wants to work for him. And Spacely demanding personal property (theatre tickets) of Jetsons? Evidently they didn’t have H.R. departments in this version of 21st Century corporate America.
Ah, well. Not exactly my favourite Jetsons episode (even the title is weak). But it has given me an excuse to clip together this pan shot.
Here’s another shot of Jetson’s office.
Someone like Howard Fein will be able to tell you who animated what in this cartoon. Ken Muse did some of the animation but he receives no credit. Neither does Jerry Hathcock. Parts of this cartoon were subcontracted out to Grantray-Lawrence as Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson, Irv Spence and Don Lusk receive screen credit. Here are some shock drawings of George, who has a long, thin nose.
George races from the scene. The animator draws outlines. I like the little stardust plus-signs that the characters leave behind in their wake. Very ‘60s.
And outlines of Cogswell.
Bob Gentle has the sole background credit on this cartoon. Here are some exteriors and interiors. There are a couple of interiors I’d have liked to have snipped together but the colour isn’t consistent on the DVD frames.
Howie Morris shows up as Harlan. Howie makes me smile every time I hear him on this show.
Anyone know who’s doing Miss Asteroid? Gerry Johnson wasn’t at Hanna-Barbera that early. Variety reported on March 27, 1963: “Gerry Johnson checked off KNXT's "Panorama Pacific" for vocal assignments with Hanna-Barbera cartoons.” This cartoon appeared February 24, 1963 and the voice track likely would have been made some time in 1962. It’s not Janet Waldo. That leaves Penny Singleton.
Best pun: “Oooh! Isn’t that a Christian Di-Orbit?”
Spacely’s impression of Cogswell sounds more like a Flintstones bird-with-a-record-needle-beak than Cogswell.
The other animator is Jerry Hathcock.
ReplyDeleteKenneth Muse and Jerry Hathcock animated this Jetsons episode.
ReplyDeleteThis episode's scriptwriter,Tony Benedict re-used the boundary dispute plot line for the Flintstones the following year ("Room for Two").
ReplyDeleteBarry E. Blitzer wrote this episode, not Tony Benedict.
DeleteThis was probably my least-favorite episode of the series simply because while we expect George to be harassed from all angles during the show, this was pretty much a 30-minute non-stop beat-down with a depressing ending (which might have had more 'real world' entertainment value coming at it from an adult view of the world, since The Jetsons was supposed to also appeal to adults. But watching George take it for the entire show and then have the punchline that he's screwed things up again with the property line map just didn't leave a good taste in your mouth at the finish).
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like George gets it over and over and over here Even after thinking he had everything planned out to a T with getting Spacely to sign a contract to not fire him again, he ends up as Spacely's private slave for thinking he did the right thing in explaining a bit of fact he discovered about the other building.
DeleteIn the end, I wonder if making the building several inches tall was all Coswell's idea of bilking some hard-earn cash from Spacely anyway. Clever d--kmove if any to build a skyscraper to be purposely not up to code and leave Spacely holding the bag.
Miss Asteroid was (maybe) either Ginny Tyler or Nancy Wible. She sounds like one of the carhops in The Flintstones' "The Drive-Inn". Must admit I can't quite remember which one.
ReplyDeleteI think Penny Singleton did the voice of Miss Asteroid at a slightly higher pitch and accent than she uses for Jane.
Delete8/10/15
ReplyDeleteRobGems.Ca Wrote:
My favorite line since seeing this from childhood:
"One Mr. Spacely is bad enough, but SIX is positively sickening!" Other than that, I do feel sorry for poor harassed George in this episode. Remember, quite a bit of the George vs. Spacely battles were borrowed from the battles between Dagwood Bumstead vs. Mr. Dithers.
I'm sure the writers were inspired by that sort of rivalry.
DeleteSomehow, this one closed as if it had been an entire flashback, right before George resumes in progress shining Mr.Spacely's shoes. Georgi, good giess as to Miss Asteroid's voice..
ReplyDeleteVery funny Cogswell line:
"Upside down..which is EXACTLY the way thatr YOU (Spacely) YOU've been ruinning your whole BUSINESS..UPSIDE DOWN!"LOLSC
Somehow, this one closed as if it had been an entire flashback, right before George resumes in progress shining Mr.Spacely's shoes.
DeleteThe use of that out-of-focus transition is a little awkward as I thought that way as well. I suppose the "Spin Cut" had yet to become a standard in sitcoms at this point.
But I wonder why we don't SEE George relating it at the beginning as he talks to the camera at the end....:)
DeleteI think the entire first act of the episode, through Jane bursting into tears about not going to show, was animated by Irv Spence. His style is very similar to that of Ed Love. The rest of the episode alternated (rather jarringly) between Hathcock and Muse.
ReplyDeleteIf not Spence- or entirely by him- the first scene may have also been animated by any combination of Ray Patterson, Don Lusk, or Grant Simmons. All four were teamed on numerous other JETSON episodes and seem to have very similar styles to Spence and each other. But it was unusual to see any of them working on the same episode as Hathcock and Muse. Maybe because it was nearing the end of the show's production, animators were taken out of their usual units to finish up the last episodes.