Monthly Archives: December 2008

Huck, Yogi and Magilla Gorilla at Disneyland

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Reader Keith Bryant made this unusual observation while watching the Disney Treasures DVD Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic:

There’s an old episode of The Wonderful World of Color, “Disneyland Around the Seasons” (1966), where they show the Disneyland Christmas parade. If you look closely at Santa Claus’ float you’ll see dozens of generic toys and NONE of them seem to be licenced Disney character toys (although, a large teddy bear is wearing a t-shirt that says “Winnie the Pooh but the bear doesn’t look at all like him). However, if you look even closer, you can see a fairly large plush Magilla Gorilla. Imagine that, a Disneyland parade (circa 1966) and a Hanna-Barbera toy is on the float! Could you imagine that happening today?!? Howze that for Disney Christmas trivia?

Not bad! I spotted what looks like a Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear doll as well (see blow-up below). I agree, Santa would never get away with that today.

Chicago For a Few Days by Ray Ray Mitrano

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I’m currently visiting Chicago for a few days so it seems appropriate to share the animated short Chicago For A Few Days by Brooklyn-based artist Ray Ray Mitrano. The film, which documents Mitrano’s train trip to Chicago, was made by arranging paper and found objects onto a scanner bed. It’s an unconventional piece of animation and the narration helps make it truly special.

Hanna Barbera Flickr

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Here’s a delightful Christmas gift to all our readers whose stockings went bare…

Kerry Cisneroz and Dom Giansante are lifelong H-B fanatics and have created a pool on flickr all to do with Hanna Barbera. The mission is to show as much of their collections as possible, highlight obscure characters, showcase art they have done and ask that contributors do the same. It’s a treasure trove of great pics and thanks to contributors, they’ve unearthed a lot of great paraphenalia. Dig in and enjoy!

Cartoon Brew TV: A Few Quick Facts

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Our Christmas present to you: episode 15 of Cartoon Brew TV. Jerry Beck is back this week with a brand-new commentary edition of “Brew Vaults.” He takes a look at a rare episode of A Few Quick Facts. This cartoon was originally shown to servicemen during World War II as part of the Army/Navy Screen Magazine, a newsreel program produced under the supervision of director Frank Capra. This three-part episode honors the Navy’s latest battleships; praises the American soldier’s brain; and explains the cost and care of a G.I’s shoes. Jerry is joined on the commentary by animator and historian Mark Kausler. Head on over to hear Jerry and Mark’s thoughts about A Few Quick Facts only on Cartoon Brew TV!

Vintage Holiday Cartoon Art Roundup

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A few nice collections of holiday-themed cartoon artwork to keep you entertained during the cold weather…

Disney artwork

Beautiful drawings by “Walt Disney Staff” illustrating a short story by Pearl S. Buck that appeared in a 1956 issue of Family Circle.

Jingle Bells

Illustrations from Jingle Bells, a Little Golden Book by the great J.P. Miller.

Disney artwork

An incredible collection of Disney Studio holiday cards from the 1930s-’50s.

Life magazine

Delightful and humorous holiday imagery from the early-20th century published in Life magazine.

Littlest Snowman

Holiday comic art including some great Frosty comics, as well as the creepy Littlest Snowman cover above.

Fleischer Superman on DVD

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Warner Bros. is finally releasing the classic Paramount Superman cartoons (1941-43) on a stand alone DVD set. These are the nine Max Fleischer sci-fi adventures and eight Famous Studios World War II flavored action epics as you’ve never seen them before. The two-disc collection will go on sale April 7th and will retail for $26.99 (and be available much cheaper on Amazon, at Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart).

Warner Bros. and DC Comics own the master negatives to these cartoons and the new restorations here are truly breathtaking. Warner Home Video previously released these only as bonus material on several Christopher Reeve Superman DVDs, but are releasing this special set due to popular demand. Throw away your Dollar Store dupes. This is the ultimate collection of these cartoons.

(Thanks Dave Lambert at TVshowsondvd.com)

New Years Looney Tunes marathon

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Looney Tunes make a return appearance to television on New Years Day when Cartoon Network is scheduled to broadcast an all-day 14-hour marathon of classic Warner Bros. cartoons.

95 shorts, spanning four decades, begin on New Years Day (January 1st) at 6am with Freleng’s The Wabbit Who Came To Supper (pictured above). The final hour at 7pm highlights Chuck Jones masterpieces like One Froggy Evening, Duck Amuck, Duck Dodgers and What’s Opera Doc?. Jon Cooke posted the exact schedule on the Termite Terrace Trading Post forum.

But note, this is a one-time-only stunt. Perhaps overwhelming ratings will convince the network to return these treasures to the regular line-up. Whatever happens, this sounds like the perfect way to start 2009.