Cartoons and Brew

Animator Dan Meth is hosting his second annual Drinking and Drawing event in both New York City and Portland Oregon next Wednesday (Amid and I participated in the first such event in Portland last year and it was a blast).

The sad truth is that alcohol was the vice of choice for many of our animation heroes of the 1930s, 40s and ’50s. And of course, drinking made its way into the cartoons themselves, dating back way before Prohibition was lifted. Scrappy, Buddy, Woody Woodpecker and Betty Boop (to name a few) all made cartoons with beer gags – or about making beer itself. Matthew Hunter recently compiled this clip reel of drinking gags from early 30s Warner Bros. cartoons:

Even the Flintstones did a special Busch Beer promotional episode. Perhaps it’s no surprise that there is a beer in Germany called “Animator” (Hacker-Pschorr Animator) — and there’s even a wine in Europe featuring Goofy on the label (label below)!

But honestly, I don’t think any character drank more than Magoo:

The Drinking and Drawing events commence January 23rd at 8PM. In New York it’s happening at the M1-5 Bar in lower Manhattan (52 Walker St. @ Church St.). To participate in NYC you need to RSVP: savemeaplace ( at ) frederator (dot) com. In Portland it’s being held at the Someday Lounge 125 NW 5 Avenue. RSVP to cascadesiggraph ( at ) gmail (dot) com by January 22nd at noon.