Antarctic Creatures Frolic in Art-Deco Style in Pleasantly Plot-free Penguin Parade

RELEASE DATE: April 23, 1938 (according to the Big Cartoon Database)
DVD/BLU-RAY AVAILABILITY:
none at presentAn adequate version of this cartoon may be viewed HERE.

The cartoons of the Fred Avery unit at Leon Schlesinger's studio were, by 1938, among the plottiest animated shorts in Hollywood. Avery's rejection of the Walt Disney ethos included a strong belief in the power of a persuasive narrative.

Not for him was the plotless pageantry of Disney's Silly Symphonies, which did stress narratives, as the 1930s progressed, but often lost themselves in an ooh-aah tableaux format. (They will begin to show an Avery influence in this year--irony duly noted.)

As we've often groused here before, Disney's high-gloss, all-technique-no-soul policy had a negative effect on the American animated cartoon--particularly after 1935, when most animation studios produced upscale color films. With the emphasis away from character, story and, of course, HUMOR, mid-'30s American animation is a dismal low point for the popular art form.

Avery was the Disney Way's fiercest, most vocal opponent. Unlike many critics, he had a counter-offer that he took into action. Through the two dozen cartoons we've perused here, to date, we see Avery's persistent vision sometimes compromised by the front office, but always in evidence. In the weakest of his early cartoons, as in his milestone films, Avery strives to cram as much narrative as coherence will allow. They may have often been dumb storylines, but they followed through, and left the viewer with the sense that they'd seen SOMETHING, no matter how ill-advised.

Stuttering Charlatan Loses Girl, Wins Food Source: I Only Have Eyes For You

RELEASE DATE:
3/6/1937 (according to the Big Cartoon Database; IMDb says 5/18/37)

DVD/BLU-RAY AVAILABILITY:
Available on the Warner Home Video DVD DAMES, released in 2006)

A reasonably good copy of this cartoon can be seen HERE (thanks for providing this, Devon Baxter!) As always, we recommend that you watch the cartoon before reading!

Frustrating cartoon, this. It comes right before Fred Avery's first bonafide masterpiece—one of the most revolutionary animated cartoons in American film. This cartoon is, quite frankly, not worthy of his talent or effort.

This is a pattern that recurs through Avery's career. Minor films precede major works; masterpieces are followed by half-assed also-rans. Avery was not a consistent creator of gems. By his nature, he couldn't be. A constant, fearless experimenter, each film an object-lesson in how much he could get away with (both with the studio brass and paying audiences), Avery had to take mis-steps.

More so than Chuck Jones or Bob Clampett, Avery walked off metaphorical cliffs, and courted abject failure, so that he could excel in his cinematic and comedic gifts.

I Only Have Eyes For You is exactly the kind of cartoon producer Leon Schlesinger wanted. It exploited a hot song (and a genuinely fine one—it's become a solid part of the Great American Songbook), and, on its surface, did nothing out of kilter. It could have been made by any of the units at Schlesinger's studio.

Avery would keep making such cartoons throughout his stay at Schlesinger's. There will be four more of these song-driven cartoons in the next year. They are replaced by the troublesome string of topical spot-gag cartoons in 1939. Your humble host looks forward to covering those cartoons as he would a spoonful of syrup of ipecac.

The Village Smithy: Consider That Fourth Wall Busted, Folks! And...Introducing Carl W. Stalling*

RELEASE DATE:
12/5/1936 (according to the unreliable IMDb, and most other Internet sources)

DVD/BLU-RAY AVAILABILITY:
Porky Pig 101 (WHV 5-DVD set)

A crappy-quality 1990s colorized version of this cartoon can be seen HERE, as part of a collection on archive.org. Thanks to reader "clark" for spotting this version. Due to WB's recent pogroms of their classic cartoons from YouTube, it's newly hard to see many of these early pieces.

This brings up an unavoidable pre-essay thought. It seems ridiculous to me that so many corporate copyright holders (a) have no interest in preserving or making available their archives and (b) strive so hard to keep people from seeing their holdings. This goes for the major music moguls, all movie studios, and book publishers. They seem stubbornly resistant to the fact that there IS interest in this stuff, and that, if they made even the feeblest attempt to offer it publicly, it would be greeted with positive response, which would, in turn, make the greedy gits look good (or as close to good as they might ever appear).

It seems to me that a win-win situation for these monoliths is to let this stuff stay up on YouTube, etc., in the belief that it will create a new market for these vintage pieces. If/when a legal, official version is commercially released, they'd have every right to crack down on poachers. If they only want to hoard these gems, and keep people from seeing them, then they're going to look like selfish, arrogant jerks.

End of soapbox sermon. Now, on with the show...

Plane Dippy: "Get a Load Of This!"

RELEASE DATE:
January 4, 1936
DVD/BLU-RAY AVAILABILITY:
Porky Pig 101 (WHV 5-disc set)
You can view this cartoon HERE

Fred Avery survived his first directorial effort for Leon Schlesinger, Gold Diggers of '49. With one "Supervision Fred Avery" credit to his name, and a reasonably good cartoon in release, he set out to do better the second time around.

His first step was to revert Porky Pig to the smaller, child-man of I Haven't Got A Hat. The grotesque hog of the prior cartoon was too harsh an exaggeration, even for Avery, who trafficked in distortion, over-statement and bigger-than-life effects.

He wisely assumed that a smaller character was automatically funnier. Of equal importance, this figure needed to be a cipher. These were Avery's favorite protagonists. Though Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Screwy Squirrel contradict this claim with their brash, aggressive personalities, Avery liked best the Porkys, Droopys and Eggheads--nobodies to whom things happened.