The Egg Came First
Whoa — we kick off the ReFrederator podcast with “Humpty Dumpty”(1935), the quintessential Ub Iwerks Comicolor Cartoon which is to say the quintessential thirties cartoon; singing, dancing, an eccentric color pallet and a theme song you’re not likely to hear any place else on the planet (”Spooning in a Spoon.”)
Iwerks specialized in character designs featuring bulbous, rounded contours, so a cast consisting entirely of eggs (including a sexy chorus line!) must have been a dream come true. As usual in this series, there is obsessive attention to the damnedest details (note that our hero, Humpty Dumpty Jr. is an upright egg, while Easter Egg and the villain are designed broad end on top.)
And, of course, the whole darn plot hinges on the most obscure joke imaginable! (SPOILER: Eggs in boiling water come out HARD BOILED! Get it? That’s why the sweet little heroine takes a dunking and pops up acting like some kind of egg-slut!)
I love this one! And I choose to believe Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca”(1940) stole its central conceit from Ub Iwerks’ “Humpty Dumpty” — the title character never appears in person, having been dispatched before the film’s action even begins!
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On April 17th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Cool toon. They don’t makemlike that anymore. Great podcast so far. Thanks.
On April 17th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Love the Humpty.
On April 17th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Congratulations, Dave. The first episode looks great. Folks, you should subscribe through iTunes now.
On April 17th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Loved the cartoon! I’ve already subscribed via iTunes and will be checking it out everyday. Really enjoyed reading about the toon and getting that little bit of insight into it before watching. Keep it up!
On April 18th, 2006 at 12:00 am
This is pretty cool. I love some of the old cartoons. Do you think you guys could find/post an old one called To Spring that was made by Happy Harmony Studios? It has a bunch of happy underground elves working with colors and fighting old man winter to bring about Spring. ’tis the season and it is one that I enjoyed when I saw it on a VHS compilation of old stuff years ago. I think others would probably also enjoy.
On April 18th, 2006 at 12:00 am
OK, that one managed to be cute and bizarre at the same time. I lovrd the hard boiled reference-what an archaic term!
On April 18th, 2006 at 12:00 am
quintessential quintessential quintessential! Hooray for quintessential!
Viva la ReFre!
On April 18th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Brilliant! I’m so happy about this podcast. My passion is vintage cartoons.
On April 18th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Very cool podcast. I actually saw this cartoon recently - albeit an edited version - on an episode of Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
On April 20th, 2006 at 12:00 am
So cute!!!! I love cartoons!!!!!!