ReFrederator Blog

We are careening through Celebrity Imitation Week, and today’s speed bump is 1933’s “Croon Crazy”, wherein Cubby Bear runs his very own radio station (and in case you momentarily forget which studio produced this cartoon, check out the station’s call letters on the microphone.) Cubby, of course, was one of those Mickey Mouse wannabes that were forever frolicking across movie screens in the early thirties; wearing white gloves, bulgy shoes, and little shorts, he’s pretty indistinguishable from all the rest save for that weird mask-thing around the eyes and his distinctive ear stubble.

Cubby is stood up by all his big name guest performers, so he impersonates them all himself. Badly, as it turns out. Paul Whiteman (not Oliver Hardy) and his whole orchestra, Al Jolson (in black face — sorry about that!), Mae West (male cartoon stars never passed up an opportunity to do the ‘Frankie and Johnny’ thing in drag) and [Read more…]

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Celebrity Week continues here at ReFrederator, as we go way back into animation’s jurassic period. From 1923, we see “Felix in Hollywood” — although it takes him half the cartoon to get there. What Felix eventually sees is a whole mess of prehistoric movie star caricatures . Ben Turpin, William S. Hart, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson and even Cecil B. DeMille all show up and hang around long enough to be recognized. The guy with the ears, by the way, is Will Hays, the first president of the Motion Picture Association, a rather un-charismatic fellow, who, tragically, looked a bit like a caricature in real life.

Otto Messmer, the director, animator and true creator of Felix the Cat, had made his living just a few years earlier making Charlie Chaplin cartoons, so he was more than up to the task of arranging the momentous meeting of cat and tramp. Along the [Read more…]

It’s hard to really properly introduce Leslie Cabarga, a man of so prodigious a talent one doesn’t know where to begin.

Actually, I should begin by saying that Leslie singlehandedly named ReFrederator and designed its distinctive logo.
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“Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur” —early Daffy Duck. Early Chuck Jones, too. About the time this one was released, other directors like Bob Clampett and Tex Avery were bending time and space, trying to figure out just how fast and outrageous you could make a cartoon. Meanwhile, Jones was over in the corner, trying stuff that was completely different —films with humor based on anticipation, rather than surprise. Relaxed. Deliberate. Unhurried. We’re talkin’ SLOW here. Laurel and Hardy slow. Jack Benny slow.

So, it’s not surprising Casper Caveman talks like Benny in this one. In fact, the whole cartoon kinda has a Jack Benny radio show vibe going for it; everything is leisurely paced, with the big laughs grounded in solid characterization. And the voice impersonation is pretty good too (years later, the real live Benny did his own voice for a Warners cartoon, but I think the guy doing the impression here is [Read more…]