ReFrederator Blog

Hunky and Spunky! How come this pair never became big time toon stars? Shouldn’t their faces have adorned coloring books, lunch boxes, and underoos? They had their own starring series of Max Fleischer cartoons. They had their own catchy theme music. Just like Popeye and Donald Duck, they had their own trick voices that could be easily imitated by small children and the socially awkward. They even had their own Oscar nomination. Alas. Stardom stubbornly eluded this donkey duo, and for all practical purposes, they remain a humble hoofnote in cartoon history.

Today’s film is “Barnyard Brat’”(1939), and in case you’re late to the party, let me fill you in on the Hunky and Spunky backstory: Hunky is the mama donkey, Spunky is the baby donkey and… hmmm… well, I pretty much guess that’s the whole deal here. Love these old cartoons that would seem to teach a important lesson except that the [Read more…]

Terrific twosomes! Peerless Pairs! Colossal Couples! ReFrederator launches “Singular Duos Week” by teaming two A list cartoon stars, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck in “Yankee Doodle Daffy.”

These guys co-starred in oodles of films, but their exact relationship mutated toon to toon — sidekicks one time, straight man and comedian the next, occasionally even life and death adversaries. Today Porky plays some kind of casting director, relentlessly hounded by Daffy, the demented personal representative of a rather unpromising looking entertainer. For once, the duck seems ideally suited for his occupation du jour — the brute ferocity of his sales pitch leaves us boggled trying to imagine an act, ANY act, that could possibly live up to his build-up. What? Al Jolson swallowing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? I dunno!

No Warner Brothers director had a surer hand for musical material than Friz Freleng, and this cartoon is just sloppin’ over with melodic snippets! And [Read more…]