Be Prepared to Laugh
“The Good Scout.” Long story short —Willie Whopper as a Boy Scout. That means once we get rid of the lame-o jokes about helping little old ladies cross the street (and some ghastly ethnic stereotypes) we’re into car chases, kidnappings and some eye popping Harold Lloyd type high jinx (with special emphasis on the “high”). Man, that kid can lie!
In the pantheon of roly-poly cartoon characters, I think there should be a special place for Ub Iwerks’ fabulous fibber. Even most non-morbidly obese animated heroes would have a hard time matching the elephantine grace our Willie exhibits while dangling from a flagpole or rolling down the street on a spare tire. What a star!
Tomorrow — another day, another uniform!
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On October 17th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Have others been able to download this week’s cartoons?
On October 17th, 2006 at 12:00 am
This cartoon had a terrific soundtrack. Great use of dixieland jazz.
On October 18th, 2006 at 12:00 am
I didn’t occur to them that the man in the manhole could have a voice when he shouts?
On October 18th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Sure seems like the folks at Iwerks hated using any artists any more than they absolutely had to. Some of the later ComiColor shorts bend over backwards and back again to tell their stories in pantomine.
and Tom is right — this one has a wonderful musical score!
On October 18th, 2006 at 12:00 am
The soundtrack music comes from 2 Victor recordings. “Smiles”, Boyd Senter and His Senterpedes (I’m not making this up!), + “Milenberg Joys”, McKinney’s Cotton Pickers. Details, and the complete versions of each, can be found at http://www.redhotjazz.com/senter.html (Senter bio), http://www.redhotjazz.com/senterpedes.html (Senterpedes recordings), http://www.redhotjazz.com/cotton.html (McKinney’s articale & recordings). The tracks are available on CD: “Boyd Senter, Jazzologist Supreme” Timeless CBC 1032 http://www.timelessjazz.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=276
McKinney’s Cotton Pickers Vol. 1 Frog Records DGF 25 http://www.frogrecords.co.uk/dgf25.htm
The Iwerks studio seems to have made some arrangement with Victor around the end of the Flip series, continuing through Willie Whopper. Victor was owned by RCA, so perhaps access to the recordings was connected with using RCA’s Photophone system, maybe through MGM - I don’t know, but could find out, given time. Whoever was choosing the musis st Iwerks had funky taste. Jelly Roll Morton turns up on at least one Willie Whopper soundtrack. On the other hand, Flip “Soda Squirt” uses some pretty corny stuff: “By Heck”, Victor Novelty Orch (Nov. 21 ‘29) + “Mama Inez”, probably the one by Havana Novelty Orch. (another Victor studio group) Dec. 19 ‘30. That maniacal laugh on the soundtrack is on the recording.
On October 18th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Wow, great stuff, Rick. I’ve often wondered why the scores on some of those Iwerks toons seemed so eclectic. Makes you wonder what the studio’s production process was. Terrific work!