Mark Kausler’s CatBlog

In  tribute to my late teacher and amigo, Rudy Larriva, who recently went to cartoonist’s heaven, here are a few panels from a sequence in Gus Arriola’s GORDO from 1946. These feature Gus’s caricature of Rudy as a near-sighted little nebbish, constantly falling into the hole left by the excavation of Gordo’s 1912 Michigan Meteor antique car from Rudy’s back yard. Rudy was a great animator, and teacher of animation when I was going to Chouinard Art Institute. I was animating a  student film called “The Twenty-Second Tragedy” featuring a frightened little dog. I used a two-drawing shiver cycle of the dog as he confronted a scary axeman. One drawing had shaky lines, the other had normal lines and I exposed them on twos. Rudy discouraged me from using such simple tricks, he advised me to ANIMATE the shiver and really think more about the dog’s emotions. I made a whole lot more drawings, and had to admit that the scene had more impact that way. Rudy animated on such prestigious films as SONG OF THE SOUTH and MELODY TIME for Disney, he animated the tug-boat “Little Toot” in that picture. In SONG OF THE SOUTH, Rudy has draft credit in the “Laughing Place” sequence for Sc. 9,  shared with Ollie Johnston, close-up of Bre’r Rabbit tied up on a spit, Sc. 30, shared with Eric Larson, close-up of Bre’r Rabbit starting to sing the “Laughing Place” song: “Hee-Hee-Hee-Hee, Ho-Ho-Ho…” and Sc. 31, also shared with Eric Larson, Long shot of the Rabbit, Fox and Bear with Bre’r Rabbit leading them, tied to a rope. Some experts give Rudy the credit for Sc. 66, 67 and 68 of the “Tar Baby” sequence, as well, but the draft credits Eric Larson. These scenes transitioned back to a shot of Bobby Driscoll listening to the story as Bre’r Fox and Bre’r Bear danced around the tar-bound Bre’r Rabbit.  Rudy was also one of Chuck Jones’s early animators at Schlesinger, notably on ELMER’S PET RABBIT and GOOD NIGHT ELMER from the early 1940s. When I met Rudy he was directing at Filmation. He admitted that his Road Runner cartoons of the late 1960s were not as well-animated as Chuck Jones’s, but he felt that they had superior camera work by Ray Thursby, who shot those cartoons at Format Films, where Rudy also directed portions of THE ALVIN SHOW. Rudy was a smallish, soft-spoken man, not quite as helpless as Arriola depicted him, but not prone to histrionics. He lived to the age of 94. I wish I had been in touch with him all these past years, since Chouinard. My friend Vincent Davis, visited Rudy often. Evidently he was reclusive in his last years and discouraged visitors. He was really a grand person and a wonderful talent, you will be missed mi amigo. Adios, requisat in pace. We will continue the Gordo strips next post with more panels devoted to Rudy Larriva.

Felix this time is from 9/14 to 9/20/1936. Danny Dooit, Socky, Snobbs and the whole Dooit clan vanish from Felix’s life now, as Felix manages to escape from the zoo. The fisherman in the Sunday page is a precursor to more fishing gags to come in the succeeding dailies.

Krazy is from 3/4 to 3/9/1940. Ignatz is thrown in prison again, but manages to fool Offissa Pupp several times. I like the “What Goes Up” 3/9 strip with it’s “Gran Baile” poster on the wall.

In Patrick, from 12/6 to 12/10/1965, Patrick organizes the “Patrick Club”; so exclusive that he is the only member. No Groucho, he. The gag for 12/10 reminds me of Red Skelton’s radio character, “The Mean Widdle Kid”. Patrick arguing with himself over whether to be good or bad is reminiscent of Skelton’s “If I dood it, I get a whippin’…I dood it!” Sometimes when the “Mean Widdle Kid” was contemplating a malicious act, he would say, “I don’t know why I’m wasting time arguing with myself, I’m gonna dood it anyway!” Mal Hancock’s Patrick is unapologetically mean-spirited, unlike a lot of contemporary comedy which IS mean-spirited, but lies about it’s intentions.

Hi Folks, here is my story-telling effort for the month; “The Bosh-Bosh Oil” by Alicia Aspinwall. The strange drawing above is an original illustration for the story by Marie L. Danforth.  It was originally printed in 1896; collected in the anthology “Short Stories for Short People”. I read “Tulla Oolah” from that book before, now here’s another of my favorite tales. It must be one of the first stories I can remember being read aloud by our wonderful librarian at Bristol School, Miss Bedell. She always read everything with great dignity and a serious air that kept all us first-graders in rapt attention. I have a little more relaxed attitude toward the story and characters, corning it up a bit. Give it a listen while you go about your internet business: www.zshare.net/audio/727905061e166b03/

Felix is from 9/7 to 9/13/1936 this time. The Messmer elephant adopts Felix and is so grateful to him for kicking the mouse that he won’t leave Felix alone! In the Sunday, Snobbs gets arrested for impersonating an officer and Felix sleeps in Snobbs’s bed.

Krazy Kat is from 2/26 to 3/2/1940. Two-day continuities this time involving spelling, telephones, mirrors and Mrs. Kwakk-Wakk’s gossip.

Patrick is from 11/29 to 12/3/1965 this time out. I love the intensity of feeling as Patrick jumps up and down on his wind-up toy and his Lucy-like joy in his “scream that will shatter glass”, without a “throat-mike” yet! The pose in the 11/29 strip as Patrick declares; “And It’ll All Be Your Fault” looks a little like a “Miss Peach” character, but pushed to the brink. Have fun with the blog, and I’ll see you next time.

Hi Folks, thanks for coming back to the old blog. It seems that blogs are “out” and Twitter and Facebook are “in”. I read an article in the L.A. Times that says that only “old folks” use Blogs anymore. I tried Facebook and thought it nothing but a waste of time, I don’t even care to look at Twitter. If you want to comment you have only to click on the link, or email me at blogmolasses@att.net if you don’t want the comments published. If that’s acting old, to want to avoid Facebook and Twitter, then I prefer the word “mature”. Here’s Felix from 8/31 to 9/6/1936. Great stuff with the animals, Socky and Snobbs in the woods this week, I especially love the Sunday page. I just can’t resist kittens! We also learn from the Sunday that Felix is a really valuable cat!

Krazy this time is from 2/19 to 2/24/1940 and has one storyline for the whole week. Offissa Pupp and Judge Pupp are one and the same person, and they work separately, but in concert to arrest and try Ignatz for brick-tossing. I like all the mice “like-alooks” in the jury box in the 2/20 strip.

Patrick is from 11/22 to 11/26/1965 this time, with the Thanksgiving strip missing, as the Post-Dispatch did not print on holidays. I like the timing of the joke in the 11/22, as Patrick looks expectantly over at his mother (in the third panel) to see if she will respond favorably to his gibe. Mal Hancock even uses Schulz’s patented ”AAAUGH” in the 11/23 strip. See you next time.

Here’s part two of my tribute to Dandy, Handy and Candy, the original Sugar Crisp Bears. Read about their escape from a shark, many years before “Jaws”, and then listen to this old children’s record about the bears. See if you can guess who is the principal singer on the record: http://www.zshare.net/audio/72056233966bcdac/. The scratches, pops and ticks are from more than 50 years of well-loved play!

Felix this time is from 8/24 to 8/30/1936. It’s a spooky week in the forest for Danny and Felix as they encounter an elephant, a lion, a crocodile, a monkey and an ostrich, all beautifully designed by Otto Messmer. The Sunday features Snobbs in a big dog suit, as he once again becomes Felix’s enemy. Oh, what a short memory has Snobbs, and how ungrateful he is for past favors!

In the Kat this time, (from 2/12 t0 2/17/1940) Offissa Pupp just can’t win. First he is continuously fooled by the ruse of storing bricks in Ignatz’s big Beaver hat, then, even Joe Stork is in league with Ignatz as he smuggles in a brick hidden in his “bindle” (2-17).

It’s a full week of Patrick this time, from 11/15 to 11/20/1965. Patrick is a pretty big brat, but you will notice that in 1965, no “time outs” for bratty kids. In the 11/19, Patrick is standing in the corner, feeling the stars from being spanked. No “Nanny-911″ necessary for this incorrigible boy.

Notice the link over to “Yowp” over to the right. Click on it, and visit a great blog devoted to  pre-Iwao Hanna-Barbera cartoons, when the world was safe for the silly puns of Charlie Shows, and the designs of Ed Benedict and Dick Bickenbach, not to mention the animation of Ken Muse, Carlo Vinci, Ed Love, Lewis Marshall and many others. Yowp writes in a very entertaining and non-worshipful fashion about these cartoons. He likes some of them and is dismissive of others, but it’s heartening to read his analysis of the stories and the tricks that the animators used to liven up the limited animation of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He singles out Carlo Vinci for the extra effort he put into making funny extremes, for instance. Yowp also points out how powerful a two drawing cycle or just a “pop” to a strong pose can be in limited animation. It was Ward Kimball who once defined animation as “the difference between two drawings”, and there are numerous examples of the power of two drawings on Yowp’s blog.

The best part of Yowp’s blog is his emphasis on the stock music that these cartoons drew on, and the stories behind the composers like Jack Schaindlin and Geordie Hormel. You can listen to the musical clips without effects or dialogue over them. Find the music that accompanied the Augie Doggie cartoons, by Bluestone, Cadkin and Phil Green; it’s quite appealing and even moving.  Of course, I think the theatrical cartoons of the 1930s and 1940s are the very best, but there is a dusty little corner of my heart and my brain where the early H-B Enterprises cartoons reside. Yogi Bear, Huck Hound and Quick Draw McGraw were like old friends to me, and the cozy, 1950s library music that Bill and Joe used for chases, like Jack Shaindlin’s “Toboggan Run” or “On The Run” played endlessly in my head as my brother and I rode our bikes fast through old St. Louis neighborhoods. These cartoons were on at a time of my life when I responded strongly to animated TV comedy, the watershed was Magilla Gorilla. When Magilla came on, I enjoyed them, but I knew that something was missing. Daws Butler was not the star voice anymore, for one, and the stock music that I loved was no longer there. I better quit blabbing about H-B stuff before Mike Barrier throws his computer at me, but I was a fan, so what.

      By the way, I wish Yowp could teach me how to embed sound files in this here WordPress type blog, then I wouldn’t have to use ZShare! Oh well, head on over there and tell Yowp that I sent you.

It’s been cold and very wet here in old Glendale this past week. Let’s look at some dry comics, shall we? This Sugar Crisp ad is posted (Post’s) by request of old friend Marc Schirmeister. He wanted to see the original bears, Dandy, Handy and Candy, before they were merged into the singular Sugar Bear we know today. This was clipped from a Boy’s Life comic section of the mid-1950s. The bears encounter a Martian robot and are lucky that he likes Sugar Crisp. This was before “sugar” became a dirty word in cereal-land, now the product is called Golden Crisp. Rosemary Clooney had a hit record for Columbia of “Dandy, Handy and Candy” in the early 1950s, which was about the home life of the bears, maybe I’ll link to it next “Post”.

Felix is from 8/17 to 8/23/1936 this time. Danny Dooit is determined to rough it by camping in the woods with Felix. Snobbs and Socky follow Danny and his cat around with treats and luxuries, embarrassing him. In the 8/22, Danny and Felix encounter a Messmer elephant as they try to sneak off into the woods. I love Messmer’s elephant drawings. The 8/23 Sunday page punctures Snobbs’s dignity as he takes a dip in the old swimmin’ ‘ole on his “awfternoon h’off”.

Krazy this week is from 2/5 to 2/10/1940. No real continuity this week. I love the Kat Langwitch in the 2/8, Krazy mangles the names of famous men, “Watchin’ Ton”, “Cizza” and “Hanna Bill”, remarking on their “crossmints”. Then the famous Chicken Who Crossed The Road shows up to deflate K’s hero “wort-ship”. The Chicken makes a repeat appearance in the 2/10, note the elegant little umbrella Krazy’s carrying in the last panel.

Patrick this week is from 11/8 to 11/12/1965. Panel two of the 11/8 almost looks like a Schulz drawing if you don’t look at it carefully. Patrick is no Charlie Brown, however, he is a master of psychological warfare and is a really “mean” baseball player. He’s a funny character, but ultimately doomed to a short run in the newspapers. Being a real mean little kid is a bit one-dimensional and it’s tough to sustain a run of years in a comic strip without a sympathetic character. Until the next time, don’t leave any newspapers out in the rain.