Happy Thanksgiving 2012 - Enjoy This Crap-tastic Cartoon!

Yes, indeedy, I am thankful for lots of things, especially the miracle of still drawing breath on Thanksgiving Day of 2012 . . . and yet, unquestionably, no matter how you shake it, I Positively Loathe A Parade.





Now one thing Mr. Blogmeister does like very much is bad cartoons - and nobody, not Terrytoons, not Columbia, not Van Beuren, made more singularly crap-tastic cartoons than Famous Studios (A.K.A. the zombie-like remnants of the great Fleischer Studio).



So today's guilty Thanksgiving pleasure is this 1950 Paramount Noveltoon featuring a turkey with the voice of Herman The Mouse and a farmer voiced by Sid Raymond (Katnip The Cat).



Post-1946 Famous Studios cartoons astound with an unparalleled ability to totally screw up every single joke from first frame to last - and this one, alas, directed by the great Disney animator Vladimir "Bill" Tytla, is no exception. They even blow the "running off the film sprockets" gag stolen directly from Tex Avery! HOW DO THEY DO IT?



Now just why Tytla, the ace animator of ace animators, a draftsman of draftsmen who actually taught young artists how to animate, was hired by Famous to direct Popeye cartoons. . . hoo boy, that we'll never know!



Even given all the smack talk I have just done about Famous, animation buffs can see pre-1947 Noveltoons - the good, the bad, the ugly, the merely pedestrian and (thankfully) the cartoons that carry on the unique Fleischer style - on an excellent DVD set by Steve Stanchfield and Thunderbean Video.