Cannot overstate how thrilled and delighted this blogger is to be still here, reasonably awake, drawing breath and guzzling coffee on January 1, 2024!
Of course, ringing in the new year means a few generous slugs of More Coffee, my favorite brand!
We shall start today's "OMG we made it through another year - yippee ki-yo ki-yay" post and kick off the new year with some classic cartoons! Here's a favorite of mine that I generally must explain to folks under a certain advanced age. It's a spoof of the very popular Information Please radio program (check 'em out on archive.org), which aired on NBC from 1938 to 1951, and features a caricature of the brilliant pianist, composer, recording artist, author, raconteur and supporting player in MGM musicals, Oscar Levant.
To this aficionado of Incredibly Strange Cartoons, The Herring Murder Mystery presents the answer to the question of whether the Screen Gems studio, between the constant churning of personnel and general upheaval, presented anything remotely resembling an original style? YES - it's in this cartoon!
As close to a noir-toon as they ever got at Disney's, this classic turned up a few months ago in Charles Gardner's splendid Animation Trails series on Cartoon Research. Noted in the Guide to the Virgil Partch Cartoons and Artwork, this Donald Duck opus features an imaginative story by reknowned comics artist Virgil "VIP" Partch and Dick Shaw. Jack Kinney, who helmed some of the greatest cartoons and sequences ("Pink Elephants") ever made by Walt Disney Productions, directed Duck Pimples with his usual panache.
Arguably the closest thing to a "cartoon noir" would be Frank Tashlin's brilliant 1937 Looney Tune THE CASE OF THE STUTTERING PIG.
Many attempted to make "noir-toons" but didn't quite pull it off. Back to the surreal sensibility of Screen Gems, THE VITAMIN G MAN, directed by Paul Sommer & John Hubley (yes, THAT John Hubley), is too way-out and incoherent even for the most dyed-in-the-wool animation buffs, with the exception of this writer, who is fine with utter incoherence and extreme suspension of disbelief in an animated cartoon.
Continuing today's post, a topic near and dear to us at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog is impressionists, both old school and new school. This is due to the passings at the tail end of 2023 of Tommy Smothers and Shecky Greene, two outstanding comedians who were not known as impressionists but could do amazing impressions. Tommy's impersonation of Johnny Carson is the best!
Those who saw Shecky at his peak considered him the epitome of the post WW2 era standup comedian, a master of songs, dialects, improvisation, showbiz stories and, of course, Hollywood and recording star impressions, all delivered with linguistic prowess. Alas, we have not been able to find complete sets of Shecky in his 1950's and 1960's heydey as King Of The Vegas Lounges. A contemporary of Johnny Carson, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles and Jack Carter, he did appear semi-regularly on The Hollywood Palace, The Dean Martin Show and The Match Game.
The closest thing to a Shecky standup set - unfortunately, his December 16, 1977 episode of the HBO series On Location is M.I.A. - would be his extended appearance on the The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson on November 7, 1975. No doubt Shecky had Johnny ROFL through rehearsal and after the show!
Two impressionists the gang here never tires of are Sammy Davis, Jr. and Bobby Darin, two all-time showbiz greats.
Love Bobby Darin's impressions of Hollywood stars, especially Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable and W.C. Fields.
Almost as ubiquitous on TV as The Smothers Brothers in the 1960's was impressionist and cartoon voice ace John Byner.
Here he is on Late Night with David Letterman.
Last but not least in today's New Year's post will be the multi-talented impressionist Keith Scott.
He is also quite the historian and expert on all things voice-over.
In closing, shall note that Keith penned Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog's favorite cinema-related book of 2023.
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