I’m back with more Terrytoons shorts in widescreen CinemaScope! (See my first two posts #1 here and #2 here). It’s so hard to find these cartoons in proper ratio that it’s always noteworthy whenever one pop up on the ‘net. Here, we present four.
Clint Clobber’s Cat (1957)
A hungry dog gets into the Flamboyant Arms, where no dogs are allowed. Clobber tries to get rid of him, but one of his tenants, an elderly woman who lost her glasses, takes the dog in, thinking he’s a cat due to her poor vision.
This is the first cartoon to feature Clint Clobber. Allen Swift usually voiced the character, but in this first outing he was voiced by Doug Moye, long-time cameraman for Terrytoons. As Deitch recalls in “How to Succeed in Animation” (http://www.awn.com/genedeitch/chapter-fifteen-the-terry-fying-challenge):
Terry had a long running series called “The Terry Bears,” and the voice of the Daddy Bear was Doug Moye, a big and aggressive black cameraman at the studio. Doug was a funny guy to talk with, and he had a great booming voice. I felt that the Bears were really an old fashioned concept. In my attempt to quickly develop new characters, and still hoping to make use of Doug’s voice, I created an overweight apartment house super, who underneath his grumpy exterior was a man in love with his job and his seedy apartment house. We made a special Terrytoons promotional film with the character. I named him “De Witt Clinton Clobber,” with Doug Moye doing the voice. I really liked Clobber, and with Morrison and the other story guys we began to develop and deepen the character. Recording sessions for the new Clobber films proved out that even with his funny deep voice, Doug Moye simply did not have the acting talent to put across the emotion the character now required, so I brought in my old friend and colleague Allen Swift to take over the voice. Understandably, Doug’s feelings were hurt. I knew was treading on sensitive racial territory, and it was touchy trying to convince Doug that the decision was purely a case of acting requirement.
Shove Thy Neighbor (1957)
The second of the John Doormat cartoons, which featured a different, early design for the character. Here, he tries to get back at his new neighbor’s dog.
Bern Bennett was a long-time announcer for CBS. After they purchased Terrytoons, the studio used Bennett in a few of their cartoons, like this one, where he voices John Doormat, with Allen Swift voicing the neighbor.
The Flamboyant Arms (1959)
This was the last Clint Clobber cartoon to be released. In it, Clobber tries to clean the apartment up in time for the building owner’s inspection.
A whopping 10 animators are listed in the credits. Most are the usual Terrytoons artists like Jim Tyer, Mannie Davis, Bob Kuwahara, and Johnny Gent, but there are also two that are unfamiliar: Dave Fern and Don Caulfield. As far as I know, this is the only time those two were credited in a Terrytoons cartoon.
Gaston’s Mama Lisa (1959)
While we’re on finales, here’s the last Gaston LeCrayon cartoon. Gaston gets tangled with the crooks who stole the Mona Lisa painting.
Charles Brubaker is a cartoonist originally from Japan. In addition to his work for MAD Magazine and SpongeBob Comics, he also created Ask a Cat for GoComics. You can also follow him on his Tumblr page.
That’s spooky. I just saw Gaston’s Mama Lisa today, and then this post shows up..
Is it safe to say that Doug Moye was the first African American to get an on-screen “voices” credit in a cartoon?
i so adored that CBS used to show these films on their (long-lived) “Mighty” run, otherwise i don’t know how ANY one would’ve remembered them. They are great!!!
Funny, I’ve never seen a Gaston Le Crayon cartoon before. They never showed them on TV when I was younger, even though the Clint Clobber and John Doormat cartoons ran regularly. I only know him from comic books.
Anyone notice the close up of the intercom in Clint Clobber’s Cat? It has all the animators’ names listed.
I’ve notice that Gene Dietch while working on the Tom and Jerry Cartoons for MGM used a Clint Clobber doppelgänger in several Tom and Jerry Cartoons like High Steaks and Sorry Safari as a cranky type guy who abuses Tom. Weird coincidence?
I actually find Swift’s Clint Clobber voice too bombastic to make the character likeable, and prefer Moye’s original voice.
Same here. Swift was extremely funny, but he tries very hard to “sell” the lines and the characterization. His voice work for Clobber is pure burlesque. Moye, a non-actor, sounds more sincere and natural to my ears and, at least IMO, makes Clobber far more sympathetic.
Phil Scheib’s musical scores under Deitch are so much more interesting than the ones under Terry. And Allen Swift’s voices are always hilarious.
So did Deitch’s Terrytoons just not go over with the public?
If anyone has the first Gaston le Crayon cartoon, I wish they would post it. It was on YouTube once, and now it’s gone. It has a good Alfred Hitchcock caricature.
The script was more to blame than the acting in the Clobber film. Good concept but poorly executed. Just not funny.
The writing was more to blame than the acting in the first Clobber film. Good concept but poorly executed. Just not funny. IMO.