Ahh… the Paramount cartoons of the 1940s. Today, a gallery of Famous Studios in its glory, with Popeye, Little Lulu, Screen Songs and the Noveltoons. Supplemented by George Pal’s stop-motion Puppetoons and John Sutherland’s Jerry Fairbank’s Speaking of Animals. These are by no means all the stock posters the studio produced in that decade and the next, but it’s a good sample. Click thumbnails below to enlarge.
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and Blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [Click Here]
Another fascinating collection of movie memorabilia (especially concerning animation!) Does any one know if someone (maybe Thunderbean,perhaps) will release any Puppetoon collections? I know they’re technically not animation in the 2D sense,but I think they’re important from a historical perspective (Although I also imagine It would be kind of a hard sell today in this PC age) i.e. Song of The South
Sutherland did ‘Speaking of Animals’? I thought it was Jerry Fairbanks.
Sutherland and Moray began a stop-motion series in 1944 that petered out a few years later.
I’ve changed my boo-boo in the text above (John Sutherland to Jerry Fairbanks) – my thanks to you and Justin pointing that out. My bad. That’s what I get for writing this at 2am Pacific Time.
These are awesome! By the way, “Speaking of Animals” was made by Jerry Fairbanks, not John Sutherland.
Great stuff! I find it fascinating that the Paramount marketing folks did a pretty good job staying on model for the promotion of their house characters… something that was beyond the capabilities of the poster makers for Schlesinger and MGM toons!
That Casper poster looks like Myron Waldman did it.
They did seem to have a few problems with Herman, for some reason. Also, it’s interesting that the late 40s posters simply used the term “In Color”, since the main poster could be paired with a lobby card for a Technicolor, Cinecolor or Polacolor cartoon.
Wow, I haven’t seen most of these before! Thanks for posting them!
I recognize the Casper and Popeye images from the labels of some Mill Creek public-domain DVDs I own. It’s nice to now know where they came from.
I don’t think that all the PUPPETTOONS shorts are in the public domain, but wow, I definitely would love a COMPLETE COLLECTION of George Pal’s PUPPETTOONS. It is true that some of these are not what we’d call PC, but hey, that’s film history. I’m sure that we can name more than a handful of classic films that show life from the perspective of the generation living it. Pal’s PUPPETTOONS are works of art, and it would be nice to not only see these completely uncut on a DVD or blu-ray combo pack set but to also have all the poster art decorating the big box. I think the series as a whole would cover only about four or five disks!
I wonder, though, if the cameo of Bugs Bunny in one short might become an issue. I sure hope not. After all, Mickey Mouse makes a cameo in MGM’s “HOLLYWOOD PARTY” and I don’t think that Warner Brothers had to pay royalties to Walt Disney Studios, did they?
Yeah… I never thought those Jaspers were THAT bad. OK… maybe JASPER AND THE WATERMELONS raises a few eyebrows… as if most of the kiddies of today even undertand the old stereotype. OLIO FOR JASPER has the production values of a full scale Disney feature and shorts like that have nothing offensive about them except maybe the character designs (i.e. Jasper’s big lips).
Is Paramount planning to release some of their old material with the Warner Archive? (Of course, there would be no issue with Bugs cameos there.) Heard the buzz, but not sure what is happening.
The “Speaking of Animals” were a hoot even if they were based on a one joke idea. Need to bug http://www.shieldspictures.com to get them out on DVD with all of the “Popular Science” and “Unusual Occupations”. (IN LOVE being a May 30, 1947 release.)