It’s probable that when the Noveltoon series was first begun, it wasn’t envisioned so much as a launching pad for new series, but only as a home for miscellaneous cartoons. But by 1950, it was clear that there was a demand for more Casper. So, a new theme song was commissioned from writers Mack David and Jerry Livingston. It was presented on film in a form that seemed to be missing four bars, as an A B A format rather than the more usual A A B A format. (The recordings and sheet music of the song actually include the missing bars, revealing that the version used on the film credits was cut for time, in the same manner as Little Audrey’s theme.) The theme would be issued in the 1950’s by Little Golden Records, with Anne Lloyd doubling for the title character, and a more up-tempo chorus version (not including a character voice in the mix) was issued in the early 1960’s on Peter Pan records, concurrent with some of the television episodes.
Said theme would first be heard by filmgoers on the inaugural episode of the formal series, Casper’s Spree Under the Sea (10/27/50) – Casper is residing in a haunted house as typical for the series, and is truly a fish out of water. While the other ghosts are scaring the daylights out of everyone, Casper is picking posies. He is expelled from the house, and as usual, all his efforts to make friends seem to fail miserably, with Tex Avery-style scare takes by those he encounters. Casper is left disconsolate, and decides to “end it all” by tying a rope around a large rock, the other end around his neck, and dropping the boulder into the ocean. While he is pulled to the bottom, he forgets he is already deceased, and does not even need any magic seaweed to breathe. Instead, he takes a liking to ocean life, and befriends a female goldfish named Goldie. They take an excursion to the Fish Fair, via Whale Way Express. A train of tin cans also stops at such destination, the cans opening with winder keys to reveal an endless flow of sardine passengers. Casper is enjoying himself, and none of the fish are afraid of him. Meanwhile, up on the surface, a couple of fishermen are laying out a net to catch Casper’s friends. They succeed in netting a large haul, including Goldie. Casper surfaces, and gets about as demonstrative as he is likely to get, demanding the fishermen leave his friends alone. The fisherman get spooked, and row toward the horizon at mach speed. The rescued fish sing a song of praise to Casper, who saved them from being fileted or put in chowder, proclaiming Casper their king. Songs: “Ghosts Were Made to Haunt and Scare” and “Casper Is Our King” both originals never recorded.
Once Upon a Rhyme (11/27/50) – This begins like many cartoons begin – Casper again rejected by the ghosts, and having trouble making friends in the outside world. Casper is reading Mother Goose stories, and dreams of going to Mother Goose Land. The book grants his wish, by producing a stairway through which to enter the pages. His first encounter is with the spider who frightened Miss Muffet. The spider reacts as most grownups do to Casper. Casper gets involved with Red Riding Hood and the wolf (Wolfie from the Blackie series in a guest shot). For saving Little Red, Casper is given a special original rhyme for insertion in the book. Songs: mostly traditional Mother Goose rhymes, plus the original rhyme written for Casper.
To Boo Or Not To Boo (6/8/51) – Casper is rejected by his fellow ghosts – again – but this time on Halloween. Casper encounters a barn where the community is celebrating with a square dance. Wishing he could join the festivities, Casper encounters a bucket of whitewash, and gets the idea to paint himself so that he isn’t transparent. The ruse succeeds for a time, and he makes a friend of a little girl named Lou at the party. Unfortunately, a wild twirl during a “change your partner” portion of the dance lands Casper in the bucket of water for bobbing for apples – and his disguise washes off. The crowd makes a hasty exit, right through the barn wall – all except Lou, who remains, merely giggling. “Aren’t you a-scared of me?” Casper asks. “Uh uh”, says Lou, who emerges from what is her own mask and costume, to reveal she is a ghost too. Casper and Lou leave the party happy, as Casper sings, “Found me a partner, skip to my Lou.” Songs: “Arkansas Traveler”, and “Skip To My Lou”. The latter number received some unusual treatments, along with some traditional ones. Big band versions appeared by Gordon Jenkins on Decca, and Rau Anthony on Capitol. Country versions included Spade Cooley and his Orchestra with Roy Rogers performing square dance calls, Bill Carlisle on King, and Ed Durlacher and the Top Hands on Sonora. Judy Garland performed it in the soundtrack of “Meet Me In St. Louis”, eventually issued on album by MGM. Nat King Cole performed a version on the “Rambling Rose” LP for Capitol. And the children’s labels provided various versions, including Jack Arthur on Peter Pan, and The Sandpipers with Mitch Miller on Little Golden.
Boo Scout (7/27/51) – Casper is reading the boy scout creed, which refers to a boy scout as being friendly. This appeals to Casper no end. Casper’s new friend is a headstrong boy named Billy, but he is too little to join the Cub Scouts, and told to toddle on home. Casper attempts in his own way to teach the boy the fine points of scouting. Eventually, Casper comes to the rescue of Billy, the scoutmaster, and Billy’s brother, from the menacing advances of a grizzly bear, who has them up a tree. One look at Casper, and the bear turns white, transforming into a polar bear, and basically heads for the pole. Meanwhile, the scouts sing Casper’s praises by the campfire, inducting him as an honorary scout, with even Billy chiming in “We really mean it”. Song: An original, “Casper Is a First Class Scout” (sung mainly by Sid Raymond), with something of a new lyric to the basic melody of “Yankee Doodle”.
Casper Comes To Clown (8/10/51) – Casper’s new friend is a bear cub, whom he names Brownie. Brownie turns out to have a considerable talent for juggling, which Casper encourages and trains to perfection. They are out frolicking, when Brownie is kidnaped by a circus. Casper looks high and low for his friend, only to spot an advertisement for him as the star attraction of the circus show. When Casper catches up with the troupe, Brownie is discovered in peril from a circus gorilla. Casper’s unintended scare of course saves the event, and Casper winds up joining the act, doing juggling himself while standing on a pole balanced on Brownie’s nose. Songs: “Brownie is a Juggling Bear” (an original), a theme from the “Jolly Robbers’ Overture”, and the opening theme from Josef Wagner’s “Under the Double Eagle”.
The Deep Boo Sea.(2/18/52).- Billy wants to play pirate, but the older boys won’t let him tag along on their rowboat. Casper helps Billy search for a sunken treasure (oddly scaring away the skeleton of Davy Jones, who you would think would not be frightened at all), but plans are fouled when Billy and the boat with the other kids are swallowed by a whale. Casper’s pleas to the whale to let his friends out results in the usual aghast scream from the whale, with the boat sliding out upon his tongue, and the whale exiting by walking on water with his flukes. Casper and the kids share the treasure in the wrap up. Song: “Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Pop”, modified from the standard pirate shanties of literature.
Ghost of the Town (4/11/52) – Casper gets the boot as usual from the haunted house by a head ghost, voiced enthusiastically by Jackson Beck. Casper wanders into the big city, and encounters a burning building, with a baby trapped in an upstairs apartment. Casper flies up to make a rescue, and the flames in adjacent windows scatter when he appears. Before an astonished crowd of onlookers, Casper flies down to present the baby into his mother’s arms. The mother rewards Casper with a kiss, and Casper is hailed a public hero. He finds himself on the cover of “The Saturday Evening Ghost”, and is booked on the Ed Sullivan TV show (then known as “Toast of the Town”). Ed’s real name appears in the film, and it seems he contributed one line of dialogue in introduction of Casper on stage. This upsets the other ghosts with whom Casper previously resided, the head ghost insisting that such publicity will ruin their reputation. They decide to make a scare raid upon the TV station during the broadcast. Quick thinking Casper turns their plans upside down, by grabbing the mike, and telling the audience that the other ghosts are there to entertain them, and to get into the “spirit” of things. The audience obliges, by making funnier faces at the spooks and uttering louder shrieks than even the ghosts can muster. The ghosts realize that their “ooga-booga” tactics are not working, and in frustration, they high-tail it, flying in formation to spell out “Good Bye” to the audience. The mayor presents Casper with a key to the city – a skeleton key, of course, for the final shot. Songs: “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”, and the first presentation on film of the complete opening half of the Casper theme, including the lines deleted from the version in the credits sequence.
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Next Time: More Noveltoons.
James Parten has overcome a congenital visual disability to be acknowledged as an expert on the early history of recorded sound. He has a Broadcasting Certificate (Radio Option) from Los Angeles Valley College, class of 1999. He has also been a fan of animated cartoons since childhood.
That’s not “Under the Double Eagle” in “Casper Comes to Clown”, it’s the Radetzky March by Johann Strauss the elder, father of the Waltz King. The same tune is also played during the Fish Fair in “Spree under the Sea”. The title honours a Field Marshal who led the Austrian army to some of its rare victories in the 19th century. The Radetzky March is traditionally played as the third and final encore in the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual New Year’s concerts, immediately following the traditional second encore, “The Blue Danube”. Another tradition, observed not only in Vienna but worldwide, is for the audience to clap their hands and stamp their feet to the beat during the main theme of the march.
What Casper is reading from the Boy Scout Handbook is the Scout Law, a list of twelve adjectives that Scouts are expected to live up to and seldom do, “friendly” being the fourth. There’s also the Scout Oath, in which the Scout promises, among other things, “to obey the Scout Law.” The Scout Motto is “Be prepared,” but there is no Boy Scout “creed” as such — although Tom Lehrer’s comic song “Be Prepared” refers to the motto as “the Boy Scout’s solemn creed.”
Also, First Class Scout is an actual rank that can only be earned after obtaining the ranks of Tenderfoot and Second Class, each of which has to be conferred at a separate Court of Honor. You can’t just declare someone a “first class Scout” at a campout. Sorry, but they really hammer this stuff into you when you’re a Boy Scout.
I was struck by the way Sharples used the extreme high register of the violins to achieve a ghostly effect in “Ghost of the Town”. There’s some very effective orchestration in these early Caspers.
I have to admit, some of the Casper here were fine. I do wish Tytla didn’t leave Famous shortly after directing (and it feel like real directing here) the first cartoon in Casper’s series. I also wish Famous took a page from (Harvey (pun not intended) and move on from the repetitive “A Ghost!” storyline to do fantasy stories with the ghost already friends with forest creatures and residents in The Enchanted Forest.
The so-called directors at FAMOUS (Sparber, Kneitel, Tendlar, Tytla et all) were more production supervisors; the head animator (listed first in the credits) was the actual animation director.
Bart, I don’t know how true that was – after I talked to the late Dave Tendlar some years ago. I DO know that the policy started by Dave Fleischer at the Fleischer Studio was continued for awhile at Famous. Dave told me that Izzy Sparber pretty much did the same kind of “directing” that Dave Fleischer did for years – supervising the soundtracks and okaying the animation. So, for some years – YES, the “Head Animator” did much of the actual directing, but that policy changed some years later.