Short post this week but much more information soon on things I’m keeping my lips closed on, all while being properly dressed for the occasion….
The school really owns me right now – as does a project mentioned below, so I’m looking forward to checking back in on Thunderbean stuff on Friday- and hopefully will be able to put both feet in on several projects that need some attention. These days, even if I’m a little missing in action, work continues by all the other folks working for Thunderbean on various projects, so there’s lots of little surprises when films come back from cleanup all ready for finaling.
My favorite thing of the week so far happened today – when Paramount Cartoons (my friend Luke) told me about a 9.5mm print of Betty Boop and the Little King with original titles. I’m in the middle of getting as many of the original title cards for the Van Beuren “Little King” cartoons as possible for the Blu-ray, and since the Fleischer cartoon is a bonus on the set I’m happy that these titles exist! I have to wonder if this is something I’d seen before and just forgot about, but now it’s going to be on that list of things to try and get to scan. Here’s a link to one of the prints that has shown up on Youtube, from a British 9.5mm collector. Thanks Luke!! Now, let’s see if we can borrow a print to scan of these titles! I have Mark Kausler’s (note correct spelling) nice old original print scanned and cleaned up for the rest of the film.
Working hard here on getting mostly technical and cleanup aspects finished for a colleague’s project right now – I’m sure he’ll announce it here soon. We’re all pretty happy with how its looking right now but we’re not quite there! It’s taking up all the time I have when not at the school, but happily almost finished. Lots of the Van Beuren Tom and Jerry’s are getting finished by others, and we’re working toward getting the booklet finished for the Stop Motion Marvels Blu-ray too. There’s a small pile of masters on the special sets that need to get looked at and checked as soon as there is time- and I’m hoping those will be able to be dubbed pretty soon. In scanning news, I’ve just seen a little of some of the new scans on the second half of the Rainbow Parade cartoons, and it is really thrilling. I’ll sneak peak some of those here soon. All others cards are gettin’ held tight for the moment here!
This week’s cartoon was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, and it still strikes me as sort of an odd one: Mighty Mouse in Happy Holland (1952). A lot has been said about Terrytoons all being the same, and while all the production qualities are certainly not always at a great level, this little cartoon is chock full of entertaining moments, from dancing shoes and brooms, kidnapping, characters forced against their will into living-puppet performances (twice), a high speed chase on a shoe motorboat and a near death from being flattened in a old mill, all to an operatic score.
I really find many of the Terrytoons to be really enjoyable for all their great qualities, and this is a fun little picture. The scan is from a nice old 16mm TV with really nicely balanced color.
Have a good week all!
Steve Stanchfield is an animator, educator and film archivist. He runs Thunderbean Animation, an animation studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has compiled over a dozen archival animation DVD collections devoted to such subjects at Private Snafu, The Little King and the infamous Cubby Bear. Steve is also a professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
“Happy Holland” is a favourite of mine as well. In fact I’m a fan of the entire Mighty Mouse/Pearl Pureheart European melodrama trilogy, which also includes “Sunny Italy” and “A Swiss Miss”. “Sunny Italy” takes us to some actual national landmarks (the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Coliseum, the Venetian canals, Mount Vesuvius), and it also has a great Neapolitan song whose lyrics are a hilarious pastiche of Italian musical and culinary terms. But “A Swiss Miss” loses points because Oil Can Harry looks absolutely grotesque in lederhosen. Pearl, on the other hand, is adorable in her wooden shoes and Volendam hat; but as I may have mentioned before, Pearl’s the sort of girl who looks good in anything.
Hope to hear about all the things you’re keeping mum about for now. In the meantime… it’s Tulip Time!
I loved MIGHTY MOUSE when he first aired (in black and white) on TV in the 1950s. Especially love the operettas.
Wow! As Steve says; what great colour on this MM cartoon!
Nice meta throwaways: Oil Can Harry says he’s going to get Pearl Pureheart … again. She points out Mighty Mouse will defeat him … because he’s done it before. Every so often a character like Bluto or even Elmer Fudd would catch on to the formula, although they’d try to do something about it.
What will you discover next? Speaking of Animals shorts maybe???
Who cares about The Little King or any post code June 1934 Breen junk. There are some very interesting Pre-Code Betty Boop cartoons with original titles on the Steve the 95collector youtube channel including live action shots never before seen… These should be scanned, restored and released as soon as possible.
Then, in that case, maybe you should pony up the cash and do so yourself seeing how passionate you are about those films.
🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
I never got why MM gets so much hate in the books; they’re super funny and a roller coaster ride to watch!
Great choice! I picked this up on 16mm last year and was very surprised at how fun and weird it was, some great animation techniques enhanced with airbrush and optical effects (underwater!). I screened it at Kaboom! 2021 (in Amsterdam) as part of my “Fairytales on 16mm” program, Holland, the myth, the legend, something the audience really enjoyed.
Why has Paramount – before that Viacom – before that? – been sitting on the MIGHTY MOUSE cartoons for so long? Through most of my childhood, it was fairly easy to see M.M., HECKLE AND JEKYLL cartoons, etc. on TV – and I believe, for film rentals. As Jerry Seinfeld would say, “What’s the deal?”
Restoring them would be a big job, but I suspect original prints and material is out there. Several years ago, a collector had a bunch of them on VHS tape with original Terrytoon titles. The quality was a little fuzzy and DVD technology had already come in. Maybe I should have bought the tapes and had them transferred!
Correct me if I’m wrong, folks. The Mighty Mouse cartoons, as well as the Heckle & Jeckle cartoons, etc., are Twentieth Century-Fox cartoons, not Paramount – that much I do know – and, as far as I know, are still owned by Twentieth Century-Fox (?). Isn’t it them we should be complaining about/to?
Sorry Jim, you are wrong. Paramount owns them today.
CBS bought Terrytoons from Paul Terry in 1955… and CBS still owns them under the whole Viacom/Paramount conglomerate. Continue complaining to Paramount, folks!
Man, ohhhh Man!! I’ll NEVER forget when the “Mighty Mouse Playhouse” …. “turned to color!” What year WAS that??
It would be a big job to fix them up, but I think original pictures and other materials are out there. A fan had a bunch of them on VHS tape with the original Terrytoon names a few years ago.