Happy Thursday!
First, at Thunderbean:
Things are humming as we get out a bunch of the special discs and Mid Century Modern 2, now back in stock. We’ve put up the titles we’re sending this week in case anyone missed them as well. I had a chance over this last week to get out to New York and scan a bunch of things. I was also able to visit my friend and collaborator Tommy Stathes, who was nice enough to lend this week’s cartoons and many more. Thanks Tommy!
Now, onto this week’s film:
Maybe Columbia’s Mutt ’N Bones is the closest any studio got to making a Pluto cartoon besides Disney. In this WW2 outing, a dog dreams of being the “king of the bones” but wakes to none. In his local newspaper (“The Hard Times”) he reads about a bone drive to support the war, then spends the rest of the film competing with a Bulldog to bring bones to the bone drive, looking for a bigger one than he already has.
Compared to Disney’s Pluto, Columbia’s dog here is a little more worldly. He completely understands what he reads in the paper, and, like Tom and Jerry, seems to lead a human life even while living like a dog. It’s nice to see such an altruistic animal supporting the war at the expense of the thing he’d like most in the world.
Columbia cartoons from this period tend to be really dialogue heavy, often at the expense of much action. Mutt N’ Bones is refreshing in that it’s a visual gag cartoon without dialogue. While clearly taking cues from both Disney and Tom and Jerry cartoons, it still holds its own. There’s lots and lots of personality poses in the fun animation along the way, and plenty of gags- and while it’s far from the finest entertainment you’ll have this year, it’s enjoyable in the way it’s enjoyable to read the funny papers, and after all, that’s what it was designed to be.
Have a good week everyone!
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.
“Any bones today?
Bones of freedom, that’s what I’m smelling!
Any bones today?….”
Do old meat bones really have any military applications? Can you extract the phosphorus from them to make munitions? And with wartime rationing in place, wouldn’t meat bones be awfully hard to come by anyway?
What a silly cartoon.
Nowadays, if you have any questions about anything at all, just ask your friendly local AI Bot (in this case, Google’s):
Did animal bones have any military use in WWII?
“Yes, animal bones had several critical military and industrial uses during WWII, primarily as raw materials for manufacturing. Allied and Axis nations both ran extensive salvage programs, turning household food scraps and animal carcasses into “war material”.
Bones were processed into the following military essentials:
Explosives: Fats extracted from bones were used to produce glycerine, a vital component in the manufacture of high explosives.
Aircraft and Equipment Glue: Bone-based glues were used in the construction of military aircraft, such as the Wellington bomber.
Precision Lubricants: Bones were a primary resource for the “chemical bones industry” to produce specialized machine oils required for delicate wartime machinery.
Camouflage and Woodwork: Glue derived from bones was also used for camouflage paint and various woodworking applications for military gear.
Agriculture and Feed: Once the industrial chemicals were extracted, the remaining bone material was ground into bone meal for fertilizer or used as high-protein cattle feed to support the domestic food supply during shortages.
Soldier Nutrition: In some occupied territories facing extreme food shortages, bones were even processed as a direct source of nutrition for civilians and soldiers. “
Calm down. Animal bones were indeed collected during WW2 to help make explosives among other things.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/265754604675742/posts/1131647201419807/
I can certainly see your point at the closeness of this animation to a Pluto film – especially notable when he starts tossing the bone around on his tongue – an action borrowed from “Pluto At the Zoo” (1942). However, there were three other films, all at Terrytoons, that come to mind as coming close to Pluto product – one indeed as close as this film if not closer. The earliest similarities, and amazingly, some gags which seem to have influenced a later Pluto classic, come from two Puddy the Pup cartoons from the 1930’s. “The Dog and the Bone” (1937) places Puddy in a Pluto-like situation similar to this cartoon, of losing one bone while coveting something bigger. Walking across a log bridge over a pond, Puddy spots his reflection in the water, with the bone in the reflected dog’s mouth appearing bigger than his own. In a direct swipe from Disney’s “Mickey’s Pal Pluto”, a devilish conscience yells him to dive in and get the bigger bone. In the process, his bone is lost in the water. He next mooches a bone from a bulldog behind a fence (the same setup which would begin the plot of Pluto’s “Bone Trouble” (1940)) and gets chased, then spends most of the film trying to get at food in an Italian restaurant. It’s not quite explained how another bone winds up in the street for Puddy to take as a consolation prize for losing out on an Italian meal, but Puddy walks with it over the same log bridge again, and his evil conscience again appears, goading him to dive in and get it. Puddy wisens up, and kicks the conscience into the drink, happily satisfied with the bone he’s got.
In “The Homeless Pup” (1937), the influence on the later Pluto cartoon “Bone Trouble” is even more evident, as an extended sequence and running gag is provided by Puddy’s discovery of his own reflection in the reflective metallic curb sideboards of a brownstone building. Puddy thinks the reflection is another twin to himself, following it, barking at it, and getting confused when a theater poster pasted on the wall gets in the way of the reflection, causing him to peer from one side to the other to find the other dog hidden behind it. There is another confrontation with a bulldog on whose porch Puddy decides to claim squatters’ rights, and some wrangling over the bulldog’s bones in a dish. The dog pursues Puddy back to the building, where Puddy steps into a doorway alcove, and suddenly finds himself flanked by four dog reflections, two on each side. (Is this not a direct inspiration for Pluto’s multi-mirror reflective cohorts in the Hall of Mirrors sequence of “Bone Trouble”?) Believing himself to have acquired a small army of supporters, Puddy encourages the reflections to look fierce as the bulldog approaches, and momentarily succeeds in frightening the bulldog into a retreat. Puddy gives chase, waving on his supporting army to follow suit. But as they reach the end of the building and its reflective baseboards, there is no one left in the pursuit except the bulldog and Puddy. Puddy still advances on the bulldog, again giving a wave behind himself to signal his army for backup – then reacts in classic Pluto double-take to find there is no longer any dog with him. The film also features some extended antics with Puddy and the bulldog evading the net of a dog catcher, mildly resembling action which could have been included in either Disney’s “The Worm Turns” or “Canine Casanova”.
Finally, there is 1957’s “The Bone Ranger”. Although now rendered in simplified and thickly-outlined animation style and minimalitic backgrounds (leading into the Gene Deitch period), the plot for this one is absolutely pure Pluto. Beginning from the starting sequence, with the dog performing early morning wake up and stretch almost identical to the opening of “Bone Trouble”, and a tail gag where he uses the tip of his tail as a whisk broom to dust himself off in hopes of entering a swank restaurant serving filet mignon, every move, expression, and gesture seems right out of the Jack Kinney/Charles Nichols book of moves and poses for the character. The plot itself is another extended pursuit of a bone discarded from the restaurant, first lost to a garbage truck, pursued to the dumps, picked up by a construction crane, and deposited in a foundry producing concrete blocks from sand for a wild ride through the machinery. The ending even throws in Pluto sentimentality, as the mutt finally gets his bone, only to have a half-starved pup show up, whimpering at his feet. Despite battling his own instinctive hunger, the dog ultimately relents, giving up the bone to the pup for a square meal, and heaving a sigh as if to say. “Oh, well…” (Virtually the same type of ending as in Pluto’s “The Sleepwalker”.) To absolutely cap the similarities with the Disney product, the dog uses his pencil-thin tail in a manner that only Pluto might normally do – looping it into a knot around his waist and tightening it, in the manner that a hungry man would tighten his belt to avoid from having his pants slip down from starvation, then exiting in a tail-away view as the iris closes (in the same manner as “Pluto At the Zoo” and “T-Bone For Two”.) This film struck me as so identical to a Pluto product, I wondered if it actually developed in house, or was instead a leftover storyboard some writer created and intended for Disney, only to find that the Pluto series had discontinued production, and so trickled its way down to being offered to Terrytoons so as to get it onto film somewhere.
I’m sure there are more films with perhaps more marginal similarities to Pluto, which others in our readership may bring up.
I actually looked at the background of Paul Sommer and I noticed he previously worked at Terrytoons. Thus, it wouldn’t be surprising if he worked on the Puddy series including the two mentioned above.
Interestingly, Paul would later work at Hanna-Barbera and would direct projects with a later dog star: Scooby-Doo.
Wow Charles (my reservations about your speculation aside), this could have been a whole post in your collum TBH.
“The Bone Ranger” was actually directed by Gene Deitch himself, since he was already head of the Terrytoons studio in 1957.
We should also mention the excellent 1959 cartoon “The Tale of a Dog,” directed by Gene Deitch and Dave Tendlar. This short film follows the classic tropes of a dog searching for food, but the story suddenly takes a more original and satirical turn that makes it hilarious.
It’s truly a shame that this cartoon is so little known; I really hope that Jerry Beck will one day write an article to bring it to light.
Wasn’t “The Bone Ranger” directed by the Terrytoons veteran, Connie Rasinski? Gene Deitch was credited as supervising director.
I’m intrigued by the series title “A Phantasy Cartoon” and wondering how long the series lasted. Is Mutt a one-off, or does he appear in other cartoons? He is indeed very like Pluto.
As in many cartoons, the bone all by itself is of interest to the dog, but generally in real life dogs gnaw on bones that have meat on them. I’m sure a meatless bone is much easier to draw, but it’s interesting to consider how many animated dogs have gone to great lengths to acquire and hold onto bones without any meat. When I was growing up, the dog we had wouldn’t touch a bare bone, but only one that had something on it.
Great cartoon! And one I had never seen before!
The Phantasies lasted through the end of the Screen Gems theatrical shorts era – they were produced through 1946 but were released up to 1949.
I’m not sure about the Mutt. But the Bulldog, on the other hand, seemed to be a more frequent character. According to the Wikipedia, he probably was the same bulldog from “Dog Meets Dog”, “The Bulldog and the Baby”, “A Battle for Bottle” and “The Dumbconscious Mind”, that is if they are really the same character.
I enjoyed this cartoon more than most Columbias, which for the most part (excepting a few greats and near-greats) leave something to be desired. This was also one that I had never seen before. And I rarely see Columbias with original titles. Thanks Steve and Tommy!
There were 55 Phantasies produced; this cartoon is no. 40. I have not seen any others featuring Mutt, although these were not shown on local TV when I was growing up, so I might have missed them. All were made in black-and-white, except for the last seven, which were in Cinecolor.
If I recall Phantasies was a replacement of either Krazy Kat or Scrappy. I forget which.
Both of them, I believe.
Well, at that time Screen Gems also had another B&W series “Fables” aside from Phantasies, both of them replaced Scrappy and Krazy Kat.
I was shocked at the amount of similarities to an earlier cartoon. They even copied the belly dancer poster gag from Disney’s “Bone Trouble”.
Not a bad short. For some reason, I feel like the war-time theme Screen Gems shorts were more of the stronger shorts of the studio. Another one that come to mind is “King Midas Jr” which Sommer also co-directed.
Screen Gems and Terrytoons (as mentioned above) weren’t the only studios who at one point ripped off Pluto, Walter Lantz’s Andy Panda had a revolving door of pet dogs, some of which heavily resembled Pluto. By far the biggest offender was Butch from the infamous short Painter and the Pointer, one could honestly be forgiven for confusing him for Pluto upon first glance because aside from the ears they’re nearly identical. Not the most surprising thing given Andy himself was essentially a ripoff of Mickey Mouse.
It’s funny how Screen Gems was the last studio still holding out with B&W cartoons.