{"id":87853,"date":"2024-11-20T00:01:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T08:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=87853"},"modified":"2024-11-17T20:10:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T04:10:41","slug":"cartoons-about-cartoons-part-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/cartoons-about-cartoons-part-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Cartoons About Cartoons (Part 12)"},"content":{"rendered":"

All our action this week is centered upon four characters, all installments containing self-winks to the illustrated media. Tex Avery contributes another dose of Screwy Squirrel. Four appearances by Bugs Bunny – two in unlikely settings. And an extended discussion on various installments of Popeye. Plus, some pointed references to the Son of Krypton – without any actual appearances by the hero himself.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

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\tFirst, with apologies, some shorts overlooked as to chronological order. Though not in itself recognizing the characters of the film as animated creations, George Pal\u2019s A Hatful of Dreams<\/strong> (Paramount, Madcap Models<\/em>, George Pal, dir.) makes a name-dropping reference to the animation\/comics history of another series previously in production by Paramount studios – though the series had already officially ended with the substitution of the Noveltoons. The film thus receives an honorable mention. (NOTE: online data on this film is sketchy and incorrect in many particulars, including major differences in alleged release date. IMDB (with very little other data) claims release on an unspecified date in January, 1944. Graham Webb lists a release date for this film in his book as April 28th, 1945. Big Cartoon Data Base (which completely misattributes voice roles) states its release date as July 6th, 1945. Anyone with a more reliable source of data is invited to contribute.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A star-crossed would-be romance forms the basis for this story, between Judy, an attractive little thing, shapely and with the added effect of some highly-realistic heavy breathing, and Punchy, a kid of the streets with patches on his pants, in a tenement-laden urban tough neighborhood. He\u2019s not the only one with eyes for Judy, who moons for romance on an upper-story fire escape. The toughest kid on the block tries to impress with muscles. The rich kid from across the tracks (although he dresses like Little Lord Fauntleroy), comes equipped with an entourage of servants bearing expensive trinkets and candies for Judy. A street-wise narrator observes that Punchy can only offer \u201cnothin\u2019 but nothin\u2019\u201d. Stoop-shouldered and dejected, Punchy can only feel small \u2013 and smaller \u2013 and smaller, shrinking to the size of a tossed-away cigar butt as he mopes his way down the street. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A voice addresses him about his \u201cdragging morale\u201d. To Punchy\u2019s surprise, the voice comes from a proud-looking horse, wearing an old, somewhat battered straw hat. The horse not only talks, but wears a chest of medals, announcing that he\u2019s won the Kentucky Derby four times, the Santa Anita Handicap three times, and even appeared on the \u201cQuiz Kids\u201d radio program! The horse confesses, however, that he really didn\u2019t do all that, any more than he can really talk \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s just the hat that does it. It brings out my suppressed desires. Confidentially, the hat\u2019s full of dreams.\u201d To boost Punchy\u2019s spirits, the horse offers Punchy \u201ca go at it\u201d, a chance to try the hat on. As soon as Punchy lifts the hat from the horse\u2019s brow, the noble steed reverts to a standard junkyard horse, with all medals and trappings gone. Not quite knowing what to expect, Punchy places the hat on his own head. In a twinkling, we are presented with a stop-motion rendering as close as possible to Paramount\u2019s standard, \u201cIt\u2019s a bird, It\u2019s a plane\u201d opening for a Superman cartoon \u2013 and Punchy is transformed by his own hidden dreams into a junior Superman, complete with the trademark shield across his chest. Punchy can now fly to Judy\u2019s balcony without that feeling of being little any more, and impresses her enough that she presents him with a flower. He does the outrun the bullet bit, holds back a locomotive with one hand, then pulls a change of persona, transforming himself into Aladdin, so he can not only outdo the neighborhood tough guy with his feats of super strength, but show up the rich kid by materializing a balcony full of expensive gifts, including a new sporty coupe, a grand piano, and \u2013 most impressive to Judy of all \u2013 nylons! Unfortunately, a fire-escape of heavy gifts is not the greatest idea for structural soundness \u2013 and the whole load collapses onto a cop on the beat below. On top of that, the hat drops off Punchy\u2019s head in the fall, transforming him back to his powerless, unimpressive self. Taking several items, including the hat, as evidence, the cop carries Punchy away to tell it to the judge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In court, an ornery and cantankerous judge (voiced by Pinto Colvig, in his deep gruff register similar to Grumpy) calls Punchy forward to plead his defense, while Judy sits among the spectators. Punchy calls as surprise witness the junkyard horse, who at first can do nothing but stand there, until Punchy pleads for the judge to permit him to have his hat back. As the hat touches the horse\u2019s brow again, he returns to the mode of the talking champion, and asks if the judge is familiar with the United States Supreme Court decision of Dream Horse vs. Night Mare, in which controlling precedent was set that dreams are quite legal. The judge claims he wouldn\u2019t believe a horse\u2019s word for it, even under oath. \u201cI\u2019m dubious\u201d, he says. \u201cHello, dubious\u201d, says the horse, and suggests he try the hat on himself to prove the point, just for kicks. The judge believes it ridiculous \u2013 but is transformed by the hat into a six-gun toting Western lawman. His bullet fire causes the hat to fly off and land on the arresting officer \u2013 who is embarrassingly transformed into a ballet dancer. The hat flies off again, and lands upon various members of the jury, transforming them into their dreams of being an opera singer, a fighting soldier, and even a human cannonball. The only person in the court who returns things to a semblance of order is Judy \u2013 who doesn\u2019t have to dream about being anything but Judy, having everything in the first place, so that the hat causes no transformation at all. Punchy is freed, and returns the hat to the horse, who becomes Punchy and Judy\u2019s private steed for romantic evening rides in the junk wagon. Judy is now fully satisfied with Punchy as he is, as he\u2019s her dream.<\/p>\n