Count Screwloose

[barnyarddawg]

Hey, Jon, didn't you mention last week that they should play a Count Screwloose cartoon? That's a pretty cool coincidence ;)

[Jack]

There seems to be a pattern, one un-PC cartoon per week in the middle of the show.






Jack:D
P.S. Please show "Porky's Ant" next week...

[kiddiesunshine]

Oh, poo! You got to it before me.

[snowpeck]

WOW! If they can show that, surely they can show those 12 Bugs cartoons. Oh wait. When was the last time you saw a Count Screwloose t-shirt ;)

gcb

[barnyarddawg]

Another cool coincidence is that we(Me and Jack) posted it at the exact same time. Not that it matters but you could have thrown mine out if you wanted.

__________

My mind is a glow, with swirling transient nodes of thought, careening into a cosmic vapor of invention!

-Harvey Korman as Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles

[Jack]

Another cool coincidence is that we posted it at the same time. Not that it matters but you could have thrown mine out if you wanted.

Do you mean me? I liked yours better, mine stank.



Jack:D

[Sogturtle]

For anyone reading this, the MGM Count Screwloose cartoon being referred to was "Wanted No Master" . This was the very film I doubted we'd be seeing for a while!! (Given CN's anencephalic mindset);). [Anencephalic, used as a public service courtesy, with a tip of the turtle shell to Happyheathen for reminding me of it]. Twas nice and surprising to see it air again (I watched it on tape last week!). Sooooo, Jon got his wish! Hmmmm... Hey Jon!! Would you mind wishing for my fiance to move back here?!?!? :(

[Matthew Hunter]

Cool! I liked that cartoon. I'm glad they decided not to edit it annd show it complete...has this ever been on TV before? The only thing I know about it is what little I've read, that it was a pilot for a series that never really caught on. Who directed it? Was that Mel Blanc as the widow?
-Matthew
(also noticed that "It's Got Me Again" is an extreme Disney ripoff....why make one Mickey when we can make dozens of him?)

[Matt Yorston]

Both Count Screwloose cartoons ("Jitterbug Follies" and "Wanted No Master") were directed by a man named Milt Gross, a successful newspaper cartoonist who, like Friz Freleng, was lured to MGM to direct some cartoons. Obviously, he didn't stay long but he worked on the Count Screwloose cartoons as well as some "Captain and the Kids" cartoons (I have heard that he directed "Petunia Natural Park").

[Sogturtle]

Both Count Screwloose cartoons aired on Late Night Black and White in the last few years (I taped them then).

As for Milt Gross... Count Screwloose (and J.R.) were his comic-strip creations, hence his name credit on the two cartoons. He had been appointed as the head of the MGM cartoon studio following Harry Hirschfield's abrupt departure (newspaper cartoonist Harry only lasted a few weeks). Supposedly Hirschfield was verging on a nervous breakdown when he left MGM (the factiousness was incredible). This all goes back to the trouble created by appointing neophyte directors William Hanna and Bob Allen alongside veteran Friz over a crew of mixed Easterners and Westerners, and then saddling them with the Captain and the Kids. Another final element was our pal Charlie Thorsen, who'd been brought in by Quimby with a promise of direction!!! Charlie definitely worked on character design and possibly on stories as well... Ex-Disneyite Thorsen was watching the whole soap-opera very closely, but had a healthy respect for Freleng's talent as director, and was a friend of Bill Hanna. Charlie Thorsen then wrote a scathing analysis of Allen's and Hanna's directorial weaknesses and presented it to Fred Quimby, thus he succeeded in torpedoing their careers right there. MGM then panicked and brought in first Hirschfield to help on stories then to take charge, and then Gross to take his place. Friz remained as director, and ex-Terrytoon director George Gordon (brother of Dan) found himself in the director's throne under Milt Gross... In all likelihood both Count Screwloose cartoons (creditless except for Gross's name) should be ascribed to George Gordon working under Gross as head storyman.