The Lonesome Stranger

[PorkyandDaffy]

I was just watching THE LONESOME STRANGER (1940) tonight on CN, and it was a very funny cartoon. The animation is great and there's a lot of funny parts. The big surprise comes from the fact that it's an early MGM cartoon, which were rarely funny. Another surprise is that the cartoon had an Indian and some Mexicans in it, and it was unedited (I think).

[PlopKat]

PorkyandDaffy wrote about The Lonesome Stranger:
…it was unedited (I think).


I also think it was unedited. The cartoon was released on video on MGM CARTOON MAGIC VOLUME ONE in the 1980s and it was the same as it was on that tape.

PorkyandDaffy also wrote:
Another surprise is that the cartoon had an Indian and some Mexicans in it…


The voice of the horse was also familiar. :)

-PlopKat

[Sogturtle]

All of which brings us back to my contention from the old board that the comedy of "The Lonesome Stranger" like "The Bookworm" though CREDITED to Hugh Harman points loudly towards Friz Freleng. By 1939-41 Hugh was just not into humor or comedy really at all. The only other possibility as director besides Friz Freleng might be George Gordon. But my bet is on Friz, with some messing by Hugh. There are other similar cartoons in this 1939-41 period, that are so radically different from Harman's bonafide work of that era as to scream out a different creator.

[Matthew Hunter]

"The Bookworm" is definitely a Friz Freleng cartoon. The "raven" in that one is the exact same character as the crow in his warner Bros. "The wacky Worm", and they even share a line: "Who wannts a worm, anyhow"?
-Matthew

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by Matthew Hunter
"The Bookworm" is definitely a Friz Freleng cartoon. The "raven" in that one is the exact same character as the crow in his warner Bros. "The wacky Worm", and they even share a line: "Who wannts a worm, anyhow"?
-Matthew

Matt~

Take a look at the 1940 (release) "The Bookwork Returns "... Would Hugh make a sequel to a Friz cartoon??? NOOOOO. Harman's whole heart at this point was in making beautifully animated cartoons to rival Walt's, with a fairytale/fantasy mindset, and NOT in comedy. Somebody else made about half of the so-called "Harman" cartoons in this period (and one or two Ising films such as "The Homeless Flea" to boot).

[J Lee]

Tim --

I think I posted this on the old board, but given the release date for "The Lonsome Stranger" compaired with Freleng's return to Sunset Blvd., odds are if he worked on it it was probably only at the storyboard level, since he left in the Fall of 1939, the cartoon didn't come out until early 1941 and MGM hadn't yet developed the backlog of cartoons the would in the early 1950s. But it wouldn't surprise me if George Gordon or someone handled most of that cartoon, along with a lot of "Tom Turkey and His Harmonica Humdingers."

Neither one is a great cartoon, but both of them have too many light touches to have been Hugh's alone -- Harman's only real successful foray into Tex Avery-style comedy was as a writer on Don Patterson's "Convict Concerto" in 1955, which was probably the best Woody Woodpecker cartoon of the 1950s.

Now 1939's "The Mad Maestro," given Friz's love of classical music and Hugh's (and Rudy's) desire to play any classic music cartoon in the dead serious pre-"Dance of the Hours" style of Uncle Wally, that had to have been a Freleng cartoon.

[Thad Komorowski]

I liked "The Lonesome Stranger". I already saw it (I own MGM Cartoon Magic), but it was nice seeing CN air it. As Jon has said, this gives more evidence that it was AOL-Time Warner who pulled the 12 cartoons from June Bugs, not CN.

-Thad:D

[Sogturtle]

J. Lee wrote
I think I posted this on the old board, but given the release date for "The Lonsome Stranger" compaired with Freleng's return to Sunset Blvd., odds are if he worked on it it was probably only at the storyboard level, since he left in the Fall of 1939, the cartoon didn't come out until early 1941 and MGM hadn't yet developed the backlog of cartoons the would in the early 1950s. But it wouldn't surprise me if George Gordon or someone handled most of that cartoon, along with a lot of "Tom Turkey and His Harmonica Humdingers."

John~

Okay here we go... We all agree that "The Bookworm" is Freleng's. You and I concur that "The Mad Maestro" has to be Friz also (take a look at "Rhapsody In Rivets"). I think the odds are extremely high that "The Bookwork Returns" and "Tom Turkey And His Harmonica Humdingers" and even "The Art Gallery" are essentially Freleng works. Which brings us to "The Lonesome Stranger" which was released in late 1940, over a year after Friz had left Metro, but it featured Friz's friend Mel Blanc in starring roles... In all likelihood it was Friz Freleng who recommended Blanc to Harman for voices on "Peace On Earth".

In another thread the other day I mentioned Charlie Thorsen's presence and influence while briefly at MGM. This appears to have direct-bearing on Friz, George Gordon, and "The Lonesome Stranger". Charlie Thorsen's biographer Gene Walz pinpoints exactly the date when Thorsen composed and submitted his critical analyis of MGM directors Bob Allen and William Hanna to Fred Quimby. His letter suggested trying out George Gordon, Joe Barbera, Dan Gordon, and Jack Zander in place of Allen and Hanna as directors!! According to Mike Barrier, Harry Hirschfield was head of the MGM cartoon studio by March 1938 (from Sept. 1937 till then he had been a storyman). Milt Gross took over from Hirschfield in early May '38. The date the Thorsen letter was written was April 15, 1938... six weeks later, (about the beginning of June '38) Charlie Thorsen quit. Milt Gross evaporated by September. Harman and Ising rejoined the studio in early Oct. 1938... However here is where this all becomes relevant to "The Lonesome Stranger". According to Barrier, Rudy Ising stated in interview that MGM tried to get Hugh and him to finish several cartoons, but that they BOTH REFUSED. In the MGM chapter "A Roller Coaster Year" on page 121 of Gene Walz's book "Cartoon Charlie" is a storyboard sketch of a cartoon that Walz believed was never completed... However the sketch is for a scene of a Western stagecoach being held up by offscreen bandits, the horses even have their "hands" reaching "for the sky". This is definitiely NOT from any Captain and the Kids cartoon, nor a Count Screwloose. In fact it looks exactly like a gag/scene intended (but deleted) from "The Lonesome Stranger". Sooooo if this is really an MGM Thorsen sketch then it very, very likely means that Thorsen participated in storyboarding it prior to June 1938 but just after the Captain (& family) were chucked out the MGM window. Now the plot thickens... Iffffff as Ising remembered, that he and Harman refused to finish any of these incomplete cartoons then who did??? And then someone picked it up and actually directed it, but it was much delayed in actual animation. Freleng had to use the Harman animation staff (Ising was busy using his), so it would have played second-fiddle to not only "Peace On Earth" but "Goldilocks And The Three Bears", "A Rainy Day" and even "Papa Gets The Bird" etc. !!.

We've talked before about Barrier's statements on films like "The Lonesome Stranger". Buuuuut he also stated in his book that George Gordon did some directing for MGM before the return of Harman & Ising, and that Friz continued on as a "junior" director after their return. The aged Hugh Harman in a 1981 interview did state that at times he DID turn WHOLE CARTOONS over to "OTHERS", or sometimes just got bored part way through and had "OTHERS" finish them... The context of his statement was in reference to the MGM cartoons. IFFFF he was indeed speaking of the MGM (and not the WB) toons then the only directorial "others" would be Friz Freleng or George Gordon. And if Hugh's attention was focused on making the shocking "Peace On Earth" and the incredibly Disneyesque "Dance Of The Weed", "Little Mole", and "Field Mouse", then the "Warner's type humor" of the other cartoons seem downright schizoid... Somewhat enlightening in regards to all this is an article written by Harman in the very early 1940's, in which he talks about his desire to use animation... for feature films and for educational purposes!!! Somehow comedy is not mentioned...

If Friz had just come clean for us and revealed clearly what films he did make for MGM then all of this would be a moot point. It is our loss that he thought so little of his Metro work...

Friz got very little respect at MGM, and that had to have been a horrible shock from being "Schlesinger's fair-haired boy" (Tex Avery's words). And he was unhappy there from "the jump-go", since MGM signed for The Captain And The Kids". And it MUST have grated on him that Quimby didn't make him his own producer upon Hugh and Rudy's return, instead of putting him UNDER Harman. Especially considering that by that point in time Friz had directed almost as many cartoons as Harman or Ising.

What is authentically mystifying is the sheer complete lack of interest on the part of most researchers and writers (Maltin, Barrier, Beck) as to WHICH cartoons Friz directed at MGM (aside from the handful of TCATK which have a director credit). As I stated above my own private belief is that besides "The Bookworm" and Harman's "Art Gallery" and "Mad Maestro" (very likely also "The Bookworm Returns" and "The Lonesome Stranger", and the supposed Ising film "The Homeless Flea" and maybe even "The Alley Cat") and possibly several others are actually Friz's... These cartoons are sooooo unlike Harman and so much like Friz as to just scream out.

[J Lee]

Tim --

Friz may have had more of a hand in some of those cartoons than I'm giving him credit for, but there are also some touches in each of then (like the one Barrier mentions about the bandito's teeth and mouth movements in "The Lonsome Stranger") that just scream out "HUGH HARMAN IS TRYING TO IMPRESS YOU!" while being something Friz got out of his system about the time he made "Billboard Frolics."

What may have happened, since Friz was subordinate to Hugh, is similar to the story Freleng told about wanting to put Tweety into his third cartoon with Sylvester, and being told by Eddie Selzer to stick the woodpecker in it. Friz walked out of the studio, then got both his way and an Academy Award when he came back, and it wouldn't surprise me if Harman was telling Freleng what to do on those MGM shorts, since even the best of them show signs of Hugh's leaden timing. Hugh no doubt wanted to stress the beautiful animation and didn't give a damn whether or not the gag went over or not, just so long as the drawings looked as good as the work Walt's boys were doing.

Friz may have been able to control his temper better with Harman than with Selzer because they went back all the way to Kansas City Film Ad together, or he may have just decided there was no point in pushing the issue since his contract was almost up and Leon apparently wanted him to come home. Either way, Freleng's first cartoons back at Warner's were paced so much better than his last definitely-identified work at MGM (I mean, jeez, "The Bookworm" is paced about as fast as "Toy Town Hall" made three years earlier) that Harman had to have been serving as some sort of anchor around his neck.