Drug-induced toons

[Eraserhead]

"The Big Snooze"
"Porky in Wackyland"
"Yellow Submarine"
"Pink Elephants on Parade" (Dumbo)
"Ha Ha Ha"
.....What other toons have you seen where the animators might've been high on something?

[Jack]

Fantasia, and almost everything up 'til the early 30s.



Jack:D

[Sogturtle]

A member of a film audience once asked one of the Fantasia animators (can't remember which one) whether any of them were on drugs when the film was made... His reply was "Drugs??... Yeah Aspirin and Ex-Lax"!!!... :D

[PlopKat]

Tin Pan Alley Cats: Even though much of the dream sequence is from Porky In Wackyland, it's seems much more hallucinatory this time around. The giant Stalin kicking the giant Hitler in the butt is new.

The "You Belong To My Heart" sequence from The Three Caballeros is also "LSD spacey" according to a girl I knew in college.

The Betty Boop cartoon, Silly Scandals ends with some neat graphics for the song "You're Driving Me Crazy" that seem like they're out of a dream. I once fell asleep during this cartoon and woke up for this part; it was very disorienting. (My falling asleep should not reflect on the quality of this cartoon. I had been drinking and it was pretty late.)

The Hubie & Bertie cartoon The Hypo-Chondri-Cat has a pretty good nightmare sequence.

I'd also include the Sally Cruikshank shorts Quasi At The Quackadero and Make Me Psychic.

-PlopKat

[Eraserhead]

I remember you guys talking about an eerie Betty Boop toon on the old board (Im not sure if it was a B.B. toon, but definetly a Fleischer) where some kids get gobbled up in the end in some psychadelic world. That ring a bell?

Also Ive heard that theres a few "trippy" toons on Cartoon Crazys "SCI-FI" tape/dvd.

[barnyarddawg]

Felix Pines and Dines has a great dream sequence, with ever changing backgrounds, aaaand an encounter with Santa Claus.

You Don't Know What You're Doin features a halucinating Piggy.

Der Fuehrer's Face has a good dream sequence too.

[Sogturtle]

Mr. Eraserhead~

That psychedelia would without a doubt be "Bimbo's Initiation" starring Bimbo and Betty Boop. Orrrrr it could be "Minnie The Moocher" orrrrr even "Old Man Of The Mountain". Trippy, only starts to describe them...

[PlopKat]

Sogturtle wrote:
A member of a film audience once asked one of the Fantasia animators (can't remember which one) whether any of them were on drugs when the film was made... His reply was "Drugs??... Yeah Aspirin and Ex-Lax"!!!...
I think it was Art Babbitt.

Eraserhead wrote:
I remember you guys talking about an eerie Betty Boop toon on the old board (Im not sure if it was a B.B. toon, but definetly a Fleischer) where some kids get gobbled up in the end in some psychadelic world. That ring a bell?
That sounds to me like one of the animated sequences from the "It's A Good Life" segment from Twilight Zone - The Movie. That segment used some effective clips from the Fleischer's great short Bimbo's Initiation. The segment with the child being swallowed by a a cartoon beast was animated by Sally Cruikshank and the girl who was swallowed was Nancy Cartwright who voices Bart Simpson.

-PlopKat

[happyheathen]

Originally posted by PlopKat
The "You Belong To My Heart" sequence from [I]The Three Caballeros is also "LSD spacey" according to a girl I knew in college.

-PlopKat

As a child of the 60's, I must point out:

those familiar with d-lysergic acid diethlymide-3,8 never referred to it as 'LSD' in normal conversation. it was/is simply 'acid'

ah, the fond (but-the-statute-of-limitations-has-expired) memories...

[Jack]

How about that "Dragon Ball Z" movie? the one where that little kid with the tail eats some freaky apples and the Japanese music comes on.

BTW, I LOVE that EX-Lax quote! Everyone tells me Fantasia is a "stoner movie..."



Jack:D
"The Rite of Spring is a moody thing
So make it dark as night,
With lots of jets and black silhouettes
But be damn sure that it's light." -Dick Kelsey

[rex racer]

IMHO the old stop motion animation cartoon "The Devil's Ball" (1929?) is the most bizarre "bad trip" dream I've ever seen. I think it was directed by Ladislas Starevitch and made in France.

For a feature film, my vote would go not to "Yellow Submarine" or even "Fantasia", but to "Fantastic Planet" or "Le Planete Savage" released in 1973. Another French film, it was actualy produced in Czechoslavkia... Just watching this film makes my brain warp somewhat, the character design, spacey music and sci-fi / fantasy plot are quite unusual, and even the dubbed dialogue seems to add to the distortion ! :eek:

[barnyarddawg]

The Devil's Ball is some very strange stuff. I saw it on Weird Cartoons Vol 1, I believe. That tape has the equally strange Frogland and the very very early and spaced out Haser's Delirium, which was produced in 1910.




__________

I'm looking over a three leaf clover that I over looked bethree

[The Dork Knight]

Fantasia and Yellow Submarine.

[Larry T]

"Betty Boop M.D." has some pretty bizarre stuff going on by the end of the flick, and if you want to really hurt your brain watch "Mysterious Mose".

"Quasi at the Quackedero" also is tough to watch with full sanity.

But with European movies in the spotlight, I can think of "Panda and the Magic Serpent". Basically it's well-animated, but the plot is really screwy. All the animals talk and interact with the mortals, and the two main characters turn into a snake and a fish at the end...??

Even if you're familiar with the Japanese Anime "AKIRA", it still kind of numbs your mind by the end of the movie.

This thread kind of reminds me about the joke on "The Simpsons" where Krusty has to feature an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon which was made in Czechoslovakia...... Quote Krusty:

"WHAT IN THE H*LL WAS THAT!??!"

[Eraserhead]

Originally posted by rex racer


For a feature film, my vote would go not to "Yellow Submarine" or even "Fantasia", but to "Fantastic Planet" or "Le Planete Savage" released in 1973. Another French film, it was actualy produced in Czechoslavkia... Just watching this film makes my brain warp somewhat, the character design, spacey music and sci-fi / fantasy plot are quite unusual, and even the dubbed dialogue seems to add to the distortion ! :eek:

Yeah I've been wanting to see that film for some time now. *On a little historical note* It was the last animated feature-film to premier at Cannes, before SHREK came along.

For some reason, Ive always thought Disney's "Godess of Spring" was pretty warpy, it must be by having the Devil sound like Luciano Pavoratti.... This toon will appear on the SNOW WHITE DVD by the way.

[Nelson]

Another drug related cartoon is, "Chinaman's Chance" (1933) thats where Flip The Frog is smoking Pot in a opium den.

[Pietro]

How about the long-forgotten, "Felix Woos Woopee" when Felix gets drunk and starts seeing things.
I must agree with barnyarddawg that "Felix Dines and Pines" does have great dream sequence.

BTW, There was never a Simpsons episode that featured Krusty showing an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon from Czechoslovakia. I know about all the episodes of the Simpsons and there has never been one of those kind of Itchy and Scratchy shorts.

-Pietro

[Joe Tully]

I think the Itchy and Scratchy might have been from Russia, or if not there, some Eastern European country. I've definitely seen that before. Come to think of it, it might have been not Itchy and Scratchy, but Eastern European knockoffs with different names.

[Garrett]

It's not Golden Age, but some people have accused Flint Dille and Buzz Dixon for using drugs when writing Transformers: The Movie and G.I. Joe: The Movie, respectively (especially Buzz Dixon).

Plus, one can duly accuse Dixon for being on drugs while writing the G.I. Joe episode "Once Upon a Joe", which features a fairy tale that not only casts Shipwreck (who tells the story) as a Popeye-type, but is loaded with fairy tale and Golden Age references.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the pink elephants in Dumbo (and the similar scene in one of the Winnie The Pooh shorts), or the whole jackass thing in Pinnochio.....

Garrett

[Jack]

Eraserhead mentioned "Pink Elephants"



Jack:D

[Rob]

Has anyone mentioned WEARING OF THE GRIN? That's got some trippy stuff in it, too.

[Jack]

Thanks for reminding me of that one. "Wearing Of The Grin" has a great dream sequence, I wonder why Jones sort of stopped doing those freaky little segments (I don't really count those Ralph Phillips dreams, they aren't trippy enough). Also, "Hell Bent For Election" has an interesting dream sequece too, but that whole cartoon is wierd.

What about half of those Happy Harmonies? God only knows what they were thinking when they thought some of those up.

Also, I'd like to mention all of the Wackyland trilogy (hey, the hunting trilogy has a name, so why not these three cartoons?), granted, Freleng's stab/remake at Wackyland gets a lot of criticism, but I still love it, it's different, but the same (and those sculls in the background struck me as sort of creepy when I was very little), it also gives one a chance to see some of what they are missing by not getting to see "Tin Pan Alley Cats."

PlopKat is right, though, "Tin Pan Alley Cats" is the most frantic/wacky/freaky(I love that word, freaky).


Jack

[PorkyandDaffy]

A lot of Clampett's cartoons are strange (which is one of the reasons why I love them).

[happyheathen]

Where any/all imagination is/must be attributed to drug usage?

Were the Brothers Grimm potheads?

And what do make of the book of Revelations? (Opium has been found in amphora (ancient clay transport/storage containers...)

[Jack]

It's not that we are actually attributing these things to drug use, it's just that it SEEMs like the directors/writers/animators were on something (high on life?) when they made them.



Jack:D
I'm high on life...

[happyheathen]

Originally posted by Jack

I'm high on life...

Sure you are!

[Rob]

Has anybody seen those VERY old Windsor McKay DREAMS OF A RAREBIT FIEND cartoons? Now those were so trippy, I thought I had accidently taken something.

Well, not really. But they're something to see. Are any of these on video?

[Jack]

You can actually watch a live action version of "Dreams Of A Rarebit Fiend" here:Ta Da! (hope it works!) (http://www.geocities.com/~teddyblue/rarebit.html)

But if is doesn't, here is a URL: http://www.geocities.com/~teddyblue/rarebit.html

Jack:D

[Eraserhead]

Originally posted by Jack

Jack:D
I'm high on life...

I Like Dat!!!!

[happyheathen]

Originally posted by Eraserhead


I Like Dat!!!!

Everything is new to someone...

[Patrick McCart]

Yellow Submarine is really trippy...

Little Nemo is extremely weird! McCay must have downed a few coffees too many while drawing up this cartoon. The part where two characters stretch and squash is trippy.

Minnie The Moocher is also pretty trippy. Seeing Cab Calloway drawn as a walrus will cause one raise an eyebrow. It's a great cartoon...unfortuently, I have only seen the horrid redrawn version!

ALL of the Gene Deitch Tom & Jerry cartoons are weird beyond words. That's why I like them. :D

Yes, some of those Happy Harmonies are very weird.
The Blue Danube takes my vote for the weirdest of that series.

I think the Koko cartoons show that maybe...perhaps the Fleischers were smoking something other than tobacco.:eek:

[Pietro]

I'm surprised nobody has said anything about the 1931 Van Beuren Tom and Jerry cartoon, "Wot a Night." That's probably the weirdest cartoon ever made.

-Pietro

[Larry T]

Originally posted by Joe Tully
I think the Itchy and Scratchy might have been from Russia, or if not there, some Eastern European country. I've definitely seen that before. Come to think of it, it might have been not Itchy and Scratchy, but Eastern European knockoffs with different names.

That's right- I haven't seen that one in a while either, but I remember him saying that since I&S was on hiatus for some reason, they would show Europe's favourite cat-and-mouse team, "Worker and Parasite"..... my bad!! :rolleyes:

The example cartoon they showed was pretty reminiscent of some of those really WEIRD Zlatko Grigg "cat" cartoons.

[BobChief]

Patrick McCart said:
Little Nemo is extremely weird! McCay must have downed a few coffees too many while drawing up this cartoon. The part where two characters stretch and squash is trippy.

Which reminds me...last night in the local drugstore, waiting for a prescription, I heard the piped-in music playing Tom Petty's hit "Runnin' Down a Dream." Wasn't the video for that (which hasn't been seen in years) obviously inspired by Winsor McCay?


Minnie The Moocher is also pretty trippy. Seeing Cab Calloway drawn as a walrus will cause one raise an eyebrow. It's a great cartoon...unfortuently, I have only seen the horrid redrawn version!

Wasn't that one of the restored toons AMC showed on Saturday mornings a while back?

They still play the song at the Stadium as an audience-participation thingie... "HE-DE-HE-DE-HE-DE-HE (he-de-he-de-he-de-he)... HI-DE-HI-DE-HI-DE-HO (hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho)"
[GO YANKS!]

[DR. BELCH]

--that Cow and Chicken is one big pot- or acid-induced concept? Especially that naked red devil. Trippy. ("Oh, a chicken suit! Now I can die happy!")

[Pietro]

I think your thinking of "Silly Scandals" (1931), Betty's fifth cartoon. This one is kinda strange, but I still like it. But, I still can't get over the fact that nobody has said a thing about "Wot a Night" (1931)!

-Pietro

[Larry T]

I think the one you're referring to is "Silly Scandals", Tim- Sorry to have to correct you with the title. Although I think at this point almost any Fleischer-induced release from the early 30's is a potential candidate for a trippy cartoon. However, was it not common knowledge that their animation and direction staff used to make it a habit of showing up for work still drunk or hung over from the night before....??

[Sogturtle]

Pietro and Larry~

Yup you're both absolutely right ("give those two boys in the front row a cigar!!". And I was WRONG!!! Woe is me!!! Just cued up "Dizzy Dishes"... nothing like seeing a dog dancing with a beheaded barnyard fowl;) Actually this should be a lesson NOT to watch too many early Fleischer's in a row!!! Has a serious detrimental effect on the brain

[Sogturtle]

Larry~

And you're right, the Fleischer director/animators did have a ummm nasty habit of showing up for work after a night of drinking and carousing in a "disheveled" state. They would also exchange lurid tales about all of the previous night's activities... The exceptions to this scenario appear to have been Willard Bowsky and Shamus ("I married Chico's daughter") Culhane.

[Eraserhead]

Originally posted by Patrick McCart

I think the Koko cartoons show that maybe...perhaps the Fleischers were smoking something other than tobacco.:eek:

....Which brought up one of my 1st candidates, "Ha! Ha! Ha!".

Any toon that has household appliances (as well as tombstones & a bridge) laughing in hysterics, qualifies in my book as a "dopey" toon. I wonder if Sam Raimi (EVIL DEAD 2) was inspired by this one.

Also, about the "Dreams of Rarebit Fiend" clip:
the link works,
the movie plays,
I can hear the piano,
but no picture... Anybody know whats up with that?

[barnyarddawg]

The Popeye cartoon Wotta Nightmare hasn't been mentioned yet.

A lot of people have been talking about the possibilty of drugs inspiring these cartoons, but one must remember that a lot of these cartoons were produced at the peak of the surrealist movement in art (the mid 30s).



________________

"I don't do drugs. I am drugs!"-- Salvador Dali