The Best Arthur Davis Cartoons

[GAK]

Hi Folks,

I would like posters to submit their three favorite Art Davis cartoons and why.

Also, does anyone know if he ever received an Oscar nomination?
I don't think he did, but I'm not positive...

GAK :D :D :D

[Pietro]

Well, it has been said that Davis did work on one of the only existing "Toby the Pup" cartoons, "Toby in the Museum" (aka "The Museum"). Here's a poster:

http://imagem.webphotos.iwon.com/1000013845/1000013845_2222002105313AM0.3585169.jpg

-Pietro:D

[GAK]

GREAT POSTER!

I just noticed that Sid Marcus also worked on that cartoon.

[Tintin]

That's my 3 favorite Davis shorts:

"Odor of the Day" (1948)
"The Stupor Salesman" (1948)
"Bowery Bugs" (1949)

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by GAK
Hi Folks,

I would like posters to submit their three favorite Art Davis cartoons and why.

Also, does anyone know if he ever received an Oscar nomination?
I don't think he did, but I'm not positive...

GAK :D :D :D

Mr. GAK~

Arthur Davis (and Sid Marcus) WERE nominated twice for the cartoon Oscar for their Columbia toons "THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL" in 1937 and for "Holiday Land" in 1934. Ifffff you want the most info about Art Davis check out post #10 at

http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?threadid=18462&highlight=gratia

...the writer of that post is a heckuva nice guy :D ;)

I'd nominate as best...

"Bowery Bugs"
"The Stupor Salesman"
"Mexican Joyride".
These three are simply the looniest of their era.
For the cartoon that scared the bejeebers out of some of us as kids then you'd have to include "Bye Bye Bluebeard". In all honesty ALL of his Warner's cartoons are great , right down to "Quackodile Tears" (1962)

Hey Pietro...Where'd ya get that Toby poster from??? ;) ;) :D :D

[Matt Yorston]

Here are my 3 picks:

1) Mouse Menace - this was the first cartoon Arthur Davis directed (at WB, at least). It also is one of the funniest cartoons ever made and really shows that, in his case, it didn't take long for him to hit his directorial stride. The follies of Porky's cats are all hilarious and the robot cat Porky uses is a scream. One of the best six minutes of animated film I've seen.

2) Two Gophers From Texas - this is my all-time favorite Goofy Gophers cartoon. The dog in this cartoon is a riot with his uppercrust mannerisms and oh-so-smug nature that you know is there just so it can be ridiculed. It also has some great animation by all four animators who worked on it (Hawkins, Davidovich, Melendez, Williams) but especially by Emery Hawkins who animated the famous scene, "They did not reckon on me great inner strength... SNAP!!!"

3) Dough Ray Me-ow - this is actually one of my favorite WB cartoons ever and it's worth wondering what would have happened had Davis directed more cartoons with Heathcliff and Louie. The gags are hilarious (Heathcliff playing train, cracking nuts, not knowing which end of the door to run out of) and the ending is superb (If I can't take it with me, I'm not goin'!). It's cartoons as great as this that really make me wish Davis' unit had never been discontinued.

Those are my three faves.

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by Matt Yorston
Here are my 3 picks:

1) Mouse Menace - this was the first cartoon Arthur Davis directed (at WB, at least). It also is one of the funniest cartoons ever made and really shows that, in his case, it didn't take long for him to hit his directorial stride. The follies of Porky's cats are all hilarious and the robot cat Porky uses is a scream. One of the best six minutes of animated film I've seen.

2) Two Gophers From Texas - this is my all-time favorite Goofy Gophers cartoon. The dog in this cartoon is a riot with his uppercrust mannerisms and oh-so-smug nature that you know is there just so it can be ridiculed. It also has some great animation by all four animators who worked on it (Hawkins, Davidovich, Melendez, Williams) but especially by Emery Hawkins who animated the famous scene, "They did not reckon on me great inner strength... SNAP!!!"

3) Dough Ray Me-ow - this is actually one of my favorite WB cartoons ever and it's worth wondering what would have happened had Davis directed more cartoons with Heathcliff and Louie. The gags are hilarious (Heathcliff playing train, cracking nuts, not knowing which end of the door to run out of) and the ending is superb (If I can't take it with me, I'm not goin'!). It's cartoons as great as this that really make me wish Davis' unit had never been discontinued.

Those are my three faves.

Matt Yorston~

Your candidates are all also great!

It should be pointed out that Art Davis was chosen carefully out of a field of talented former directors (Manny Gould, Harry Love, Lou Lilly etc.) but that he was chosen evidently for the reason that he was GREATLY TALENTED. And as it should, be for this was the former Tex Avery unit (and later Bob Clampett's), and had to have someone of their comedic stature.

[Pietro]

Originally posted by Sogturtle
Hey Pietro...Where'd ya get that Toby poster from??? ;) ;) :D :D

OF COURSE, FROM YOU SOGTURTLE!

-Pietro:D

[Matthew Hunter]

"Two Gophers From Texas"
One of the funniest Goofy Gopher films. Just look at the peculiar and funny ways Davis stretched and animated that dog! The expressions at the end crack me up every time I see it. Also notice that this same "shakespearian" dog appears in Robert McKimson's later "A Ham in a Role".

"Dough Ray Meow"
This is just a great cartoon. The gags are funny, the characters are great, and the animation is hilarious. It looks like Davis may have tried to develop a new series here.

"Bowery Bugs"
Really good film, it's Davis' only Bugs Bunny cartoon. I think the way he expresses Bugs is hilarious, and he took the normally routine scenario of putting Bugs back in time a real event.

-Matthew

[Pietro]

Maybe you should make it an hour-long special,

"Toby in the Museum" - Davis' earliest work at the Charles Mintz Studio.

"Mouse Menace" - Davis' first cartoon he directed at WB.

"Mexican Joyride" - rarely seen on TV because Daffy goes to Mexico.

"The Goofy Gophers" - The very first Goofy Gopher cartoon. It was directed by Davis.

"Bowery Bugs" - Davis' only Bugs Bunny cartoon.

-Pietro:D

[Gossamer]

This is one of the few times I'm sorry I'm a realist *sigh*. Otherwise, I'd list The Little Match Girl and Neighbors. But it's been many years since I saw the former and I don't even know if the latter even exists anymore. Little Match Girl is the best thing Columbia produced under Mintz. Of the shorts Cartoon Network would hae available, my choices would be:

The Foxy Duckling
Mexican Joyride
What Makes Daffy Duck

If someone told me that I could see The Little Match Girl (Mintz, 1937) again, but Ihad to give up pizza for a year, I'd do it in a heartbeat! At least one pizza place would probably go out of business, but it would be worth the loss to me! There was a more recent version, with F. Murray Abraham narrating, but it doesn't come close.

I know CN will never run Match Girl. It's probably too much asking for Mexican Joyride.

[Gossamer]

Originally posted by GAK
Hi Folks,



Also, does anyone know if he ever received an Oscar nomination?
I don't think he did, but I'm not positive...

GAK :D :D :D

Technically, he did and he didn't. Nominations and/or Oscars go to the producer, not the director. Shorts he directed were nominated, but Charles Mintz got the credit.

[chuckamuck43]

I'm assuming that you'll only be running Davis' Warner's cartoons, so - both the MATTS are right - DOUGH RAY ME-OW definately should be included.

It's a terrific example of free-form Davis, yet ALSO shows the influence of many other Warner directors.

The setup is reminiscent of Tashlin or Freleng, the characters and gag structure are pure Avery, the wild animation is straight out of Clampett and the character designs could have been done by McKimson - yet Davis was able to synthesize all those influences and come up with a cartoon that is CLEARLY his OWN.

Plus it's also pretty darned FUNNY!

I'm sure you want to show the viewers how he handled the Termite Terrace regulars, so I'll suggest MOUSE MENACE (Porky), BOWERY BUGS (BUGS), CATCH AS CATS CAN (Sylvester) and any of his Daffy cartoons (if you've read our earlier thread you know about QUACKODILE TEARS, Davis' last Warner toon - probably a good choice, though I'd kinda like to see an UNCUT MEXICAN JOYRIDE - hey, I know, fat chance - like Gossamer, I'm a realist).

Hey, Pietro's right! Maybe y'oughta give Artie an hour? And ol' Sog's right too - ALL of them are good. You've an embarassment of riches, GAK!:D

P.S. Dang! I forgot ODOR OF THE DAY - an argument could be made that it is an early Pepe lePew - it does look kinda like him - and it's on the Golden Jubilee tape!

[Pilmedium]

Originally posted by Gossamer
It's probably too much asking for Mexican Joyride.
Not if it's edited! Cartoon Network has shown "Mexican Joyride" more than once not too long ago.


Originally posted by chuckamuck43
and it's on the Golden Jubilee tape!
The Golden Jubilee tapes often contained a cartoon that doesn't feature the character.

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by Gossamer


Technically, he did and he didn't. Nominations and/or Oscars go to the producer, not the director. Shorts he directed were nominated, but Charles Mintz got the credit.

Yes Gossamer that is TECHNICALLY right... However using that criteria we also will deny Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera their eight Oscars as well... (And in all truthfullness, it is a fact that Fred Quimby went so far as to put the Oscars in HIS office, the photo taken of Bill & Joe with the eight statutettes was done when Quimby was out somewhere picking up his laundry (or was that picking his nose??).:D

[chuckamuck43]

Originally posted by Pilmedium
The Golden Jubilee tapes often contained a cartoon that doesn't feature the character. [/B]


You're right!
In this instance, though, no less than Messers. Jerry Beck & Will Friedwald credit "ODOR OF THE DAY" as a Pepe LePew cartoon.
I personaly think the little guy looks a bit too dopey to be the Pepe we know - or maybe this was Davis exploring a different side of the character...

[PorkyandDaffy]

DOUGH RAY ME-OW
THE STUPOR SALESMAN
RIFF RAFFY DAFFY

[SloppyMoe]

Art Davis never made a bad cartoon at Warner's. Hard to choose just three, but if it must be three, then I guess I would nominate this trio of cartoon gems:

DOUGH RAY ME-OW

BYE BYE BLUEBEARD

BOWERY BUGS

--Unfortunately, I haven't had the good fortune of seeing his earlier work at Columbia/Screen Gems yet, although I have witnessed the wonders that the team of Davis and Sid Marcus worked at the otherwise-atrophying Lantz studio in the early 1960s, particularly the classic Chilly Willy short, HALF-BAKED ALASKA.

[J Lee]

No less than Messers. Jerry Beck & Will Friedwald credit "ODOR OF THE DAY" as a Pepe LePew cartoon.
I personaly think the little guy looks a bit too dopey to be the Pepe we know - or maybe this was Davis exploring a different side of the character...

I think when Davis did this cartoon Chuck Jones had done two Pepe cartoons but hadn't really established the character yet as a "star." So by those rights it wasn't that unusual to see the Davis unit borrow the basic design for his own cartoon-with-a-skunk theme. Since other animal designs at Warners were shared between units in the 1940s.

The same thing pretty much holds true for Davis' work with Sylvester -- he's not the same cat the other units were using personality-wise, but he hadn't been eastablished long enough to have his character set in stone (and after "Life With Feathers" Friz kept Sylvester all but mute in three of his next four cartoons, so the voice wasn't permanently linked with the cat at that time, either).

That said, the three Art Davis cartoons I'd like to see, because they're A.) Very funny and B.) Rarely seen nowadays are

Mexican Joyride
Catch as Cats Can
Nothing But the Tooth

The first and last cartoons were apparently "Turnerized" out of the regular rotation while the middle doesn't get much air time due to that voice problem with Sylvester, but the gags are as good as any Tweety-Sylvester cartoon Freeleng did. And if you can't air the first and last ones, then "Riff Raffy Daffy" and "Bowery Bugs" would make good replacements.

[Greg Method]

Hmm...

"Mouse Menace"

"Riff Raffy Daffy"

"Dough Ray Me-ow"

[Pilmedium]

"The Goofy Gophers"
"Riff Raffy Daffy"
"Bowery Bugs"