Acme Hour- 6/24/01

[NickM]

Thanks to Jack for helping me on the first cartoon's title :-)

A lot of Happy Harmonies and MGM one-shots tonight... including one that I think dosen't get shown very often!

"The Lost Chick" (Released 3/9/35)
"Honeyland" (Released 10/19/35)
"Bottles" (Released 1/11/36)
"The Chinese Nightingale" (Released 4/27/35)
"Barnyard Babies" (Released 5/25/35)
"The Little Mole" (Released 4/5/41)
"To Spring" (Released 6/20/36)
"Dance of the Weed" (Released 6/7/41)
"Pipe Dreams" ( Released 2/5/38)
"The Goose Goes South" (Released 4/26/41)

I would have rather seen some un-PC WB stuff though, <sigh> oh well...

NickM
NOT looking foward to seeing more beat up NTA Betty Boop prints on LNB&W tomorrow night...

[Eraserhead]

At least I got a kick out of the skeleton's laugh in "BOTTLES"

[DarthGonzo]

Originally posted by Eraserhead
At least I got a kick out of the skeleton's laugh in "BOTTLES"

Geez, I wait and wait all week for THAT?! How boring.....

[Jack]

I liked it, Happy Harmonies are a mixed batch. Some are very dull, while others are great. I'd have to say the best from last night would be "Bottles" and "The Chinese Nightingale."

Granted, some un-PC stuff from WB, Fletcher, Famous, or MGM would have been better, but it wasn't a total loss. I suppose.



Jack:D

[Matthew Hunter]

Some people must really like Happy Harmonies...I don't really care for them, and I'll tell you why. They ARE mixed, some are great, but more often they suck. These cartoons are beautiful pieces of art, they must've cost a fortune to make and the music is great, but they really echo "Silly Symphonies" with the silliness removed. I want to like them, but they bore me. I'd much rather watch one of the Harman/Ising black and white cartoons with Bosko than these. Also, some of them are just....a little too freaky! (see "Good Little Monkeys", 'Pipe Dreams", Dance Of the Weed"...)
A few stand out, though, as really touching cartoons, "The Lost Chick" is one of them. "Chick" is also very much like Tashlin's "Now that Summer Is Gone", but much more serious, and I don't mind that. When they are not trying to be psychedellic, supercute, or funny, and just try to have heart, they do okay. The rest....yuck.
-Matthew

[Sveven Dvorking]

Very angry indeed.

I usually go to bed at 11pm on Saturday nights. Last night, I stayed awake until after 2am for what? Happy Harmonies? As if it is not bad enough having no WB cartoons, those old MGM cartoons are worse than what came on Tom & Jerry that night (which wasn't that great) Those are the most boring classic cartoons that Cartoon Network shows. Hopefully, next week will be better.:mad:

Whoever decided on no WB cartoons and only boring old MGM cartoons deserves to be fired.:p

[DR. BELCH]

Two hours of these things? Hmmmm...well, at least they showed a few fairly good ones. I saw one the other night with an effeminate goat-boy and a cutesy deer, and my middlle finger got a lot of exercise during that six minutes, lemme tell ya. I admit I liked seeing a couple I haven't since I was a kid, like the "It's Spring" short, with the rainbow-colored elves and the one with the evil skeleton who shrinks the shopkeeper. And I'm surprised the Nightingale short aired at all, with their borderline stereotypical depictions of Chinese people! On the whole, though, I zone out when an H-I or a Barney Bear comes on-screen.
My niece was over last night and I was hoping they'd show a Popeye short--she loves the sailor man. Sadly they didn't--but I think she was hypnotized by the music in "Bottles". Mu-hahahahahahahaa! "Whaa-whaa-whaaa...No one wants to change our didies..." Maybe she relates. :rolleyes:
And even a beat-up and faded Fleischer print is better than none. What can I say, I'm a Boopophile.

[Bum]

Originally posted by Matthew Hunter
Some people must really like Happy Harmonies...I don't really care for them, and I'll tell you why. They ARE mixed, some are great, but more often they suck. These cartoons are beautiful pieces of art, they must've cost a fortune to make and the music is great, but they really echo "Silly Symphonies" with the silliness removed. I want to like them, but they bore me.

As boring as these cartoons somtimes are [USUALLY are?!], they definitely ARE beautifully executed! I've always loved "Bottles" and "To Spring" for their gorgeous colors. I'm guessing theatergoers in the mid '30's [accostomed to seeing almost everything in black & white] were highly impressed by these films, or at least the visual aspect of them.

[J Lee]

They may have enjoyed the colors, but apparently they didn't enjoy them enough to suit MGM, since "Bottles" and "To Spring" were among the last cartoons Harman and Ising made before Metro yanked their contract and started their own studio. (Cost probably was a factor, but if the Happy Harmonies had been really successful at the time, MGM would have worked something out with Hugh and Rudy)

[Sveven Dvorking]

Rating: 3.7 of 10. Too many early MGM cartoons. Only one was worth airing late at night.