Jon Cooke
06-25-2001, 11:53 PM
... or random cartoon things I saw, bought, or found interesting last week. WARNING: This is a somewhat long message.
First, I did find one rare video I didn't have: Columbia Pictures Cartoons Vol. 4: Cartoon Classics. I found this at the Universal Studios Store (the one next to the Hanna-Barbera ride at Universal). It features four UPA cartoons, most of which are just plain odd. The most enjoyable cartoon on the tape was "Christopher Crumpet's Playmate" (the other titles included were "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Jay Walker", and "The Man On the Flying Trapeze"). They had three other copies that I saw. They also had copies of Vol. 1: Mr. Magoo (which I already owned). Unlike the other volumes of the Columbia Cartoons I own, this one was in SP mode (all my others are in SLP) and was in a clamshell case.
I also saw a few copies of Leonard Maltin's Cartoon Madness: The Fantastic Max Fliescher Cartoons in a few stores at Universal. That's about all the rare cartoon videos I saw for sale at Universal.
Oddly, I saw no videos with the Lantz cartoons. Woody is still treated as Universal's star character (their Mickey or Bugs) appearing on shirts, mugs, keychains, postcards, pens, dolls, etc.... but nobody can watch his cartoons! It's rather sad...
Speaking of Woody, also at Universal I spotted a set of Woody & Friends pens. There were six pens in the set. I knew all the other characters: Woody, Winnie Woodpecker (his girlfriend), Splinter & Knothead, and Chilly Willy. But there was one pen featuring a character who looked like a possum (??) and was identified as "Windy". Does anybody have any idea who the heck that is?
I probably would have bought the pens if they had an Andy Panda one. Poor Andy seems to have been retired. There was no sign of him on any of the Lantz character merchandise. I also would have bought a Woody doll... but the ones they had looked really UGLY.
As for Downtown Disney's Virgin Megastore... I found a copy of the Pink Panther Pink-a-Rella video for only $9.95. Not really rare, but I didn't have it and the price was right. They didn't have any out-of-print LT videos (except for a couple of MGM/UA copies of Bugs Bunny Superstar). Other videos I saw that may be of interest: Woody Woodpecker: Collector's Edition Vol. 1 and a recent PD collection of Popeye cartoons in a clamshell case (a bunch of the regular PD titles were on it, nothing special). That's about all that I can recall.
I also found a very good CD at Virgin called "Vintage Children's Favourites 1926 - 1950". This is actually an excellent collection of novelty songs, including many cartoon related tracks: "Popeye the Sailor Man" (sung by Billy Costello), "Heigh Ho" from Disney's Snow White, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", and "The Woody Woodpecker Song" (sung by the Andrews Sisters and Danny Kaye). Plus, many songs that cartoon fans would recognize: "Barnacle Bill the Sailor", "Ragtime Cowboy Joe", "The Wedding of the Painted Doll", and "Little Man You've Had a Busy Day" (this sounds REALLY familiar, but I can't recall where I've heard it in a cartoon --- I get images of a Clampett Porky when I hear it, though). I highly recommend this CD. It's from a label called ASV. It was only $12.99.
I found a few Hanna-Barbera / Warner Store bean bags I didn't have at the Hanna-Barbera Store at Universal: Yogi, Pebbles, Tom, Jerry, Astro, and Muttley. They only had the major H-B characters (the gangs from Flintstones, Jetsons, and Scooby, plus T&J, Yogi (no Boo-Boo or Ranger, though), Dastardly & Muttley, and Penelope Pitstop). I was happy I found them, though.
Ok, that's all for now... I think I've bored everyone enough for one evening. Perhaps, I'll continue the saga tomorrow. Sorry, no pictures tonight. Maybe sometime this week :(
-Jon
First, I did find one rare video I didn't have: Columbia Pictures Cartoons Vol. 4: Cartoon Classics. I found this at the Universal Studios Store (the one next to the Hanna-Barbera ride at Universal). It features four UPA cartoons, most of which are just plain odd. The most enjoyable cartoon on the tape was "Christopher Crumpet's Playmate" (the other titles included were "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Jay Walker", and "The Man On the Flying Trapeze"). They had three other copies that I saw. They also had copies of Vol. 1: Mr. Magoo (which I already owned). Unlike the other volumes of the Columbia Cartoons I own, this one was in SP mode (all my others are in SLP) and was in a clamshell case.
I also saw a few copies of Leonard Maltin's Cartoon Madness: The Fantastic Max Fliescher Cartoons in a few stores at Universal. That's about all the rare cartoon videos I saw for sale at Universal.
Oddly, I saw no videos with the Lantz cartoons. Woody is still treated as Universal's star character (their Mickey or Bugs) appearing on shirts, mugs, keychains, postcards, pens, dolls, etc.... but nobody can watch his cartoons! It's rather sad...
Speaking of Woody, also at Universal I spotted a set of Woody & Friends pens. There were six pens in the set. I knew all the other characters: Woody, Winnie Woodpecker (his girlfriend), Splinter & Knothead, and Chilly Willy. But there was one pen featuring a character who looked like a possum (??) and was identified as "Windy". Does anybody have any idea who the heck that is?
I probably would have bought the pens if they had an Andy Panda one. Poor Andy seems to have been retired. There was no sign of him on any of the Lantz character merchandise. I also would have bought a Woody doll... but the ones they had looked really UGLY.
As for Downtown Disney's Virgin Megastore... I found a copy of the Pink Panther Pink-a-Rella video for only $9.95. Not really rare, but I didn't have it and the price was right. They didn't have any out-of-print LT videos (except for a couple of MGM/UA copies of Bugs Bunny Superstar). Other videos I saw that may be of interest: Woody Woodpecker: Collector's Edition Vol. 1 and a recent PD collection of Popeye cartoons in a clamshell case (a bunch of the regular PD titles were on it, nothing special). That's about all that I can recall.
I also found a very good CD at Virgin called "Vintage Children's Favourites 1926 - 1950". This is actually an excellent collection of novelty songs, including many cartoon related tracks: "Popeye the Sailor Man" (sung by Billy Costello), "Heigh Ho" from Disney's Snow White, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", and "The Woody Woodpecker Song" (sung by the Andrews Sisters and Danny Kaye). Plus, many songs that cartoon fans would recognize: "Barnacle Bill the Sailor", "Ragtime Cowboy Joe", "The Wedding of the Painted Doll", and "Little Man You've Had a Busy Day" (this sounds REALLY familiar, but I can't recall where I've heard it in a cartoon --- I get images of a Clampett Porky when I hear it, though). I highly recommend this CD. It's from a label called ASV. It was only $12.99.
I found a few Hanna-Barbera / Warner Store bean bags I didn't have at the Hanna-Barbera Store at Universal: Yogi, Pebbles, Tom, Jerry, Astro, and Muttley. They only had the major H-B characters (the gangs from Flintstones, Jetsons, and Scooby, plus T&J, Yogi (no Boo-Boo or Ranger, though), Dastardly & Muttley, and Penelope Pitstop). I was happy I found them, though.
Ok, that's all for now... I think I've bored everyone enough for one evening. Perhaps, I'll continue the saga tomorrow. Sorry, no pictures tonight. Maybe sometime this week :(
-Jon