Acme Hour - 6/27/01

[Jon Cooke]

"Field and Scream" (MGM)
"Little Swee' Pea" (Popeye) - redrawn
"Slap-Happy Lion" (MGM)
"The Squawkin' Hawk"
"Unwelcome Guest" (MGM, Barney Bear)
"Love and Curses"


-Jon

[DR. BELCH]

I missed the first half because I was watching South Park. :p

"The Squawkin' Hawk"
I think this may be Henery's first appearance (not counting the litle grey dove that resembles him in "Stage Fright", with Spaniel and Boxer). Fav scenes: the rooster, seeing his wife "walk" about the coop (with Henerey carrying her), thinks she 's drunk; Henery tries to hide from the rooster in a jug, not realizing it's broken. After all that, though, the little fellow still wants chicken. Can't blame him. Undubbed.

"Unwelcome Guest" (MGM, Barney Bear)
I missed the title card and didn't know that was Barney--he looked a lot different here than usual. He had dark hair and reminded me of Poppa Bear from the old Jones shorts. The skunk looked a bit like Flower from Bambi. Undubbed.

"Love and Curses"
For those looking for a Dudley Do-rRght fix, here it is. This one has all the hallmarks of melodrama--pretty-boy hero, damsel in distress, mustachioed villain, and every cliche from being tied up on the train tracks to the sawmill gag. I was expecting sort of a twist ending, though--the heroine has gotten fat and nagging after forty years and the hero wonders why he didn't just let the villain have her! Fav bit: the tough smokes a cigar and smoke blows out of the smokestack on the boat tattoo on his chest. Undubbed.

[Matthew Hunter]

"Love and Curses":
I could SWEAR this cartoon was on Nick at some point around '89 or '90. I KNOW I have seen this before.....unless it was a remake of something else.
-Matthew

[J Lee]

I could SWEAR this cartoon was on Nick at some point around '89 or '90. I KNOW I

The cartoon you're thinking of that Nick aired was 1934's "Those Were Wonderful Days," one of Bernard Brown's two mangnum opuses for Warners when Schelsinger was desperate for directors.

The first part was a series of one-shot gags about 1890s life, while the second half of the cartoon was the melodrama featuring similarly designed characters (except for the fact that unlike "Love and Curses," the heroine was given the most enormous set of breasts in the history of Warner Brothers cartoons). The ending was pretty sophisticated for a 1934 WB toon -- after rescuing the heroine from villian in his hot air balloon, the hero gets KOed by the damsel who decided she'd stick with the bad guy instead (Freleng and Tashlin would use the same ending over the next few years).