Acme Hour - 7/2/01

[Jon Cooke]

"Barney's Hungry Cousin" (MGM, Barney Bear)
"The Hyp-Nut-Tist" (Popeye) - redrawn
"Bingo Crosbyana"
"The Discontented Canary" (MGM, Happy Harmony)
"Those Beautiful Dames"
"Wild Wife"


-Jon

[Pietro]

I noticed something, both MGM cartoons shown today are both in the public domain.

-Pietro

[Sveven Dvorking]

We finally got THREE Warner Bros. cartoons today. A nice change from all the MGM garbage.

Anyway, what prevents them from showing Bars and Stripes Forever ? I would really like to see that cartoon. Also, what is offensive in I'm a Big Shot Now ?

What is "domestic violence" and what does it have to do with He Was Her Man ?

[Jack]

"Domestic violence" is violence in the home, like abuse of one's spouse, I think. Have no clue as to what it has to do with the cartoon mentioned, though, I don't remember it.



Jack:D

[Thad Komorowski]

I don't recall "He Was Her Man" or "I'm a Big Shot Now" airing, but "Bars and Stripes" forever aired recently.

-Thad

[PorkyandDaffy]

I used to love Acme Hour, but they've been showing way too many early-MGM's and early-Merrie Melodies on the Acme Hour lately. Show more of the golden age stuff from the 40's and 50's, and keep the early-MGM's/MM's to maybe 1 per show.

[DR. BELCH]

"Barney's Hungry Cousin" (MGM, Barney Bear).
Dubbed. Fav scene: Barney ties a stick of TNT to a string of sausages and waits for it to blow up after the bear eats it; when it doesn't, he foolishly peers into his mouth and gets and explosive belch in the face. No alimente los osos. Seems rather odd that Barney, a bear himself, would choose a place to eat where feeding bears was forbidden.

"The Hyp-Nut-Tist" (Popeye) - redrawn.
Dubbed. Watch for the bit where Olive lays an egg ("Tu eres una gallina!"), and Popeye literally makes a monkey out of Bluto (with the help of a mirror). Some of the redrawn scenes looked sloppy, esp. the overhead shot of the crowd as Popeye and Olive shove their way through, and in one scene I could swear Popeye sort of shifts to the right several inches. DYN that Popeye socks Olive in the face to break the trance? Porque Popeye el marino yo soy!

"Bingo Crosbyana"
Bing Crosby actually threatened to sue Warner Brothers for portraying him as a cowardly Lothario; fortunately it didn't come to much. I wonder what he would have made of Taz's father on Taz-Mania? Watch for the bit with the cross-eyed fly as William Tell. Very cute female fruit flies. Undubbed.

"The Discontented Canary" (MGM, Happy Harmony)
Dubbed, although the songs, which were 90 percent of the story, weren't. I noticed a weird shimmering blue and red outlining effect around the characters in many scenes, as if this had originally been filmed in 3-D. Watch for the cuckoo bird as Napoleon.

"Those Beautiful Dames"
Sort of a much more upbeat telling of "The Little Match-Girl", with toys. Sort of saccharine, but the sort of thing Depression- and war-era audiences would've found hope in. Charles M. Jones was credited as animator; expect to see it on The Chuck Jones Show within a month. ;) Undubbed.

"Wild Wife". I'll never take dames for granted again! Watch for the moment where the husband kisses the mailman on the way out. "I hate that!" Very attractive blonde--was she modeled after anyone in particular? "Little man, I've had a busy day." Undubbed.

[rex racer]

"The Discontented Canary" (MGM, Happy Harmony)
Dubbed, although the songs, which were 90 percent of the story, weren't. I noticed a weird shimmering blue and red outlining effect around the characters in many scenes, as if this had originally been filmed in 3-D. Watch for the cuckoo bird as Napoleon.

"The Discontented Canary" is actually the first MGM Harman & Ising cartoon, to ever be released. It's also their first color cartoon. If you noticed, this cartoon has a different title card than the "Happy Harmony" series, "An MGM Metro-Color Cartoon", the only one I've seen with this early graphic. (At least my 1989 VHS recording of it does...)

It's very likely H & I were experimenting with the use of color on this film striving for that extra dimensionality that color can offer. This is a rare cartoon, seldom shown, and if not particularly earth shattering in the plot department, it's an interesting cartoon for it's historical significance, and you can immediately see that the animation was already well ahead of H & I 's Warner releases, as well as the additional running time of the cartoon.

[Sveven Dvorking]

The Discontented Canary is memorable only for being the first classic MGM cartoon.

And it is the first, too. Look at the MGM Encyclopedia of Animated Shorts . (a website)

[Mike]

>>I used to love Acme Hour, but they've been showing way too many early-MGM's and early-Merrie Melodies on the Acme Hour lately. Show more of the golden age stuff from the 40's and 50's, and keep the early-MGM's/MM's to maybe 1 per show. <<

Considering how seldom played the 30s WBs are on "Bugs and Daffy" and "Looney Tunes," and considering how the early MGMs aren't shown at all outside of Acme Hour, I welcome their presence. They do need to mix up the WBs and MGMs, though. It seems whenever I tune in it's an MGM, with maybe a "Curious Puppies" WB cartoon thrown in at the end.

Mike