Mike
07-08-2001, 05:08 PM
Last night on the 2 AM - 4 AM Acme Hour , "Screwball Football" was aired. I actually had never seen this cartoon before. It was very, very funny. One of the best parts was when the player stopped running and just lay there on the ground while waiting for the radio announcer to do a commercial. Eerily prophetic, since, at least in baseball games telecast now, action is held up an extended period of time in between innings while the players wait for the TV station to come back from commercial.
Anyway, there seemed to be an obvious cut in the middle, when the ref sounds his gun to signal the end of the first half. The ref raises his gun, the announcer says, "And the ref is about to sound his gun," and then there is a quick cut to the field, and the gunshot is never heard. I was 99.44% certain it was a cut gunshot to the head (especially considering how the cartoon ended!), but when I checked the "Censored Cartoons" guide at the end, it wasn't listed. However, the guide did list that there was the end gunshot was deleted, but it was still there. You heard the gunshot while the players were on the field (it didn't seem like a freeze frame or reused footage, so I think this is how the cartoon originally was), and then you see the smoking gun, the dead body, and the baby licking his ice cream cone. So it wasn't deleted; it was still there. It was probably edited a bit, though. Can anyone fill me in?
I was surprised the contents of the whole Acme Hour, weren't posted, so I'll post what I saw last night. I did wind up falling prey to sleep before the cartoon was over, though:
"Boulevardier From the Bronx" (1936/Freleng) -- I had never seen this cartoon before either. An enjoyable enough cartoon for its time, although (obviously) Freleng would make much better baseball cartoons. The part with the turtle catching (and being knocked by the force of the pitch all the way to the backstop) while the pig with the dark eyebrows was batting seemed like it was reused in 1940 in "Porky's Baseball Broadcast."
"Officer Pooch" (MGM, 1941/Hanna-Barbera) -- Seen this one before, and it's still nothing special. Not terrible, but not great.
"Miss Glory" (1936, Avery) -- Seen this one several times, but never do get tired of it. It's great.
"Screwball Football" (1939, Avery)
"The Draft Horse" (1942, Jones) -- Hadn't seen this one in a very long time, and I had feared it had gone the way of other WWII cartoons (even though it has little to do with the war itself). Nice seeing it again. Typical of many Jones cartoons from '41-'42; some funny, zany gags are balanced out by slow, unfunny ones.
"The Weakly Reporter" (1944, Jones) -- Hadn't seen this one in a while, either. It's not as bad as some people say; sure, it's incredibly dated, but if you get the WWII references, it's not a bad cartoon. Not the funniest WWII cartoon by any stretch, but it's pretty good.
"Land of the Midnight Fun" (1939, Avery) -- I was surprised at how weak this cartoon was. Not Avery's finest hour.
"The Shell-Shocked Egg" (1948, McKimson) -- Kinda average cartoon. I've never been too fond of it.
And it was at this time that sleep beckoned me. If anyone can fill in the rest of the cartoons, please do.
Mike
Anyway, there seemed to be an obvious cut in the middle, when the ref sounds his gun to signal the end of the first half. The ref raises his gun, the announcer says, "And the ref is about to sound his gun," and then there is a quick cut to the field, and the gunshot is never heard. I was 99.44% certain it was a cut gunshot to the head (especially considering how the cartoon ended!), but when I checked the "Censored Cartoons" guide at the end, it wasn't listed. However, the guide did list that there was the end gunshot was deleted, but it was still there. You heard the gunshot while the players were on the field (it didn't seem like a freeze frame or reused footage, so I think this is how the cartoon originally was), and then you see the smoking gun, the dead body, and the baby licking his ice cream cone. So it wasn't deleted; it was still there. It was probably edited a bit, though. Can anyone fill me in?
I was surprised the contents of the whole Acme Hour, weren't posted, so I'll post what I saw last night. I did wind up falling prey to sleep before the cartoon was over, though:
"Boulevardier From the Bronx" (1936/Freleng) -- I had never seen this cartoon before either. An enjoyable enough cartoon for its time, although (obviously) Freleng would make much better baseball cartoons. The part with the turtle catching (and being knocked by the force of the pitch all the way to the backstop) while the pig with the dark eyebrows was batting seemed like it was reused in 1940 in "Porky's Baseball Broadcast."
"Officer Pooch" (MGM, 1941/Hanna-Barbera) -- Seen this one before, and it's still nothing special. Not terrible, but not great.
"Miss Glory" (1936, Avery) -- Seen this one several times, but never do get tired of it. It's great.
"Screwball Football" (1939, Avery)
"The Draft Horse" (1942, Jones) -- Hadn't seen this one in a very long time, and I had feared it had gone the way of other WWII cartoons (even though it has little to do with the war itself). Nice seeing it again. Typical of many Jones cartoons from '41-'42; some funny, zany gags are balanced out by slow, unfunny ones.
"The Weakly Reporter" (1944, Jones) -- Hadn't seen this one in a while, either. It's not as bad as some people say; sure, it's incredibly dated, but if you get the WWII references, it's not a bad cartoon. Not the funniest WWII cartoon by any stretch, but it's pretty good.
"Land of the Midnight Fun" (1939, Avery) -- I was surprised at how weak this cartoon was. Not Avery's finest hour.
"The Shell-Shocked Egg" (1948, McKimson) -- Kinda average cartoon. I've never been too fond of it.
And it was at this time that sleep beckoned me. If anyone can fill in the rest of the cartoons, please do.
Mike