Acme Hour 7/10/01 (2 PM)

[hiphats]

Two-part show today.

PART ONE: "Jack And The Toon-stalk"
1. "Beanstalk Bunny" (Bugs, WB)
2. "Let's Stalk Spinach" (Popeye, Paramount, re-created original front and end credits, time-accelerated)
3. "Lumberjack Rabbit" (Bugs, WB, 3-D [downmixed to 2-D])

PART TWO: "Toon Giants"
4. "King-Size Canary" (one-shot, MGM)
5. "Porky, The Giant Killer" (Porky, WB, computer colorized)
6. "Jerry & Jumbo" (Tonm & Jerry, MGM)

How big can you get?

hips
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[Argus Sventon]

The Popeye cartoon's end theme abruptly switched to the a.a.p. end theme, BTW.

[hiphats]

The reason today's show was classified as a two-part show is because although all six shorts had giants, the first half had shorts that spoofed the famous story "Jack And The Beanstalk"...this became necessary to classify today's show into two parts.

Of course, I could have named the entire show "Toon Giants", but...oh, well.

By the way, the one toon I disliked was "Beanstalk Bunny". Of course, you can't duplicate the 3-D technology of the times for standard television, so the effect is ruined...even the zooming, crashing WB logo doesn't have any visual meaning if viewed in normal 2-D.

In any event, I knew CN was going to show "Beanstalk Bunny" sooner or later.

"King Size Canary" would have gone on forever, but it had to end sometime. But that's just part of the beauty of this cartoon and why I like it. I'm glad the cartoon ended when it did...otherwise, our heroes would have grown big enough to swallow our entire universe!

By the way, Argus, thanks for the clarification. If CN can't find the original credits to today's Popeye cartoon, why not re-create them? (which is good.) And so, as AAP fades into the sunset...

[BobChief]

hiphats wrote, in part:
By the way, the one toon I disliked was "Beanstalk Bunny". Of course, you can't duplicate the 3-D technology of the times for standard television, so the effect is ruined...even the zooming, crashing WB logo doesn't have any visual meaning if viewed in normal 2-D.

In any event, I knew CN was going to show "Beanstalk Bunny" sooner or later.

You mean "Lumber Jack-Rabbit." And you're right.

I've carped about this toon many times. What the hack do you do with 'mined' carrots? Make baby food... :p This is actually one short I WANT to see WB edit -- but only the open and close, to the regular ones used in the 1953/54 season.

[hiphats]

Your right. I stand corrected. I did indeed refer to "Lumber Jack Rabbit".

Anyway, the short isn't too excting in any dimension.

[Matthew Hunter]

I don't know...not as entertaining as some of the other Bugs Bunnies, but I don't care. I like it. That opening is actually cool, it sort of catches you by surprise...you get that normal colored opening and normal music, then that shield that goes "boooiiiiiiwaaaayyyyung!" right in your face. You're right, the plot's nothing fancy, except for a giant Frisky Puppy and Bugs' funny rendition of "Jimmy cracks corn and I don't care."
-Matthew
"I think so, Brain, but if Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why does he keep doin' it?" -Pinky, of "Pinky and the Brain"

[hiphats]

Talking about the zooming-and-crashing WB logo at the beginning, "Lumber Jack Rabbit" does do one good thing...catches people by surprise. And no matter what dimension, it will continue to do so, now that CN has "LJR" in its rotation.

But as I said before, it's even better in 3-D.

[Jack]

I really liked that shield opening, actually. I wouldn't mind if they used it on more cartoons....

The cartoon's okay, but nothing really all that impressive, an average Bugs Bunny short. I sort think "Haredevil Hare" would have looked cool in 3-D if it were made that way. It was okay looking, but I don't recall anything that really popped out as trying to be 3-D. Perhaps one can only appriciate it when they see it in 3-D at a theater.


Jack:D

[J Lee]

Jack, apparently you and the Famous Studio people think alike, since both of Paramount's 3-D cartoons "Popeye, the Ace of Space" and "Boo Moon" used outer space themes.

What really would have been weird is if Jones had done "Bewitched Bunny" with those over-the-top (and flat as a pancake) UPA backgrounds in 3-D.

[Jack]

Actually, I chose "Hare-Devil Hare" because it used multilayered backgrounds in several scenes. This reminded me of the far more extensive (and, IMO, impressive) use of multilayered backgrounds in "Popeye, The Ace Of Space." I've always liked how several scenes with Marvin and Bugs in the foreground move, but the far away craters and earth stay in the same position. Plus they could scare the heck out of people by making Bugs' rocket look like it's going to fly out of the screen in the beginning.


Jack:D

[Rob]

I've often wondered if BEANSTALK BUNNY was originally meant to be in 3D, and then produced as a "flat" cartoon when the 3D fad died out...

[Jack]

I don't know about "Beanstalk Bunny," the opening scene sort of looked 3D, but the rest of the cartoon looks intentionally flat. It could have been planned to be 3D, I think it was made before the 3D shutdown (not sure, is there any sure fire way to tell what cartoons were made before and after that? Some cartoons definately made before it seem to also the the tighter rings. The only way i generally can tell is by looking at the people in the credits, but wouldn't there be some cartoons made before the shudown that were released after it?)

Anyway, having just watched "Lumber Jack Rabbit" for the first time since June Bugs, I'd have to say I like it more, if only for the great rendition of "Jimmy Crack Corn." I'll have that stuck in my head for a while. I thought the end gag was sort of flat, though. No wise cracks or end gags from Bugs, it just didn't seem to end on a high note, like most other WB cartoons. Almost as if they cut off the end gag, even though I know they didn't.

Frisky/Smidgen was cute.


Jack:D

[Crazy Tom]

Originally posted by hiphats
I did indeed refer to "Lumber Jack Rabbit"...the short isn't too excting in any dimension.

Be thankful that this was the only 3-D short WB ever released. The giant WB was the only real creative use of the film!

[DR. BELCH]

"Beanstalk Bunny" (WB)
"Get him! His name's Jack! Jack Rabbit!" Daffy is brutally honest about his character motivation here--"...because I'm greedy." At least he's healthy enough to admit it. The parody of the famous Mickey Mouse watch at the end was the kicker.

"Let's Stalk Spinach" (Popeye, Paramount)
You know, I thought Popeye's nephews' voices sounded rapid and high, and suspected this one was time-compressed. At least they didn't sound like midgets with smoker's voices, like the Spanish dub. "Look what spinach did for me."

"Lumberjack Rabbit" (WB)
What the devil's a blue-tailed fly? I've heard of bluebottles and greenbottles, but...yes, I liked the giant Charlie Dog, although I did think the ending was a bit abrupt. I've never actually seen a dog use a tree in that manner, although I had one who'd do a number on the neighbor's rosebushes. The mined carrot bits were too lumpy to feed a baby...they would be lovely in salad, though. And, yes, I'll be humming "Jimmy Cracks Corn" for the next few days now....

"King-Size Canary" (MGM)
One of my favorite Avery shorts. Surprised the "Coldernell" brand name on the fridge got past the censors! "Well...I've been sick."

"Porky, The Giant Killer" (WB)
Sure, the title's a misnomer...but "Porky the Giant Baby-sitter" doesn't have quite that ring to it. Exercise in futility moment...Porky expends a lot of effort running down one staircase and up the other; the giant effortlessly hops the gap between them.

"Jerry & Jumbo" (MGM)
The whole thing could've been avoided if Tom hadn't been so selfish with his milk or so hasty to blame Jerry for stealing it. The scene with Jerry and both mother and baby elephant disguised as mice is my favorite (note the Freudian suggestiveness in the drooping shotgun barrel).

Other possibilities would've been any cartoon with Sylvester and Hippety Hopper, or the one with Sylvester and the jumbo Tweety Bird.

[Thad Komorowski]

Originally posted by DR. BELCH
Other possibilities would've been any cartoon with Sylvester and Hippety Hopper, or the one with Sylvester and the jumbo Tweety Bird.

That's "Hyde and Go Tweet". Once you think about it, you could replace Tom, Jerry, and the elephants, with Sylvester, some mouse, and Hippity and his mom in "Jerry and Jumbo", and you'd still get the same cartoon, IMO.

-Thad:D

[Sveven Dvorking]

Originally posted by DR. BELCH
Sure, the title's a misnomer

It sure is! After watching the start for the first time, I thought Porky Pig would actually kill the giant! That cartoon also had a lame ending.

[BobChief]

Jack wrote, in part:
The cartoon's okay, but nothing really all that impressive, an average Bugs Bunny short. I sort think "Haredevil Hare" would have looked cool in 3-D if it were made that way. It was okay looking, but I don't recall anything that really popped out as trying to be 3-D. Perhaps one can only appriciate it when they see it in 3-D at a theater.

Well, allegedly high-definition TV is capable of 3-D-type effects, but since I've never looked at an HDTV screen for more than a few minutes at a time, I couldn't say fer sure...:(

[Sveven Dvorking]

It couldn't have been even possible to produce that cartoon in 3D since that technology did not exist in 1948.

[Jack]

It couldn't have been even possible to produce that cartoon in 3D since that technology did not exist in 1948.

I know, I just said it would have been neat if it could have been in 3D.


Jack:D