Where To Watch
Jerry Beck's notable nominees from Tinseltown Toons
Cartoon historian Jerry Beck talks about five fascinating cartoons from Tinseltown Toons!
We are so excited about the arrival of Tinseltown Toons that we called in our favorite expert, Jerry Beck, to talk about five award-winning or nominated cartoons for you. Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor, and author of more than 15 books on animation. He is also the editor of Cartoon Research, and MeTV Toons' favorite cartoon historian.
Here are Beck's thoughts on a fascinating five of the cartoons we will be showing in our Tinseltown Toons marathon (tune in March 14 at 8P | 7C!). Take it away, Jerry!
Gerald McBoing Boing (1950)
UPA’s Oscar-winning breakthrough film, with a story by Dr. Seuss, was a game changer. It’s the story of a little boy who speaks via sound effects (the original concept was designed for a children’s record), with modern art-inspired design that broke the Disney mold for what a cartoon – heck, what an animated film – could look like. This inspired artists around the world to try animation, now that the notion that it had to look like Disney (or Bugs Bunny or Tom & Jerry) was dispelled. UPA’s design sense worked its way into all cartoons of the decade – including Disney’s – as well as TV commercials and the burgeoning TV cartoons of the late 1950s. This first McBoing Boing film is delightful as it is – but its influence is deep and long-lasting.
The Dot and the Line (1965)
An adaptation of a clever picture book (by Norton Juster), the film explores the romantic relationship between two geometric shapes, a “dot” and a “line”. This simple little premise is so beautifully executed (and narrated perfectly by actor Robert Morley) it earned Jones an Academy Award. But more significantly, the short shows that getting emotion and humor out of two essentially faceless outlines is achievable and worthwhile – and that experimental animation can be very entertaining. Witty dialogue, gorgeous art direction (by co-director Maurice Noble), and a tasteful score (via Eugene Poddany) complete the package.
When Magoo Flew (1954)
The second UPA cartoon to win an Academy Award, and the first of two Mr. Magoo’s to achieve this Oscar status. The Magoo cartoons were the most popular movie theater cartoons of the 1950s and among the funniest made in that decade. The premise of the series is simple: headstrong and near-sighted Magoo goes out into the world thinking he is in one place, but we, the audience, can see he is somewhere completely else. In this case, Magoo thinks he’s going to the movies – but he ends up on an airplane. The film also takes a jab at then present day movie-going – Magoo thinks the film he’s “watching” is in 3-D and wide-screen CinemaScope (Note: in fact, this cartoon was shot in the wide-screen format – presented on MeTV Toons in the appropriate letterboxed format). Magoo even takes a jab at the new-fangled fad of “television” and foils a bank embezzler – he even wonders if this “theater” runs cartoons, especially the ones with that near-sighted little fellow.
From A to Z-Z-Z-Z (1953)
The first of several Chuck Jones cartoons featuring “Ralph Phillips” (voiced by Dick Beals) – a little boy forever in a daydream. Jones' one-shot cartoons during the 50s are brilliant little films – and the fact he pumped these out in between his hilarious Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Road Runner shorts as part of his annual quota is simply miraculous. The success of the stylized UPA cartoons of the era allowed Jones to now be artistically unleashed – the direction, the timing, the poses, the facial expressions; the striking layouts by Maurice Noble – the man was a true master of his craft. Somewhat inspired by James Thurber’s “Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, the cartoon takes place in a classroom – but takes the audience underwater, into a boxing ring, out west, and into a wonderfully surreal battle with numbers on a blackboard. A great example of everything a cartoon should be.
The Legend of Rockabye Point (1955)
Tex Avery never won an Oscar – but he should have. Nominated six times (twice at Warner Bros., twice during his time at MGM, and twice for Walter Lantz in the 1950s), this is his final nominee and the only shot for Chilly Willy, the deadpan penguin that Avery developed into a cartoon superstar. This is a variation on a theme Avery tried at MGM in cartoons like Rock-A-Bye Bear and Deputy Droopy – a little guy trying to get something in silence, from a hulking rival or sleeping guard. Chuck Jones' story man, Michael Maltese, wrote the gags. Voices here are all by Dallas McKennon, an underrated vocal talent that the Lantz studio utilized in dozens of cartoons. Avery mixes it all together into one of the funniest cartoons ever nominated.