Yes, at long last, the long-anticipated return of the only good classic cartoon podcast! We break down last fall's surprise disc from Warner Archive of the remaining releasable MGM Tex Avery cartoons. It's a cross-selection of some of the finest, wildest animated shorts ever made - and find out what Bob's personal favorite Tex short is to boot!
A small note: the Patreon will be discontinued after this month. It's obviously not a shock as I've been pausing the billing due to lack of cont...
2022-03-07 16:15:12 +0000 UTC
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Once again we're pausing the September billing. Sorry for the inactivity. I am in production hell currently on a restoration project, and Bob is also working on stuff. BUT. The U.S.-Canada border is open once again for non-essential travel, so recordings in person will be happening again!
To tide everyone over, here's a special message about this podcast's subject matter from Old Groucho Marx. (For context, be a listener of Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast.)
2021-08-27 23:27:44 +0000 UTC
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Didja miss us? We're back, for the conclusion of the black-and-white theatrical Popeye cartoons, now wholly done at Famous Studios. Jim Tyer comes into his own in a set up of wartime propaganda pictures, while the other Famous writers and directors take the wrong lessons from Warners and apply them to some of the hardest-to-see (or hardest-to-watch?) cartoons ever made with the sailor. The Hungry Goat - need we say more?
Cartoons discussed: Spinach Fer Britain, Seein' Red, ...
2021-07-21 00:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Sorry to once again not post any content, but it's been a trying couple of weeks. My dad passed away the first week of May and whatever energy I've had is mostly going towards that. Bob has full-time design work and literally can only record/work on the podcast on weekends, and I also have my toe in about five different restoration projects (one of them is classic cartoons!). Pray to the god of your choice this CO-VID nightmare is over soon and the border opened, so Bob and I can see each oth...
2021-06-30 16:04:14 +0000 UTC
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Hi all,
A lot's been going on, and this Patreon hasn't been as active and I'm not entirely sure when the next content post will be. I'm pausing the June billing, so you won't be charged for June 1. Thanks for understanding!
-Thad
2021-05-12 20:08:22 +0000 UTC
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The operation officially becomes Famous Studios this year, the sailor man becomes a Navy man, and a newfound energy and life invigorates the Popeye series, thanks to some flawless musical timing, star defacto director Al Eugster, and a new arrival, a certain eccentric animator named Jim Tyer.
Cartoons discussed: Kickin' the Conga Round, Blunder Below, Fleets of Stren'th, Pip-Eye, Pup-Eye, Poop-Eye an' Peep-Eye, Olive Oyl and Water Don't Mix, Many Tanks, Baby Wants a Bottleship, You'...
2021-04-11 20:15:18 +0000 UTC
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This has been a while brewing... One of our upcoming episodes will be on the subject of Jay Ward and all his animated friends with special guests Keith Scott and Darrell Van Citters. Both are published authors and expert historians on the subject (between both of their books, you'll know everything you need to know about moose and squirrel), and this will assuredly be another colossal, definitive podcast. If you have a question or two, please leave a comment and please stick to the to...
2021-04-07 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Happy Easter!
We apologize for the delay, but given the subject, you should understand why this podcast took a long time. Yes, it's the conclusion of our Bugs Bunny 80th Birthday Blu-Ray review. Our favorite cartoon hero runs on autopilot with Friz Freleng, Bob McKimson, and (occasionally on this set) Chuck Jones trying to keep interest in Bugs alive. We do see some bright moments with a few masterful Yosemite Sam encounters, countered with more TV parodies and cheaters...
2021-04-04 19:09:54 +0000 UTC
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March has not been a productive month for Cartoon Logic, but work is underway for sure. Between my restoration workload (see attached, not final screencap and from a low-rez proxy) and some family health matters (not COVID-related), and Bob's own animation workload, putting the final touches on Bugs Bunny Blu-Ray Blow-Out Part 2 and recording Spinach Skrewtny 1942 have fallen to the wayside. But expect the former early next week for sure.
We've also been remiss in taking episode suggest...
2021-03-26 17:48:42 +0000 UTC
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The Fleischer Studio is no longer the Fleischer Studio, but not quite Famous Studios yet, as we'll get into this episode and next. Popeye becomes the rifle-carrying antagonist to the series' detriment, but we do get a few highlights by way of Poopdeck Pappy, Swee'pea, and directors Bill Nolan and the returning Seymour Kneitel. Also this episode, perhaps the hardest-to-see and hardest-to-watch Fleischer Popeye cartoon of all...
Cartoons discussed: Problem Pappy, Quiet Pleeze, Olive'...
2021-02-28 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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November's Blu-ray release of Bugs Bunny cartoons is so jam-packed with Technicolor animated perfection we have to do two episodes about it! In part one, we discuss what made the character take off immediately, and all the highlights of the set's first disc of 1940s cartoons, in which very different filmmakers managed to have individual takes on Bugs, yet maintain a singular vision that made him Warner Animation's eternal foundation.
2021-02-20 17:01:02 +0000 UTC
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Popeye enters his second decade with his Golden Age firmly behind him, yet production at the Miami Fleischer studio kicks up: fifteen cartoons were released this year! At this point the established directors and storymen lose their way, while lots of new crews work try their hand at Popeye (and fail). This star-studded year sees the return of Poopdeck Pappy and Eugene the Jeep, and the debut of Popeye's quadruplet nephews (as his sons). But it's new-to-series legends like Shamus Culh...
2021-01-25 22:00:05 +0000 UTC
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We're back to one of our favorite topics to discuss the newest Tex Avery collection from Warner Archive! Despite some substandard presentation, the laughs come faster and furious in this volume as Avery finds perfection in his filmmaking style, thanks in no small part to animator Mike Lah and MVP Spike. Immortal works like Little Rural Riding Hood and Magical Maestro headline this volume, with Droopy in peak (and non-peak) form. Witness in real time as Tex literally snaps an...
2021-01-03 18:00:54 +0000 UTC
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Just be advised, you guys will be getting the next episode first, before the public, which will be about Tex Avery's Screwball Classics Vol. 2. We decided to shuffle the order. Considering we can't stop talking about Tex, this seems more timely to talk about.
Apologies for the delay, our health and work obligations are making this podcast harder and harder to squeeze in. I'm making some changes soon so I'm not burning at all ends and orifices. Here's a look at what I'm ...
2021-01-01 22:31:54 +0000 UTC
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Now operating in Miami, the Fleischer studio begins to systematically rid itself of everything that made it the greatest cartoon studio of the decade. Crews shift, droves of Hollywood animators and storymen arrive to help with Gulliver's Travels, and the sailor is now getting shoehorned into inappropriate stories. We get one more Popeye two-reeler in Technicolor, a step down from the previous two but still a triumph for director Dave Tendlar nonetheless, and one last one-reel masterp...
2020-12-13 17:12:12 +0000 UTC
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Our first (of few) forays into TV animation, examining the early days of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera's "planned" animation empire! We talk about what went wrong at Hanna-Barbera, and what went right in the early days, thanks to folks like Ed Benedict (whom Bob met), Daws Butler, Alan Reed, and Carlo Vinci. We also dissect "The Flintstone Flyer", the first-aired episode of the first primetime adult cartoon show, which shows just how elegantly crude and inventive a prehistoric Laurel & Hardy...
2020-11-22 21:01:00 +0000 UTC
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This Thanksgiving week we're posting our unplanned look at a certain important animation studio where Ed Benedict (the man caricatured above by Bob after he visited him in 1986) figured heavily... It'll be yabba-dabba-delicious....
-Thad
2020-11-22 00:11:18 +0000 UTC
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We officially reach the Spinach Skrewtny crossroads! One can't help but see the Fleischer studio up and moving from New York to Miami was what wrapped the Golden Age of the Popeye series. But as we discuss, even while still up north, gags take precedence over character and cartoons are miscast, with even kingpin Willard Bowsky turning out a few duds. Just before Popeye creator E.C. Segar passes, the animated cartoons see a mass import from the comic strip with the characters ...
2020-11-12 23:01:22 +0000 UTC
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We're running a bit behind - we only recorded the 1938 Spinach Skrewtny today, but I can tell you all are a patient lot and know hearing our insights is always worth the wait. We really appreciate it!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kMdFr1kVtMPwTu0QUwVXmshobwEYhKlU/view?usp=sharing
So here's a completely unrelated Halloween horror... an HD t...
2020-10-31 21:07:52 +0000 UTC
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Here to guide us through our history of the cartoons made in the 1920s and 1930s by the Van Beuren Studio is our special guest historian and musician Charlie Judkins, the leading authority on early New York animators. Learn how cartoonists like Paul Terry, John Foster, and Jim Tyer shaped these cartoons that never came close to matching the Fleischers (despite being right across the street!), how th...
2020-10-19 04:01:00 +0000 UTC
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LTwCJjbgKiv_GO5NLF0j08kYOAuyRbKi/view?usp=sharing
For one of his finest and funniest Warner cartoons, Cross-Country Detours, Tex Avery had live-action reference shot for a few scenes, most famously of a stripper for the scene of the lizard that sheds its skin. I have the negative for that footage that the late Dave Butler (B...
2020-10-15 01:12:08 +0000 UTC
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We go back to the oasis of primo Popeye in the important season 1937, with all three of the animation units firing on all (two) cylinders; Willard Bowsky takes the sailor to new literal heights, Seymour Kneitel gives more Swee'pea for Popeye's troubles, and Dave Tendlar teaches Bluto to be kind to aminals (fun game: take a shot every time we call Bluto a dick). Animation switches from 1's to 2's, the studio sees a strike that was a direct result of Popeye's success, and perhaps the greatest P...
2020-10-01 14:45:18 +0000 UTC
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We have returned! (And you patrons gets it a day early! We are going to post the show here from now on, sometimes early if we can manage, so we can collect all your comments in one place.)
Warner cartoon legend Art Davis served as an animator in the '40s and '50s and had an exceptionally memorable three-year run directing the studio's D-unit in the late '40s, gifting us with unique takes on the entire cast of characters.
We talk about Davis' history in the golden age, starting as ...
2020-09-26 21:32:12 +0000 UTC
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What's the most remarkable, extraordinary season?
Yes, we've been alluding to this for months, and it's happened: the most perfect year of cartoons in the history of animation. Willard Bowsky steers Popeye and co. into Technicolor two-reel waters with the phenomenal (but awkwardly paced) Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor, but it's the much maligned Seymour Kneitel who's commanding most of the shorts this year, with too many rich character mome...
2020-08-31 23:45:23 +0000 UTC
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Howdy folks,
We're hard at work, cutting it close for the 1936 Spinach Skrewtny, but it is recorded! Bob has some exciting opportunities, and I've got lots of restoration projects coming through. (Once in a while it's animation related; see above image for a hint.)
As you saw in our last post, the regular show will be monthly now, but fear not, we've got some great stuff in the pipeline! Order is subject to change....
Art Davis (...
2020-08-29 01:03:42 +0000 UTC
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If it wasn’t obvious from how quiet it is around here, Bob and I are extremely busy these days. We wanted to take this time to ask patrons if they would be comfortable if Cartoon Logic switched to a monthly basis.
Hear us out: these podcasts take a LOT of work, but we’re not really seeing the public engagement we’d like on these shows. Plus, if the Patreon count was higher, we’d feel more obligated to treat this as a full-time gig. (It didn’t help we got zero feed...
2020-08-09 15:26:55 +0000 UTC
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I'm aware we've been pretty quiet here. Remote work has been coming in for both of us, so our podcasting time is a bit limited, but we really love doing the show and know how important the Popeye series especially is. To help budget time, this Monday's episode of the regular Cartoon Logic show is going to be the 1933 Spinach Skrewtny episode. This will be a one-time thing to also help entice further patronage, so we hope you all don't mind. Thanks for sticking around, we hope it's all been wo...
2020-07-30 17:44:05 +0000 UTC
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We arrive at 1935, a truly historic year for the Fleischer Popeye series. The artists' filmmaking skills are essentially mastered on every level, background/layout setbacks are used for the first time, and Popeye is now voiced by Jack Mercer, who gave him the rich range and depth the character always deserved. Dave Tendlar also begins de-facto directing with his own unit and essentially starts off with two of the most perfect cartoons ever made. And this still is not the best year of...
2020-07-30 16:01:03 +0000 UTC
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We continue our chronological examination of the Fleischer Popeye cartoons with the year 1934, when the order went up to a whopping 12 cartoons per season! Join us as we examine how the directors and animators expanded upon Popeye's acting range and figured out pretty quickly what did and didn't work for the character. New locales and cinematics, more roles for Wimpy and Bluto, a permanent voice for Olive Oyl, and recollections from Dave Tendlar and Myron Waldman are among the highlights.
...
2020-06-29 04:01:00 +0000 UTC
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1raz6AiUfCsGSxlJL6jj0X4_nSLhI1H56/view?usp=sharing
Hey, wanna talk more about Elmer Fudd's rifle?
Well, that's not the topic at hand. Here's a video commentary I put together for the Robert McKimson classic, Hot Cross Bunny. This is cribbed from a certain new streaming service, who unveiled a number of remastered Bugs B...
2020-06-11 05:01:35 +0000 UTC
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