The Oily Bird

I have mixed feelings on the Harveytoons distributed by Paramount studios. On one side, they do have entertaining animation in them and, to be honest, can be kind of fun to watch. On the other hand, and this was the biggest fault, they weren't that original or novel. They ranged from okay to WTF. I also think they had a lot of trouble finding a target audience. My argument is that most of them (which I think was about 70%. I'm just guessing here.) are mild, child-friendly, and aren't really that funny, like with the Casper and Little Audrey series. Then you have Baby Huey and Herman and Katnip (my personal favorites from this group) that were made for movie-going adults in mind and can be really funny.

Today's short is one of the cartoons from the latter argument from 1954 directed by Izzy Sparber. I do love the music and the animation of the little worm when his eyes open in rhythm to the snake-charming music.

There is one thing that bothers me though... the whole thing is about an earthworm in a derby trying to foil his enemy, a brown early bird.

MGM - The Early Bird Dood It! (1942) by Cartoonzof2006

Gee... sound f'n familiar?

Oh, and as if the bird didn't look familiar!

At least they know how to take influence from the good animators (to be polite). The problem is that Harveytoons like this one didn't do it too well.

Of Mice and Magic

A Famous Studio cartoon from Paramount directed by Izzy Sparber, one of three chief directors there. I love the musical score for these cartoons, particularly this one. Mae Questal appears as Louise as she sings a grand rendition of "Personality".

Another thing: it's not every day that you can say that there was a more violent cat and mouse team than the infamous Tom and Jerry. Everyone, meet Herman and Katnip. These cartoons are played out like a T&J cartoon, only there are far more brutal jokes like one where Herman brushes Katnip's teeth with a metal file, or pounding Katnips head so hard with a mallet that it actually leaves an imprint. Aside from that, Katnip's little strut when he thinks he catches Herman is hilarious.

On top of that, the voice acting is pretty stellar. Mae Questal relives her moments as Betty Boop and Sid Raymond is always a riot. Arnold Stang also appears in this cartoon and does a good job. I personally like his Top Cat voice better, though. Oh well. :)

I wish I could present this in a higher quality than what I have, but these are incredibly hard to find.