Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer

P.S.: NOT the Rankin-Bass one.



Merry Christmas, folks.

The Old Man of the Mountain & Oogie Boogie's Song

I don't think I've ever talked about a Betty Boop cartoon before, but I guess there's a first time for everything.

This particular one, The Old Man of the Mountain, is one I think I was drawn to because of the music choice. Cab Calloway actually did some songs for the cartoons. I know he also sang for Minnie the Moocher (without a doubt the biggest mindfuck of the animated world).

I have the funny feeling what draws me to the Fliecher's cartoons of this era was simply the animation and the music... that's it! Even though the stories were weak and weird as hell, at least they aren't boring! In fact, I think most of them are really funny simply because of how crazy these cartoons were. (kind of like watching Ren and Stimpy, actually.) Old Man is probably my personal favorite one so far. You can watch it below.

I also wanted to bring up the kind of influence Betty Boop has on animation, even today.

I'm sure someone's gonna read this and think: What does The Nightmare Before Christmas have to do with Betty Boop? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

Actually, I want you guys to find this movie (if you have it) and watch it again. Specifically, watch the scene where the main villain Oogie-Boogie enters. That whole song sequence seems to have somewhat been influenced on those Calloway-Beety Boop catoons. From what I've researched, Tim Burton asked the film's composer, Danny Elfman, to listen to Minnie the Moocher as an aid for writting Oogie-Boogie's song. You can really feel the influence in the song. There's even a line from the original cartoon that was homaged in the movie! I'm not saying what it is, though!

The song itself is really damn good. I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't one of the best villian songs ever composed! I can tell that Oogie's actor, Ken Page, seemed to really enjoy himself when singing this. He really seems to combine the darkness and sadistic nature of the character with the pure enjoyment of what Oogie plans on doing with Santa. In fact, I think you can learn everything you need to know about Oogie is in this song. (aside from what he's really stuffed with. Again, watch it for yourself!)

Don't believe me? Watch it yourself!

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor

My favorite Popeye cartoon growing up. It's great to see it fully restored to better colors that what I saw as a kid. A few pointers, this is the very first colored Popeye and it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Subject in 1936 but lost to Walt Disney's The Country Cousin. (How aside it being from Disney I'll never know...)

Everything about this short is great and top-notch for Fleischer's studio. The music, the turn-table layouts (I'm a big fan of that trick), Bluto's song at the beginning, Whimpy trying to eat the duck, the two-headed giant, and Popeye being... well, Popeye, were the best parts. The good news is that this cartoon's in the public domain as well as the two other Popeyes and one Betty Boop cartoon made in color.

I'm really beginning to get accustomed to the animation in these cartoons. There's great stuff from Will Bowsky, George Germanetti, Ed Nolan, and Orestes Calpini here. Bluto's closeups used to scare me when I was a kid, but now I think it's pretty unique for a cartoon from those days. It's the style of this and all the other Fleischer cartoons was what made thier 'toons really stand out from the other studios. They were, in a sense, the Warner Bros. of the 1930's.