Two Crows From Tacos

This post is dedicated to two forgotten characters in Looney Tunes history: Jose and Manuel, the two Mexicali Crows. They were made as part of WB's funny Mexican cannon and made around the same time as another Mexican who overshadows them, Speedy Gonzales. While Speedy is quick and smart, these two are the polar opposite, happily being lazy and very, very stupid.

Jose is the short, fat one and is always quick to say that he's the "bre-ains" of the two. Manuel is the skinny one and possibly, the dumber of the two. They first appeared in Two Crows From Tacos, an underrated 1956 gem by Friz Freling and perhaps one of the most controversial cartoons he ever made.

The biggest controversy over this one are the sterotypes portrayed here. Even though the stereotypes are horrific, the art, slapstick, and dialogue are what make it work. Art Davis, I believe, animated a huge bulk of this short and Virgil Ross (seemingly) animates the scene where Jose and Manuel beat up the cactus for having their "grlass-hopp-er". There's also a very unique ending to this cartoon. Instead of an iris out, we get to see a beautiful Mexican sunset as they sing their favorite song, offbeat but happily, with the immortal words, "That's all, folks!" written over the background.

The two crows reappeared in a 1959 Speedy Gonzales cartoon called Mexicali Shmoes (this time as cats), where they try to catch Speedy the same way they tried to catch their grasshopper as crows. With the same result, of course! It's probably my favorite cartoon the two crows were in. It was also nominated for the 1959 Academy Awards for Best Animated Subject and introduced Speedy's cousin, Slowpoke.

Their final appearance together was in the 1962 short, Crow's Feat, again directed by Freling. They're back as crows and manage to be outwitted by, of all people, Elmer Fudd! (they mistake him as a"scares-crow")

Hey, Jose! A ticking corn!

♫Overture, Curtain Lights...♫

The characters get ready for another day of the show.

The Three Caballeros

A scene from The Three Caballeros animated mostly by Ward Kimball. I can't get enough of his stuff. It's just so appealing to me!

For those who don't know, Ward was a animator for Disney (and one of the infamous Nine Old Men ) that centered his work on more cartoony subjects, like the mice in Cinderella, the crows in Dumbo, and Jiminy Cricket on Pinocchio. He later went to directing his own cartoons, like the award winning Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom and It's Tough to Be a Bird!. Ward remains one of my favorite animators because of his cartoony style and it stands out a little better than some of the other animators at Disney. I'm thinking about doing an animator reel on either him or Milt Kahl on the next post, so keep your eyes peeled!

Donald's Camera

Since I'll be in DisneyWorld next week, I'd thought I'd show one of my favorite Disney shorts. Yes, it's Donald. And yes, it's directed by the guy who created the duck and one of the best cartoon directors, Dick Lundy. The story is rather basic, but as expected from Disney, animation is top notch. There's also a pretty cool running cycle from the woodpecker character. (Funny. 6 years after this was made, Lundy would be directing some of the best Woody Woodpecker cartoons at Walter Lantz' studio. Coincidence?)

The biggest reason why I like this short is because Lundy has a few scenes where Donald's expressions aren't the kinds you would see in the "How to Draw Disney Characters" manual. As in some of them look exaggerated, but not quite on the Warner Bros. or Tex Avery level. It's the scene with the toothpaste worm dance gag. The duck had never looked more evil! (especially in the third picture!)

Cobra and Mongoose Redux

These are two characters I almost forgot about, the Cobra and Mongoose. They do have drawings here, you'll just have to go back to when I started this blog. Here they are with character profiles as I first drew them.

Some changes are that the mongoose's body and head are now more streamlined and almost like the real animal. The cobra, on the other hand, now has a smaller hood and head, a more outgoing and friendly personality, and is now a girl character.

They're still pretty much the same characters after all these years, though the cobra's has changed a little. Like I said earlier, she's friendly and outgoing, but she's not as scared of the mongoose as before.

Below is a colored model sheet to show what colors I used to create them. The cobra's now more brown and the mongoose is now more grey, just like the animals they're based on.

Poop Goes the Weasel

A guilty pleasure of mine.

Aside from it's title (really?), this one is actually one of the better 50's Noveltoons I've seen and it's certainly better than some of the Tweety cartoons from that era too. The animation on the weasel character is really sublime.

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.

Little Swee' Pea

I just started getting into Fleischer cartoons recently. I thought why not post a Popeye cartoon, so here we are.

I like how some of the backgrounds look realistic in these. I heard that what Fleischer did was he had a turntable with the setting on it and he filmed it then placed the animated characters in it. It's a neat process and something I oughtta look into in the future.

New Mascot or Character?

This is a character I've been working on for a few days. It's a jack-in-the-box toy named Charlie. He's excitable, eccentric, and something of a showman. His big dream is to be an entertainer, so he keeps everything he needs to put on a good show inside his box.

I'm not sure whether to put him with Bear and Eli or to have him as the mascot of JSmith Cartoons. Suggestions?

Eli's New Look

I redesigned Eli to have more elephant-like feet and hands to have a more natural feel. This way, his nose can act like his hands. Or a third one. Thoughts?