CARTOON ROOTS BluRay/DVD review!!
If you’re a curious individual that asks where animation began its legacy into our culture, you could read about it from John Canemaker, Leonard Maltin or Donald Crafton, but young animation archivist/historian Tom Stathes’ new DVD/BluRay collection, Cartoon Roots should turn the tide.
This treasure trove of goodies that Tom has gathered will have viewers acquainted with characters such as Koko the Clown, Felix the Cat, Farmer Al Falfa, Krazy Kat, Dinky Doodle, Toby the Pup and Binko the Bear Cub (unveiled to audiences for this release). Credit should also be given to the ever-benevolent animation historians David Gerstein and Steve Stanchfield (of Thunderbean Animation), along with silent music accompanists Ben Model and Robert Israel. The cover art supplied by Stephen DeStephano is the icing on the cake and an accompanying booklet (with liner notes by Jerry Beck, Tom Stathes, David Gerstein, Thad Komorowski and Steve Stanchfield) is the cherry on top.
Cartoon Roots not only profiles characters but arrays their pioneers and creators, just as effectively. The earliest screen cartoonist, J. Stuart Blackton is represented first in a less common entry than the innovate Humorous Phases of Funny Faces. His film Lightning Sketches expands upon the rapid-quick transformations that left audiences awestruck in vaudeville acts. However, the prime example displayed are racial epithets that metamorphose into the ethnic stereotypes that bear these names. Nevertheless, Blackton’s films begat the animation industry that enacted an assembly-line system during the teens by studios that complied to release weekly animated output.
In 1913, Raoul Barre and Bill Nolan started what is conceivably the very first animation studio, but it failed within a few months. Two years later, they created the “Animated Grouch Chasers” series for Edison Studios. The animation in (the partially live action) Cartoons On Tour displays the crude stiffness and rudimentary drawing style that was evident before Nolan devised and perfected the rubber-hose animation style that broke away from the newspaper strip-esque constrictions. Thankfully, there aren’t too many examples of the earlier approach on this set. Although the animation in Earl Hurd’s Bobby Bumps Starts to School is overly rigid, the series had inspired comedy and characterization that was unique for its time.
Max Fleischer is most famous for his studio that created Betty Boop and adapted Popeye the Sailor and Superman into a successful cartoon series, but before these creations, Fleischer devised the rotoscope, used to trace live-action footage for more graceful, lifelike animation. The Circus is a rare, early Out of the Inkwell entry, featuring the Goldwyn-Bray Clown (as trade ads named him at the time) training circus horse Napoleon. Interestingly, the cartoon is not too reliant on live-action as other Inkwell shorts are but rotoscoping of Koko is, although Napoleon is uninhibited in his movements, obvious by his extravagant circus tricks.
Col. Heeza Liar, Detective and Lost and Found illustrate the impressive mixing with live action and animation more than the Fleischer film, but young Walter Lantz’s earnest (and sometimes macabre) sense of humor is also exhibited — proving he was an artist that had a yearn to entertain audiences up to the very end. Although uncertain, he may have contributed to the 1920’s The Bomb Idea (with Jerry on the Job) which may very well be the earliest example of characters running from a potentially dangerous but lackadaisical character, much like Tex Avery’s Wolf on the run from Droopy.
Otto Messmer’s Felix the Cat, the first animated superstar, is crated to Iceland by an angry butcher in Felix Comes Back. This might be the best the most wonderful cat has looked yet — a far cry from the muddy prints from several cartoons that are afloat in circulation. Felix's popularity stems from Messmer putting his heart into Felix, having him think and emote in a Chaplin-esque manner, making him easily identifiable with audiences.
Later known for Mighty Mouse and the screwball magpies Heckle & Jeckle, Paul Terry is deservedly welcome on this collection. Terry had produced countless of Aesop’s Fables cartoons on a quick, efficient basis — one Fable every week. The Jolly Rounders and Springtime are surprisingly a cut above the standard product that Terry distributed. Influences in two-reel comedies abound in The Jolly Rounders’ husband/wife dynamic and Springtime’s overall cohesive structure in Farmer Al Falfa and Henry Cat’s desire for a “perfect figger.”
Fireman Save My Child, with popular comic strip characters Mutt and Jeff as firefighters, is a rarity, considering pre-1925 M&J cartoons are scarce. It is a prime example of the briskness in the series’ animation and gags, often attributed to famed animator Dick Huemer, later recognized for his talent at Fleischer, Mintz and Disney. Another hidden gem featuring a popular comic strip character — albeit a false representation — is Bill Nolan’s Scents and Nonsense, with Krazy Kat. SCENTS took place in Krazy’s third screen incarnation that could be comparable to Felix, but more fluid animation courtesy of Grim Natwick, Jack King and Nolan himself.
Animators Dick Huemer, Sid Marcus and Art Davis collaborated together on Toby the Pup’s The Milkman and delivered a non-stop, hysterical entry into the (half extant) series, making it my favorite on the set.
Romer Grey’s Hot-Toe Mollie with Binko the Bear Cub is the highlight of the set, having been newly discovered two years ago. It had never been distributed to theaters, making this set the first time audiences witness Binko for themselves. Grey’s studio hired animators that would be reputable in other studios, especially Warners animator/director Bob McKimson. Unfortunately, the cartoon itself is a mess, although most of the drawing is well-done. It doesn’t help that Binko is drawn in such a blatantly small size that rounds off his lack of personality or that none of the sound effects sync up, but it is a nice welcome to watch these young animators — famed MGM animator Preston Blair being another one — learning the craft.
The bawdy Van Beuren Aesop’s Fable, The Farmerette, finishes off this collection. While not one of the better VB Fables, it serves its purpose in how animation had flourished in the sound era in its marriage to synchronization and popular music. Something I hadn’t realized until I read the liner notes is that silent cartoons did not have the capability to “truck in” with the animation camera. Margie Hines, one of the original voices for Betty Boop, provides the voice for the farmerette herself.
Cartoon Roots also contains wonderful extras, including vintage publicity ads, Earl Hurd’s pre-Bobby Bumps comic strip Brick Bodkin's Pa, voice recordings of comic singer Byron Harlan (serving inspiration for animated rural characters) and much more! I’m very proud to have contributed to this set and here’s hoping there is more to come in the future.
Phenomenal work. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
