Breakdown: Abou Ben Boogie

Mark Mayerson sent me a few more animators' drafts for fodder for my blog, so I thought I'd start off with this one. I'm really amazed this one got released to DVD, as it was one of the 'verboten' titles when the Lantz cartoons were actually around on television.

The high quality Culhane got out of the animators on this cartoon is incredible. Even guys like Grim Natwick and Les Kline (whose work I normally don't care for) did some great scenes in this one. Pat Matthews of course stands out above the rest, animating most of Miss X, and the camel's dance solo. The coloring of the Abou is really unique here too.

Sexy gal animation seems to be a lost art (I don't know why, it's giving the public what they want), and a cartoon like this is a good one to point to and get those creative juices flowing (double entendre intended).