So I am going to punish you, my loyal readers, by showing you three examples of Columbia's 1940s B/W output. Be thankful I'm taking my rage out in this way.
These first two are cited in Leonard Maltin's essential book, Of Mice & Magic, as being particularly talky. He is understating it. Barely anything happens in the first one until the last minute of the cartoon. It also proves there was a law that every studio had to do a 'mouse-bells-the-cat' film.
Jon Cooke says about the second short: "... Somebody could take that soundtrack and just make some new animation and it could be passed off for a Cartoon Cartoon. Just redesign everything so it looks like a Dexter's Lab rip-off." Pretty accurate if you ask me.
The third one is lame as hell. You'll get a kick out of the ending though. It was probably based on some sort of real event between Columbia's studio head and the animation department.
So here they are! Don't say I didn't warn you!
GIDDY-YAPPING (1944)
TANGLED TRAVELS (1944)
I think you also may have noticed by now that the theme song used on these films (from 1942-1944) is one of the most irritating ones in theatrical animation history. LOUD AND OBNOXIOUS. How fitting they start off these cartoons!
Be nice to me this week and maybe I'll post a good Columbia short. Like one of the ones Bob Clampett wrote with the cat-that-looks-like-Sylvester-but-isn't-Sylvester!
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