This is a two-part video link. It runs about fourteen minutes and since YouTube has a ten minute limit for most clips, it's been chopped into two videos. You can play one right after the other in the player below.
With all that in mind, we bring you today's feature: Mr. Magoo Gets a Colonoscopy. Sorry it's a little out of sync…
First, a P.S. on Yesterday's Video Link: If you watched the linked episode of Hoppity Hooper, you saw the mention of a Baldwin Boulevard. That's a reference to animator/director Gerard Baldwin, who did most of the work on that cartoon.
For today: A new interepretation of Swan Lake by a Chinese troupe that combines ballet with acrobatics. Some very amazing stuff in there.
We all love Jay Ward for the cartoons of Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Mr. Peabody, Fractured Fairy Tales, Aesop and Son, Super Chicken, Tom Slick and George of the Jungle…but that's not the whole list. Whenever people get to discussing the output of the Ward studio, they seem to forget Hoppity Hooper, a series they produced in and around 1964. 52 cartoons were made and they aired for years in various packages, combined with earlier Ward cartoons and sometimes with selections from Total Television, a sister company. I thought it was a clever show with an irresistible performance by Hans Conried as Professor Waldo Wigglesworth.
Hoppity Hooper was created and the first two cartoons were animated in 1960. They comprised a pilot for a prime-time cartoon series, done more or less concurrently with Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones. Oddly enough, both shows featured actor Alan Reed doing voices. He was Fred on The Flintstones and Fillmore Bear on Hoppity Hooper. When the H-B show sold and Ward's didn't, Jay began shopping his unsold pilot around…and it took until '64 to make a sale. ABC daytime ordered a series and that's when the other 50 cartoons were produced. Alan Reed was busy Yabba-Dabba-Dooing at the time so Bill Scott, who was Ward's producer and head writer, assumed the role of Fillmore Bear.
In today's link, we're going to watch the second episode, which was part of the pilot. Mr. Conried is the voice of Professor Wiggleworth and also of the master villain at the end. Chris Allen, a voice actress about whom little is known, spoke for the title character. Alan Reed is still Fillmore, the narrator is Paul Frees, and all the other roles are Frees, Allen or Bill Scott. Wish someone would put the whole series out on DVD.
Fans of classic cartoon voices will be interested in this 1989 news clip that reports on the pending death of Mel Blanc and the recent death of Jim Backus. That all sounds morbid, and it is, but I'm linking to it because it includes a clip of Mr. Backus telling a great anecdote I'd never heard about working with James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. Check it out just for that.
Some time ago here, we discussed the 1961 primetime cartoon series, Calvin and the Colonel, but I never got around to linking to a clip. Here's one of the two sets of opening and closing titles that the show had during its one season. The theme song was catchy but I never thought it was a great program, and am not surprised that it didn't catch on.
The end credits contain the names of some very talented folks who were then working in the animation business, though it's hard to read some of them. It's especially hard to read the credits for the background painters because of the color used to paint the background behind their names. I guess that's fitting…or something.
It's sometimes interesting to look at movie trailers and consider what was on the mind of the person who cut the thing together: What selling points were they pushing? What concerns about the film's marketability were they trying to finesse or work around? I've met folks in this line of work who were very proud that they were handed a turgid drama to sell and they managed to generate a trailer that made it look like a wacky teen comedy.
This is a short (minute and a half) trailer for the movie, All That Jazz. I have no idea who assembled it or what was on their mind(s)…but it looks like the marching orders went something like this: "The reviews and negative feedback are all grousing that it's a self-indulgent romp about this character Roy Scheider plays, with Bob Fosse dragging everyone into his neurosis. So don't mention Fosse and don't make it look like a movie about this one guy. Make it seem like a film about the magic and drama of show business."
Or something like that. Take a look and see if you don't agree someone was trying to make moviegoers think this was the film version of A Chorus Line.
It's an early commercial for Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes…which is what I'll always call them. Oh, they can take the world "sugar" off the box. They can even change the formula, as rumor has it they've done. They're still Sugar Frosted Flakes. Can't fool me.
That is, of course, the late Thurl Ravenscroft supplying the voice of Tony the Tiger. I'm not sure who the announcer is…sounds a little like Bud Sewell but maybe not. Give a listen.
I always liked the 1965 pop song, "Cara Mia" as recorded by Jay and the Americans. If you don't remember it, I'll refresh your memory. Here's that group performing it that year on the ABC teen music show, Shindig…
Okay now. The gentleman singing lead on this number is Jay Black, who'd changed his name from David Blatt when he joined the group. He was the second Jay in Jay and the Americans, having replaced the first guy (John "Jay" Traynor) in 1962. Bookings for the group declined in the early seventies and they went on to solo careers, reuniting occasionally for oldie shows. Around the turn of this century, they made a couple of memorable appearances on "oldies" specials and the clip below is them doing "Cara Mia" on one such program.
I think this is a great musical moment. Black's voice was obviously not what it once was but this is a very difficult song and it's amazing that, 35 or so years later, he sounded as good as he did. The crowd obviously recognized the feat they were hearing and responded accordingly…
In case you're interested, a group still tours by that name but it features a third Jay — John "Jay" Reincke. Black somehow wound up with ownership of the group's name but lost it in a 2006 bankruptcy filing. Some of the other members of the original group bought it and brought in Reincke and now they tour as Jay and the Americans while Jay Black tours with his own band and (I assume) sings a lot of the same tunes. Jay and the Americans had a stunning 21 records on the charts, including several Number Ones, so there's a lot of good material there to perform…enough for at least two Jays and maybe more.
This clip is just thirty seconds from a Three Stooges short but it's an interesting thirty seconds.
As we all learned in college, the third member of that famed comedy trio kept changing over the years. Moe and Larry were the constants but different men at different times held the exalted status of Stooge #3. Shemp (brother of Moe) was originally in that slot when they were a stage act. He left and was replaced by another brother, Jerry, who shaved his head and called himself Curly. I always liked Shemp and sometimes even Joe Besser better but even I have to admit that Curly was, out and away, the most popular of the "third" Stooges.
In 1946, Curly began having prolonged periods of illness, and Shemp began filling in for him during the team's occasional live stage appearances. In May of that year, Curly suffered a stroke and Shemp replaced him in the films in what was intended to be a temporary arrangement during the recovery period. This did not happen. Jerry/Curly never got to a point where he and his doctors felt he could resume performing and he died in early 1952 without ever returning to the screen…
…with one exception. In the third Stooges short with Shemp, Curly made a brief cameo appearance. It was called Hold That Lion, and it was released in 1947. The same footage was also used in another Stooge film, Booty and the Beast, released one year after Curly's death.
Our clip today is that scene…the only on-screen appearance to my knowledge of Moe Howard, Shemp Howard and Curly Howard, all together. It came about, they say, because Curly was visiting the set and someone thought it might bolster his sagging spirits. The scene was written on the spot and one can only wonder what audiences of the day thought. Even though he'd let his hair grow to human length, Curly was pretty recognizable. I'm sure some moviegoers assumed Shemp had taken over because the other guy had died…and now, here the other guy was in another film. Without further delay, we bring you the relevant half a minute of that film…
I thought I'd linked to this once but I did a search and apparently not. It's another one of those Kellogg's cereal commercials I like so much because of master voiceman Daws Butler. Here, he's Snagglepuss leading us in a merry sing-a-long for the thing everyone loves to sing about…Kellogg's Cocoa Krispies.
You will notice that Daws gets a screen credit on this. If you're curious why, I explained it back in this post.
Here's an old commercial for Post Crispy Critters with the great character actor (and TV producer) Sheldon Leonard voicing the spokescharacter, Linus the Lionhearted…
…except that if you listen carefully, you may note that there are a couple of words in there dubbed by someone else imitating Mr. Leonard…an oddity I actually noticed when I saw this commercial back in the mid-sixties. I didn't know why then and I don't know why now so your guess is as good as mine. Most likely, something had to be done over and Sheldon was off doing I Spy or something.
This is a commercial for Kellogg's Rice Krispies that I don't remember at all but it has Daws Butler in it so here it is. We'll link to anything with Daws Butler in it, end of argument. He does the voice of Snooper and Crackle, and he'd be doing the voice of Blabber Mouse if Blab had any lines. Don Messick, who was the "other" voice (besides Daws) in most Hanna-Barbera cartoons at the time does the voices of Snap and Pop. Later on, Messick did those voices for an awful long time in Rice Krispies ads that H-B had nothing to do with…so one wonders if that's how he got the long-term gig.
A little more than ten years ago, I worked on a stealth cartoon series called Channel Umptee-3. Never heard of it? Neither has almost anyone else I've met, even though it was on the WB network for most of a year. It was an "educational" cartoon show produced in conjunction with Norman Lear's company and created by a brilliant cartoonist-writer named Jim George. Unfortunately at the time, it kind of got trampled over by a number of "high-profile" and exploitable shows that were around and which commanded more attention. At a comic convention a few years later, I asked a hall filled with maybe a thousand animation fans if anyone there had ever seen the show, and I think about six hands were raised…and not even all the way up, as if to say "I think so but I'm not sure."
We have for you today the opening and closing of an episode. The lead character, Ogden Ostrich, was voiced by Rob Paulsen, who is best known for playing Pinky on Pinky and the Brain, and he's Mr. Opportunity in those car commercials. Ogden's friend, Sheldon the Snail, was performed by David Paymer, who everyone seems to remember for his Oscar-nominated performance as Billy Crystal's brother in Mr. Saturday Night. There was an unofficial rule in Hollywood for about ten years there that you couldn't make a movie without David Paymer in it but I think this was his only cartoon series. The villain (you'll see and hear him in the opening) was voiced by the late Jonathan Harris, the constant Special Guest Star villain from the old live-action series, Lost in Space. All three of them are singing in the opening, along with a couple of other folks. The female voice you'll hear in there belongs to a fine singer/actress named Susanne Blakeslee.
If you stick around for the end credits and read quickly, you may spot some other familar names, including Nicola Cuti (who wrote the great comic book, E-Man), Scott Shaw! and my companion (and chicken pot roast maker), Carolyn Kelly. For some reason, my name is in there four times, which always makes me uncomfortable. I always ask to limit credits to one for fear that if I get too many on one project, I'll have to pay a royalty to Mel Brooks.
So this is a taste of Channel Umptee-3. I wish they'd put this show out on DVD, not because I'd expect to get any bucks off it but because it deserved a lot wider audience than it ever got.
Speaking of odd acts that many people ripped off, a gentleman named Lou Goldstein made a very good living for a long time playing "Simon Says." He did it for years at Grossinger's, the famous Catskills resort, and developed an amazing repertoire of tricks and ways to entrap players. From the 'net, I gather he's still around but I haven't seen him anywhere for a long time.
For several years, he did the bit on those Battle of the Network Stars specials in the seventies and early eighties. I was present for one of the tapings (not the one in today's clip) and watched as he did about fifteen hilarious minutes which were edited for broadcast down to about six semi-funny minutes. The stars got very frustrated — one, even genuinely angry — as he bounced them out, but I think they all respected the skill and precision timing he brought to the routine. Here he is doing what he does/did best. Keep your eyes on Shatner and you might catch him cheating a little.
Got a goodie for you today, folks. One of my favorite comedic performers is a gentleman named Eddie Lawrence. Eddie has had an amazing and varied career. He starred on Broadway (He was in the original Bells Are Ringing). He wrote for Broadway. He's been an actor (He was in The Night They Raided Minsky's, to name one of many credits). He's an acclaimed painter. He did tons of cartoon voices and commercials. And all that pales in comparison to a series of oft-plagiarized comedy records he made in the fifties, many of which featured him as The Old Philosopher.
I first became aware of him when I was a tot watching Soupy Sales. Soupy used to have the lion puppet Pookie mime to Eddie Lawrence records and they were hilarious. I ran out, bought all I could and enjoyed the heck outta them. Years later, I had the pleasure of working briefly with Mr. Lawrence and it was so wonderful to meet him.
Here's a clip of him performing at some sort of Dr. Demento concert in, I'm guessing, the late eighties or early nineties. You may know the bit but you may not know the name of the guy who originated and performed it. It's Eddie Lawrence and here he is…