Mar 26, 2004 5:50:54 PM
We made it back to the forbidden animation festival for Tuesday's (March 23rd) program - Jazz, Jazz, Jazz cartoons. This program consisted mostly of Max Fleishers studio production that were all about music and the performers of the thirties. In addition, the cartoons were mostly pre-Hayes code, so they got pretty racy - well, if you think seeing Betty Boop's garter belt is racy. A lot of the cartoons would start out showing a jazz group or singer performing, then fade into a cartoon sequence built off of the song. Sometimes they'd do the bouncing ball thing - old style karaoke- where you could follow along with the lyrics. Not too many of the audience members joined in the singalong, but enough did so that I could tell it wasn't just me.
Dennis Nyback as usual had very good commentary for the films. He said the Fleischer studios didn't bother with writing scripts - Brother Fleischer would just pick up a stack of records and Max would tell the animators, "Here's your soundtrack, animate to the music." Apparently this was done without paying any kind of royalties, and when the musicians union found out they were not happy. Oddly they accepted his offer to have the actual musicians appear in the cartoons, which he promoted as "free advertising" for these groups. The result was some very early music videos and a great record of the popular music of this era (this is my analysis, not his).
Also apparently there were some race issues from having Betty Boop and Louis Armstrong in the same cartoon. Go figure. The same kind of worries had Betty appearing in her early cartoons as a dog, the girlfriend to a male, canine cartoon character. Dennis finished with this quote: "There are a lot of things flying around in the dark besides Santa Claus" - Herbert Hoover.
Here's a list of the cartoons shown and a brief review of each:
The Old Man of the Mountain, performed by Cab Calloway - Max Fleischer studios
In this Betty Boop cartoon, everyone is scared that the Old Man of the Mountain is coming to town, and they all run to hide. Betty runs up to the mountain and is chased by the Old Man. Eventually the various animals and such jump on the Old Man and tie him in knots. Betty looked very cute and sexy in her short skirt and garter belt. The cartoon very much emphasized her sexual attraction for the other cartoon characters.
"Sleepy Time Down South," performed by the Boswell Sisters - Max Fleischer studios.
This song, which talks about the "darkies crooning songs soft and low ...I'll find heaven in Mammy's arms " was simply one of the most racist things I've ever heard. (A 1945 recording got many changes to the lyrics - which was originally Louis Armstrong's signature song, oddly enough.) The women had very nice voices, however, which just made the experience that more creepy. Strange little firemen/animals rush out of the station to a house containing the Boswell sisters, who insist on having their piano saved before they come out. They rebuild the piano in an orchard, where the scene fades to the real performers singing the song. The cartoon ends with the flames chasing the firemen down the street in that goofy Max Fleischer way.
"I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You," performed by Louis Armstrong
This was the cartoon Dennis pointed out as racist because of it fading between Louis Armstrong and a cartoon cannibal, implying that he was a savage. However, I found it quite cute, possibly because the way cannibals are depicted in cartoons has never looked to me like it was actually supposed to be black people ... they are a race unto themselves. Two explorers and Betty Boop are captured by a tribe of cannibals. As the two explorers are chased away, the main cannibal following them becomes just a head floating in the air (very surreal!), which turns into Louis singing. Finally, they get the better of the cannibal and come back and rescue Miss Boop.
"Clean Pastures," satirizing Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and others - Warner Brothers
I'd seen this color cartoon before, and I like it. Apparently it was a satire of "Green Pastures," which I think was a movie. The scene opens with a shot of Harlem in the thirties. Things are hopping - people are dressing sharp, going to dance halls, gambling, drinking, and generally having a good time. The black people are very much differentiated from each other - they are wearing very different clothes, they have real noses (not black buttons like the cannibals), and (this was a shocker) they had different skin tones. In heaven, no one is showing up anymore ... the appeal of (hell?) is much stronger. So the archangel ??? sends someone down to win recruits. First he sends this "Mushmouth" character, who is unsuccessful. He follows up with a band, populated by all the big names of the day (I recognized Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong). Encouraged by the great music, heaven fills up with black folks.
"When I Wished on the Moon," performed by Abe Lyman and his Californians
Can't remember a thing about this one right now ...
"I Ain't Got Nobody," performed by the Mills Brothers - Max Fleisher studios
These great musicians perform all their music on their bodies - except for a guitar. They sound like they have trumpets and clarinets, etc., in their band. I'd seen this one before, too.
I missed the next two because I had to go to work ... very sad!
"Little Bosco in Bagdad" - 1937. Little Bosco needs to deliver some cookies to his grandma, but is sorely tempted by a genie who wants some of those cookies.
George Powell's "Puppetoon" featuring Ambrose and His Orchestra
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Posted by webcowgirl @ Mar 26, 2004 5:50:54 PM [Link]
Mar 19, 2004 10:22:11 PM
We went to the Little Theater to see a program of "Strange and Vicious War Cartoons" from the teens through the forties (or so) tonight. This is what we saw:
Windsor McKay's "Sinking of the Lusitania" - extremely beautiful, but a piece of pure propaganda. I felt like it could have been about the US bombing Bagdad.
Disney's "Education for Death" - nicely animated, talked about Nazi indoctrination, happily ignoring the adults who bought into the system and the fact that no one made it cradle through college under Der Fuhrer. At least in this movie the people were speaking actual German instead of saying, "Schickelgruber Sauerkraut Hasenpfeffer." I briefly imagined the kids being trained to be little Republicans.
Warner Brother's "Tokio Jokio" - burnt national treasures? Starvation and deprivation? Civilian casualties? As long as they've got slanty eyes and talk funny, it's all a big joke! This one really hurt after our trip to Japan.
Chuck Jones' "The Draft Horse" - he wants to be in the army. Recognizably the voice of Yosemite Sam.
Max Fleischer's Popeye in "You're a Sap Mr. Jap." Not as mean as some of them were. Popeye gets hit by a boat piloted by two "stereotypical" Japanese guys in Confucian robes and geta sandals. The boat turns out to be the top of a giant warship.
Warner Brother's "Russian Rhapsody" - featuring the "gremlins from the Kremlin." This one was awesome and somewhat psychedelic in a Boschian way. I know I saw this on Wallace and Ladmo when I was a kid (in the 70s). It featured the line "I'm only three and a half years old" delivered by a gremlin who was smashing the controls of Hitler's bomber
Warner Brother's Bugs Bunny in "Nips the Nips" - he's on an island with a single crazy Japanese soldier. He winds up fighting a sumo warrior by dressing as a geisha. In the end, while music from the Magic Flute plays in the background he hands out explosive "Good Rumor" ice cream bars.
Max Fleischer's Superman in "The Japoteurs" - the only cartoon that didn't depict Japanese as buck-toothed men wearing thick glasses - but only for the first scene. Really nice colors. I'd like to see more in the Superman series.
Warner Brothers "Herr Meets Hare" - Bugs Bunny in the Black Forest - includes scene where he is dressed as a Valkyrie and riding a white stallion, to music by Wagner. The "Herr" is a fat blond German man. I saw this one back in Phoenix on the Wallace and Ladmo show.
Donald Duck in "Der Fuhrer's Face" - I wasn't sure why the curator was so worried about Disney's lawyer's hunting him down and shooting him until I realized I was looking at Donald Duck dressed like a Nazi and goosestepping. Wow! The flip-out scene in the factory was really good.
There were some cartoons that were incredibly beautiful, some that were in really bad shape - it was kind of a long program but well worth it.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ Mar 19, 2004 10:22:11 PM [Link]
Mar 18, 2004 12:18:06 AM
I still want to write up my trip to La Paz, but I wound up forgetting about this goal, and now I find I am forgetting things. Just yesterday I had to write to the owner of the Casa Tuscany and get some tips on where the good restaurants were that we had eaten at so that I could pass that along to a coworker who was heading down to La Paz to do some kayaking. Here's her list of recommendations:
La Fonda, 2nd corner up N. Bravo from Casa Tuscany(?) Home style Mexican cooking.
Rancho Viejo on Marquis de Leon for Arracherra tacos
Bismarkcito on Malecon for Fish tacos
We were also recommended to go to the La Fuente ice cream parlor, but for some reason she didn't mention it in the email last night. Good thing I got a picture of it while we were there!
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Posted by webcowgirl @ Mar 18, 2004 12:18:06 AM [Link]
Mar 15, 2004 2:38:07 PM
As I said earlier my New Year's goal this year was to read two books by Faulkner and two books by Steinbeck. I've finally managed to buy my two Faulkner books ("Absalom, Absalom" and "Go Down Moses"), but while in the bookstore I received a surprising offer from my sister in law - she wanted to read the books, too! Her goal is to try to hit a "100 Best Novels Ever" type list of books, since she tends to focus too much on non-fiction. I am of course a sucker for the science fiction. This meant today that I spent a little time looking for said lists of books. The best list of the 100 best books I've found so far is Jim Conte's list of 313 books, alphabetized, with links to the Guardian and the Modern Library's list. So I'm going to keep track here of the books that I'm going to try to read, pulling from these lists and others as they come up. I'm open to fiction from all eras and countries - and I'm open to suggestions.
The four best novels I've ever read, if you need a short list? William Faulkner's "Sound and the Fury," Nabokov's "Lolita," Garcia-Marquez' "100 Years of Solitude," and Kawabata's "Snow Country."
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Posted by webcowgirl @ Mar 15, 2004 2:38:07 PM [Link]
Mar 4, 2004 10:47:57 AM
All of the work I put into getting my test plan together last week paid off, and my test plan review meeting went really well. Although all of the caramel and peanut butter treats were purchased with the intent of gumming up the participants' mouth, in fact, they helped keep the energy level up during a long meeting. I'm feeling better about my job now - I think I proved myself in front of my peers. Of course, if they decide to outsource all of our software development in the next 3 years, this will all count for naught, but if I'm really lucky I can get retrained again in phlebotomy or something like that.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ Mar 4, 2004 10:47:57 AM [Link]