Animated Adaptations of One Thousand and One Nights

All of us are familiar with Disney's Aladdin, but there are a surprising number of other cartoons based on similar premises. 

Background on the Tales

One Thousand and One Arabian Nights is one of the world's most famous collections of fairytales and folktales. It is also one of the oldest literary works. Although the story was originally published in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age, many of the stories are far older and originate from not only Arabian countries but also Egyptian, Indian and Mesopotamian cultures. The stories first became popular in the Western world after their publication into French in the early 1700s by Antoine Galland. English translations soon followed, becoming increasingly common during the 1800s. Translations have continued to be made and revised up into recent years, as scholars endlessly debate about the accuracy of their sources and interpretations. (Earlier translations made during the Victorian era tended to cut out certain stories or aspects due to their depiction of violence and sex. Not all of these stories were originally intended for children. Pretty much the same thing could be said about Grimm's Fairytales.)

An illustration for Aladdin by Errol le Cain. 

For those unfamiliar with One Thousand and One Nights's basic premise, it is a frame story. Everyday the king Shahryar takes a new bride only to behead her by the next day, and then takes another. (Shahryar holds a grudge after finding out his first wife was unfaithful to him.) Eventually the vizier can no longer find any more virgin brides for the king. The vizier's daughter, Scheherazade, offers herself to be the next bride, and the vizier reluctantly agrees. Later that night after the marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell Shahryar a fantastical story. The story does not end and segues into another tale. The king becomes curious about how the tale concludes, so he postpones his bride's execution. This continues to be repeat until one thousand and one nights have passed and Scheherazade has run out of stories to tell. However, Shahryar has fallen in love with Scheherazade over the course of almost three years. So Scheherazade's life is spared and she becomes queen.

An illustration of Scheherazade and Shahryar by Edmund Dulac.

Most of the stories that Scheherazade tells are highly fantastical, involving various heroes journeying to far off lands in search of love or warriors fighting against fearsome monsters. Arguably, the most famous of these stories are Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Adaptations based upon these tales range from classical pieces to role playing games. (So many works have been influenced by these tales that they even have their own Wikipedia page!) Naturally, One Thousand and One Nights has been adapted numerous times into film as well, perhaps most famously by The Thief of Baghdad (both the 1924 and the 1940 versions) and the 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958). The number of animated films adapted from One Thousand and One Nights is quite high as well. The stories provide a perfect vehicle for the medium given how imaginative and other worldly they are.

A brief synopsis and review for The Thief of Baghdad (1940).

Short Lived Theatrical Cartoons that Had A Lasting Impact

Not all cartoons are instant hits. For certain reasons, some characters fade into the obscurity of time. During the Golden Age of Animation (1930 - early 1960s), theatrical shorts featuring funny animals were all the craze. Several later-to-be-famous animators initially had trouble standing out of the crowd or establishing successful series. Below are five cartoon characters that never managed to be widely successful, but are never the less important to the history of animation.

1. Foxy (1931, 3 shorts)

It's Mickey and Minnie Mouse! ....No, wait.

Early on, the Looney Tunes had a hard time competing with the likes of Disney and the Fleisher Brothers. Their first mildly successful star was Bosko, who is rarely seen today due to being a caricature of an African American boy. He was created primarily to showcase popular songs in the Warner Bros. library, and to be animated in synchronization to the music.

In 1931, ex-Disney animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising drew up a new potential star, Foxy. The series's first cartoon, "Lady Play Your Mandolin", was the first cartoon in the Merrie Melodies canon. Foxy and his girlfriend looked almost identical to Mickey and Minnie Mouse, save for their bushy tails and pointed ears. Foxy was far more boisterous than Mickey however. He had a noticeably deeper voice and was shorter tempered. His second cartoon "Smile Darn Ya Smile" is notable for having its theme tune featured in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). Foxy's last cartoon, "One More Time", was his best. It featured an original story with Foxy as a traffic cop in a crime ridden city.

Just smile, dagnabbit!

Foxy was retired in less than a year. His failure to be unique enough from other cartoons at the time taught Warner Bros an important lesson: Don't copy other companies if you want to stand out. He was later replaced by Porky Pig (1935), and other more popular Looney Tunes characters soon followed. Foxy and Roxy would later appear, along with Goopy Geer, as guest stars in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode, "Two Tone Town",  in 1992. They also acted as the basis for the main characters in the Animaniacs (1993).  

2. Pooch the Pup (1932 - 1933, 13 shorts)

This was the cartoon that was meant to save Lantz's studio.

Walter Lantz is best remembered today for Woody Woodpecker and Chilly Willy. His studio at Universal was actually established many years earlier, in 1929, when he inherited Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks) from Charles Mintz. While Oswald continued to be successful enough to keep Lantz's staff busy, Walter wanted to create his own original character in hopes of striking gold. Thus, he put Bill Nolan in charge of the Oswald cartoons and began to direct a new series, Pooch the Pup.

Pooch the Pup did not have too much personality of his own. He was sort of the everyman character common at the time, acting as a vehicle for sight gags and Hollywood parodies. Pooch's appearance would change drastically over his ill fated career, perhaps in an attempt to try to save the character. In his earlier cartoons, Pooch was depicted as a small white terrier. Lantz would later redraw him to be more generic, resembling his own Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and, even more so, Fleischer Studios's Bimbo. Currently, only two of his cartoons have been released on video so far, "King Klunk" and "She Done Him Right", making him practically invisible to audiences today. Although Pooch never became popular, Lantz and his crew (including a young Tex Avery) gained valuable experience while working on the series and would move on to create bigger, better things.

Pooch's best known cartoon is a parody of King Kong.

3. Gabby Goat (1937, 3 shorts)

Porky Pig's original comedic foil.

As mentioned earlier, Porky Pig was Warner Brother's first run away hit cartoon character. In 1937, Bob Clampett created Porky a sidekick for the cartoon "Porky and Gabby" (which is notable for being directed by Ub Iwerks). Gabby Goat, voiced by storyboard artist Cal Howard, was a very temperamental and grumpy character whose personality constantly clashed with Porky's mild manners.  Despite his constant complaining about others, Gabby proved to be very incompetent, often causing his own problems. Gabby's second cartoon, "Porky's Bedtime Story", was the first Looney Tunes short to be directed by Clampett and was successful enough to be remade in 1944, as "Tick Tock Tuckered" (with Daffy Duck instead of Gabby). Gabby's final appearance was in "Get Quick Rich Porky", although it was originally planned for him to appear in "Porky's Party" (1938).

Gabby's last cartoon.

Gabby Goat was scrapped because audiences failed to find him funny. Some were even offended by his abrasive nature. Daffy Duck was used as his replacement and would later go on to become Bugs Bunny's rival. Apparently, Gabby is rumored to be returning on The Looney Tunes Show, but that is yet to be confirmed.

4. The Fox and the Crow (1941 - 1950, 24 shorts)

An uppity Englishman encounters a smart arse con artist. What could possibly go wrong?

Not many people remember Columbia's Screen Gems cartoons, which is understandable because many of them were very bland and low budget in comparison to the output of other studios from the same time. However, Frank Tashlin managed to give the studio its saving grace. He created Fauntleroy Fox and Crawford Crow as a comedic duo for the cartoon, "The Fox and The Sour Grapes". The short proved to very successful, so much so in fact, that the Fox and the Crow soon became Columbia's biggest stars. Animator Chuck Jones was particularly impressed. He used the short as an inspiration for his Roadrunner and Willie Coyote cartoons. The fox's hellbent intent to steal the grapes and his wacky schemes certainly reflected in the coyote's personality. The short was also one of the first to use creative blackout gags.

Tashlin's "The Fox and the Sour Grapes." 

The next twenty shorts, while somewhat variable in quality, managed to be entertaining enough. (Perhaps this was because Tashlin did not return to direct, leaving Bob Wickersham mostly at helm.) The series's strength came from its leads with opposing personalities. While Fauntleroy remained as gullible and cheerful as ever, his refined personality could just as easily break down into maniac rage after being pestered by Crawford. Crawford Crow would not always win in every cartoon, though, which made the the series very funny and unpredictable. Arguably, the best cartoons from this point of the characters's career were "Woodsman Spare the Tree" (1942), "Room and Board" (1944), and "Unsure Runts" (1946).

Yet, the success of The Fox and the Crow was not enough to save the Screen Gems cartoons. Eventually, the studio was shut down in 1946 and Columbia replaced it with a new studio established by Disney strikers, UPA. The Fox and the Crow was handed over to UPA in order to test its abilities. UPA took the bold approach of using stylized, limited animated animation contrasted with detailed backgrounds for their cartoons, launching the 'cartoon modern' era, which remains influential to this day. Long-time veteran John Hubley directed all three The Fox and the Crow shorts that UPA produced for Columbia, "Robin Hoodlum" (1948), "The Magic Fluke" (1949)", and "Punchy de Leon" (1950). UPA's venture proved to be fruitful. Their first two The Fox and the Crow shorts were even nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. However, the duo was ultimately abandoned by UPA, in favor of using their own non-antromorpic characters. The Fox and the Crow was left to the comic book realm, were it persisted for several more years, until 1968. Truly it is a shame that these short lived but very influential cartoons remain rather obscure to the general public today and all have yet to be been released to home video.

Hubley's "Punchy de Leon."

5. Screwy Squirrel (1944 - 1946, 5 shorts)

He's the nuttiest cartoon character ever created!

After co-creating Bugs Bunny and making several other contributions to Warner Brothers, Tex Avery left the company in 1942 establishing his own cartoon studio at MGM. He made several innovative one shot cartoons characterized by positively zany, fast-paced humor, some of which would probably alarm more conservative parents today. He meet his biggest success with the cartoon, "Red Hot Riding Hood" (whose protagonist would later be the model for Jessica Rabbit), and his Droopy Dog series, notable for its deadpan witticism. In hopes of replicating his success with wacky cartoon animals like he did at Warner Brothers, Avery came up with the idea of a literally insane character for the cartoon "Screwball Squirrel."

Screwy Squirrel was about the most anti-Disney a cartoon could get in the early 1940s. Screwy was loud, brash, and could be quite violent at times. He often antagonized Meathead and other dogs with little to no provocation. In his debut, he even beats up a stereotypically cute squirrel, stating to the audience, "You wouldn't have liked that cartoon anyway." Screwy was often very unpredictable and frequently broke through the fourth wall. In "Happy-Go-Nutty," Screwy's cell door is left open and he walks out, looking around the mental ward. However, he then closes the door and saws his way out. For his last three cartoons, "Big Heel-Watha", "The Screwy Truant" and "Lonesome Lenny," the squirrel was redesigned to look even goofier and given a more lanky appearance. The later was particularly notable for being a parody of George and Lenny, from Of Mice and Men. It also ended with the implication that Screwy was crushed to death by the dull witted dog based off Lenny. ("I used to have a little friend, but he don't move no more.")

Screwy Squirrel being, well, screwy.

Screwy Squirrel was killed off as joke, because Avery apparently wasn't that fond of him. He was ultimately abandoned in favor of Avery's other, slightly more sane characters. However, Screwy has gained somewhat of a cult following recently. This is likely due to changing tastes in humor over the years and the fact that the character's cartoons played frequently on Cartoon Network for a while. As an April Fool's Day joke in 1997, Cartoon Network even ran the short, "Happy-Go-Nutty," twenty-four seven. Screwy was also mentioned in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and acted as a template for the character Slappy Squirrel on the Animaniacs. 

How TV Nearly Killed Cartoons (Animation of the 1970s-80s)

If you consider the above actually good, your nostalgia filter needs desperate cleaning.

Many people have a hard time recalling animated television series from the 1970s to the earlier half of the 1980s and the ones they do mostly are for a bad reason. Limited animation had been used for about ten years prior to the invention of television, but was created for artistic purposes not for budget reasons. UPA, as mentioned earlier on this blog, was a pioneer in the field. Some of the studio's most famous creations include Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing Boing, and the feature length film Gay Purr-ee. Other studios began to catch on to the popularity of limited animation and companies such as Hannah Barbara began to realize that the technique could also be used to save money. By the time television had become commonplace, animated series turned to limited techniques in order to deal with smaller budgets and produce large numbers of episodes. American cartoons also became increasingly more 'kid friendly' to appease moral watchdogs and sensitive parents. By the late 1960s, theatrical cartoons were no more.   

Lack of budget (and creativity) resulted in many shortcuts. 

Early on animation on television was certainly aimed for the family crowd, but was of decent quality. Jay Ward is fondly remembered for bringing TV its first cartoon, Crusader Rabbit, in 1949 and for The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (1959-1964). His cartoons had simple yet appealing character designs, good voice acting, and had humor both for children and adults alike. Hannah Barbera's earlier cartoons also were fairly enjoyable for a period of time. Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear became household names and The Flintstones (1960-1966) was the first primetime cartoon and had a sizable older fan base, paving way for shows such as The Simpsons three decades later. Another noteworthy cartoon was Beany and Cecil (1962-1969) by ex-Warner Bros animator Bob Clampett, which was well known for its crazy humor, slapstick, and puns.

Crusader Rabbit, the first cartoon to be made for TV.

Jay Ward and Hannah Barbera made excellent cartoons early on. 

Sadly, this would not last. As the temptation of milling out more and more cartoons at lower and lower production costs loomed, the quality of TV animation plummeted drastically. This made the business executives very happy and appeased more conservative groups wanting safe, sanitized cartoons for their children. And since young children will watch anything put in front of their faces, they did not complain about the low quality of these new cartoons and many weren't even exposed to older theatrical animated series or TV series to compare them to. (Unless, in some circumstances, these older programs were censored.) The regime of Saturday morning cartoons and educational programs were demanded by groups such as Action for Children's Television. Thus, public opinion changed to treating animation as 'kid's stuff' an attitude that still persists to a certain degree today. Filmation, Hannah Barbera, Ruby-Spears, and other companies regurgitated Scooby-Doo knock-offs and stale storylines at an astounding rate. The dismay of unhappy animators and certain film critics were largely ignored.

This was a great blow to many artists in the medium who had to work on cheap products in order to stay competitive. The influential cartoons of Warner Brothers, MGM, UPA, and other former powerhouses had gone by the wayside. Disney was struggling just to stay alive at a certain point and was even at danger of closing a few times. (Which is almost unimaginable today considering how much of a monopoly the studio has become!) Walt had died, many of Disney's older animators had left or retired, and traditional animation at the studio had become very expense. (This was due to Sleeping Beauty not earning back its cost at the box-office, forcing Disney to rely heavily on xerography tracing and recycling animation from its previous films.) The result of these unfortunate studio woes resulted in an extreme dearth of creativity. Mediocre or just plain terrible TV shows dominated, including the likes of The Archie Show (1968-1970), The Groovie Goolies (1970), The Jackson 5ive (1971-1973), Super Friends (1973-1985), and Jabberjaw (1976-1978).

The animators were so lazy, they didn't even bother to color in the eyes.

One word: gaudy. 

Let's pitch a Scooby-Doo clone, but with a shark...in a band! Brilliant, the kids will never notice!

The quality of American television animation continued to decline into the 1980s due to over-excessive merchandising. Many 'popular' cartoons of the era were little more than product commercials solely created to get parents to buy toys for the their children. Cartoons following this trend included Transformers, My Little Pony, Care Bears, He-man, Jem, and even a show about a rubik's cube. Super Hero cartoons sanitized for younger audiences, such as, The New Adventures of Batman (1977) and Spider-Friends (1981-1983), were also common at the time. Speaking of sanitized, it is rather hilarious that several R-rated movies were adapted into Saturday morning cartoons. Parents were actually ok with their childern watching pc versions of Rambo and Robo-cob?! Video game based shows also plagued the 80's, the most notorious being The Super Mario Bros Super Show and The Legend of Zelda (both 1989). 

Umm, wow. How was this even made? It's so bluntly racist!

Not another Care Bears clone!

Hannah Montana + Barbie + KISS = Jem 

Warning: Not the Batman your teenage son wants for Christmas. 

Because every kid wants to watch a cartoon about a toy box.

In other countries, the state of animation was not so dire. In Europe, most of the budget went to making the occasional high profile film, such as The Yellow Submarine (UK, 1968), Watership Down ( UK, 1978), or The King and the Mockingbird (France, 1980). Russia primarily focused on making short films both for adults and childern, such as Hedgehog in the Fog (1975), Firing Range (Polygon) (1978), and The Tree and the Cat (1983). Only very occasionally were TV series made, as most countries found it hard to compete with America's excessive output of cheap cartoons. Arguably, the most successful series outside the USA were Danger Mouse (UK, 1981) and Nu Pogodi! (Just You Wait!) (Russia, 1969-2006).  The only country that churned out TV animation rivaling that of America was Japan.

It is interesting to contrast the state of American animation to Japan. Yes their were forgettable, more merchandise-driven based franchise shows such as Speed Racer (1966-1968), Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972-1980), and Getter Robo (1974-1975). However, there were also more intellectual and creative shows created at time due to the anime revolution of the late 1960s as a result of social unrest and artistic rebellion. (Two of the most prominent works in the 1960s responsible for this were Horus: Prince of the Sun and The Vampires, as mentioned earlier on this blog.) Before the revolution, anime was a lot like 'typical' American films in the vein of Disney. Princess Knight (1965) and The Wonderful World of Puss in Boots (1969) are examples of the 'old hat' of anime.

Early anime was a lot like Disney.

Most Americans tend to think that 1970s anime was 'just giant robots' because mecha was the primary genre that made it overseas to the USA.

Some of the most fondly remembered anime series came out the 1970s-1980s, a period often considered a 'golden era' for animation in Japan. Lupin III no doubt shocked audiences when it first appeared on TV in 1971. It was the first truly 'adult' anime brimming with black humor and sexual innuendos. Although somewhat tame by today's standards, the show caused enough controversy when it originally aired that Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahada (whom you may have heard of) were brought in to make the show a bit more family friendly and focus more on slapstick comedy. Initially, Lupin flopped, but quickly attained cult status. It became successful enough to spawn three other series and several movies and TV specials. Since then, Lupin and his criminal hijinks have become as familiar to Japanese audiences as Bugs Bunny is to Americans.

Miyazaki and Takahada would later move on to Nippon Animation. There Takahada directed several very influential anime series based off classic childern's novels, including Heidi, Girl of the Alps (1974) and Anne of the Green Gabbles (1979). Miyazaki made his big break with Future Boy Conan (1978) before he and Takahada established Studio Ghibli and the rest is history. Another notable Nippon anime was Dog of Flanders (1975), a very bleak but beautiful series by Yoshio Kuroda.

Popular genres of the time were sports dramas, such as Ashita No Joe (1970), and fantasy space operas. Several sci-fi manga by Leiji Matsumoto were adapted to TV including Space Battleship Yamato (1974) and Galaxy Express 999 (1978). The historical drama, Rose of Versailles (1979), was about a women raised as a man during the class clash of the French Revolution. It was notable for taking the risk of introducing (possibly) bisexual characters to popular anime and for its tragic ending. Anime legend Osamu Tezuka also managed to finally remake two of his most beloved series, Astro Boy and Jungle Emperor Leo (Kimba the White Lion) with a larger budget and without the constraint of censorship.

Lupin III, the first anime series for a more adult audience.

Sport dramas, such as Ashita no Joe, are exceedingly popular in Japan.

Galaxy Express 999, a popular series dealing with death, immortality, and betrayal. 

The Dog of Flanders: it will make you cry.

Future Boy Conan is still considered to be one of the greatest cartoon series ever.

Towards the end of the 1980s, things began to change again for American animation, but fortunately for the better. After realizing that the competition from Don Bluth and other independent animators were taking away from their market, Disney realized it had to shape up in order to survive. Thus the company began vigorously training a new crop animators and released Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) and The Little Mermaid (1989), starting a successful period during the 1990s of revival known as the Animation Renaissance. Other companies, like Warner Brothers and Hannah Barbera (now Cartoon Network), began to make successful cartoons again, such as The Animaniacs (1993-1998) and The Iron Giant (1999). Newer studios such as Nickelodeon, Dreamworks, and most notably, Pixar, were also met with great success during this era. Many of them continue to be important to the animation industry today.

Everyone's reaction to this movie: 'Disney is alive?! :D" & "Thank God we don't have to put up with cartoons like Fangface anymore!"

The Most Influential Animations You Never Heard Of (Part 1)

Animation's history spans over one hundred years. People have long been fascinated by the illusion of movement. Many film enthusiasts are aware of this history and can name several innovative breakthroughs (like the development of the zoetrope, cels, xerography, and CGI). Even the average person is aware of influential works such as Steamboat Willie (1928), Snow White (1937), Astro Boy (1963), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), and Toy Story (1995). Yet, there are many works that are just as historically important which are often sorely overlooked. Below, listed in chronological order, are just a few of such animations from various countries over the years.

1. Koko the Clown (1918-1929): Early Usage of the Rotoscope and Revolutionizing Animation 

A typical Koko cartoon.

Koko was the first cartoon star of the Fleischer Studios (famous for Popeye, Betty Boop, etc). These cartoons were among some of the first to use animated characters interacting with live action actors. Max Fleischer himself, would often appear at the start of the shorts and draw Koko and his dog sidekick, Fitz, into being. Often Koko and his dog would get into trouble, go on adventures in far away lands, or play a prank on their creator. The series was also the first to use the technique of rotoscoping, the tracing of live action footage, for more realistic human animation. Like many of the early animated shorts of the time period, the setting was often very surreal and made heavy use of sight gags.

Koko was popular enough to star in a second series, "Song Car-tunes" in 1924. This series was the first to use the famous 'follow the bouncing ball' sing-along technique. Koko would later make appearances in a few Betty Boop cartoons, most notably in "Snow White" (1933) and "Ha Ha" (1934). The cartoon above is "Koko's Earth Control" (1928).

2. The Films of Ladislas Starevich: The Father of Stop-Motion Animation

 One of the most overlooked animated films ever made.

Ladislas Starevich was a true pioneer in stop-motion animation. His style has been hugely influential on many directors such as Tim Burton and Terry Gilman. Starevich's attention to detail, social commentary, bizarre visuals, and fantastical plots inspired an entire generation of animators.

Born to Polish parents in Russia, Starevich had a passion for studying zoology. In 1910, he was named director of the Museum of Natural History in Kovno, Lithuania. Because he was unable to naturally photograph the lives of certain species of insects, Starevich began creating puppet animations using dead insects. His first film, The Beautiful Lukanida (1910) was the first ever to use puppet animation. He gradually started to make films with plots and relatable characters, such as The Cameraman's Revenge (1912) and The Insects Christmas (1913).

After WWI, Starevich moved to France. Here he began to create films utilizing sound and actual puppets (not insects). Two of his most acclaimed works were The Mascot (1934) and The Tale of the Fox (1937). The Mascot was an half an hour short starring Duffy, a small stuffed dog, who must retrieve an orange for a sick girl and winds up at a devil's ball. The short was successful enough to be followed by three films about Duffy.

The Tale of the Fox was Starevich's masterpiece. It was the sixth animated film ever made and the second to utilize puppets and sound (the first being The New Gulliver [1935]), beating out Snow White by eight months. It's sophisticated use of motion-blur techniques and heavy use of dialogue made The Fox a true landmark in film. The plot of the film involves a wily fox who must be trialled before the King for his constant pranks. Below is a small clip from The Tale of Fox featuring the Queen being wooed by a minstrel cat.

The animation is utterly amazing to this day.

3. Claude the Cat & Hubie and Bertie (1943 - 1951): The Cartoon Series That Broke the 'Disney' Mold.

Claude, the world's most neurotic cat. 

This cartoon series marked the turning point in Chuck Jones career. Most of Jones's cartoons and other Looney Tunes of the the 1930s and early 1940s were far more 'cutesy' in nature (save for the occasional wild card by Bob Clampett).  Jones shorts, in particular, would tend to come across as Disney-like. For instance, his first cartoon star, Sniffles the Mouse, was a naive and sweet character who would later fad into obscurity, in favor of more funny slapstick characters.

While Jones's early shorts were praised for their elaborate animation, audiences found them very generic. Thus, Jones created the short, "The Dover Boys" (1942), the cartoon that taught him how to be funny. While "The Dover Boys" is well remembered by animation fans today, many overlook Jones's equally important cartoon series featuring Claude the Cat and Hubie and Bertie. The series was short lasting, but very important in forming the trademark Looney Tunes style. It was one of the first series to be purposely funny, rather than cute. It was the polar opposite of typical Disney shorts. Fast paced action, physical humor, and over the top gags hence forth became associated with Looney Tunes.

The largest impact that Claude and Hubie and Bertie had on Jones was it defined his great usage of characterization. Each personality in this series is distinctively defined and believable. Claude is a cowardly and nervous, extremely sensitive to his surrounding and a pill popper. He would much rather spend most of his day sleeping without worries. However, Claude is constantly tormented by two mice, Hubie and Bertie, who try to move into his home. Hubie is the smarter of the two and comes up with schemes to fool Claude or take advantage of his fearful nature. Bertie is....not. Even though Claude is the antagonist, the audience often ends up feeling sorry for him, yet cannot help laughing at the antics of two mice. 

4. Rooty Toot Toot (1952): Pioneering Limited Animation and a Bold New Style

UPA at its best.

John Hubley was an animator who formally worked at Disney. After seeing the Russian animated feature, The Tale of Czar Durandai (1934), he became inspired by its unique art style. Hubley then left Disney during The Animator's Strike of 1941. He then helped found the studio UPA (United Productions of America), famous for pioneering limited animation and cartoons such as Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing-Boing.  

Hubley's "Rooty Toot Toot" best exhibits UPA's motto of 'less is more.' Each scene has a distinctive color scheme to emphasize the mood. The drawings are stylized and simple but manage to convey each character's personalities perfectly. The plot is more 'adult' than what many people think of when it comes to cartoons. (Actually, many theatrical cartoons were for more mature audiences. It wasn't until the arrival of television and parental watchdogs overacting that cartoons were deemed 'kid's stuff.') "Rooty Toot Toot" is a courtroom drama retelling the song, "Frankie and Johnny." Frankie is on trial for shooting her lover, Johnny, who was with another woman. She is defended by the lawyer 'Honest' John. With it's jazzy soundtrack, unconventional storyline, and black humor, "Rooty Toot Toot" is a truly inspired piece of cinema.  

"Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts..."

5. The King and the Mockingbird (1952 - 1980): Animation as a Moving Art   

A classic in French cinema.

Paul Grimault was to France what Walt Disney was to American animation. But unlike Walt, Grimault's films tended to be far more lyrical in style, satirical, and contained little to no dialogue, being primarily a visual experience. His unique style has influenced countless contemporary French animators (most notably Sylvain Chomet), and Japanese animators Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. He tended to animate simplistic yet appealing drawn characters contrasted with elaborately detailed backgrounds. Grimault's works also contained social commentary and moral issues, proving that animation can be enjoyed by any person, of any age. Early on in his career, Grimault made many widely acclaimed shorts, including The Scarecrow (1943) and The Little Solider (1947).

In the 1948, Grimault began to work on his planned masterpiece, the feature length The King and the Mockingbird (Le Roi et l'osiseau). However, Grimault lost control of the film and it was shown, incomplete and against his will in 1952. It wasn't until 1967 that Grimault got his film back, and not until 1980 that it was finally released as originally intended! (Barely beating out the time The Thief and the Cobbler's production took!)

 The King and the Mockingbird is a fascinating film. Loosely based off of the fairytale The Shepherdess and The Chimney Sweep, it is the story of a very egotistic king and his rivalry with a mockingbird (who is upset with the King for shooting his wife). The King is a lonely and ugly man who finds comfort in creating large monuments of himself and is love with a painting of a shepherdess. One night, the paintings of the Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep come to life and escape. They are then pursued by the painting version of the King (who disposed the real king) and are aided by the Mockingbird. This film is a work of art and gives insight on both sides of human nature. It is absolutely criminal that the completed version was never released in the US. All we have is a worn-out public domain copy of the 1952 version.

A Japanese trailer for the film.