Your grand, great-grand, and great-great-grandparents animation.

[PictureGuy]

New thread on an old topic. (Pun intended.)

Oswalt the Lucky Rabbit looks a bit like Mickey Mouse. No surprise there since they were both created by Walt Disney. But Disney was working for Universal at the time, so he never owned the rights to the character. Rights would be brought and sold a few times, so eventually Disney rival Walter Lantz (creator of Woody Woodpecker) owned the redesigned character.



According to the Warren Commission report on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswalt's nickname while in the Marines was Ozzie Rabbit after this character.

[PictureGuy]

Speaking of Woody Woodpecker, this 1940 Andy Panda cartoon from Walter Lantz introduces a new unnamed character who would later be called Woody Woodpecker. Except for Andy Panda, all voices are by the immortal Mel Blanc. It seems the final scene is cut from this version.

[PictureGuy]

Max and Dave Fleischer brought Popeye and Superman to the animated screen, and invented rotoscoping. But to many, they are the creators of Betty Boop.

Here is Betty's film debut (look for Mickey Mouse doing a pair of cameos):



Yup! A chubby dog. But later, she slimmed down and became human:



Disney's Snow White may have been more flashy, but the Fleischers had Cab Calloway.

[PictureGuy]

Before he became a Disney star, Donald Duck was a supporting player. Here he makes his film debut:

[PictureGuy]

Here's another Oswalt Rabbit silent short. Remember Oswalt was created by Walt Disney, but remember Disney did not own the character. Notice Disney's name does not even appear on the credits. Rather this is the directorial debut of Isadore "Fritz" Freleng. (Co-directed with Rudolf Ising.)



Freleng would make his name working for Warner Brothers. His career lasted long enough for him to work in television as well. Here's a sample of Freleng's other work:



A collaboration with Chuck Jones:

[PictureGuy]

Fred "Tex" Avery was a descendant of Daniel Boone and Judge Roy Bean. With an ancestry like that, no wonder he got into cartoon animation. Avery made his name at Warner Brothers before moving to MGM.





Sorry for those racial stereotypes which appear in some of these cartoons. I am posting them as an historical statement. Yes, this is what your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents considered to be entertainment.

[PictureGuy]

From YouTube:

"This is one of 26 Private SNAFU ('Situation Normal, All Fouled Up) cartoons made by the US Army Signal Corps to educate and boost the morale the troops. Originally created by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Phil Eastman, most of the cartoons were produced by Warner Brothers Animation Studios - employing their animators, voice actors (primarily Mel Blanc) and Carl Stalling's music."

One correction SNAFU means Situation normal. All F---ed Up.

[PictureGuy]

Rocky and Bullwinkle:



Created by Jay Ward, Moose and Squirrel were a standard on American TV for years, and like all good children's entertainment, it had it's fair share of adult humor hidden here and there -- not to mention more than a fair share of bad puns.

[PictureGuy]

In the 1960's, US TV animation was dominated by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, creators of The Flintstones and other characters.

The Flintstones satirized the stereotypical American middle-class dream.