Oddball Films Media
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Jan 22, 2015
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Directed by an un-credited Bob Clampett, this Merrie Melodies release features some great Hollywood star caricature- and a nasty final blackface gag (which hit the cutting room floor in modern times).
Dough for the Do-Do (Robert Clampett, Color, 1949)
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D'oh!
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The gang remade 1938’s Porky in Wackyland, this time in full color to make those Dali references really pop! Everyone’s favorite pig travels to the “Dark Continent” to snag a rare (and nutso!) bird to claim a 4 sextillion dollar reward! Will the melty watches, 3-head Moe, Larry and Curly Monster and the other exotic creatures get in his way?
Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarves (Robert Clampett, Color, 1943)
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Jive Bombing
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Yes, it’s one of the “Censored Eleven”, the cartoons Warner Brothers withheld from distribution. It’s not hard to see why: it’s a blackface send up on Disney’s Snow White with a racy and racist tone. Said to be inspired by African-American actress Ruby Dandridge’s suggestion to Bob Clampett that he make a musical cartoon with an all black cast, it has a strangely patriotic twist to it. Not only are the “sebben dwarves” GIs, our fairy tale heroine is actively helping with the war effort and the evil queen is a that most-reviled of homefront baddies, a black marketeer! It also provides another example of carefully compartmentalized racism, making clear who the real enemy is, sort of. No word on what Dandridge (actress Dorothy’s mom!), who provides the voice of the flamboyant villainess, thought of the final product.
Book Review (1947) A library of books comes to life. A wolf tries to attack a girl and is put on trial. Story told through book titles and the characters on the covers coming to life. The wolf eventually burns in Dante’s Inferno. bob clampett
2. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946) While reading his favorite comic book, Daffy Duck knocks himself unconscious and dreams that he’s “Duck Twacy, Famous Detective.” Porky the Pig has a cameo, and Daffy has to deal with numerous evil villains. Follows footprints, climbs walls and ceilings, peels off a footprint to look under it. clampett
Looney Tunes: Meet John Doughboy 1941 clampett
"America's Defense Effort" is caricatured. "Ciitzen Sugar Kane" is quoted in a newspaper story. The draft, the mess hall, armaments, machine gun nests (which exhibit clucking), etc. Jack Benny and Rochester are a secret weapon in the Maxwell. Headline: "Can America Be Invaded?" (The Statue of Liberty uses insect spray to get rid of bombers.)
Looney Tunes: Porky’s Naughty Nephew 1938 Clampett
Looney tune characters go through bath house in clothes and come out in Bathing suits. Characters at the beach: under an umbrella, in the beach shower, the Porky pig hit by the his nephew, Pinky with a shovel, pretending to drown, starfish get caught on Porky’s mouth, Porky gets sand dumped on him. A swimming race: characters on all kinds of vehicles in the water.
At the beach, Porky's nephew misbehaves and Porky blames it on others since he can't see his nephew doing it. During a swim race the jockey and horse might represent a popular personality. Eddie Cantor gets excited on seeing a float, hugs it, saying "At last, a buoy!" (referring to the fact that all his children were girls).
Looney Tunes: Porky's Five and Ten 1938 clampett
Porky's Five & Ten (Bob Clampett, 1938, B+W)
Dreams of glamour at the ocean’s floor! When a motley gang of undersea creatures get hold of Porky’s variety store inventory en route to Boula Boula Island, life in Davey Jones’s locker goes Hollywood very fast. Another great movie star packed toon in the the Warner Brothers tradition.
Porky decides to open a variety store ("Five and Ten") on a tropical island, and loads his goods in a sail boat. Fish cut a hole in the bottom and use the goods to imitate human life. They imitate movie stars as well, including Laurel and Hardy, Greta Garbo, Mae West at their "Hollywood Hotel." A great waterspout finally restores Porky's goods to his ship.
Looney Tunes: Pilgrim Porky 1940 bw clampett