Oddball Films presents Antique Animal Antics!, a program of vintage films full of adorable, hilarious and anthropomorphic animals. Decades before youtube, CGI, and the Buddies franchise, these furry film stars were doing tricks, solving crimes, talking, singing and drinking too much! The evening's beastly brigade includes the knee-slapping anti-drug scare film The Cat Who Drank and Used Too Much (1987). Monkey spy, monkey do with Lancelot Link Secret Chimp (1971), the crime-fighting slapstick simian. Jerry Fairbanks brings us singing bears in Your Pet Problem (1944) and a conga line of dogs in Tails of the Border (1944), both part of the Speaking of Animals series. Bird Circus (1950s) is a technicolor fantasy of vibrant showbirds that walk tight-ropes, ride bicycles and more. Dogs play soccer in an action-packed segment from Animal Athletes (1930s) and you can learn to Teach your Dog Tricks (1951), so you too can have a wonder-mutt. The lush Canadian animation Mr. Frog Went a Courtin' (1964) features a whole pond of well-dressed animals and raises a debate about interspecies marriage. Blackie the Wonder Horse Swims the Golden Gate (1938) stars our own local equine hero. And, (a horse) of course, what talking animal show would be complete without an excerpt from one of the wackiest TV-crossovers in history, Mae West Meets Mr. Ed (1964)? Plus, vintage dog food commercials, circus animals, "The Talking Tiffany Chimps", animal crackers to munch on and so much more!
Date: Friday, March 29th, 2013 at 8:00PM.
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or programming@oddballfilm.com
Your Pet Problem (B+W, 1944)
This bizarre Jerry Fairbanks “Speaking of Animals” series short features singing bears and taking cows, hogs, hens, baboons and hippos! Fairbanks created a technique to achieve the appearance of talking animals that blended real animals with animation, rather than filming the animals chewing gum or peanut butter.
Tails Of The Border (B+W, 1944)
Another Paramount Pictures "Speaking Of Animals" short produced By Jerry Fairbanks. The Fitzcarraldo of dog conga line films, with various canines whooping it up in a cantina spotlighting a Carmen Miranda pooch.
Bird Circus (Color, 1950s)
In this antique aviary gem, a flock of exotic birds display their mastery at a number of circus tricks. From riding bicycles, to tightrope walking to a spectacular miniature carnival of whirling parakeets, this technicolor dream is sure to dazzle and delight.
Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp (Color, 1971) in “To Tell the Tooth”.
Get Smart meets James Bond in this chimptastic TV spy spoof as the top agent of APE (Agency to Prevent Evil) detective Lance Link discovers a dentist working for C.H.U.M.P. (Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan) has been inserting secret radio transmitters into the teeth of military officials.
Blackie the Wonder Horse Swims the Golden Gate (B+W, 1938)
In 1938, Shortie Roberts, owner of San Francisco’s famed Roberts-on-the-Beach restaurant, made a $1,000 wager with Bill Kyne, of the Bay Meadows race track, that his horse, Blackie, could swim the golden gate, following Kyne’s assertion that horses couldn’t swim. As will be made clear by this impressive footage of Blackie in action, Kyne was obliged to pony up and make good on his bet.
The Cat Who Drank and Used Too Much (Color, 1987)
Wacky anti-drug film about alcohol and drug using Pat the Cat. He hits the skids before finally reaching out for help - an all-time Oddball Films audience favorite! Narrated by Julie Harris and winner of 24 major awards!
Teach your Dog Tricks (B+W, 1951)
In these days, when a man invites your young daughter back to his house to show her how to train a puppy, we might call the SVU, but in this trip back to 1951, no horrors ensue; just tons of adorable tiny dogs doing tricks, first simple commands, then some more advanced moves followed by a tiny dog swarm two-dozen deep!
Mae West Meets Mr. Ed (B+W, 1964, excerpt)
The 1960s were a hard time for many of the great stars of the 1930s and 40s. Joan Crawford made a turn towards schlocky horror and Mae West headed for the horse stables of Television. In this bizarre episode of the classic TV program, Mae West sweeps into town and requests that Wilbur redesign her horse stable, with all the luxury fit for a Hollywood Queen. Ed overhears the conversation and begins to resent his own surroundings, shabby by comparison, but soon realizes pampering isn't what it's all cracked up to be.
Mr. Frog Went A-Courtin' (Color, 1974)
A gorgeous animation that truly gets to the heart of the inter-species strangeness that is the folk favorite “Froggie Goes A-Courtin'”. From the National Film Board of Canada, directed by Evelyn Lambart, and sung by Derek Lamb.
