30s Depression era characters

[Nelson]

I'd figured on asking everyone on who is your favorite 1930s character from the Depression era? And explain why you like the character?

[MF TOON]

http://www.fantasmak.com/images/un/popeye.jpg



I aint gots time tas explain why cauze I gotsa paper due tammorrow!

:sailor:

toot toot.


(okay, back to work)

[Daffysleftfoot]

DAFFY!!:daffy:


He ruled then and he rules today!! He single-handedly changed all toons from the chreubic Disney style of the '30's to the manic, fast paced, zaniness of the '40's with just one fit of WOO HOO WOO HOO WOO HOO!!!!!! Ya gotta love and respect that!! :cool:

[Ray Pointer]

:daffy: Daffy, although begun in the late 30s is really a 1940s character. Hands, or "muskles" down for me it's POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN (toot-toot!).

Second, MICKEY MOUSE.

And third BETTY BOOP.

[Nelson]

Mine would be this fella right here:flip: FLIP

Simply because Flip is a silent toon character trapped in a sound world and yet, the Flip cartoons are some of the most surreal cartooons ever made.

[Cartman]

This is a toughie. Mickey Mouse raised the spirits in people across America during the Depression. Both the ducks, Donald and Daffy, began their zany careers in this decade. Popeye the Sailor caused spinach consumption in the U.S. to go up (I actually read this on a list of facts). The sexy Betty Boop strutted her way into fame. One of the greatest cartoon studios was started by a certain cheerful and musical talk-ink kid.


I really cannot pick just one. I enjoy so many of them. However my top three would probably be:


Popeye
Donald Duck
Flip the Frog

[RetroMan]

Methinks it's Popeye as well, I just like the funny situations he's thrown into and those fights with Bluto are ace!

[J. J. Hunsecker]

Daffy Duck :daffy:

Donald Duck :donald:

Popeye :sailor:

Betty Boop :betty:

Porky Pig :ham:

Goofy :goof:

I like these characters mostly because they starred in funny cartoons. So many of the cartoons of the thirties are bland, and star happy-go-lucky characters without much personality.

The Warner cartoons of the late thirties broke new ground for the animated cartoon in terms of humor. The Disney cartoons of that era made great advancements in personality and effects animation. I like the Fleischer cartoons of the pre-code era because they were so surreal.

My favorite cartoons of the 30's that star the characters I mentioned would be:
The Daffy Doc
Clock Cleaners
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor
Snow White
Lonesome Ghosts

[MF TOON]

Donald & Goofy were definitely not 1930's characters as they only really started to develop at the end of the decade (37-38) and really didn't come into their own until the 40's. Goofy also didn't have any starring roles until 1939. Likewise, ther same could be argued about Daffy who was only featured in a handful of shorts from about the same time frame. Porky, who came into the spotlight mid-30's, could be considered different however. He was still only featured in a limited number of films from about '35-38, but in my opinion, these were the golden years of his character.

[Marty26]

Donald & Goofy were definitely not 1930's characters as they only really started to develop at the end of the decade (37-38) and really didn't come into their own until the 40's. Goofy also didn't have any starring roles until 1939. Likewise, ther same could be argued about Daffy who was only featured in a handful of shorts from about the same time frame. Porky, who came into the spotlight mid-30's, could be considered different however. He was still only featured in a limited number of films from about '35-38, but in my opinion, these were the golden years of his character.
Limited? Dude, Porky Pig was Warner Brothers' biggest star from about 1936 to 1939. At least half of their cartoons at the time were Porky Pig cartoons.

As for me, I'd say Daffy Duck and Popeye were the best character to come out of the 30s because they were probably the characters that finally broke the mold of cartoon characters having to be very cute and happy-go-lucky in favor of more manic and adult-oriented cartoons.

[Larry T]

Betty. :betty:

There's some kind of unrestrained bizarre creativity that people needed to experience during that heavily-restricted and burdened era, which would provide them with some sort of outlet for release, which is found in those Fleischer cartoons: great jokes regarding sexual allusions, drinking, excess, and alternate realities.... plus the sing-songs for the base entertainment value, because music had a much bigger role in the entertainment society at that time, than it does now.

#2 would have to be Buddy :buddy:. I know many people hate Buddy, but there's an idiotic naivete and unpretentious innocence in his cartoons, which I can't help but enjoy.

#3 goes directly to Popeye :sailor: for the sheer brash quality of the sailor man's escapades.

[MF TOON]

Limited? Dude, Porky Pig was Warner Brothers' biggest star from about 1936 to 1939. At least half of their cartoons at the time were Porky Pig cartoons.


As a character, he really took off around '37 which is about the time he really started appearing in many, many films. Prior to that, and compared to the number of shorts being produced by the studio at the time, I wouldn't have consider him as MAJOR a star character. Still significant, very much so. I believe he was only featured in about 13-14 shorts out of close to 30 in 1936 and they were primarily the Jack King directed cartoons and maybe the odd Avery film. At the time, the studio was still turning out dozens of one-shot films, whereas in the years to follow... Porky Pig WAS essentially Looney Tunes. His filmography pretty much consumes nearly everything being turned out by the studio following. I never stated anywhere that I didn't consider Porky to be a signficant character of the 30's depression-era because he was one of the defining characters, and I think I expressed that in my earlier post.

[Nelson]

Here is how I would post my top ten depression era characters

1.:flip:
2.:sailor:
3.:ham:
4.:mickey:
5.:betty:
6.:daffy:
7.:bosko:
8.Bimbo
9.Scrappy *Huemer/Marcus pre 1931 to 1933 shorts ONLY*
10.Kiko The Kangaroo

Runners up: Willie Whopper, Toby The Pup, Egghead, Tom And Jerry, Pooch The Pup and Cubby Bear.

[Gordan]

1.:sailor:

2.:mickey: & :minnie:

3.:betty:

4.:bosko: & :honey:

5.:ham:

6.:flip:

[Barb Herholzer]

Hands down, it's gotta be Mickey Mouse. Popeye and Betty Boop close behind.
:mickey::sailor::betty:

[J. J. Hunsecker]

Donald & Goofy were definitely not 1930's characters as they only really started to develop at the end of the decade (37-38) and really didn't come into their own until the 40's. Goofy also didn't have any starring roles until 1939. Likewise, ther same could be argued about Daffy who was only featured in a handful of shorts from about the same time frame. Porky, who came into the spotlight mid-30's, could be considered different however. He was still only featured in a limited number of films from about '35-38, but in my opinion, these were the golden years of his character.The title of this thread implies that there are no limitations on the choice of one's favorite Depression era cartoon character, as long as that character was created in the thirties. Donald, Daffy, Goofy, and Porky all fit into this catagory. It is irrelevent whether or not they developed more in the 40's. I'm sure Scrappy, Flip, Bosko and Buddy would have developed in the next decade too if they had only lasted that long. Should the Disney and Warner characters I mentioned be excluded simply because they were popular enough in theaters that they survived the Great Depression?

As for excluding characters because they didn't star in their own cartoons, does that mean, for example, that one also couldn't pick Olive Oyl, Bimbo, Pluto, Minnie Mouse, Petunia Pig, etc., because they were only co-stars in their cartoons? That wasn't specified in the beginning of this thread.

Nor was there any mention of excluding characters that only starred in a limited number of cartoons in the 30's. Porky and Daffy certainly starred in more cartoons of the 30's than did Willie Whopper, Scrappy or Buddy for example, but the latter characters were chosen by other posters on this thread without any comments from yourself.