"It's a Grand Old Nag" by Robert "Kilroy" Clampett

[cbrubaker]

Anyone have information on this non-WB short Bob Clampett made after he left "Looney Tunes"? It was made for Republic Pictures, from my understanding.

[Sogturtle]

Anyone have information on this non-WB short Bob Clampett made after he left "Looney Tunes"? It was made for Republic Pictures, from my understanding.

Charles~

What are you wanting to know about it?? Twas made in '47, Clampett thought it was a pilot film for series of toons for Republic. It was made as test for "Tru-Color" for Republic (as if they were going to start making all their cowboy films in color;) ). The only former-Warner animator on it was Paul Smith (funny how none of Clampett's former animators would never work with him again huh??). Don Towsley played a fairly large role in the cartoon as storyman... Clampett did indeed put down "Kilroy" as director both on the film credits and in the Copyright Catalog (not such a smart move). Prints of it were still being sold on the home market in the Eighties!

And I have model sheets of the main horse characters from the cartoon lurking here.

[cbrubaker]

Thanks.

Anyone saw the film? If so, did it have the wacky animation Clampett is known for? Assuming the budget in the cartoon was big.

[Sogturtle]

Thanks.

Anyone saw the film? If so, did it have the wacky animation Clampett is known for? Assuming the budget in the cartoon was big.

Charles~

I can only think of one member of our board who I KNOW has a print of this cartoon, soooooo maybe he'll pop up and give you a description of the animation... (It only listed two animators on the credits though, plus of course layout and background artists and storyman).

[rodney]

Being from Republic, I can't imagine that the budget was big. They no doubt put time and care into it, but that's probably it.

[J. A. Boschen]

How many prints are in existance of this cartoon? Does Republic own the rights or have this film in their vaults?

[JERRY BECK]

I can only think of one member of our board who I KNOW has a print of this cartoon, soooooo maybe he'll pop up and give you a description of the animation...

Not sure who Soggy is refering to... but I've seen it (in fact, I have two 16mm prints of it - one a fairly common color dupe, the other a razor sharp black & white original).

While the film does not resemble Clampett's work from the 1940s (no Scribner/McKimson stylists here), but the animation is quite good with strong poses and great drawings. If I had to compare it to another studio/director, I'd say the visual look it was on par with Dick Lundy's late 40s Lantz pictures.

The film's pace is closer to the wildest Beany & Cecil cartoons of the 60s (DJ THE DJ or WILDMAN OF WILDSVILLE). In fact, if the Beany & Cecil cartoons were fully animated, they probably would've looked like this.

It's not Clampett's best film - but it's a very good cartoon. I wonder why they never made any others. I also wonder how intentional it was that the lead character (Charlie Horse) was selected - as Republic was well known for Westerns and "rural" pictures. Did Herbert J. Yates (President of Republic Pictures) or Bob Clampett suggest such a character?

[JDWeil]

Charles~

What are you wanting to know about it?? Twas made in '47, Clampett thought it was a pilot film for series of toons for Republic. It was made as test for "Tru-Color" for Republic (as if they were going to start making all their cowboy films in color;) ). The only former-Warner animator on it was Paul Smith (funny how none of Clampett's former animators would never work with him again huh??). Don Towsley played a fairly large role in the cartoon as storyman... Clampett did indeed put down "Kilroy" as director both on the film credits and in the Copyright Catalog (not such a smart move). Prints of it were still being sold on the home market in the Eighties!

And I have model sheets of the main horse characters from the cartoon lurking here and a cel or two of the human non-equestrian characters.

From what I've read, the "Tru-Color" process was a three strip color pack process that was developed by Cosolidated Film Labs (which was also owned by Republic) and the budget for the cartoon couln't have all that generous since Herb Yates was an even bigger penny pincher than Schlesinger.

[cpdavison]

I had posted a question about this cartoon on a different message board and, while there was no public response, a member sent me a PM reply. He indicated that Clampett's own personal 16mm print of this title went missing after a film festival appearance. The suspicion is that the festival organizer made off with it.

I don't present this as anything other than an unconfirmed rumor! Has anyone else heard such a story?

(BTW, JERRY BECK pretty much nailed it in his description of the cartoon. It does somehow presage the look & feel of a more fully-animated B & C cartoon.)

[Steveman]

Greetings from a longtime lurker. I bought a black and white 16mm copy of this cartoon some time ago and thought it was very entertaining. It's too bad it's so obscure. I wish more Charlie Horse cartoons had been made.

Here's an image. Pardon the quality, it's just a snapshot taken off the projector screen.

[Duck Dodgers]

Greetings from a longtime lurker. I bought a black and white 16mm copy of this cartoon some time ago and thought it was very entertaining. It's too bad it's so obscure. I wish more Charlie Horse cartoons had been made.

Here's an image. Pardon the quality, it's just a snapshot taken off the projector screen.


Geee! Could you post other screenshots of this cartoon? It's one of the rarest animated short ever made...

[Steveman]

Geee! Could you post other screenshots of this cartoon? It's one of the rarest animated short ever made...

I think I have some more screenshots on a CD somewhere. The quality's not great but at least you can get an idea of some of the character poses. I'll see if I can post some more when I have time.
BTW, I've always wondered about the copy of the cartoon I have and whether it's entirely the original version or if it's been edited or altered (other than being in black and white) in any way. It does seem to fade out abruptly after 'the end' appears on the screen and I wondered if a Republic title or something else was supposed to come afterward.
I just watched it again and the credits are very interesting. Don Towsley is credited very prominently at the top of the screen as 'supervising animator' and Stan Freberg receives screen credit for vocal characterization. Although the directing is credited to 'Kilroy', the title 'Bob Clampett Productions' also appears on the screen.
As a little-known part of the Bob Clampett filmography, this cartoon has always fascinated me and I've enjoyed reading about it here.

[Duck Dodgers]

I think I have some more screenshots on a CD somewhere. The quality's not great but at least you can get an idea of some of the character poses. I'll see if I can post some more when I have time.
.


That would be great. Please post the more screenshots you can. I think a few of us around here have seen this short....Thanks in advance!

[rp-j]

Funnily enough, I've just been reading about this cartoon in the last couple of days in a piece about Bob Clampett in the book "Masters Of Animation" by John Grant (Batsford Books 2001). I was intrigued by this one, especially by the fact that Republic considered producing an animated series. However, I also gather that around this time, Herbert J Yates was making a concerted effort to get his studio out of the "poverty row" bracket (inhabited by Monogram, PRC, et al) and into the middle area occupied by Universal and Columbia. I suppose it's feasible that the cartoon came about as a part of that, along with the decision to move more production into colour.

I also suppose that, having no cinemas of their own, Republic had a hard time marketing the cartoon. They had a hard enough time getting their other pictures into the lower halves of the main chains, so it probably wasn't financially worthwhile to pursue the cartoon idea.

I can only echo the points made above, and say that I would also love to know more about this mysterious cartoon - I wonder if it was ever screened in the UK? A search of the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) site indicates that it certainly wasn't released theatrically.

[Steveman]

Geee! Could you post other screenshots of this cartoon? It's one of the rarest animated short ever made...

Here you go. Sorry that the quality of the screenshots isn't better (and I wish I could see what it looks like in color myself), but this may give you some idea of the character design and poses. I'm happy to do my small part to make this cartoon a little more well-known. It really deserves to be seen.

[cbrubaker]

Thanks for posting those screenshots.

I take it Edward Love is the same person as Ed Love, who was an animator at Tex Avery's dept., and brother of Harry Love, Charles Mintz's animator.

[Sogturtle]

Thanks for posting those screenshots.

I take it Edward Love is the same person as Ed Love, who was an animator at Tex Avery's dept., and brother of Harry Love, Charles Mintz's animator.

Well Charles... Edward Love is indeed Ed Love. But he was formerly an Iwerks and Disney animator before making his way to Tex's MGM unit. (Of course then he was at Lantz's in the late Forties after this brief Clampett employ).

[Duck Dodgers]

Here you go. Sorry that the quality of the screenshots isn't better (and I wish I could see what it looks like in color myself), but this may give you some idea of the character design and poses. I'm happy to do my small part to make this cartoon a little more well-known. It really deserves to be seen.

Thanks ! Could you be able to give details on the plot and the gags ?

[Bobby Bickert]

Interesting that the background paintings were credited as "scenics" a la Paramount.

[J. J. Hunsecker]

I've seen the cartoon, too -- at a screening held in honor of Stan Freberg, hosted by Jerry Beck. The projector broke down a few times during the running of the cartoon, but other than those technical problems I'd have to say it is quite a good cartoon. It is quite funny, the gags are well executed and it's a clever satire of Hollywood phoniness to boot.

The animation has that exaggerated quality his Warner cartoons were known for. It's about on par with cartoons like "An Itch in Time" or "Draftee Daffy" but not as high as "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery" or "Gruesome Twosome".

I have to disagree with Jerry Beck about the pacing or timing of the cartoon being similar to Beany and Cecil (but with fuller animation), though. From what I remember, the timing in "It's a Grand Old Nag" ranks with many of Clampett's top cartoons at Warners. I recall the Beany and Cecil cartoons as being quite slow in their timing, in comparison.