Favorite Non-Harman/Ising B&W Merrie Melodies

[Cartoon King]

What is you favorite toon from this poll? I know that some can't answer it because unfortunately these cartoons have had no airplay in over a decade. So toon trading would be the only option for some. "How Do I Know It's Sunday?" is the only one to ever be released on video. (Columbia House: Musical Masterpieces) My copies mostly came from Nickelodeon in the early 90s. Hopefully some will appear on future GC DVDs.

My favorite would have to be "Those Were Wonderful Days". Interesting twist on the ending. "Shake Your Powder Puff" is a close second. I really like the title music to both. Come to think of it, a clip of both of these is found in Bugs Vs. Daffy: Battle of the Music Video Stars (Space Jam DVD)

"The Girl at the Ironing Board" is also noteworthy in the "...comes to life" series with animated laundry having the starring role.

I know people today don't like the blandness of these black and white toons and the cheesy songs, but this is one toon fan who holds a fondness for these simple classics. :bosko:

[J Lee]

I agree on "Those Were Wonderful Days" being the best of the post H&I black & whites. The title music was decent and fit with the theme of the cartoon; the gags were better than average for 1934 Warners, and aside from the twist at the end (which Freleng would reuse for "Little Dutch Plate"), it's interesting to note that that character designs strongly resemble the main characters from Hardaway & Dalton's debut cartoon, "Love & Curses" (though they did tone down the herione's curves a bit from looking like an 1890s version of Anna Nicole Smith). Since sound man/musical director Bernard Brown was credited with supervision in this short, it may indicate that Hardaway and/or Dalton had a major role in the overall look of the cartoon.

[rex racer]

I'll go with "I've Got to Sing A Torch Song" as it's the forerunner to films like Coo-Coo Nut Grove and Hollywood Steps Out. Pretty surreal little piece, with globes spinning merrily to the title song, as we view great charicatures of Ed Wynn, Bing Crosby, Greta Garbo, and Mae West and others. It has a unique theme linking the "voice" of radio to world personalities like Mussolini and Ghandi... Ben Bernie actually gets an human charicature for this one rather than the "Birdie" version we see in later MMs, and his "lads" (his band) are revealed to be a phonograph record!

[Larry T]

I'd have to go with "Those Were Wonderful Days". It's quite a unique cartoon, parodying those 1880s melodramas with some specialized characters used specifically for this cartoon. The ending kind of falls flat, though- but otherwise it's reminiscent of those anything-goes "evil guy steals the girl for no obvious reason" one-reelers. I wonder sometimes if it didn't give Chuck Jones some inspiration for his masterpiece, "The Dover Boys".

"I've Got To Sing a Torch Song" is a close runner-up. I personally really like those cartoons that capture the peak of the entertainment heyday in a single 7 minute cartoon. I also especially like the cartoons with human caricatures of popular personalities- it's as if none of us watching the cartoon all these years later can imagine how people were so enraptured with media entertainment as it was in those days, so we see representative remnants of it through historical cartoons like these. One can almost imagine the entire theatre singing and pointing to the screen laughing, "Oh, look, there's Miss West!"

"Rhythm in the Bow" is basically just a Buddy cartoon with hoboes. Almost everything in "Pettin' In The Park" was repeated in "Porky's Naughty Nephew".

[Timber Wolf]

Since sound man/musical director Bernard Brown was credited with supervision in this short, it may indicate that Hardaway and/or Dalton had a major role in the overall look of the cartoon.


Ben Hardaway didn't work at WB until "Rhythm in the Bow" and Dalton didn't work at WB until "Viva Buddy".

[Sogturtle]

I agree on "Those Were Wonderful Days" being the best of the post H&I black & whites. The title music was decent and fit with the theme of the cartoon; the gags were better than average for 1934 Warners, and aside from the twist at the end (which Freleng would reuse for "Little Dutch Plate"), it's interesting to note that that character designs strongly resemble the main characters from Hardaway & Dalton's debut cartoon, "Love & Curses" (though they did tone down the herione's curves a bit from looking like an 1890s version of Anna Nicole Smith). Since sound man/musical director Bernard Brown was credited with supervision in this short, it may indicate that Hardaway and/or Dalton had a major role in the overall look of the cartoon.
Ben Hardaway didn't work at WB until "Rhythm in the Bow" and Dalton didn't work at WB until "Viva Buddy".

John, and Timber Wolf~

Forgive me guys, this post unintentionally got to be long...:o [so if you like then stop reading here:cool: ]

On "Those Were Wonderful Days" and whether Ben Hardaway and or Cal Dalton had any role in that cartoon or other EARLY Merrie Melodies... In interview once, Friz was asked about whether Bernard Brown had REALLY directed that cartoon (and "Pettin' In The Park"), Freleng's response was (rough quote) "NO! that was just because we had to put SOME name up there". Unfortunately the interviewer did NOT pursue the question as to who REALLY did direct the two cartoons.

Okay, I can tell you this... Cal Dalton did indeed join the Schlesinger operation a little later coming from Ted Eshbaugh's California studio. This would almost certainly preclude him...

However, Ben Hardaway was at the Schlesinger studio early... In point of fact a FULL YEAR before "Rhythm In The Bow" came out. He quit Iwerks and went briefly to Disney then quit there in Nov. 1933, so that's the point of his arrival at Leon's. With production time of the early MM's running at 4 to 4 1/2 months his earliest work on any Schlesinger/Warner cartoon would be for releases dating from March 1934 onwards... This would most likely preclude his working on "Pettin' In The Park", released Feb. '34 (and raise the question ever higher of WHO directed that toon ).

Hardaway's name APPEARS very strongly to be used in a background of "How Do I Know It's Sunday" which was released in June '34 so that's concrete evidence that he worked under Freleng on that one and almost certainly as co-storyman. Alright then... But "Those Were Wonderful Days" falls midway in between "Pettin' In The Park" and "How Do I Know It's Sunday", so what have we got then?? It DOES mean that Hardaway was present at the studio at that point... but did he direct or co-direct "Those Were..." ?? Answer: Maybe yes, maybe no...

The really major problem is WHY wouldn't Schlesinger have put Ben's name on the film instead of Brown's??? Even ifffff Ben was only partly the director... NOT putting someone's name on a cartoon was indicative of somebody having left the studio... Orrrrrr maybe-possibly of SOMEONE who was moonlighting from another studio to makes ends meet!!! Soooooo with those two possibiliites in mind, there were two people who had left the studio in this general time-frame. Frank Tashlin had left before Christmas of 1933, and Jim Pabian quit not terribly long after (he is in the 1933 Christmas picture). Iffffff in-house full-animators were the REAL directors rather than Bernard Brown, then I'd be prone to view young Tashlin as the main driver behind "Pettin' In The Park" and Pabian as the main-wheel running "Those Were Wonderful Days" (though I wouldn't doubt Hardaway's influence on the latter cartoon).

Lastly, iffffff we were to push for somebody from ANOTHER studio moonlighting as director (and thus NOT receiving credit) then we have another whole ball of wax. Hmmmmm... Anybody see any similarities to early Mintz/Columbia cartoons??? :eek:

*[Note, that Mike Barrier simply throws up his hands at the prospect of who directed "Pettin..." and "Those Were..." and accredits them back to Bernard Brown].

[J Lee]

Well, that does take care of the Dalton boy as not being part of the gang on "TWWD", while in Hardaway's case, given the, ahem, fluid state of the Schlesinger cartoon department in late 1933/early 1934, I would think anyone who had even had a cup of coffee in the Disney commissary would immediately be put to full-time work on Sunset Boulevard (plus at a time when Friz couldn't get the studio brass to care about personalities over getting two choruses of the latest song in, Hardaway's strength as a gag creator -- as opposed to a writer strong in character creation -- would be a big asset to the studio, and the first half of "TWWD" is nothing but a series of unconnected gags).

[Sogturtle]

Well, that does take care of the Dalton boy as not being part of the gang on "TWWD", while in Hardaway's case, given the, ahem, fluid state of the Schlesinger cartoon department in late 1933/early 1934, I would think anyone who had even had a cup of coffee in the Disney commissary would immediately be put to full-time work on Sunset Boulevard (plus at a time when Friz couldn't get the studio brass to care about personalities over getting two choruses of the latest song in, Hardaway's strength as a gag creator -- as opposed to a writer strong in character creation -- would be a big asset to the studio, and the first half of "TWWD" is nothing but a series of unconnected gags).

John~

Wellllll ol' Ben Hardaway had had a few cups of coffee over at Walt's, but much more important was that he was a former Kansas City co-worker of a guy named "Freleng"...:D Friz stated in interview that although generally unknown he personally KNEW of Ben drawing and animating back in the Kansas City days!! Does this mean that I think that Ben soloed on "Those Were Wonderful Days"?? No not at all! But like you I'll lay you dollars to donuts that he likely was the story director of that cartoon. And that the animation director was either a departed animator (most likely Jim Pabian) or some outsider;) ... As for the gag-quotient of said toon, with Hardaway, Tedd Pierce and Tom Armstrong all present there were ample storymen/gagmen to supply fuel for such things.

[rp-j]

I've not seen any of these toons, I'm afraid, as the b/w Warners output has never been seen much on UK screens, at least not in my own lifetime, apart from the odd short getting a screening on long-gone shows like Channel 4's "Cartoon Carnival". I'd very much like to see them, though.


I know people today don't like the blandness of these black and white toons and the cheesy songs, but this is one toon fan who holds a fondness for these simple classics.

I'm with you on that point! I wouldn't call the cartoons of this period my favourites, but they are enjoyable enough, and are also fascinating to watch for their place in the WB studio's development. I would like to see a disc on a future Golden Collection given over to a selection of cartoons tracking the studio's early development in the first 10 years, maybe taking in important films like "Gold Diggers of '49", and "Porky's Hare Hunt" and including an example of each of the studio's early attempts to establish regular characters...

...even Buddy!:buddy: (but not too many, mind...:D )