The Friendly Ghost

[Leviathan]

First of all, As some of you may know, I have been exposing too much of my "hotheaded a-hole" side for the past few days (particularly in threads regarding certain has-been administrators and certain heated topics), and I want to apologize for all of that. I usually don't get like this It's just I've been under considerable stress for reasons both online and off), and I'm going away on vacation for two weeks, so this'll probably be my last post for the rest of July.

I'd like to talk about 1945's The Friendly Ghost, or Casper's debut. I rewtched this short a couple of weeks back for the first time in what seems like ages.

I must say that I rather like this short. For one thing, since this was done before Famous Studios' "1-2-3" comedic tundra set in and so the timing or the plot development are given breathing room and don't feel mechanical. For another, the happy ending isn't as artificial as those of the later Caspers.

However, there's one thing I that think makes all the differewnce for all this; Nick Tafuri, who did this and what is usually considered to be the best Little Lulu, Bargain Counterattack. I suspect that the nice, slick animation (including what appears to be a cameo by Herman at one point) is thanks to him, along with the lack of saccharin that so devistatingly characterizes the cartoons of the 2nd Worst director of the Golden Age, who directed pretty much every Casper after this one.

Does anyone know anything more about Tafuri or the cartoons he made? How long was he a director at Famous? Does anyone really think his being a head animator made as much difference as I suggested it did?

[Ken Layton]

Every print I've seen of this cartoon (besides also having very faded color) has "travel ghost" in the opening credits with the ghosting streaking downwards on each character. The prints are also plagued with "sprocket buzz" in the audio. Listen in quiet scenes and you'll hear it. It's not suppossed to be there.


I wish that these early Famous Studios cartoons could get the same restoration that the Popeye's are getting.

[fan4life]

I'd like to talk about 1945's The Friendly Ghost, or Casper's debut. I rewtched this short a couple of weeks back for the first time in what seems like ages.

I must say that I rather like this short. For one thing, since this was done before Famous Studios' "1-2-3" comedic tundra set in and so the timing or the plot development are given breathing room and don't feel mechanical. For another, the happy ending isn't as artificial as those of the later Caspers.

However, there's one thing I that think makes all the differewnce for all this; Nick Tafuri, who did this and what is usually considered to be the best Little Lulu, Bargain Counterattack. I suspect that the nice, slick animation (including what appears to be a cameo by Herman at one point) is thanks to him, along with the lack of saccharin that so devistatingly characterizes the cartoons of the 2nd Worst director of the Golden Age, who directed pretty much every Casper after this one.



The Casper shorts of the 1940s and into the 1950s were consistent insofar as Casper never seemed to do anything out of character. Famous Studios, Noveltoons, Harveytoons, all had very predictable characters (And that is not a bad thing).

[Studio Toledo]

The Casper shorts of the 1940s and into the 1950s were consistent insofar as Casper never seemed to do anything out of character. Famous Studios, Noveltoons, Harveytoons, all had very predictable characters (And that is not a bad thing).
True, sometimes I wonder if I would've hated watching these as a kid, wanting to see something going out-of-hand with these characters. It was just so formulaic.

[fan4life]

True, sometimes I wonder if I would've hated watching these as a kid, wanting to see something going out-of-hand with these characters. It was just so formulaic.

Formulaic, yes, but in each story, you knew that Caspar was always gonna be a good ghost and he'd always do what was right. And Herman the Mouse, you knew, despite his mean-spiritedness in every toon, was gonna come out on top.

[Studio Toledo]

Formulaic, yes, but in each story, you knew that Caspar was always gonna be a good ghost and he'd always do what was right. And Herman the Mouse, you knew, despite his mean-spiritedness in every toon, was gonna come out on top.
And Baby Huey, despite being an a-- to his friends, he still knows what to do about 'da fox. I guess I just like more variety.

[Duck Dodgers]

The basic structure in Herman and Katnip, Buzzy, Baby Huey cartoonis practically always the same.
What makes these cartoons great is a combination of various elements: violence and mayhem, voice actors, animation.
Casper and Little Audrey shorts are formulaic too, but they suck, with 4-5 exceptions per series.
How Casper became a famous character (no pun intended) is really beyond me.

[OurGangAlfalfa]

The basic structure in Herman and Katnip, Buzzy, Baby Huey cartoonis practically always the same.
What makes these cartoons great is a combination of various elements: violence and mayhem, voice actors, animation.
.
The violence works against them. It's senseless violence for the sake of it, not cartoony at all.

[Ray Pointer]

First of all, As some of you may know, I have been exposing too much of my "hotheaded a-hole" side for the past few days (particularly in threads regarding certain has-been administrators and certain heated topics), and I want to apologize for all of that. I usually don't get like this It's just I've been under considerable stress for reasons both online and off), and I'm going away on vacation for two weeks, so this'll probably be my last post for the rest of July.

I'd like to talk about 1945's The Friendly Ghost, or Casper's debut. I rewtched this short a couple of weeks back for the first time in what seems like ages.

I must say that I rather like this short. For one thing, since this was done before Famous Studios' "1-2-3" comedic tundra set in and so the timing or the plot development are given breathing room and don't feel mechanical. For another, the happy ending isn't as artificial as those of the later Caspers.

However, there's one thing I that think makes all the differewnce for all this; Nick Tafuri, who did this and what is usually considered to be the best Little Lulu, Bargain Counterattack. I suspect that the nice, slick animation (including what appears to be a cameo by Herman at one point) is thanks to him, along with the lack of saccharin that so devistatingly characterizes the cartoons of the 2nd Worst director of the Golden Age, who directed pretty much every Casper after this one.

Does anyone know anything more about Tafuri or the cartoons he made? How long was he a director at Famous? Does anyone really think his being a head animator made as much difference as I suggested it did?

The main reason why this cartoon is so unique compared to the later series is due to the story. It was originally a story published in THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. Paramount bought the rights to it, and the series followed two years later.

[Ray Pointer]

Every print I've seen of this cartoon (besides also having very faded color) has "travel ghost" in the opening credits with the ghosting streaking downwards on each character. The prints are also plagued with "sprocket buzz" in the audio. Listen in quiet scenes and you'll hear it. It's not suppossed to be there. I wish that these early Famous Studios cartoons could get the same restoration that the Popeye's are getting.

There are good prints. I've seen one. As for the soundtrack noise, that is not "sprocket buzz." It's the Control Buzz Track that is scanned because the lens on the optical soundhead was "off azmuth." That means that the track was scanning too far in, picking up a signal it was not supposed to. This also explains the muffled, basey quality since the track may not have been properly focused or aligned during the transfer that you cite.

As for the restoration issue, we are in total agreement.

[Duck Dodgers]

The violence works against them. It's senseless violence for the sake of it, not cartoony at all.

Actually it's absolutely not senseless. These cartoon are way more violent than any other Studios' but it's not that the characters attempt to hurt or kill each other without no reason at all.

Violence absolutely does not work against them. It is one of the reasons Famous fans love these shorts..
If Katnip is trying to eat Herman, his cousins or his nephews aren't the following the most plausible reactions for the poor rodents?:D

[frizfrelengfan]

"The Friendly Ghost" isn't a bad cartoon, but it should have been a one-shot. The concept of a ghost that tries to make freinds but is unable to because he scares people, until he becomes a hero at the end, is fine for one cartoon but gets tiring after that.

I did watch Harveytoons as a kid, and I did not enjoy them then. Like most people, I found them formulaic and repetitive then, and still do now. That is not to say that I dislike all Famous Studios cartoons.

[Dave Mackey]

Does anyone know anything more about Tafuri or the cartoons he made? How long was he a director at Famous? Does anyone really think his being a head animator made as much difference as I suggested it did?

Nick Tafuri started getting screen credits on Fleischer cartoons around 1934 and was in the unit of recently-promoted head animator Dave Tendlar.

Tafuri was at Paramount right up until the end of the studio, but I think that by the 1960's, the credited directors (Howard Post, Shamus Culhane, Ralph Bakshi, Chuck Harriton, etc.) had more control over the style and feel of a cartoon than did what were once considered the "head animators". By the time the studio was closed in '67, Tafuri was one of only a handful of animators at the studio with the other major veteran being Al Eugster. Tafuri also did freelance work for TV cartoons like The Mighty Hercules and continued working for Bakshi through "Fritz The Cat".

[OurGangAlfalfa]

Actually it's absolutely not senseless. These cartoon are way more violent than any other Studios' but it's not that the characters attempt to hurt or kill each other without no reason at all.

Violence absolutely does not work against them. It is one of the reasons Famous fans love these shorts..
If Katnip is trying to eat Herman, his cousins or his nephews aren't the following the most plausible reactions for the poor rodents?:D
Eh, I guess it's a love-hate thing. Personally, I think Tom and Jerry at it's best is way better than Herman and Katnip. And the formulaic plots of all of the famous cartoons is astonishing.

[Duck Dodgers]

Eh, I guess it's a love-hate thing. Personally, I think Tom and Jerry at it's best is way better than Herman and Katnip. And the formulaic plots of all of the famous cartoons is astonishing.

Tom and Jerry toons are waaaaay better than Herman and Katnip, of course.
About "formulaic plot" I strongly suggest you to see the early Famous, you know, the ones that were not in the Harvey Toons. If you can find good copies of them, wel, they are not formulaic and they are marvellous, expecially "Much Ado about Mutton" and "Sheep Shape" with Blackie and Wolfie.

[J Lee]

Pretty much all of Famous' output from late 1942 to early 1949 has some merit, but by the end of the 40s the studio was starting to sink into its repetitive rut, as it lost several key story men and standardized the "look" of the cartoons to the point that each head animator's style blended into the others (something that was true to a certain extent on the earlier cartoons supervised by Seymour Kneitel, but not on the ones handled by Izzy Sparber).

But even when the series were repeating the same story lines in the early 1950s, Famous was still turning out some pretty good one-shot cartoons. And the mid-to-late 1950s are interesting in their own right, because even as the quality of the animation went downhill, the quality of the stories (especially in the continuing series) improved in the 1955-59 period, to the point that the later Casper shorts are not simply cookie-cutter copies of each other. They just don't get the credit they should because by then, the quality of the animation was well below what Famous had been doing at the start of the decade.

[Steve Stanch]

There's a beautiful 35mm restored version from UCLA.... looking like it should... someday I think we'll see these as they should be seen...

There's a sweetness to this cartoon that's attempted but missed in so many of the famous studios Noveltoons.. often attempted but rarely working. The two Raggedy Ann shorts try really hard, without the story structure/ direction to help make the personality of the characters work.

I think many elements of the short work well for several reasons. Casper is drawn cute and likable, as is his voice. He completes a nicely rounded story arc, experiencing and growing throughout the film (I think the scene with him crying on his own just before the kids show up is especially good). The story structure starts as a simple narrative and melds gently into a visual story, with gentle evolving rhythm. The gags are somewhat unexpected, unlike the later films, and they revolve often around his reaction to them. He spends basically the whole film alone, searching, until almost the end anyway. His giving up (and failure to even commit 'suicide') even works well as the story builds (a similar attempt at this same kind of empathy fails in 'Suddenly it's Spring' because Raggedy Ann never becomes a character we can care about, though situation, reaction or story- there's never a strong reason for us to empathize for her situation or the little girl that she's trying to save... rather, just a series of gags related to the various characters she runs into. Personality is built by slow introduction here, and decent personality animation. You can only cram so much into a seven minute story, but often these things can be quickly established to help the audience care. In Casper's case, it's obvious that a great injustice has been handed to him- still, he's willing to try again with his best foot forward- sharing some traits of the Fleischer's adaption of Popeye by 1935.

[nickramer]

The basic structure in Herman and Katnip, Buzzy, Baby Huey cartoonis practically always the same.
What makes these cartoons great is a combination of various elements: violence and mayhem, voice actors, animation.
Casper and Little Audrey shorts are formulaic too, but they suck, with 4-5 exceptions per series.
How Casper became a famous character (no pun intended) is really beyond me.

Speaking of Audrey, I know you don't like these cartoons, but is there any chance of doing a post of "Hold the Lion, Please", on your blog just for sake of rarity, if nothing else?

[Duck Dodgers]

Speaking of Audrey, I know you don't like these cartoons, but is there any chance of doing a post of "Hold the Lion, Please", on your blog just for sake of rarity, if nothing else?

As now no. I don't have a good print of the cartoon. I'm looking for the restored Harvey one.

[gabriel_katikos]

Speaking of Audrey, I know you don't like these cartoons, but is there any chance of doing a post of "Hold the Lion, Please", on your blog just for sake of rarity, if nothing else?

Or can you try doing a non-U.M.&.M version of "Tarts and Flowers"?

[looneytooney]

Tafuri also did freelance work for TV cartoons like The Mighty Hercules and continued working for Bakshi through "Fritz The Cat".

He animated Duke's death scene in FRITZ.