Cartoons of 1937

 SERIES: Looney Tunes SYNOPSIS: Many people are hitch-hiking to go to the big fight, and so is Porky Pig. Porky does arrive at the fight, but he is mistaken for the challenger. Can he take on the champ? ORIGINAL RELEASE: January 9th, 1937 SUPERVISION: Fred Avery STORY: N/A, Warner cartoons would not credit writers until The Lyin' Mouse . ANIMATION: Charles Jones, Elmer Wait MUSICAL DIRECTION: Carl W. Stalling STUDIO: Leon Schlesinger Productions (producer), Warner Bros. Pictures (distributor) Pre-Show Remarks One of the more known aspects of this short is the abruptly cut scene during the "train" sequence. Allegedly, whatever this scene was, it was cut in prints as early as 1942, and only a very small snippet of audio survives on a 1950s television print. Even then, the short audio that survives does not clue us as to what the scene's contents once were. Visually, this is one of the first shorts to try to make Porky look "cuter"--his head is now approximatel...

SERIES: Mickey Mouse (though he doesn't appear) SYNOPSIS: After an attempt to court Donna Duck goes awry, Donald replaces his old-fashioned burro with a hot rod. ORIGINAL RELEASE: January 9th, 1937 SUPERVISION: Ben Sharpsteen STORY: Webb Smith, Otto Englander, Merrill De Maris ANIMATION: Johnny Cannon, Ugo D'Orsi, Al Eugster, and many other people I don't feel like listing MUSICAL DIRECTION: Paul Smith STUDIO: Walt Disney Productions (producer), United Artists (distributor) Pre-Show Remarks Storyboard panel. I'd be amiss if I didn't mention the short's interesting backstory. According to J.B. Kaufman's Walt Disney Silly Symphonies --a book I highly recommend to anyone reading this blog--the short was proposed in 1935 as "The Little Burro", featuring a human boy and a human girl as opposed to any familiar Disney stars. By early 1936, the boy and girl were replaced by Donald and Daisy (here called Donna.) To quote the book "the finished film ret...