The "Secret Agent" in this Superman short is a blonde stunner carrying important papers. Pretty much a by-the-numbers adventure..........
10 years ago, the surviving Monkees recorded "Good Times!", which marks its 10th anniversary this year with a double-CD reissue, and the release of the single, "Me & Magdalena", presented as an animated music video.
"Magdalena" was written by Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie), with Mike Nesmith on vocals. Davy Jones, who'd passed on 4 years before the album's release, is depicted in the video in the tour bus.
Micky Dolenz (ex-Funky Phantom, Devlin, Wonder Wheels) is the lone surviving Monkee today, with the passing of Nesmith & Peter Tork.
Before there was Daisy Duck, there was Donna Duck.
Donna is the love interest of Donald Duck in 1937's "Don Donald", which has both south of the border, or so it'd seem, and a lovers' quarrel is at the center of this short.
Back when the Disney Channel was a premium service, they mined the Disney vaults to develop original series based on existing properties.
One such example was Dumbo's Circus. More than 40 years after the movie, Dumbo has grown up to own his own circus, teaching the kids about circus life. The series marked the return of ex-Mouseketeer Sharon Baird to Disney, and she brought with her some of her colleagues from her days with the Kroffts, including Van Snowden, Patty Mahoney (ex-Far Out Space Nuts), and voice actor Walker Edmiston, who'd done some projects for Disney previously, as did Hal Smith.
Let's check a sample episode:
DePatie-Freleng's superhero spoof, The Super Six, marks its 50th anniversary this year. In this episode, you'll see:
Super Bwoing in "Easy Kid Stuff". The "apprentice" lands a babysitting gig. With predictable results.
The Brothers Matzoriley vs. "Dirty Pierre".
Granite Man in "Cement Mix-Up":
While Woody Woodpecker was shifting between syndication and network runs in the 70's, Kellogg's brought him back, this time to shill for Sugar (now Corn) Pops.
Here, Woody's on the beach with a couple of kids.......
The mid-60's, we know, brought new ideas to Warner Bros..
One of those was 1964's "Bartholomew Versus The Wheel", about a dog who has a beef with wheels after a scooter runs over his tail. Mel Blanc provides the vocal effects for Bartholomew, the cat, and assorted others, while Leslie Barringer is credited as the narrator.
Directed by Robert McKimson.
"Those who fail to remember history are condemned to repeat it."--George Santayana.
Perhaps inspired by Disney's Spidey & His Amazing Friends, Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. division will launch Teeny Mutant Ninja Turtles, airing on the network's YouTube channel this summer.
Like, what's next? April O'Neil as the boys' babysitter?
Pass the Pepto.
Friz Freleng had a little fun with science fiction and the then-modern technology of the 60's with 1962's "The Jet Cage", starring Tweety & Sylvester. For once, June Foray (Rocky & His Friends) shares screen credit with Mel Blanc (The Flintstones, The Jack Benny Program).
Here's an operatic Mighty Mouse short without Oil Can Harry or Pearl Pureheart. Instead, our damsel is Suzette Mouse, coveted by a feline king, or, as the title implies, "The Crackpot King":
From season 9 of Happy Days:
Fonzie (Henry Winkler) & Al DelVecchio (Al Molinaro) take a trip to Alabama, and discover just how much racism is prevalent in the South in the early 60's. In a speech, Al reveals he'd been in the restaurant business for some 25 years, meaning he'd started in the late 30's!
"Southern Crossing", first shown in January 1982, was the 2nd episode of the series to address racism, the first having aired nearly 7 years earlier.
Al's speech is the climax of this clip.
Hasbro's Romper Room line of toys came out with its answer to Play-Doh with the Do-Bee Dough Machine, released in 1970.
Nearly 30 years after the FCC banned cigarette commercials, the staff of Pinky & The Brain decided to poke fun at the tobacco industry........
From season 2 of Kids Incorporated:
Future Wild Orchid singers Stacy Ferguson & Renee Sands are featured on a cover of the JoBoxers' 1983 hit, "Just Got Lucky":
We had this next item before, but it was deleted. This is also at The Land of Whatever.
The early success of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In led to George Schlatter & Ed Friendly being commissioned to produce a series of unrelated specials for NBC, plus a game show spin-off from Laugh-In, hence, Letters to Laugh-In. Gary Owens pulls double duty as host & announcer. Our panel in this sampler has Laugh-In co-host Dan Rowan, series regular Jo Anne Worley, plus Jack E. Leonard and Angie Dickinson, then known more for movies, well before Police Woman.
The first joke, read by Worley, comes from a local viewer out of Saratoga. Cool!
It had been nearly 30 years since Procter & Gamble had introduced the Crest Team in a series of popular commercials, narrated by veteran actor Jackson Beck. Since then, P & G had acquired Gillette, which, in turn, had expanded their line to include the Oral-B brand of toothbrushes.
With Crest now a secondary brand of mouthwash, in addition to its line of toothpaste, P & G commissioned a new animation house to produce this nearly 8 minute video for schools. Meet, then, the Dental Defenders:
From season 2 of the 1st Spider-Man animated series:
The Scarf, not to be confused with a villain from the live-action Green Hornet 2 years earlier, comes across as a minor league Mysterio wanna-be with his tricks. Let's see how Spider-Man handles him.
UPA thought it'd be a cool idea to pair up Mr. Magoo (Jim Backus) with Gerald McBoing-Boing in a short released in 1960.
The plot: Magoo is called in as an emergency babysitter for Gerald, and confuses the sound effect issuing from Gerald's throat for real sounds.
Jabberwocky is a Boston children's television legend, even though the series lasted just 2 years in first run programming. Clips like this next item have surfaced on YouTube, so let's check it out.
With a new He-Man & The Masters of The Universe comic book coming from Dark Horse, it's time we went back to Eternia and season 1 of the original series. Here's "The Cosmic Comet":
While Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines lasted just 1 season of 1st run episodes, the backup feature, Magnificent Muttley, a parody of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", became an even bigger cult classic. Each shortie was a parody of something.
We previously screened the opener, "Muttley on The Bounty", but now, rather than track down the rest, we've got the whole shebang in a 40+ minute package, for the most part, as with the lead feature, a 2-man show (Paul Winchell & Don Messick).
By the end of the 50's, UPA was in trouble. Their distribution deal with Columbia had ended, and Columbia had moved on to work with Hanna-Barbera. Gerald McBoing-Boing was slowly being rejected by movie-goers, even with a crossover with Mr. Magoo.
So, the studio, with United Artists as a prospective new distributor, tried selling a new set of characters to networks or syndication. Bric & Brac, a rabbit & a mole, to be particular, were introduced in "Bric's Stew", which was pitched in 1960, though it had been copyrighted a year earlier. Ever-busy Dallas McKennon handled all the voices for this Harvey Toombs-directed short.
Spider-Man (Paul Soles) has a rematch with power-mad Dr. Octopus, who steals a weapon intended for government use. Of course, J. Jonah Jameson wastes little time trying to tie Spidey to the theft he'd failed to prevent.
Herb Klynn & Format Films (The Lone Ranger, The Alvin Show) took over the animation for Speedy Gonzales with 1967's "Quacker Tracker". If the plot sounds familiar, well, WB also did a similar plot with Cool Cat.
Steely Dan lit up the stage on The Midnight Special in August 1973 with "Reelin' in The Years".
Our Gang hits the golf course in 1936's "Divot Diggers". The fun really starts when Spanky & Buckwheat become the world's youngest caddies........
