Channel Frederator Blog

Jorge Garcia’s thesis film “Cat’s Meow” is hi-larious. He wanted to be a gag man - I say mission accomplished!

Channel Frederator: What are your favorite films/animations?

Jorge Garcia: I can never pick a favorites… I do have a very special place for everything Looney Tunes in my heart, and I always wanted to grow up to be Bugs Bunny. That didn’t turn out so good, but it did make me want to draw and eventually animate! I’ve always loved TV cartoons and the short film format, and anything with funny gags would spark my interest. Mickey and Donald shorts, Daffy and Porky, and all the classics. I would love to be a gag-man one day if I were to become really funny.

Other animated films that I love and have influenced me have been Toy Story, Emperor’s New Groove, Bambi, and Indiana Jones.

But keep E.T. away from me. He gave me nightmares.

CF: What was your [Read more…]

Back in the 1950’s, the Kool Aid man was not much more than a pitcher with a face. As time went by, Kool Aid Man gradually became a guy in a suit with an animated mouth. The commercials began to feature other animated elements as well. In a few of the commercials, Bugs Bunny and the Monkees even helped out as pitch men.

While I’m not sure the wall wrecking Kool Aid Man sells the powdered drink mix any better than his hand held ancestor, it was interesting to see the progression of the character though the years.

-Floyd Bishop 

Mel Blanc radio shows are available for downloading on this page of The Internet Archive. The scripts are extremely corny, but it’s worth it to hear dozens upon dozens of voices coming out of the mouth of one of the all-time amazing audio artistes.

After making an impact playing various characters on Jack Benny’s radio show (including the voice of Benny’s car, Maxwell) Mel was given his own program and The Mel Blanc Show ran from September 3, 1946 to June 24, 1947. Blanc didn’t play all the supporting characters, as guest voices included Jim Backus (later the voice of Mr. Magoo) and Bea Benaderet (later the voice of Betty Rubble on The Flintstones).

Mel starred as the owner of a Fix-It Shop (yes, such things did once exist!) A typical episode would find Mel facing some sort of relationship complication with his girlfriend Betty (Mary Jane Croft, who appeared as Betty Ramsey on I Love Lucy). But it [Read more…]

“Der Fuehrer’s Face”

During World War II, animation was a popular way to rally support for the troops, educate the country about how they could help out with the war effort, and serve as propaganda for the world.

“Daffy-The Commando” 

In addition to traditional length shorts, there were also several interstitial pieces created, such as “Any Bonds Today?”

As you can see, many of these cartoons featured charactures that played upon racial stereotypes… many of which are not politically correct in the eyes of today’s audiences. The big studios have gone to great lengths to keep many such cartoons as hard to find as possible for fear of a backlash. Maybe this is why we don’t see many war cartoons like we used to? There are still a few cartoons that handle such material, but do so in a much different way. For instance, have a look at this fight between Cartman and [Read more…]