Right on Schedule
Comic Strip Week rocks on with today’s item, a 1936 RKO/Van Beuren cartoon based on Fontaine Fox’s “Toonerville Folks.” By the time this film was released, the eccentric Toonerville gang was a national institution, having already entertained readers for almost thirty years (and they would go on for another twenty!) Everybody knew all about the Toonerville Trolley, the Skipper, Powerful Katrinka and the Terrible Tempered Mr. Bang, so the animators didn’t waste a lot of time on introductions in “Trolley Ahoy, ” the second of three Toonerville cartoons.
Burt Gillett, a seasoned Disney guy, worked on all the Toonerville films, and didn’t try too hard to get the exact look of the original comic while directing this one. In the funny pages the action was scribbled down by Fox in a crazy, squiggly style, usually framed from a high vantage point, as if we were perched on a telephone pole. Here, the Van Bueren folks just try to keep everything racing forward, focusing on the vivid characterizations and LOTS of frenzied activity. And from our “why isn’t real life like an animated cartoon” department — wouldn’t it be nice to have a small, travel size cyclone to help keep you on your daily schedule?
A cartoon a day, Monday through Friday — ReFrederator will keep you on track!
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