Lulu’s Back in Town
Comic Strip Week comes to a close with “A Scout with Gout,” a 1947Little Lulu cartoon from Paramount/Famous cartoon. ‘Marge’ (as in ‘Marge’s Little Lulu”) referred to Marjorie Henderson Bell, the cartoonist who introduced the tiny terror in the Saturday Evening Post, back in the thirties. But most baby boomers remember Lulu for just about everything else she did outside that original venue — comic books, animated cartoons… even her stint as spokesperson for Kleenex tissues.
I always thought Little Lulu was just about the most underrated classic cartoon series from animation’s golden era. These things had wonderful production values, and were, on the whole, among the funniest films Famous ever turned out.
Don’t you just love Lulu’s pop in “A Scout with Gout?” A really zesty, full blooded personality —look at his body language describing the great outdoors. No doubt a lot of this extra punch is due to the fact that the director was Bill Tytla, one of the greatest character animators of all time. I suppose after drawing the demon king in “Fantasia,” everything would be anti-climatic, but, like a lot of Tytla’s post Disney work, “Scout” is really first rate. All the business in the end where Dad ingests an entire brook is pretty fabulous!
Next week, we’re off in a new direction celebrating celebrity cameos in classic cartoons. Accept no imitations! Log on to ReFrederator, the first daily cartoon podcast.
»