Dem Bones
From 1931, we are visited by an unsettling little apparition entitled “Spooks,” starring the ever popular Flip the Frog. Flip was the brainchild (or brain-tadpole, if you prefer) of Ub Iwerks, the one time partner of Walt Disney. After his first few adventures, Flip stopped puddle jumping, and was redesigned to look not so much like an amphibian, but a noseless, earless Mickey Mouse type character wearing a little sailor hat. Seems to me many of his best films involve the fantastic and the downright creepy (i.e. “Funny Face,” “The Cuckoo Murder Case,” “Techno-Cracked,” etc.)
Since animated skeletons were to Ub Iwerks what Monument Valley was to John Ford, it’s not surprising that “Spooks,” a cartoon crammed with boney antagonists, is one of the best of Flip’s best. I really like the crazy curve backgrounds in the haunted house. And we never seem to be far away from one of Iwerks’ trademark ‘earthy’ gags, stuff that was borderline bad taste way back when, but seems almost charming today.
ReFrederator reappears tomorrow with a famous feline and some galloping ghosts.
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On May 23rd, 2006 at 12:00 am
I don’t recall getting Flip the Frog on any of the 7 TV channels we received when I was a kid, but I sure like him now. Everything he does & everything that happens has a distinct rhythm & always beats to the music. Very pleasing.
But this episode brings to mind some questions.
Like, how long do you have to be cooped up in a ramshackle house with your skeleton collection under glass of visitors past, before you start wearing a top hat & swimming flippers, (and nothing else), on a regular basis?
And how long is too long to keep the dog around after it dies? Do the ears & tongue have to disappear completely?
And what do ya do when ya gotta make your getaway in the mud after a storm?
You get horse that wears Danish clogs, that’s whatcha doo, if I’m not mistakin’.
On May 23rd, 2006 at 12:00 am
This one’s fantastic, a real gem. The surprise ending really kicks things up, and you wonder what else might be in store for Flip after the cartoon is over. Maybe he’s haunted for life, the poor kid.
On May 26th, 2006 at 12:00 am
It was Iwerks who figured out how to sync sound for cartoons when he worked for Disney and it became the strong point for his studio’s work after he broke away.