Requiescat in pace - June Foray - 1917-2017

Animator and director Chuck Jones said of June Foray, "June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc; Mel Blanc was the male June Foray."

For a cartoon voice artist, there can be no greater tribute.  There were other tributes as well during her long career, many awards, among them she holds the honor of being the oldest person--at age 94--to be nominated for, and win, an Emmy.  June Foray died last week just shy of her 100th birthday.

I take particular pride in noting that she came from my neck of the woods, western Massachusetts.  She was born and raised in Springfield, graduated from Classical High School in that city, and her first work as a voice artist came on the local Springfield radio station WBZA.

Fortunately for us, her work was recorded on video, audio, children's records, a wide array of media--and the sound media that gave her a career will continue to give us enjoyment of her talent.   She lived a century, and her work reflects the media explosion of that remarkable century.  Here is a clip on YouTube of only some of her voice characters.  Have a listen, and look at her cartoon characters.  You can't help but smile.

Cartoons Caricature Hollywood

There are two aspects that immediately grab the viewer: first, the sometimes extreme ugliness of the caricatured images of stars who were otherwise celebrated for glamour; second, that these stars were marketed like products and brands of the studio based on their physical "type."  Nowhere is this more glaringly apparent than in their animated cartoon likenesses. 

Today we join the Classic Movie Blog Association's Hollywood on Hollywood blogathon.  Have a look here for more entries.

The cartoons we discuss today that lampooned the stars were produced by every studio.  One of the earliest, Mickey's Gala Primier (1933) was a black and white cartoon put out by Disney.  Mickey and Minnie Mouse attend a Hollywood premiere of one of Mickey's cartoons, and all the stars are there, emerging from a single limousine, as klieg lights arch into the sky.  Wallace Beery and Marie Dressler, the three Barrymores in their Rasputin guises (a movie we covered here), Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Eddie Cantor, Jimmy Durante, Joan Crawford--a huge list of greats. Some like George Arliss would not be as identifiable possibly even ten years later, that is to say he would not have been worthy of parody in popular culture.  Greta Garbo, however, who was much parodied in these cartoons (in particularly unflattering jibes), was a star whose greatness can be measured by the fact that her name was still identifiable long after she stopped making films, and was therefore still the butt of jokes.

The Hollywood Bowl (1938) was put out by Universal under Walter Lantz, known for Woody Woodpecker, which, again in black and white, showed all the major stars of the day attending a performance at the Hollywood Bowl.  Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields are among the most well-known here--and Garbo is again skewered, invariably portrayed as a somewhat somnolent stooge--but Jean Hersholt is on hand, and the Ritz Brothers, all probably less identifiable to later audiences.

Ned Sparks seems to pop up with great regularity in these cartoons too.  For film buffs, trying to name the actors flashing on screen for only seconds at a time is great fun and quite challenging.

Katharine Hepburn's angular features and distinctive voice always make her a good target for caricaturists and she appears in this cartoon, as well as others in the 1940s.  Joe E. Brown, the enormous mouth that devours the entire screen is another regular, but in this cartoon, Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Rudy Vallee, and Leopold Stokowski, his  long hair in a snood, also get the works.  What may be surprising to young fans of classic films and cartoons today was that conductor Stokowski was actually something of a "rock star" in his day. 

He also appears in Hollywood Steps Out (1941), which, as you can see by the screen caps here, has some of the best drawn, and least offensive, caricatures of the stars.

Included in this one are Ann Sheridan, Sonja Henie on skates, Cesar Romero, Mickey and Judy, Henry Fonda, but I'd have to say my favorite is of C. Aubrey Smith. 

The Golden State (1948) is a travelogue type cartoon (that ends in a singalong of "California Here I Come") with cameos of Dorothy Lamour, who is of course, in a sarong, as well as Johnny Weismuller in Tarzan garb. 

Hollywood Picnic (1937) gives us, along with Garbo and Joe E. Brown, without whom no cartoon lampoon of the stars is complete, a brief glimpse at Edward Arnold, which seems surprisingly without any exaggeration, and a stereotyped Stepin Fetchit.  Young audiences today will justly be offended at the racism, however they will likely be ignorant that this portrayal of Fetchit was on the mark: this was his act.  This was his brand.  Joe E. Lewis had a great career on Broadway, but in Hollywood, his brand was his large mouth.  James Stewart was a terrific stage and screen actor: to Hollywood, he was a lanky, stammering twit.

Edna May Oliver, likewise, an esteemed stage actress whose screen roles were exquisitely nuanced, had her value to Hollywood, especially the publicity departments that pushed these cartoons, reduced to an ugly old lady.

Hollywood Detour (1942) brings the gang back for a bus tour of the town.  This one was Columbia.  Garbo is back with her large feet and sleepy affect.  Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth, however, get off without being cruelty teased.

Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938), another Walt Disney offering, gives comic sendups of Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Freddie Bartholomew, Edward G. Robinson, Martha Raye, and most of the others mentioned above.

There seemed to be less cartoon parodies of the stars by the mid 1940s--though Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall would pop up in Slick Hare (1947) and in Eight Ball Bunny (1950).  Here the caricatures are not unkind.

When the studio system began to break up and the actors were free agents, they were less likely to be marketed according to their branded caricature. 

Did audiences of the day discover through these cartoons what brilliantly blue eyes William Powell had, an actor they normally saw only in black and white films?

Take a look at the other swell blogs participating in the Hollywood on Hollywood blogathon.

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The audio book for Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. is now for sale on Audible.com, and on Amazon and iTunes.

Also in paperback and eBook from Amazon.

Make Mine Music (1946) and Melody Time (1948)

 

Make Mine Music (1946) and Melody Time (1948) are two of the series of five “anthology” animated features produced by Walt Disney in the 1940s. Most of the animation crew of the Disney studio were away serving in the military, and a reduced staff were left juggling some orphan story ideas. These cartoon collections were like a casserole made of leftovers, but quite delightful.

I have a particular fondness for these Disney anthology features, which also include Saludos Amigos (1942), The Three Caballeros (1944),  and Fun and Fancy Free (1947), which we covered in this previous post.  Tied loosely by a general theme of music and folklore, the cartoons in each anthology are tune-filled, vibrant, and nostalgic.  There are also restful. 

That’s kind of a funny thing to say about a cartoon, but I find them soothing.  They are like half-remembered lullabies from childhood that still calm and entertain.

Make Mine Musicand Melody Time are both popular music cousins to the more distinguished Fantasia (1940), which sought to evoke animated stream-of-conscious visions to classical music.  They also drift into the realm of folk tales.  Both feature popular singers of the day, which is especially enjoyable.

The roster for Make Mine Music includes a segment called “Blue Bayou” with, literally, a blue bayou featuring trees, mirrored images on the water, and a pair of white herons to a sleepy tune by the Ken Darby Chorus. 

Benny Goodman, the King of Swing, gives us “All the Cats Join In,” with striking minimalist animated style such as we would normally find at the innovative UPA studio of the era.  We follow teens going to the malt shop in a peppy jive that’s really cool.

The minimalist cartoon style is continued in “A Ballad in Blue” with Andy Russell singing “Without You.”  Moonlight on the water, moody, impressionistic, rain-washed.

Folk tales and “poetry corner,” as Bullwinkle and Rocky would say, with a rendition of the classic, “Casey at the Bat.”  It’s a more or less musical recitation by the larger-than-life Jerry Colonna.

Dinah Shore sings “Two Silhouettes” in a Fantasia-like scene, and Sterling Holloway narrates “Peter and the Wolf.”  The Goodman Quintet jams on “After You’ve Gone” in another Fantasia clone with images suggestive of Salvador Dali in the expression of sounds and the image of shifting sands.

The cute and unexpectedly poignant “Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet” follow the romantic adventures of a man’s hat and a lady’s hat, courtesy of The Andrews Sisters.  If I can have my heart broken by a couple of cartoon hats that get separated because one of them gets bought, then I suppose it doesn’t take much to destroy me.

My favorite piece of Make Mine Music is the grand finale, the “Opera Pathetique” starring the resounding voice of Nelson Eddy, who portrays Willie the Whale, “The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met.”  Mr. Eddy narrates and sings the arias of the operatic hopeful whale.  I love the image of the giant whale standing on his tail in a Pagliacci costume on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.  Most impressive is Nelson’s singing all three male voices in the Sextet segment of Lucia di Lammermoor.  There is a sad ending to this tale, but as Bugs Bunny says of grand opera, “What did you expect, a happy ending?”

The Pied Pipers, the Kings Men, popular choral groups of the day also lend a hand, with the Kings Men doing a raucous takeoff on “The Martins and the Coys” hillbilly feud.

There is a fad now about adult coloring books.  Most of the ones I’ve seen feature pages with evocative patterns of an almost psychedelic design.  Coloring them in is supposed to be relaxing for us stressed adults.  The fluid animated imaginings of these cartoons is likewise therapeutic.

 

Melody Time was released two years after Make Mine Music, and is quite similar in style. Freddy Martin and a frenetic cartoon bee take off in “Bumble Boogie” in the “Flight of the Bumble Bee.” The Andrews Sisters give us “Little Toot,” the tale of a junior tug boat who, despite his rascally ways, makes good in the clinch. 

Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians are the background to the poem “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer, as dawn cascades over an impressionistic landscape, and diamonds of mist dot airy cobwebs.

Ethel Smith and the Dinning Sisters give us “Blame it on the Samba”.  Making a guest appearance are two of the “three caballeros” – Donald Duck and Joe Carioca in a surreal and comical conga drum nightmare.  I love Donald Duck in anything.

The grand finale to this collection is Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers telling us the tale of Pecos Bill.  “Uncle Roy” spins the yarn for two young-uns played by Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten, who also appeared in Disney’s Song of the South (1946) and So Dear to My Heart (1948).

I think my favorite segment of Melody Time, however, is the tale of Johnny Appleseed told and sung by the wonderful Dennis Day.  He narrates, including doing different voices.  Old Time Radio aficionados will know that Mr. Day was a terrific mimic, doing a variety of voices on The Jack Benny Show and other shows, and his crystal-clear tenor voice could soar, charm, and enchant.  The cartoon character of Johnny Appleseed even looks like him.

The whimsical storytelling of these animated anthologies is perhaps less prestigious than the Disney full-length features, those projects where Disney swung for the fences, but there are small and significant gems here.  They do not require as much an emotional investment from us, but they warm the heart.  Nostalgic, certainly, and for some of us they literally recall our childhoods.  I remember them not only from television, but from the projector in a grammar school assembly that was a Christmastime treat.  They were gentle in tone, and none of them featured a wicked witch, which was a relief.  Life is stressful enough sometimes, whether you’re seven or seventy-seven. 

Take a look at several snippets of these cartoons on YouTube.  It’ll take you back.  

 

 

Also: just a note to draw your attention to the "free preview" box in the upper right corner for my book on Ann Blyth.  Click on the cover and you get to read the first few chapters.  Enjoy.

 

COMING ATTRACTIONS:  Next week is part 2 in our year-long series on the state of the classic film fan.  I'll post my interview with blogger and author Cliff Aliperti of Immortal Ephemera and a review of his new book: Helen Twelvetrees, Perfect Ingenue. 

 

 

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"Lynch’s book is organized and well-written – and has plenty of amusing observations – but when it comes to describing Blyth’s movies, Lynch’s writing sparkles." - Ruth Kerr, Silver Screenings

"Jacqueline T. Lynch creates a poignant and thoroughly-researched mosaic of memories of a fine, upstanding human being who also happens to be a legendary entertainer." - Deborah Thomas, Java's Journey

"One of the great strengths of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. is that Lynch not only gives an excellent overview of Blyth's career -- she offers detailed analyses of each of Blyth's roles -- but she puts them in the context of the larger issues of the day."- Amanda Garrett, Old Hollywood Films

"Jacqueline's book will hopefully cause many more people to take a look at this multitalented woman whose career encompassed just about every possible aspect of 20th Century entertainment." - Laura Grieve, Laura's Miscellaneous Musings

"Jacqueline T. Lynch’s Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. is an extremely well researched undertaking that is a must for all Blyth fans." - Annette Bochenek, Hometowns to Hollywood

Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. 
by Jacqueline T. Lynch

The first book on the career of actress Ann Blyth. Multitalented and remarkably versatile, Blyth began on radio as a child, appeared on Broadway at the age of twelve in Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine, and enjoyed a long and diverse career in films, theatre, television, and concerts. A sensitive dramatic actress, the youngest at the time to be nominated for her role in Mildred Pierce (1945), she also displayed a gift for comedy, and was especially endeared to fans for her expressive and exquisite lyric soprano, which was showcased in many film and stage musicals. Still a popular guest at film festivals, lovely Ms. Blyth remains a treasure of the Hollywood's golden age.

The eBook and paperback are available from Amazon and CreateSpace, which is the printer.  You can also order it from my Etsy shop. It is also available at the Broadside Bookshop, 247 Main Street, Northampton, Massachusetts.

If you wish a signed copy, then email me at JacquelineTLynch@gmail.com and I'll get back to you with the details.

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My new syndicated column SILVER SCREEN, GOLDEN YEARS, on classic film is up at Go60  or check with your local paper.