For Sunday: "Bimbo's Initiation" (another Max Fleischer cartoon)

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This is another Betty Boop cartoon. It’s got the same dreamlike animation as the others I’ve posted recently, and is definitely creepy in spots. But it’s worth watching.

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For Sunday: Cab Calloway sings "Minnie the Moocher"

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Here’s another Fleischer cartoon from the Betty Boop collection: the great Cab Calloway as Koko the Clown, singing “Minnie the Moocher.”

She was the roughest toughest frail

But Minnie had a heart ‘bout as big as a whale.

Hi-de hi-de hi-de hi!

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For Sunday: Olive Oyl does the Broadway Samba

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This is a very nice Popeye cartoon from 1944. It’s more of a Road picture a la Bing Crosby and Bob Hope than the usual slugfest; Bluto (who’s in wonderful voice) and Popeye do a beautiful duet, and then they meet the ravishing Carioca incarnation of Olive Oyl, who sings (in Portuguese and English) the “Broadway Samba.”

 

 

Ole!

 

 

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Daffy Duck

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Ms. J. K. Rowling has given us the the idea of the Patronus: the ghostly animal that comes jumping out to protect you when you’re in trouble.

 

 

I have never had any doubt about mine.

 

 

My spirit animal, my Patronus, is an angry greedy little black duck who often gets his beak shot off.

 

 

I grew up with Warner Brothers cartoons; I couldn’t get enough of them. Since many of them were made in the 1930s and 1940s, I was often puzzled by the cultural references (and still haven’t worked some of them out), but I could tell that they were smart and witty and clever – in an adult way – far more than their competitors at Disney or Hanna-Barbera or MGM.

 

 

I loved Bugs Bunny, of course. I had a stuffed Bugs Bunny that talked when you pulled his string. He said things like “I like you!” and “I’m sleepy” and (naturally) “What’s up, doc?” I cherished him and took him to bed with me every night.

 

 

But my favorite cartoons were the ones with Daffy Duck.

 

 

Daffy is lazy, and not very honest. He is vindictive. He goes into futile rages. Sometimes he’s so angry that he’s speechless. He schemes, but his schemes aren’t very well constructed. He tries very hard to be sophisticated, and he fails every time. He almost always says the wrong thing. He is easily defeated.

 

 

But he always comes popping back up. He’s indefatigable. He might close his eyes for a moment and take a deep breath, but he always comes back for more. He fails, but he keeps trying.

 

 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is me in a nutshell.

 

 

I’m a greedy little coward, and I often fail, but I just keep going and going.

 

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Gay cartoon characters I have known

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Gay.com recently did a little piece on the gayest cartoon characters of the past fifty years. They picked up on the recent cartoons, of course – Stewie Griffin, Mister Smithers, Roger the alien on “American Dad.”  But they found quite a few in older cartoons too.

 

 

In hindsight: how can we not have known?

 

 

For example:

 

 

Snagglepuss. He's a pink mountain lion, for God's sake.  And he thinks he's an actor. He reminds me of a lot of people I know.

 

 

Several of the Transformers. Especially Starscream, an ineffectual villain with a high shrieky voice. He reminds me of a lot of people I know.

 

 

Several GI Joe heroes and villains. Doctor Mindbender, who mostly dresses in torn leather. Cobra Commander, who camps it up so much he's liable to burst into flames. Gung-Ho, the huge Marine with the tattoos and the torn flannel. Shipwreck, the Jack Nicholson sailor with the chronically unbuttoned shirt.  Collectively they remind me of so many people I know.

 

 

Peppermint Patty. And Marcy too, I suppose, although they both seem to pine after Charlie Brown.

 

 

Vanity Smurf.  This one hits especially close to home.  For me it's like looking into a mirror.

 

Theatrical, stylish, evil.  And always entertaining.

 

Once again: how could we not have known?

 

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