CARTOONING'S "GREAT EXTINCTION"

I've heard that geologists believe there were at least two great extinctions on Earth, one caused by an asteroid collision and the other by a volcano. I believe I can point to a third one, one that decimated funny cartoonists in the late 1920s and early 30s.

Don't believe me? Look at Lantz's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (above) which I assume is close to the design Disney used when he invented the character in the 20s. It's a bit flat but it has guts and looks like it can sustain comedy. I can imagine this guy putting a hot iron in his girlfriend's underpants.

Here's (above) the same character years down the line. It's overdrawn, grotesque and definitely not funny. I can't even imagine pulling off a gag with a character like this. John thinks the studio mindlessly shot itself in the foot by attempting to copy Disney. Steve Worth thinks Lantz might have been a victim of his own success. Maybe he had so much work to get out that he had to hire a lot of unfunny people.

Here's (above) another version which is cuter and more appealing. You can do some gags with a character like this but only some. The design emphasizes charcter and dimensional animation possibilities, not comedy. This was the era of the Great Extinction. If you were funny and worked at one of the big cartoon studios then you probably kept your jokes to yourself... that is, until Tex and Clampett came along.

Print media underwent a similar extinction. Opper (above) was doing funny cartoons in 1903. Somewhere in the 20s a lot of the Opper-types were weeded out and a new species replaced them (below)...

...the designers! One of the best designers was George McManus (that's his strip above). His stuff is beautifully drawn but it's not exactly funny. Mc Manus could be hilarious when he wanted to be but during The Great Extinction funny artists had to keep a low profile. Exceptions can be found: Milt Gross, Segar, Goldberg and De Beck; nevertheless, open any newspaper cartoon anthology from this period and you'll have to look hard for the practitioners of funny.

Eventually the writers (including artist/writers) took over. Little Orphan Annie (above) had so much dialogue that the charcters must have become stoop-shouldered. Newspaper strips of this era were READ, just like a novel. Eventually a counter-revolution was mounted but that's another story. The Great Extinction in print media raged for decades and it's still with us, even today.

BEATNIK POETRY

Sorry to put up more YouTube videos. I really am overdoing it. I'll return to mostly print, I promise. Anyway, here's the poem that opens up the film, "Trainspotting." It's actually a good poem, or at least it seems that way when given the star treatment that the filmmaker gave it. Technically it's a punk poem rather than a beatnik poem but the beatnik pedigree is pretty obvious when you hear it.





This is an awful poem but it's too funny to exclude. Were beatniks really like this?

TWO OF MY FAVORITE MOZART ARIAS

OK, OK, I know cartoonists hate opera but you can't hate ALL opera, that doesn't make sense. What's there not to like in this beautiful song by Mozart, "Voi Che Sapete?" I love songs that make an argument, as this song does. With a little time I might be able to articulate what that argument is. Reading the lyrics will probably be slight help. The content of musical argument usually has more to do with subtext than with formal story points.

Too bad YouTube didn't have Elizabeth Schwarzkopff's version of this song.





This (above) is from Ingmar Bergman's version of "Magic Flute." It's not the best aria in the film, that would have been the one that's sung earlier in the story when the queen is first introduced to the knight, but this is still pretty good.

Radical feminists hate this song because it portrays the heroine's mother as crazy, or at least lacking balance, and sets up the case that the father would be a more fit guardian for the daughter because he's more...what's the word...philosophical. I'm not taking sides here, you be the judge!

WELCOME TO THE MIKE PLAYHOUSE

Tonight Theory Corner relinquishes its bandwidth to my friend Mike's TV show, also called Mike's Philoprogenetive Playhouse. Here you'll encounter the celebrity artist's fav actors, musicians and lechable women. First on the bill (above): Spike Jones with Perez Prado.

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Mike's a big Soupy Sales fan. Here's (above) an excerpt from the famous early 60s kids'show.




Hang on because it starts to get weird here. Mike is a big Sophia Loren fan. He watches the films endlessly, waiting for the nude scenes which, in the era these films were made in, never came. I have to admit Sophia looks pretty good here.





Now things REALLY get weird! Here's Annette Funicello (above) singing "Lonely Guitar, There is No One to Love Us." Mike drools rivers over Annette and probably cries over songs like this one.




Here's another Annette film called something like "Swingin' Pajama Party." Actually Mike isn't in love with the Mouseketeer Annette but rather the older Annette shown here. I don't get it. Annette was a cute kid, no doubt about it, but she didn't age well. I can speak candidly about this because I'm safe at home at my computer. If I said this infront of Mike who knows what would happen?




Last but not least, a sample of the awesome (according to Mike) acting ability of Shirley Temple. I saw "Heidi" with Mike and had to endure endless tear-filled replays of Shirley returning grumpy old men's vitriol with sweet, little moppet charm. Now if only Shirley had sung "Lonely Guitar..."

YOUR NEXT BACKYARD PROJECT

Isn't it beautiful!? I've had this picture for years but I can't remember where I got it. I think it's a detail of a Mayan wall. If anybody out there is about to undertake some brickwork, I recommend that they throw out their plans and redraw them to incorporate this.

Of course this probably requires a stone mason at a trillion dollars an hour.

FASCINATING WOMEN

Above, Edith Piaff. When will we see her like again?




Jeanne Moreau, infinitely charming.




Marlene Deitrich. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like this song.





Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit." John K turned me onto this.





My namesake, Ella Fitzgerald!

IT'S EASIER TO WRITE FUNNY

You often hear animation writers complain that there was no time to make a story funny. Well, that happens sometimes, no doubt about it. I sympathize. The question needs to be asked though, "Why were the stories so unfunny when you did have time?" I imagine that this is an unanswerable question. Animation writers believe there's never enough time.


On the other hand, maybe they're right. The kind of shows they come up with defy funny writing. How do you come up with a laugh-out-loud funny story for a typical writers' series premise like: "Six grade school friends (the skateboarder dude, the minority computer whiz, the perky intelligent girl, the over-eater, the inventer and the beautiful Bratz-type girl) solve problems in the school by making their fellow students aware of the importance of being themselves"? Is it even possible to write a funny story for a premise like that?


I do have advice for writers (hopefully artist/writers) who are lucky enough to work on short cartoon projects where humor is at least possible. If you need to write quickly then:


BUILD YOUR STORY AROUND A FUNNY SITUATION.


One character accidentally sits on another's hat and crushes it. He tries to apologize but the situation strikes him as so funny that he laughs instead. Believing the first guy is unrepentant the owner of the hat grabs a pair of scissors and cuts the other's tie in half, The two retaliate against each other in ever escalating steps till they're demolishing each other's houses. That's a funny situation, stolen from Laurel and Hardy. "King Size Canary" was about a funny situation. Funny situations are easier to write than plots, and they can easily be extended into stories. All you have to do is figure out how to get your characters into the situation and that's easy.


What some writers don't realize is that comedy isn't there just to get a laugh...


COMEDY IS AN ORGANIZING TOOL.


If you commit to writing a funny cartoon it's amazing how many story structure problems just vanish. In the example above the set-up is obvious: two friends meet in a kitchen and declare their undying affection for each other, an affection that would surely stand up to any test, no matter what. They then proceed to wreck each other over an accidentally crushed hat. If you have a good situation (sketch) idea the set-up practically writes itself.


In other words...

YOU CAN WRITE FASTER BY COMMITTING TO COMEDY.

A funny series premise is easier and faster to write for than an unfunny one. Complicated, writerly series premises are inefficient. They cost more to make and they're harder to write for.


BTW, I don't mean to imply that all stories should be written exactly the way I described here. There are lots of ways to go.