I’m breaking my own vow to not post anything until an organic comment happens anywhere on this site, but there’s a loophole! It’s another gently used/recycled post from the old tumblr blog, so I’m not counting it as a new post, see? It’s all very sound logically, believe me!
Anyhow, I used to do a cartoon every Sunday there so I figured why not give it a try here too? I’m not doing any editing of the original either, so it’s all good. Relax chief! I now give you a younger and much much dumber me, circa 2016-ish I guess:
Why I didn’t think to foist this one back around election time I have no idea. Perhaps I was in shock, as were all right-thinking world citizens. Today we’ll remedy this unforgivable failure on my part to mark the course of human events with the appropriate ‘toon.
Ballot Box Bunny (1950 – Friz Freleng) is a pretty good one. You have Yosemite Sam at his mean and rowdy, egomaniacal best, with an extra bit of Mel Blanc chutzpah in the voice-work, and a typically combative yet resourceful friend of the little guy, of humanity itself, in Bugs. It’s basically the same old series of explosion gags and the like, but the premise and overall sheen of quality add a little extra frosting to the cake.
There’s really not a whole lot else to say here. I’m not generally a fan of Freleng’s directorial efforts, but he did do most of the Yosemite Sam ‘toons, and this one’s about as good as those get. It’s simplistic stuff, but at this point (and for a year or two more) the quality of everything at his disposal was good enough to lift simplicity and repetition to a certain level of near-greatness. In other words, this ain’t the best ‘toon ever, but there are a whole lot worse.
If you have an eye for detail, you might notice things like the two different pie-anna notes that result from hitting the same key, or the names of various WB writers and animators used in the backgrounds on buildings and statues. Always fun (and particularly so in this one) are the reaction shots of Sam. Nobody’s funnier-lookin’ after an explosion or gunshot than ol’ Sam!
As you might imagine, this one got censored quite a bit late in the TV days, what with all the shootin’ and blowin’ one another up and all. The ending is indicative of how comfortable the WB guys were with the fact that cartoon reality is just that. I doubt they lost much sleep worrying that children would be playing Russian roulette because of their comedic efforts.
Anyway, I hope you like this one! And that Sam doesn’t remind you too much of a certain someone, or if he does that you’re able to laugh anyway. It’s a great way to keep from crying! Hopefully just for a few more years. Let us hope the globe can withstand the effects of charismatic sleazoid idiocy until then…
Hey there! It’s current day me again… Unfortunately it’s impossible these days to negotiate the flood of video results when you search a cartoon title, and this place can only embed YouTube video, nothing else that I’ve discovered anyway, so there! A reason for someone to comment! Organically! It’ll be healthy!
So what I decided on was this thing, a nerd talking about the cartoon as you see it. I used to watch a lot of these when I was first learning about the various directors and all that shit. This one woman, Kali Fontecchio, an animator/artist/musician herself, was excellent on the commentary for Bully For Bugs, with a laugh that made me very happy indeed, as well as intelligent comments on the ‘toon, especially when talking about the silly horse character!
Since the dialog isn’t all that important in this one I said fuck it… He knows his shit! I’m not subscribing or anything but there are worse places to learn about a specific ‘toon. Here’s the nerd. His name is Trevor, so introduce yourself and tell him I sent you, which will confuse him but possibly cause actual traffic to occur here somehow! It could happen! Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Trevor! Enjoy! And comment ffs! It’s perfectly safe, but watch for spiders and snakes:
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