by Michelle Klein-Häss
It aired on Saturday, March 14th, but there is still sniping going on in rec.arts.animation about the Cartoon Network USA's "50 Greatest Cartoons" mega-marathon. Certainly it was not a perfect event, by any stretch...the traced and painted version of the classic Popeye cartoon "A Dream Walking" stood in for the superior Black and White version, and the classic Bob Clampett Warner Bros. cartoon "Porky In Wackyland" was supplanted by the lesser Friz Freleng remake "Dough For The Do-Do." Betty Boop was represented not by the beautifully restored Fleischer Color Classic "Poor Cinderella" which they could have gotten access to for the asking from UCLA School of Film and Television; nor by "Snow White," the black-and-white cartoon that is universally seen as the greatest Betty Boop cartoon ever and was put on the Library of Congress' special preservation list; but by "Betty In Blunderland," an inferior selection. And of course, Disney was unwilling to let any of their classic shorts go considering that they are looking to mount a challenge to the Cartoon Network in their upcoming Toon Disney network. Truly the show should have been called "The 50 Greatest Cartoons that Time Warner has access to."
However, when everything is tallied up and assessed at the end of the day, "The 50 Greatest Cartoons" was a truly enjoyable event that showed off the riches of the combined cartoon library of Warner Bros. and the former Turner Entertainment. From the acquisition of Turner, Warner Bros. has reunited its 1948 and prior cartoons with its 1948 and after library. It has also acquired the MGM Cartoon Studio's entire output from the '30s to the '60s, television rights (but not video rights, sadly) for the Fleischer, Famous Studios and King Features Popeye cartoons, and television rights for some but not all of the other output of Fleischer. And of course, they acquired Hanna-Barbera, and although H-B was shut down and merged with Warner Bros. TV Animation, Warner Bros. seems to be chomping at the bit to exploit Gen-X favorites like Scooby Doo. When you compare that library to what Disney has to start Toon Disney, there is no comparison.
Perhaps this marathon speaks of a new day for the Cartoon Network. Started in 1992 by Turner Entertainment, CN had for years been a place for Turner to show old Hanna-Barbera SatAM cartoons and not much else. But it seems like when CN embarked on the "What A Cartoon" shorts project, a little glimmer of the possibility of what could be emerged. "What A Cartoon" is still in operation, and has become the development ground for CN original programming like "Johnny Bravo," "Cow and Chicken" and best of all "Dexter's Laboratory." There will be two more series joining these ranks, including a new one from "Lupo The Butcher" auteur Danny Antonnucci.
CN's unique uses for its library have also been exemplified by "Space Ghost Coast to Coast," a kitchy talk show cobbled together with digitized footage from the old "Space Ghost" animated series. Although not necessarily my personal cup of tea, "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" has become a cult hit with people raised on smart-alecky fare like David Letterman and "Talk Soup." Certainly you gotta give it to the creators of "SGCTC" for original repurposing of old material.
But it is this new emphasis on the rich history of American, and in the case of the excellent anthology show "O Canada" Canadian animation that excites me the most. Certainly a channel with such a huge and historic film library at its disposal should emphasise animation history. It's almost Noblesse Oblige.
Where would I like to see Cartoon Network go next? For one thing, now that there is both a West Coast and East Coast feed of CN, they have no excuse not to perhaps trot out the more politically incorrect material they have in their library in the late night hours. I mentioned the idea of a "Director's Cut" show to CN VP (and true Animation Nerd) Linda Simensky...a show which would show classic WB and MGM cartoons the way they were intended to air, complete with all the gags cut in decades of concern about children's viewing. True, you would have to perhaps run disclaimers before each cartoon which warned of potentially offensive content, or maybe even disclaimer "pop-ups" but it would be worth it to see these great cartoons as their directors meant them to be shown. A show like this would more than make up for years of wincing at P.C. editing, particularly at the hands of Turner.
Another way Cartoon Network could honor the rich history of animation would be to turn the interstitial interviews done for the "50 Greatest" marathon into a series. Unfortunately there is but one Termite Terrace director living, and that's Chuck Jones. But there are archival interviews with other great cartoon directors -- the interviews with Bob Clampett which peppered "Bugs Bunny Superstar" in particular come to mind. And there remain great animators and voice actors still among the living, people like Ray Harryhausen and June Foray and Stan Freberg and Faith Hubley who should be interviewed before they too are lost to history.
Actually, Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman has also come up with some great ideas for expanding the CN programming schedule, and I believe they are worth serious consideration. Read his article for more information.
Still and all, CN is on the right track, and should move forward in this direction. It's not yet a time to say "tune it in and rip the knob off" but CN is more and more becoming a staple of my viewing diet.
If you have a rebuttal to this editorial, send it to mhass703@2cowherd.net. We'll be happy to post it here.
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