"Lost" and Found

By Martin "Dr. 'Toon" Goodman

Ah, the myriad joys of surfing the web. For those (like myself) whose resources are somewhat limited due to being confined to the prairies of the Midwest, the web is a magical connection to animation information and contacts that could not be made otherwise. My very presence on the ANP website, in fact, came from a hopeful E-mail that I sent Michelle Klein-Häss back in January. Needless to say, my bookmarks are a compendium of prime animation sites, and my constant perusal of them provides the grist for this month's column. I am not planning any reviews, mind you; I merely wish to elaborate on an insight or two that these sites have thoughtfully provided me. I speak in particular of several sites that concern themselves with "lost" and "forgotten" cartoons.

One site that cannot help but draw attention is the Toon Tracker page run by one Ronald Kurer. This gent has thrown every remarkable gimmick known to the web into his site, and I would gladly elaborate on this if I had any idea as to how it was done. Suffice it to say that you can download animation, theme music, old commercials, pages devoted to individual toons, and other surprises I deign not to reveal here; by all means visit the site on your own (I suspect if you are reading this, you have already done so) and marvel at it's entertaining complexity. Mr. Kurer will even answer your cartoon questions most affably and accurately, armed with a gif compendium which must be the roughly the size of Montana. Ron Kurer bills himself as the "Finder of Lost Cartoons, and it is this title that gave me pause to think.

You see, my readers, at first, I did not understand. As I am a grizzled old codger of nearly forty-two years, I could not review his index without recognizing all the toons listed therein. I remembered Hoppity Hooper and Space Angel ; Beany and Cecil; Spunky and Tadpole. The Funny Company? I remember sketching doodles of Terry Dactyl in my school notebook rather than recording the exploits of Nathan Hale during History class. Calvin and the Colonel? Yes...but most of the humor went a mile over my young head at the time, and I didn't think the cartoon to be humorous in the least. Ruff and Reddy? Sure. What, then, did Mr. Kurer mean when he spoke of "lost" cartoons?

My confusion grew as I plumbed this website. What makes a cartoon a candidate for designation as "lost"? It couldn't be obscurity; how to explain the inclusion of Rocky and Bullwinkle, or Gumby? Was it a matter of being a great but unrecognized precursor, a revolutionary influence on future animation? That doesn't wash when discussing Tennessee Tuxedo or The King and Odie . Was it simply a matter of Mr. Kurer's personal opinion? After all, he did construct the site, and thus retains the prerogative to label its contents as he pleases. But a quick surf to his impressive awards page and a glimpse at the amount of visits the site gets (not to mention the many fans who E-mail their questions to him) gives the lie to this line of reasoning; many seem to agree with him, and most emphatically at that. The problem was clearly mine.

In some ways the question seemed to defy logical analysis. Shouldn't some cartoons stay lost? Which ones? Why aren't people screaming for The Little Clowns of Happytown, Lady Lovelylocks and the Pixietails, or The Biskitts? Just as I was about to take the easy way out, chalk the whole thing up to the widespread revival of interest in animation, and check out another episode of South Park to gauge whether I liked it any better this time, something totally unexpected leaped to mind. In one of those rare flashes of synchronicity that we poor writers are mercifully granted if we eat all our Brussels sprouts and brush after every meal, I remembered something. Something in a magazine. A review. Yes!

Saturday Morning Cartoons has to be one of the more novel CDs to be released of late. It consists of 19 cartoon theme songs reworked by punks, grungers, and popular alt- artists. Produced by Ralph Sall for Bulletproof/MCA, this compendium includes the following: the "Underdog" theme as rendered by the Butthole Surfers; Dig's take on the "Fat Albert" theme; and Sublime taking on "Hong Kong Phooey" after their fashion. Liz Phair, Helmet, the Ramones, Sponge, and Tripping Daisy (among others) join in the fun as well. If it seems that the Good Doctor has abruptly slipped gears into an entirely different universe in the same column, bear with me if you will; this digression has it's point. The review made reference to yet another CD, "Schoolhouse Rock Rocks". It seems that another gaggle of way cool artists including Moby, Lemonheads, Pavement and Blind Melon had recorded covers of their favorite numbers from this fondly-remembered series.

Fondly remembered. Hurrying back to the Toon Tracker site, I wrote down the titles of animated series that had been given individual pages; twenty-four, I believe. I next traced the song titles from the CDs to their original series ("Schoolhouse Rock Rocks" counting only once, of course), which gave me a list of twenty, enough for fair comparison against the first list. When I researched the premiere dates, rerun dates, and length of run for all toons involved, a fascinating pattern began to form

Mr. Kurer's selections spanned a period roughly inclusive of the years 1957-1967, while the rockers more or less correlated with the timeframe 1968-1979. Allowing for the inevitable overlap and irregularities of programming schedules, I gave each era a plus-or-minus year either way. After checking and re-checking dates, I watched as Ron Kurer and Hoppity Hooper shook hands with Ralph Nall and the Butthole Surfers. The dividing line between one generation of cartoon fans and the next is located sometime between 1967 and 1968.

Now I understood the logic behind this website perfectly. A "lost" cartoon is one which has undeniable nostalgic appeal for a given generation; it is at least one of the many measures of which side of the dividing line one is on, Boomer or X'er. Of course, it's not that simple in reality - A twentysomething could rabidly enjoy Beany and Cecil as easily as anyone in their forties could be an enormous Daria fan. Yet, where fond remembrances are concerned, certain toons from the past will always cast a special spell over members of each particular generation, becoming a vital and playful part of their memories. In this light, Mr. Kurer is more than just a finders of lost cartoons: He also the curator (or kurater of a living museum. So, in another sense, is Ralph Nall.

A Pulitzer Prize for discovering the chronology of the Great Dividing Line is not likely in the stars. Some of you may even wish to respond with a sardonic "Duh!" What matter; be you Boomer, X'er or 'Tweener, just go on enjoying cartoons, both lost and found. Rent tapes of the old, enjoy the new, make it your passion and you will prove yourself a fine Animation Nerd regardless of age. Oh, and Mr. Kurer...might you have a gif of Rod Rocket back there somewhere? Just for the old doc?

Send your questions, comments, and "Duh!"s to: Dr. 'Toon

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