50 Greatest Cartoons... and other classic animation from the days of yore

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Look Back on Academy Award nominated/winning cartoons
(traditional theatrical shorts from 1930's to the 1960's)


The 1930's


"Flowers & Trees", first full technicolor cartoon, won the first Oscar for animated short subject in 1932.



While it's innovative, I find the cartoon average. While I'm not exactly into cartoons from the early 1930's, I'm surprised no Betty Boop cartoons were nominated.

Disney pretty much dominated the "Best Animated Short Film" category until 1940 when MGM "The Milky Way" won.


"It's Got Me Again!", first Warner Bros. cartoon to be nominated for an Oscar. Though only two were nominated throughout the decade.

1933: "Three Little Pigs"

Classic cartoon featuring the song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" that was popular during the depression. Mickey Mouse "Building A Building" & Oswald Rabbit "The Merry Old Soul" (Lantz) were also nominated. Both are OK cartoons.


1934: "The Tortoise & The Hare"

Another great Silly Symphonies short. Several WB animators/directors have stated that Max Hare is one of the influences for Bugs Bunny.

"Jolly Little Elves" (Lantz) is pretty much mediocre.


1935: "Three Orphan Kittens"
"The Calico Dragaon" is the first MGM cartoon to be nominated, though an average cartoon from the era and also Disney's "Who Killed Cock Robin" were also nominated.


1936: "The Country Cousin"

Honestly, "Popeye The Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor" should've won. Other than tht it's one of my few favorite cartoons from the series, the 3D-esqe background (which Fleischer studios was known for) is stunning and had classic scenes from Popeye literally cooking a giant vulture and the catchy "Sinbad he Sailor" song.


"The Old Mill Pond", an MGM jazz cartoon with frogs was also nominated. It's an OK short though considered poltically incorrect by today's standards.

1937: "The Old Mill", use of the multi-plane camera

OK cartoon... though some parts tend to be boring

First Disney animated feature film "Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs" won an honorary Academy Award" and was nominated for best musical score.


1938: "Fernidand The Bull"

"Brave Little Tailor" & "Good Scouts", while both also Disney, are better cartoons, IMHO.


1939: "The Ugly Duckling"

"Peace On Earth" (MGM) is a bit more darker and the rotoscope animation used for the battle scene is very convincing. Also find the "anti-war" message ironic considering that the US would enter WWII in a few years.


 "The Pointer" (Disney) is the first cartoon to use the modern design of Mickey Mouse and is a fun cartoon with Mickey & Pluto out hunting and coming across a bear and Pluto trying to keep himself still when he spots quails.

"The Ugly Duckling" is a good cartoon, though the choices are tough.

"Detouring America" is a mediocre WB Tex Avery  travel log parody.


Some cartoons that could've been nominated: "Porky In Wackyland", "I Love To Singa",  "Minnie The Moocher", "Show White" (Betty Boop), and several better Disney shorts like "Mickey's Trailer" or 'Lonesome Ghosts".

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1940's: Part One

Focusing on theatrical shorts only. Now MGM & Warner Bros. will win some awards...

1940: "The Milky Way" (MGM)

While the Disney streak is over, "The Milky Way" was done in similar style of the "Silly Symphonies" cartoons.

"A Wild Hare" & "Puss Gets The Boot" were also nominated and also the debuts of known characters Bugs Bunny & Tom & Jerry. "The Milky Way".

MGM's "Tom & Jerry" would win 7 awards while only a few Bugs Bunny shorts were nominated with only one win in 1958.


According to Wiki, there's no Disney shorts listed. Well, it's great that other studios were getting acknowledged.

1941: "Lend A Paw" (Disney)

Mediocre Mickey & Pluto cartoon and noticed 9 were nominated that year including "Haiwatha's Rabbit Hunt" (Bugs Bunny), "Night Before Christmas" (Tom & Jerry), "Superman" (Fleischer), "Truant Officer Donald" (Disney), and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" (Lantz). From great selection though puzzling in the same time...



1942: "Der Fuehrer's Face" (Disney)
Only Donald Duck cartoon to win an Oscar.

WWII three pigs parody "Blitz Wolf" and "Pigs In A Polka", set to classical music, was also nominated. Also good cartoons in their own right.

Also Lantz cartune "Jukebox Jamboree"


1943: "Yankee Doodle Mouse" (MGM)

First Tom & Jerry to win an Oscar and also one of my favorites from the series. "Dizzy Acrobat" (Woody Woodpecker)  was also nominated. It's an OK  cartoon, but there's  better Lantz shorts from the early 1940's.


1944: "Mouse Trouble" (MGM)

Funny Tom & Jerry cartoon, though "Fish Fry" (Lantz) with Andy Panda and "Swooner Crooner" (WB) with Porky and crooning roosters were also nominated. Honestly, "Swooner Crooner" should've won since it's also a time capsule  of popular culture with the caricatures of Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby.

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1940's: Part Two

1945: "Quiet Please" (MGM)

Another Tom & Jerry cartoon, though there was better/funnier cartoons that could've won.

"Donald's Crime" is a good spoof of '40's crime dramas. "Life With Feathers" is the debut of the lisping cat Sylvester.

"Poet & The Peasant" (Lantz) is a decent Andy Panda musical short.


"Mighty Mouse in Gypsy Life" (Terrytoons) is also OK though shouldn't been nominated.


1946: "The Cat Concerto" (MGM)

5th Tom & Jerry in a row. Though there was controversy since there was a similar cartoon from Warner Bros. titled "Rhapsody Rabbit" with Bugs Bunny and a mouse set to Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsosy No. 2". Only "Cat Concerto" was nominated. Though both cartoons are currently owned by Time Warner.

"Musical Moments From Chopin" (Lantz) with Andy Panda & Woody Woodpecker and Foghorn Leghorn's debut "Walky Talky Hawky" (WB) were also nominated.


1947: "Tweetie Pie" (WB)

First WB to win an Oscar and also first pairing of Tweety & Sylvester. Funny cartoon, though Tweety became less independant later on with the introduction of the bulldog & Granny.

"Chip an' Dale" (Disney, Donald vs. Chip & Dale), "Pluto's Blue Note", and Tom & Jerry short "Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Mouse" (MGM) were also nominated.  Decent selection, but Warner. Bros. really deserved to win.

1948: "The Little Orphan" (MGM)

Funny cartoon, though often censored on television.

"Mouse Wreckers" (WB) is a classic Hubie & Bertie cartoon with the mice manipulating Claude Cat on thinking he's upside down. "Tea For Two Hundred" , an OK short that  featured Donald Duck against ants and the mediocre "Mickey & The Seal" was also nominated.

1949: "For Scent-imental Reasons" (WB)

Second win for WB and features Pepe' Le Pew going after Penelope...a female cat with a painted stripe. Several scenes have been edited on television.

"Hatch Up Your Troubles" (MGM, Tom & Jerry) and "Toy Tinkers" (Disney, Donald & Chip n' Dale) were also nominated. Both are decent.

"For Scenti-mental Reasons" was the fourth Pepe cartoon, though the first to feature the female cat. .

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It's surprising that only one MGM Tex Avery cartoon was nominated ("Blitz Wolf") and many Looney Tunes were omitted. A few other Lantz cartunes should've been nominated from "The Barber of Seville", "Banquet Busters", "The Greatest Man In Siam", and "The Pied Piper of Basin Street"

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1950's: Part One

1950: "Gerald McBoing Boing" (UPA)

I find UPA overrated since most of the cartoons tend to be artsy and the animation isn't exactly spectacular.

"Jerry's Cousin"... a good short, though suprised that some classic WB cartoons like "Rabbit of Seville" wasn't nominated.


1951: "The Two Mouseketeers" (MGM)

A good cartoon, though the ending was morbid. .

1952: "Johann Mouse" (MGM)

Final MGM Tom & Jerry to win, though average cartoon.

"Little Johnny Jet" (MGM) is also a fun short with anthropomorphic planes/jets. While Tex Avery was nominated several times, non of the cartoons he directed  have won.

1953: "Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom" (Disney)

UPA influenced short, though haven't seen it for over a decade...

"From A to Zzzz" (WB), a Chuck Jones' Ralph Phillips cartoon with the daydreaming kid. Only Looney Tunes short nominated that year.

1954: "When McGoo Flew" (UPA)

Never seen, though the UPA cartoons have never caught my interest since viewing several from the 50 greatest on YouTube.

"Sandy Claws", an average Tweety vs. Slyvester and "Touche' Pussycat"...another Musketeer themed Tom & Jerry cartoon were nominated.

Also "Crazy Mixed Up Pup" (Lantz), a funny cartoon directed by Tex Avery featuring a man and his dog switching personalities.

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1950's Part Two

1955: "Speedy Gonzales"

A funny, though typical cartoon featuring the fasted mouse of Mexico trying to get cheese to his fellow mice from Sylvester.

Mediocre "Peace On Earth"  remake "Good Will To Men", classic Chilly Willy cartoon "The Legend of Rockabye Point", and Donald Duck cartoon "No Hunting" were nominated. Though "Legend of Rockabye Point" should've earned the award.



1956: "Mister Magoo's Puddle Jumper" (UPA)

All nominees and the winner from UPA... eh I'll pass

1957: "Birds Anonymous" (WB)

A clever cartoon with Sylvester trying to beat his bird catching addiction.

"One Droopy Knight"... only Droopy to be nominated  and not from Tex Avery.

"Tobasco Road"... one of my favorite Speedy Gonzales cartoons wit Speedy saving two wasted  mice from an alley cat

1958: "Knighty Knight Bugs" (1958)

Only Bugs cartoon to win and only 3 were nominated despite that there was many great cartoons.

"Sidney's Family Tree", a mediocre Terrytoons cartoon about an elephant being adopted by monkeys


1959: "Moonbird" (Storyboard-Harrison)


First independant cartoon to been nominated and to win the award.

"Mexicali Schmoes" (WB) featuring Speedy Gonzales and Disney's stop motion version of  "Noah's Ark" were also nominated.

The era of theatrical animation was winding down...

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While several Looney Tunes were nominated and have won, there's still many glaring omissions...




Including "What's Opera Doc?", which is considered to be the greatest cartoon of all time.

While theatrical cartoons were pretty much waning in the 1960's until becoming extinct in the 1970's, a few were nominated and have won...

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...without independant animation, the category probably would cease to exist

1960: "Munro" (indie)

WB cartoons "High Note" and "Mouse & Garden" featuring Sylvester, were nominated. "Mouse & Garden" is funny, though wouldn't consider it great. Then again, Looney Tunes were already past it's peak.

1961: "Ersatz (The Substitute)" (indie)

Three WB cartoons nominated: "Beep Prepared" (Coyote & Roadrunner), "Nelly's Folly" (singing giraffe), and "Pied Piper of Guadalupe" (Speedy Gonzales) were nominated.


1962: "The Hole" (indie)

Abstract Chuck Jones WB cartoon "Now Hear This" was nominated

1963: "The Critic" (indie...  not confused with the mid '90's cartoon)

1964: "The Pink Phink" (DePatie-Freleng)


Co-directed by former Warner Bros. director Friz Freleng.

1965: "The Dot & The Line" (MGM)

Abstract Chuck Jones cartoon... By the mid 1960's, Jones left WB (when it closed in 1964) and worked for MGM to direct Tom & Jerry cartoons and two original shorts. The WB animation studios reopened for some reason until it closed for good in 1969.

1966: "Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Double Feature"  (Paramount)

"The Pink Blueprint" (DePatie Freleng) was nominated

1967: "The Box" (indie)
1968: "Winnie the Pooh & the Blustery Day" (Disney)

1969: "It's Tough To Be A Bird" (Disney)

[Out of the Blue]

When I was a small kid I used to watch "Winnie the Pooh" on ABC.  Of course these were the days before cable TV.  There was no Disney Channel or Cartoon Network, or anything else like that.  You had rabbit ears on a TV and if you were lucky you got a good reception.  For what seemed like forever when I was young I heard older people say things about how they don't make things now like they did when they were young or that TV shows like the ones they grew up with aren't around anymore and I never really did understand it until about 10 years ago.  Now I think that there aren't any cartoons for kids like "Winnie the Pooh" anymore.  Because there aren't.

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"The Three Bears" from "Cartoons of 1939" blog

A YouTube link was also posted, which is great since the readers could actually watch the cartoon. Especially since screen grabs and the blogger's review aren't enough (since it's his opinions). Also risky considering YouTube...

"It's gotta face, but no body"... so random and funny
 
The song's catchy too.


Ever since the "Mighty Mouse" The New Adventures" DVD was released, I've watched many Terrytoons  that were on YouTube and enjoyed most of what I've seen (ie Heckle & Jeckle, a few Gandy Goose). Though was for curiosity since several episodes featured clips of the older cartoons and cameos of characters that I'm not really familiar with (or only seen a few cartoons featuring...).

 If an official set was to be released, I'd definately would get it

For the fun of it, I watched all the Donald Duck cartoons from 1939 from the "Chronological Donald" DVD set, the Looney Tunes shorts that I have on DVD from that year, and selected cartoons from public domain DVDs  (plus YouTube & Archive.org) recently.

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The 1949 Academy Award winning cartoon "For Scent-imental Reasons" (Pepe' Le Pew, directed by Chuck Jones) is now on the Kids WB site.

As for directors, Bob Clampett was never nominated despite that many of his cartoons are considered classics (ie "Porky In Wackyland", "Great Piggy Bank Robbery", "The Big Snooze"), have been  influenced animators like John Kricfalusi, and praised by  vintage animation buffs.

Though the 1944 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Cooking Doc?", directed by Clampett,  lampooned the Academy Awards with Bugs Bunny being upset that he didn't win an award and shows a clip of "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt" (which was nominated in 1941, directed by Friz Freleng) to the committee. (predated "Knighty Knight Bugs" by  14 years, which would win an Oscar in 1958)



As for cartoons... there's literally too many glaring omissions and also Daffy Duck cartoons also weren't  nominated.


The first Warner Bros. cartoon to win an Academy Award was 1947's "Tweetie Pie", which was also the first pairing of Tweety & Sylvester. Directed by Friz Freleng.

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source

Rudy Larriva passed away on Feb. 19th in Irvine, California at the age of 94. The animator and director had a long career, including working for Chuck Jones in the early 1940s, his work at UPA on Mr. Magoo, his stint as a director of eleven Road Runner shorts (as well as three Daffy Duck/Speedy Gonzales shorts) in the mid '60s, and as director for various television series such as Alvin and the Chipmunks and Mr. T. Notably, he also directed animation for the opening titles to The Twilight Zone.

With Larriva gone, all the Warner Bros. Animation "Golden Age" directors are now deceased.

"Solid Tin Coyote" (with commentary from Matthew Hunter from Golden Age Cartoons forum), from YouTube


Non of the Lavirra directed cartoons appeared on the Golden Collection.

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Actually didn't know he worked on the animated title for "Twilight Zone" 

[Out of the Blue]

Do you remember the one episode where the Coyote actually caught the Road Runner?

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I think it was part of a tv special with two bland Bugs Bunny cartoons and a Road Runner (forgot title, though all directed by Chuck Jones),  which Coyote chases the Road Runner through pipes and ends up being tiny and runs back to regain their normal size (Wile E. Coyote remains tiny).  Despite the size, he wanted to eat the Road Runner until he realizes that he's too huge. The cartoon was "Soup or Sonic".



The "Solid Tin Coyote" also came close.