DESDINOVA'S DEMENTED CHRISTMAS THEATER PART 2

I've found two more You Tube Christmas presents for you. The first one I found by accident, but I thought I should post it because it fits me to a T. It is a 1932 Van Buren Studios cartoon entitled "The Snow Man." Most Van Buren cartoons are not very good. I'm going to be honest, I think most Van Buren Studios cartoons suck. They usually feature goofy looking animals "frolicking" and talking in silly, squeeking voices.

This cartoon is different. It cashes in on the hot Hollywood trend of the early 30s - horror films. This features a evil snowman who wrecks havoc and has a laugh like this, "Mwu-HAHAHAHAHA!" See why I like it. This is the unedited version.



Two versions of the same always pertinent message. Both of these are from MGM. One is a 1939Hugh Harman cartoon called "Peace On Earth." Old Grandpa Squirrel explains the irony or the popular Christmas expression "Peace on Earth, good will toward men." This was nominated for an Oscar.



In 1955, MGM's animation team of Hanna and Barbera updated the same story as "Good Will Toward Men." This was also nominated for an Oscar.



Happy Holliday! Seasons Greetings! Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men!

DESDINOVA'S DEMENTED CHRISTMAS THEATER

Last Christmas, I was watching on a disc from one of those DVD box sets made by the Mill Creek Company. I found one called "Christmas Cartoons and Shorts." It had several Christmas cartoons from the 30s & 40s on it, but also several short subjects from Castle Films. Castle made films for home projectors and schools. Some of the Christmas short films had me saying "WTF?!?!?!?" Here are two of those.

SANTA CLAUS, PUNCH & JUDY: Santa indulges a group of little Baby Boomers with the puppet equivalent of extreme fighting. This may not be safe at work since one scene involves a puppet spanking his monkey (with a large stick).



SANTA IN ANIMAL LAND: This one would be best viewed aided by alcohol and drugs. It might make it more logical.



No animal puppets were harmed during the filming of this movie. However, watching it could lead to brain damage. This explains why many Baby Boomers tried drugs.

NEWS LEADER CARTOON FROM 1960

I found this editorial cartoon in a July 26, 1960 edition of the Springfield News Leader and Press. According to the caption, it was drawn by Lucy Van Pelt of Peanuts. It is unknown if this is in fact the work of Charles Schulz or News Leader's Bob Palmer. It is better than the cartoons the News Leader currently runs (especially those from the guy from Branson).

Of course, opinions like this are why I'm considered the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

GUMBY CREATOR ART CLOKEY DEAD AT 88

'Gumby' creator Art Clokey, dead at 88, had an especially animated life

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NEWS LEADER RUNS LETTER FROM OZARKER UPSET BY GARFIELD

Everybody knows that I find most of the Letters to The Editor in the Springfield News Leader to be the same old garbage day after day. The fact that the News Leader considers right-wing propaganda written by local hillbillies worthy of print bothers me. Not a day goes by without a media bashing letter. Within the last week we saw a return of the "Springfield-needs-to-stand-up-against-sex-in-entertainment" letters that have been a staple of the News Leader since the early 60's crusades against ballet on Ed Sullivan Show, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the Normal Heart. Trust me, if any would be O.K. Armstrongs or Jean Dixons spring up, I'll be the first to make fun of them.

With that said, let us look at what will go down as the goofiest Letter to the Editor of the year. It was from Tad Pemberly of Springfield and tackled a serious subject. Apparently, a few days back Garfield said he loved tuna. Tad was upset.

"I find this one word to be the ultimate betrayal to all Garfield fans everywhere. Everyone knows that Garfield loves lasagna, not tuna. The statement that Garfield loves tuna is a slap to the face of all newspaper readers who have enjoyed the rotund tabby cat's 31 years of comic strip hilarity. Furthermore, this strip demonstrates Davis' lack of audience awareness."

Tad goes on to say, " To summarize, Jim Davis needs to put down the pen. This latest strip in a long line of offenses toward his audience is simply too much to bear for one reader. In addition, the comic strip editors of the Springfield News-Leader need to take better care in their reading to ensure the strips printed in their comics section do not offend."

In most areas of the country, this would be seen as a stupid letter. Bad part is this is the Ozarks. There will be about thirty letters that agree with this guy. The News Leader has published many letters from comic strip haters over the years. Dick Tracy and Spiderman were removed from the News Leader and Daily News in the late 70's because of complaints from tight-assed Ozarks parents. Throughout the 80's, the News Leader ran letters from people who hated Doonesbury and the Far Side. Also in the late 80s and 90s there was a crusade from a psycho-idiot (who claimed to live in a dumpster behind the Gene Taylor Main Post Office) to have the funnies removed from the News Leader because "life-is-too-depressing-to-be-enjoying-humor." Boo-hoo, cry me a river.

Reading this letter from Tad Pemberly reminded me the time Steve Allen read a Letter to the Editor of the New York Daily News criticizing artist Zach Mosley's Smiling Jack comic strip for "a lack of realism in dealing with aviation and sex." Allen would usually assign the name of a famous person to the letters he read to make a joke (similar to the e-mails on the Jim Rome Show). Allen said the letter was written by Milton Caniff, the artist behind the rival comic strip "Steve Canyon." Maybe Tad Pemberly is the guy who draws "Heathcliff."

I'm sure within a few days some idiot will write a letter to the editor entitled "Obama Brainwashed Garfield Into Say He Loves Tuna Instead of Lasagna." If I ran the News Leader I would run nationally syndicated liberal columnist instead of letters from crazy Ozarkers. Of course opinions like this are why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

DISNEY & MARVEL BELONG TOGETHER

I'm a little late on the Disney buyout of Marvel. Here is the Washington Post story. I know this has upset some Marvel fans and would have upset me too when I was younger. However, below is proof it was meant to be.

MICKEY MOUSE CLUB



MIGHTY MARVEL MARCHING SOCIETY




Happy 65th Birthday, Smokey Bear!

Ad Age has the story. I found a great Smokey Bear PSA from the 70's on You Tube.



Even Desdinova listens to Smokey Bear!

IF THIS IS "NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN," HOW COME I TURNED OUT NORMAL

I bought this DVD a few days ago. It is a box set that samples cartoons that ran on Saturday mornings in the 1970's. I watched all of these shows. I was looking the box and noticed a warning label: "THIS IS INTENDED FOR ADULT COLLECTORS. THIS IS NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN."

They also have this same label on the Sesame Street Old School collection, which is the original shows from the 70's which I grew up on.

I feel insulted. I grew up watching this stuff. I'm not in prison. I turned out fairly normal. I don't see the harm in letting kids see this. If I had kids I'd let them watch it. I'd rather my kids watch this stuff than read that Bill O'Reilly book for kids, but that is what makes me Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

RADIO/CARTOON VOICE OF LOIS LANE DIES AT 94

Joan Alexander, who was the voice of Lois Lane on the Adventures of Superman radio show, had died at age 94. She was also the voice of Lois Lane in the Fleischer and Filmation cartoons. Here is the Washington Post story about her.

Lebanon Daily Record 1959: Mr. Magoo Gives Stag Beer For Xmas

From a December 1959 Lebanon Daily Record. I find the unusual because we have not only the idea a beer for a Christmas gift being given by a cartoon character, but the ad is in the newspaper of a town the only recently started allowing liquor sales in grocery stores.

Halloween Movie Ideas

Many people who are too old to trick or treat (or go on a pub crawl) like to rent or purchase horror movies to watch. Granted many popular websites and magazines have "Scariest of All-Time" list, but most of those are films made during the last four decades. Some lazy people give you films made only since 2000. I'm going to give you different choices.

Traditional: The Universal monsters are always good for Halloween. That includes these set featuring Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. Add to that the Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection, which included Bela Lugosi and a proto-Goth Chick in Mark of the Vampire, Boris Karloff as politically incorrect villain Fu Manchu, the early color film Doctor X and it's boring sequel staring Humphrey Bogart, Mad Love with Peter Lorre as a Stewie Griffin prototype and Devil Doll with Lionel Barrymore as a Mrs. Doubtfire prototype. Also try out Frederic March's version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

A Ton of Fun for a Good Price: Check out Mill Creek's Horror Classics 50 Movie Pack. Some great stuff and a few clinkers, but for under $20 bucks in most stores.

For kids: Try to find Mad Monster Party featuring the voices of Boris Karloff, Phyllis Diller and Gale Garnett. There is also the 70's Saturday morning cartoon the Groovie Ghoulies.

Ultimate pick: It's a DVD (pic above) put out a few year ago by Something Weird called Monsters Crash the Pajama Party (Spook Show Spectacular). The title movie is a hokey beach party thing with guys in gorilla suits running around, however if you can maneuver the tricky menu on this you will find several things including Bert I. Gordon's Tormented (a psychological ghost thriller), an anti-cable TV ad using art work from Famous Monsters magazine, monsters movies made by kids from the 20's and 30's (seriously these are good), monstrous musical numbers from the Big Band era (one features a dancing skeleton puppet) and a goofy 50s educational film called Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (the sequel was called Don't Wet the Bed).

Bad Cinema at It's Finest: Andy Milligan's 1970 Vampire film the Body Beneath. Filmed in Highgate Cemetery (fooled some Brits who thought vampires were in Highgate) with red-headed-green vampire women in prom dresses, a hippie hunchback is set on fire and nailed to a church door, a maid has her eyes poked out with knitting needles and the fat ghost of Queen Victoria spouts anti-American sentiments. Here is the trailer to get you interested.

HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE HALLOWEEN!