Cartoonerrific (archived from June 2007)

I (perhaps prematurely) consider myself a bit of a connoisseur of things that are the courtesy of childhood. -Toys, pop music, childrens' books and cartoons are among my delights although I am sure pop music and cartoons are also widely enjoyed by "groan ups." -Those that will admit to it anyway.

And I am pleased today because I was able to procure copies of the old Merrie Melodies classics, The Dover Boys of Pimento University or, The Rivals of Roquefort Hall (that's the full working title) from 1942 and the 1961 Academy Award nominated Nelly's Folly.

A great component of my love for these cartoons are their uses of music. Dover Boys contains two songs (of the same melody, so that could arguably be just ONE song), the PU Alma Mater Song and the Dover Boys' rescue song. And Nelly's Folly? Why it's about a singing giraffe so, I think it runs courses around the Boys musically.

So basically the Dover Boys contains just a slight storyline about --you guessed it, the three brothers from Pimento University, Tom (the fun loving one), Dick (a lad of eighteen winters and a summer in Florida) and, Larry (the youngest of the three jerks, brothers). 

They visit their fiancée, Dora Standpipe (note how it says "their" fiancée.) for a little frolic which involves a ridiculous game of hide- and- seek and leaves the "it," Dora easily susceptible to the boys' rival Dan Backslide's kidnapping. A rescue mission ensues which is, given the tragedy of this being a cartoon, somewhat botched by the brothers. Nevertheless, we can assume that Dora lives happily ever after and the boys live out their morally upright lives affably without Dora.

The film plays out like one of those old time theatrical presentations. The characters are ridiculously stagey as one would see from the part when the boys pass by the snooker salon. And even Dan Backslide, suffering from what seems to be a green greasepaint-y complexion, is given to the staple villain's stage whisper.  I guess that's why i like the cartoon so much. It's got the camp and charm of a stage play, and it's not so bewilderingly over-the-top as most other cartoons.














The Dover Boys of Pimento U.

 

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Now Nelly's Folly is an absolute charmer but aside from that, it also contains social commentary on celebrity (thankfully not an overwhelmingly preachy commentary because I would otherwise try to escape as soon as it begins). All in all, it's a smart and enjoyable film, if I do say so myself.

It starts off in the jungle where Nelly is heard singing sweetly to an audience of animal friends. There she is discovered by an adventurer who may be channeling Tony Danza's voice a few years early and brought to the city where Nelly is a success. She starts off with a liver tonic jingle (to the tune of Auld Lang Syne) and branches out to Broadway plays and multiple records.

But despite the success of her musical career, Nelly feels empty and finds solace in someone who can understand her, a male giraffe from the zoo. But also, he's a MARRIED male giraffe from the zoo. At first Nelly is aghast that a married man would consider flirting with her. --But when you're lonely...

And there Nelly's career starts its downward spiral as the public find fault with her consorting with a married man. She is initially unconcerned by this, even as the Tony Danza-adventurer/agent pleads with her to find someone else, until on the opening night of one of her shows, she is abandoned by the public that was once so smitten by her. Without her celebrity, Nelly is also left by the lecherous man she risked her career for.

Nelly leaves Hollywood brokenhearted and goes back into the jungle singing the saddest songs you can possibly imagine with the same sweet voice. And before you think all is lost, a beautiful deep voice joins her as a handsome (and presumably single) giraffe enters the scene. And Nelly is happy again.

Nelly's Folly is a beautiful cartoon, a mix of aural and visual artistry. Nelly's singing is amazing, with vocals done by Gloria Wood. --I can't say I can remember anyone that her voice reminds me of but the style harkens a smoother, more relaxed Judy Garland or the Andrew Sisters (possibly, but you can help me out here) and concert hall music. The fact that such a unique voice was used for a liver tonic advert is pleasantly absurd.

The visuals are jazzy, they call into mind beat poetry but that's just me. Highly stylized and shape-heavy, they also rely on cool tones unusual for a movie that contains jungle creatures (this scheme, in fact, carries over from the jungle jungle to the other jungle, the city), perhaps as a complement to Nelly's yellow and brown colouring.

As for the commentary, well, it shows us how the earlier 20th century audience was with regards to their adulation for their celebrities. Apparently, if their idols succumb to vices, or to what society deems taboo, they lose faith in them. 

Does this still hold true for our generation? How do we explain the "fame" someone like Paris Hilton who’s been arrested already for irresponsible drinking and driving? Or similarly, Gretchen Baretto’s fame, despite the questionable  photograph with a man not her husband? On the one hand it is better that we do not pass judgment so quickly (let the one without sin cast the first stone yadda yadda). But what about those that cheer them on? Sometimes I wonder if the drugged up, destructive and silly behavior celebrities project is a tonic that revives careers. It seems like it sometimes.  Oh. Oh well.

Regardless of the commentary, you can still enjoy Nelly's Folly as a moving animal musical movie.





Nelly's Folly

 

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By the way,  both movies were directed by the legendary Chuck Jones who, as I belatedly realized, was the cartoonist behind most of my favorite Looney Tunes shorts like Rabbit of Seville, One Froggy Evening, Broom-Stick Bunny (I have a weakness for any cartoon that involves Witch Hazel, Gossamer, and breaking the fourth-wall), Transylvania 6-500, and Hair-Raising Hare.


Mr. Chuck Jones, wherever you are, you are a genius and you certainly made my childhood bearable.




And oh, I'm looking for Disney's Casey At Bat and Peter and the Wolf too, if anyone wishes to help.

On the Beatles.

I like the Beatles. I can't say that I'm obsessed with them because unlike my more musically-appreciative friends, I don't have the entire Beatles catalogue memorized. I know a few songs, like the popular ones (Hey Jude, Girl, Here There and Everywhere, and then a few others (such as Good Day Sunshine and I Should Have Known Better) that i just discovered around the past two years thanks to my friend Arthur (who writes the blog ihategameswithballs.blogspot.com) and, to You (to whom the best songs were offered)..


But I do like the Beatles, particularly because of a little event that occurred in my life when I was eight that featured the song "Til There was You". I wrote about it around two years ago in a piece I call "Paul and the Musical Insects" because I suck at making titles.

He was a nice and handsome drunk, with his normally fair skin already tinged red after a few glasses of San Miguel, but it was my eight year old self who was tipsy with delight in this situation.

And why wouldn't I be, having such a charming rogue serenade me with a decent though unaccompanied warbling of The Beatles' 'Til There Was You?'

As far as I was concerned, the goodly solid nine years we had between us was hardly relevant. Perhaps if I even believed in the concept of marital bliss (that involved myself), which I already didn't at that age, he would have been the Mister to my Missus and maybe somewhere in the back of my second-grade mind I may have entertained that fantasy.

I wasn't drinking then (because this didn't happen in Europe where children could have their meat with a little wine, and even then it wasn't vino that they had) but my beer goggles showed me that my very, very first Adored had been lost until I was found and that when I was, his heart leapt while roses bloomed and music played all around.

What he sang was an almost silly, simply rhymed Beatles song. What I heard was that our distant ages could not keep us apart, not at all, for if love was true it transcended anything or anyone that willed its demise.

I was all of eight, falling in love for the first time ever that night.

When the morning came a few hours later I was still all of eight years, give or take a few months, weeks and days and I had completely forgotten the heart and soul I offered the night before as I played hide-and-seek with my friends.

True story, by the way. I didn't see him around much after that but but he did move into my cousin's house across the street when I was in high school. Of course, as luck would have it, I learned this a few months after he'd left. Haha.


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Anyway, back to the Beatles. Actually, I don't have much to say on them, much of their myth and history escape me. I just like their songs.


I do like George Harrison, however, as he always seemed to be serious. I'm drawn to serious people, I guess.  Besides, as I found out through wikipedia, Mr. Harrison did pen some of my favorite Beatles songs like While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Something, Here Comes the Sun and he sang the lead in I'd Be Happy Just to Dance with You.


Aside from that, I also just learned his connection to Eric Clapton's song Layla, where apparently the song was written by Clapton for George's wife at the time, Pattie Boyd. Dirty trick, innit? Though I guess she must have been the sort of woman men write songs for.


Anyway, to abruptly end this pointless rambling, I offer you a song from the Concert for George (now available on DVD). I don't think it's a Beatles song per se, but it's a sweet tune played by Joe Brown on the ukulele for George Harrison.

Travels, 3 (Japan)

After taking a break from this series on traveling vicariously by talking about musicals and Glee, it's now time to close the series with a little insight on  how The Land of the Rising Sun, Japan, is on my itinerary.

I suppose it started with IBC-13's airing of Japan Video Topics back in the late 1980s until the early 1990s. The show covered a plethora of well, topics ranging from advances in technology, religious or cultural feasts, traditional sweets, or artisan crafts from small towns.

I remember one of my favorite episodes being about those wax food models that Japanese restaurants use to show diners (foreigners, especially) what they're selling. I

n fact, this episode was what sparked my interest in the whole exercise of making fake food and that's just one reason I want to go to Japan : to learn from the experts. (For those who don't know, they're still showing Japan Video Topics  although I can't rightly say if it's still on IBC-13 or on that religious channel that sometimes has Euromaxx and Arts21 on rotation.)

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Meanwhile, the mid-1990s, I discovered the (accidentally) funny and very engaging Tokyo travelogue, Oh, Tokyo which starred a number of Japan-based Filipinas who went around Tokyo and the neighboring areas visiting tourist destinations.

They were all pretty good hosts although many people who saw the series on WINS (that would be Channel 54 on Skycable back in the day. Right before that channel which had Sister Wendy's show) would agree that the breakout star was Ellen Nishiumi who had a preternatural gift for converting yen to pesos in practically zero seconds, a cheerful disposition, and an honest face. (For instance, when giving her opinion on a traditional fish soup, she went "Aaaa, kakaiba siya" while her face displayed an "ew" look.)

Ellen's job was ridiculously fun, in my opinion. She and her co-hosts went to amusement parks, shopping districts, and restaurants. They basically visited any place that would interest tourists. It was pretty cool too, that she was able to bring in her camera crew into the amusement attractions so you didn't have to rely on mere reportage. You actually saw the ladies shriek in delight, or fear depending on where they were. (One of them, whose name I don't particularly know, went on a dinosaur-themed ride and you could tell she was freaking out. Awesome.)

Ellen on Oh! Tokyo

I wanted to steal their jobs, that's for sure. :)

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Of course there's also Sofia Coppola's 2003 film, Lost in Translation, which starred Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray (known for comedies but turns in a spectacular dramatic performance here as Bob Harris). A fascinating film that inspects the (temporary) lives of two strangers brought together by loneliness set against the backdrop of modern-day Tokyo.

The film looks beautiful, making good use of the location to show how small and alone the two characters are. The shots of Bob and Charlotte wondering about and wandering around Tokyo, and those in the dimly-lit hotel rooms are alluring and heartbreaking. (The soundtrack is amazing, too, featuring Phoenix, The Pretenders, and Jesus and Mary Chain.)

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And then there are the Haruki Murakami books. I actually don't know why the Murakami books I like (Norwegian Wood, Dance Dance Dance, Wild Sheep Chase, and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle) would make me want to go to Japan. In most cases, the lead characters I identify most with are the lonely, jazz-loving (or western music-loving) men who live somewhat unstructured lives (working as either writers or artists) that they can leave easily to chase a dream or nightmare. They could be from any country, I suppose, especially since Murakami doesn't really provide names for most of his lead characters and I can't tell if they really ARE Japanese, but since they're living in Japan, that should be enough.

And it is, I guess.

Besides, I want to see Murakami in person.

Ah, and before I end, the last book that makes me want to go to Japan is Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter. A young-adult title I bought on a whim when I was in highschool and I've loved it ever since, for its lovely descriptions of Japan's changing seasons which are also used literary device to explain parts of Yuki's (the lead character's) life.

If Japan was indeed as gently sad and beautiful as Mori's book says it is, then I don't know why I'm still writing this and not sitting on a JAL flight at this very moment.

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On the whole I'd rather be on the road right now.

Ready, one, two SING! (On Musicals)

This whole Glee phenomenon isn't all that surprising, if you ask me. Following the massive, MASSIVE success of the High School Musical movies which showed us that randomly breaking out into elaborate production numbers during seemingly mundane parts of day is a moneymaker , it became pretty obvious that a full television series about singing kids wouldn't be far behind.

And it's not a bad show, that Glee. The "kids" are great talents for sure. Lea Michele (Rachel) and Chris Colfer (Kurt) are particularly entertaining, and I can't wait for them to feature more of Naya Rivera and Heather Morris (Santana and Brittany) for the same reasons Dorothy Snarker of lifestyle website AfterEllen.com is also tuned in.

BUT if you had to ask me what my favorite musical is, I'd have to give that prize to Woody Allen's masterpiece, Everyone Says I Love You. I spoken about this film to everyone who would listen. This movie, in case you were wondering, showed in Manila in 1996, opening with nary a word from marketing types which meant that there were about ten people in the cinema including my mom and myself.

I was about twelve when I saw this and up until that point, I'd only seen the big musicals like the Sound of Music, The King and I, and the Disney cartoons. And of course, as you know those films were dated and in Technicolor (TM), so when I saw the trailer for Everyone Says I Love You before the screening of Conspiracy Theory (starring Julia Roberts, too, who seemed to be in every movie showing that year, and Mel Gibson) where everyone lived in the NOW and were singing, boyohboy, I was ecstatic. A musical for MY time. I knew I just had to watch it. So I did and I enjoyed it.

The story revolves around this very wealthy extended family, the Berlins (Woody Allen and his daughter played by Natasha Lyonne) and the Dandridges (Alan Alda married his best friend Woody Allen's ex, Goldie Hawn bringing with him two kids of his own and two other children from the marriage) who lives in New York City. It's basically about the family members' attempts at finding and keeping love.

Because the family is moneyed, they are able to spend parts of the year in NYC and the other parts in Paris or Venice and believe me, the film doesn't waste any shots of the most beautiful parts of those cities. From the gorgeous fall scenes in NYC and Upstate NY to the breathtaking Venetian Canals, and of course, Paris for New Years', you're probably going to fall in love just watching their stage.

But the best parts are the production numbers. They range from very madcap and silly like the Makin' Whoopee episode in the hospital after Drew Barrymore swallows her engagement ring (dancing emergency ward victims), sweet like the Just You, Just Me sequence (Edward Norton singing to Drew Barrymore), and precious such as the Halloween scene with little kids singing for their treats.

I love it because while the characters randomly burst into song, these actors aren't trained singers. So you hear a little bit of hesitance, a little warble. Imagine someone just singing in the middle of the street. That sort. Although of course, they're accompanied by actual singers so it's not all caterwauling but it's all campy fun. It didn't even matter if the songs weren't Allen's compositions, they were well-loved classics and he made them fit.

And of course I should mention that Woody Allen's characters are so over-the-top and fun, even his usual neurotic character is adorable.

I'm probably not explaining this very well but I guess this clip will do it :

Such is my love for this movie that I  was inspired to write my own musical three years later as a high school sophomore for a street play in my Literature class. It wasn't any good, not anywhere near Everyone Says I Love You, for sure. But it was an enjoyable experience nonetheless.

Travels 2.

Previously I mentioned some movies, books and whatnots that have somehow influenced my future (far, FAR future) travel plans to Morocco and Italy.


Today, if I still have your attention, is all about why Baguio & Manila, Mexico and New York are my next stops.


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Baguio & Manila
I'm actually cheating here, because while Baguio is always great place for people like myself who melt upon exposure to heat, I really want to go to Baguio and Manila circa 1980s. -You know before the major earthquake that struck the Philippines. 


If you've seen Mike de Leon's Kung Mangarap Ka't Magising, Elwood Perez' Diborsyada, then you might have a pretty good idea of what the old Baguio was like, with the Hyatt Terraces Hotel still standing, the mini-golf course still pretty clean, and the crowds not as suffocating as they are now. I believe I mentioned this in an earlier entry.

I've also spoken about the old Manila, with its uncluttered skylines with accompanying blue skies. And the fun park inside the Greenhills, which the characters in the 1984 movie Tender Age visit. Read more about it here : Pop! Someone's been watching Pinoy Klassiks Rewind again! 

I also give the movie Pare Ko points for capturing the quintessence of the early to mid-1990s Manila for middle class youths. While I was younger than the characters of the film when it came out, I could somehow relate because I had an older brother and cousins who were the same age as Claudine Barretto and Jao Mapa at the time. I'd love to go back to Manila of the 1990s when plaid and Doc Martens were fashionable.


Mexico

Now, If I only had the Speedy Gonzales cartoons to go on, Mexico wouldn't be on my list at all. Mexico, if the cartoons are to believed, is HOT and DUSTY and pretty much just that. Plus, Mexican mice could run faster than the Mach 5. No thanks. I'd rather have my bubonic plague served late and cold.



But, when I discovered Mexican cuisine via an episode of Two Hot Tamales on the iChannel which had the girls cooking a quail with roses, and through the 2001 film Tortilla Soup (incidentally, the Two Hot Tamales, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger did the food styling for this film), and Laura Esquivel's fantastic novel Like Water for Chocolate, my mind was changed.


One just cannot go through the show, movie and book without coming out salivating for any of the dishes featured within. It is because of these mouth-watering delicacies from south of the border (the US-Mexico border, of course) that I was obsessed with the idea of going to Mexico to learn how to cook. I would've gone even if I had to go busking. (Which, in hindsight, is totally retarded because I'm maarte.)

While I haven't given up on mastering how to prepare the cuisine and inf fact, I'm still hoping to master the molé soon, I've decided I'm not going to be a street performer where it's hot. (This is beside the fact that I have no performing talent whatsoever.) 


New York

I've been to New York once but, save for the fact that I was able to see Rent playing at the Nederlander Theatre with Mel B (aka Scary Spice) as Mimi, it was a bit of a mess. -The MoMA was closed for repairs and we couldn't, for the life of us, find Isamu Noguchi's garden. 

That said, I still haven't completely given up hope that New York City is one of my spiritual homes. The concept of having all that art, culture, and cuisine within one's reach makes my head spin with excitement.

I'm not daft though, I realize that to be able to properly enjoy that city, I'd probably have to be as rich as the characters in Everyone Says I Love You who lived in a Manhattan penthouse and had the luxury to shuffle back-and-forth from NYC to Paris or Venice. (It would probably be fun to live in THEIR New York, where people just randomly broke into song.)

Or you know, according to Dora Diamond (Mena Suvari) from the 2000 film, Loser, it's quite possible to have fun in the Big Apple without having to spend so much with tricks like sneaking into the second act of Broadway shows when the smokers who step out of the theatre go back in, or getting free coffee in Central Park.


It'd probably also be nice to be a kid in New York, if the city's depiction in Little Manhattan or Home Alone 2 is to be trusted. Okay, maybe the latter is a dream come true, being stuck in FAO Schwarz and having all those toys at my disposal would be awesome (I can easily say so now, too) as would beating up robbers with Rube Goldberg-like contraptions. Little Manhattan's portrayal of a child falling in love for the first time in a city as large as Manhattan is more realistic and precious.


Speaking of falling in love in New York, this is a theme put to good use by tour guide-writer-performance artist Timothy "Speed" Levitch in the documentary film "Live in Shiva's Dancefloor", and in Richard Linklater's animated movie "Waking Life". In both movies, Levitch speaks of his love for the city and life but while Live speaks of New York directly, I only assume that Levitch's scene in Waking Life was filmed on the Brooklyn Bridge. 

It seems apt, anyway, as Speed is a known denizen of the Big Apple. 

In any case, although I may not understand a lot of Speed's philobabble (I say this with all due respect, sir), his enthusiasm excites me and makes me want to make the trip back to his beloved city.  




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To conclude : Japan. (And I'll see if I can come up with something else.)













 

Travels. Part 1

You might not know it to look at me but I have a terrible case of wanderlust. 

Terrible, because I can hardly afford to go anywhere. Haha. More’s the pity because I’m always dreaming of being somewhere else rather than where I actually am in any time of the day. (Except perhaps, when I was with you, because that always felt right.) And being stuck somewhere gets excruciating.

I’m being patient, however, as I feel that I WILL get somewhere someday. I may not have figured out the logistics portion of it but I believe it is my destiny. 

In the meantime I’m here to talk about some songs, books and movies that feature the places I want to go to someday.

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Morocco

Off the top of my mind, there’s Craig Thompson’s book, Carnet de Voyage. Thompson is the creator of the seminal semi-autobiographical graphic novel, Blankets (also one of my favorite books) and Carnet is, exactly what its name means, a travel journal. 

Following the release of Blankets, Craig (yeah, we’re thisclose) went on a publicity tour around Europe(France, Barcelona, Morocco and the Alps) and published the sketch-travelogue as Carnet de Voyage.

This book is another preview of Thompson’s mastery of the brush pen. –A lot of his sketches were done on-site as he watched cats lounge around in Morocco, or while he babysat his French hosts’ children. And, since this is also a journal, it was of particular interest to me to read abuot Craig Thompson’s bouts of illness, missing his ex-lover, seeing the beautiful (and not-so-beautiful) sights from around the continent, and how he felt about meeting his heroes.

Of all the places he visited on his tour, I guess Morocco was the one that struck me the most. I know that he was lonely there and he missed the creature comforts of say, France but the way Craig drew the streets, the buildings, and the people, it seems as though it would be a worthwhile adventure getting lost in Morocco.

I’d have to say that this is one of the more inspirational/ aspirational books I’ve read over the years. Sometimes I wish I were Craig Thompson. -An artist and a storyteller who’s been able to travel through Europe. I’m sure there are many other comic artists who are able to do the same but Mr. Thompson’s always felt the most accessible to me.

That book, and the song “Marrakech” by funk/acid-jazz band, Incognito are two major reasons I’d like to go to Morocco.

Italy

There are three films are responsible for putting the idea of going to Italy in my head. Chronologically (according to when I saw them) they are the following :

• Only You – a 1994 film starring Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey, Jr.  (I saw this on laser disc. )
• Everyone Says I Love You – a musical by Woody Allen. (This one I watched in the Sta. Lucia theatre back when it was the only one with Dolby Digital Surround. –We were the only people in the theatre.)
• The Talented Mr. Ripley – an Anthony Minghella film based on Patricia Highsmith’s psychological thriller novel of the same name, starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, jazz music and the island of Sanremo, Italy.

The first two movies had scenes in Rome and Venice, and of course, both cities are simply breathtaking and romantic with their ruins and canals. (Er, I mean, so it seems. I don’t have a romantic bone in my body.)  However, thanks to The Talented Mr. Ripley and its stunning cinematography (courtesy of John Seale), I’ve decided that if I were going to Italy, the first stop should be Sanremo. I think I’d love to be under that lovely sun and have the calming Mediterranean winds blowing at my face. I probably wouldn't want a brilliant but psychotic leech like Tom Ripley on my trail but with my luck I'd probably have that role.

(Other notable films : A Roman Holiday starring Audrey Hepburn, and Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso)

I must mention that there are three songs that also remind me of Italy. Deano’s version of It’s Amore, O Sole Mio, and, oddly enough, an instrumental version of La Vie En Rose.  Yes, I know it’s French so I can’t particularly explain why I relate it to Italy but I do anyway.

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Up next : Baguio, Mexico, New York.