Dated Cartoons

[RetroMan]

Which classic cartoons do you think are most badly dated?
My picks are:
- Lights Fantastic
- Tokyo Jokio
- Hollywood Steps Out
- Hollywood Canine Canteen (anyone remember Kay Kyser?)
- Land Of The Midnight Fun (a very funny end gag)
- Billboard Frolics
- The Mouse That Jack Built
- The Honey-Mousers

Personally, I don't see datedness as a bad thing, I really like that time capsule look (just look at my "location"), and I get most of the jokes. Any thoughts?

 

[Davesnothere]

"She Was An Acrobat's Daughter" - The audience really did sing along in those days!

"I Only Have Eyes For You" - Radio crooners were big and the iceman was just starting to become obsolete.

"Betty Boop For President" - Herbert Hoover impression, reference to the repeal of Prohibition at the end.

"Little Red Walking Hood" - Flipperless pinball game, the grocery boy calling for Grandma's order.

 

[Steve Carras]

Any one featuring Rudy Vallee (whom I have on CD), or Bing Crosby.Heck, the Sinatra appearances (before he transformed into the "Ratpack Monster" of the 1960s).....

And of course the early 30s cartoons without the familiar bullseye..

 

[Cartman]

Here are some I can think of:

MOTHER GOOSE GOES HOLLYWOOD
PUTTIN' ON THE ACT
FRIGID HARE - Bugs' line about not having to return to work until 1953
THE AUTOGRAPH HOUND
MICKEY'S GALA PREMIER
GOOFY GROCERIES
EDUCATION FOR DEATH
BACALL TO ARMS

 

[Larry T]

How about:

Slap Happy Pappy - WB
Real Gone Woody - Lantz
Freddie The Freshman - WB
Zoot Cat - MGM
Daffy Duck Slept Here - WB
Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs - WB
Tin Pan Alley Cats - WB
The Film Fan - WB
Jitterbug Jive - Famous

 

[Nick]

I'm suprised no-one has mentioned "The Weakly Reporter" and "A Horsefly Fleas". The latter deals with home shortage, and the former spoofs a world war two newsreel with very topical gags.

 

[Cartman]

Let's not forget BOSKO'S PICTURE SHOW. The whole thing features newsreels and short subjects of actors that have been dead for awhile.

 

[Tom Stathes]

Cinderella (Betty Boop) Crooner

Tale of Two Kitties (Abbott & Costello)

Have you got any Castles? (Celebrities)

She Reminds Me of You (Fleischer) Singers

Puss In Boots (Disney '22) "Rodolph Vaselino"

Coy Decoy (Vintage book titles, even though classics)

Soda Squirt (Flip the Frog) Celebs

I'll think of more

 

[Do-Do]

I was always quite confused by Slap Happy Pappy as a child. And Daffy's problem with the little man from the draft board in Draftee Daffy is a bit irrelevant in 2004.

 

[Jave]

- Plane Daffy
- Scrap Happy Daffy
- Herr Meets Hare
- Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips
- Mississippi Hare (Cotton pickers, I doubt it's still like how they're portrayed here)
- Daffy the Commando
- The Woods are Full of Cuckoos
- Malibu Beach Party

Also, non WB:

- Pretty much every wartime Popeye cartoon.
- Cartoons Ain't Human (I'm really sad to say this, but cartoons are now rarely made the way Popeye made his own.)

 

[Merrytoon]

I mentioned this is the other thread, but Bug's Bobby Soxer impersination in "Long Haired Hare" is quite dated.

 

[oldgreypole]

The Beary Family cartoons from the Walter Lantz studio are quite dated today. I believe the series is a take-off on "The Life of Riley." The reference is likely lost on newer generations. Also, the family lifestyle in these cartoons is different than it is today.

 

[Steve Carras]

I was always quite confused by Slap Happy Pappy as a child. And Daffy's problem with the little man from the draft board in Draftee Daffy is a bit irrelevant in 2004.

Even after 9/11?

(Of course, Chuck Jones and to a lesser degree Friz Freleng* would taker the portrayl of the Daffster in DRAFTEE DAFFY (1944) and make it into a timeless "modern" boomer-era-all-the-way-upon-to-POKEMON-era Daffy---greedy,craven and bitter..though DD is still funny compared to those later shortsUCK AMUCK, SHOW BIZ BUGS, ALI BABA BUNNY and others that wrongly depict Dafffy.Any toon with him confounding Porky or Elmer WOULD be TOTALLY and EXTREMELY dated!!!)

*Robert McKimson still contuned to use much better stuff with Bugs and Daffy like PEOPLE ARE BUNNY, the last Warner Bros.film of the fifties.

 

[Jack]

- Mississippi Hare (Cotton pickers, I doubt it's still like how they're portrayed here)

I'm not sure I'd count an entire cartoon as dated based on one scene. Almost any old cartoon has something in it that dates it, like rotary phones and telephone operators, black and white TV, cars, room-sized computers, etc.

I think that cartoon was supposed to be a loose caricature of "The Old South," as evidenced by how all the characters dress.

 

[jeff_schiller]

Though it can still be enjoyed on its own, "Strife with Father" is a parody lost on most folks (including myself).

 

[Steve Carras]

"She Was An Acrobat's Daughter" - The audience really did sing along in those days!.

A concept revived on television,of course, by retro-barbershop fan/Columbia Records mogul/entertainer/anti-rock activist/guru/broadcaster/emcee/composer/obo-ist,etc. Mitch Miller (stemming from his enormously successful Columbia records and his backing of some certain acts on said label),on SING A LONG WITH MITCH..

 

[guy incognito]

("Draftee Daffy") is still funny compared to those later shortsUCK AMUCK, SHOW BIZ BUGS, ALI BABA BUNNY and others that wrongly depict Dafffy.

We all have our preferences regarding the different characterizations of the little black duck--and I too am partial to the earlier, zanier, heckling incarnation of Daffy--but I wouldn't necessarily agree that the later, meaner Daffy is inherently a "wrong" way to depict the character. And I have to *strongly* disagree with your assertion that such latter-day-Daffy shorts as "Duck Amuck" aren't funny!

Back on topic, how 'bout:

"Swooner Crooner" (parody of Frankie Sinatra)
"Catch As Cats Can" (see above, plus Der Bingle)
"The Ducksters" (a radio game show)
"The Old Grey Hare" ('40s idea of what 2000 A.D. would be like)

 

[RetroMan]

I just saw this Pink Panther cartoon (missed the titlecard) where he has a "trip" to a weird psychodelic book store. I thought that it was horribly dated with all those wierd color swirls, the suitcase labeled "love", the overall "acid" look, etc, etc. That cartoon just SCREAMS 1960's.