Where can I see these cartoons on television?
Several Screen Gems and UPA shorts have been sighted on Animania HD, a digital network which is exclusively part of a package called Voom. Unfortunately, the Columbia cartoon package, "Totally Tooned In" has yet to be seen in the United States, though it has appeared throughout Europe and other parts of the world. Cartoon Network was negotiating with Columbia for it, but the status of such negotiations is unknown (some claim to have sighted Columbia shorts being broadcasted on the network in other countries). The Saperstein made-for-TV Magoos are currently in the "Program Exchange" and now are shown regularly on Cartoon Network's spin-off station, "Boomerang".
Where can I find the UPA and Screen Gems cartoons on VHS or DVD?
A good majority of the UPA cartoons can be easily acquired through the "Columbia Pictures Cartoon Classics" series available on VHS video cassettes along with a few (redrawn) Screen Gems Li'l Abner cartoons. There are 12 volumes in all. Two early Krazy Kats, "Lighthouse Keeping" and "Bars and Stripes" have appeared on a few public domain compilations (the latter is now available on the recent Thunderbean Animation DVD release, "Attack of the 30's Characters"). The 1941 Allen Rose Fable cartoon "It Happened to Crusoe" has appeared on compilations of non-politically correct cartoons.
Two early Bill Nolan Krazy Kats from the Winkler era, "Bokays and Brickbatz" (1925) and "Feather Pushers" (1926, a.k.a. "Making Good") can be found on "George Herriman's Kinomatic Krazy Kat Kartoon Klassics" from Inkwell Images Ink.
Recently, Columbia/Tri-Star has been releasing Columbia cartoons as "bonus features" on DVDs of full-length films. The DVD release of "Hellboy" contains fully-restored versions of "Gerald McBoing Boing", "Gerald McBoing Boing on Planet Moo", "How Now Boing Boing", and "The Tell-Tale Heart" while the DVD of "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" sports the 1937 Ub Iwerks Color Rhapsody, "Skeleton Frolic".
All 26 of the Saperstein made-for-TV Magoos are due for DVD release by "Classic Media" for Spring 2006.
Sony recently announced an upcoming DVD entitled "Cartoon Adventures Starring Gerald McBoing Boing". The disc includes all four Gerald McBoing Boing shorts ("Gerald McBoing Boing", "The Gerald McBoing Boing Symphony", "How Now McBoing Boing", and "Gerald McBoing Boing On Planet Moo"). Unfortunately, it doesn't include anything else. Read more on it here.
Where can I find the "Columbia Pictures Cartoon Classics" tapes?
Your best bet is either Amazon.com or Facets.org. If not, try eBay.
What does UPA stand for?
United Productions of America
Did Mister Magoo ever meet Gerald McBoing Boing?
Yes. Gerald McBoing Boing and Mister Magoo both shared billing of their own Dell comic book series. The two also appeared together in "Magoo Meets McBoing Boing", a made-for-TV short, part of the Saperstein Magoo pacakage and in the classic "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol".
Didn't Mister Magoo have a dog that was just as nearsighted as him?
Yes. In the 1970s DePatie-Freleng revival, "What's New, Mister Magoo?", Magoo was paired with a nearsighted dog named McBarker. He basically looked like Magoo, only with fur and four legs.
Are Columbia's Fox and Crow the same as the characters DC Comics used to publish?
Yes, most certainly.
The DC REAL SCREEN COMICS also featured other characters besides the Fox and Crow. Were these Columbia cartoon characters, too?
Yes. Tito and his Burrito, Flippity and Flop, and even the characters of the "Polar Playmates" comics were all originally Columbia cartoon stars.
Aside from Mister Magoo, were there any other Columbia cartoon characters merchandised?
Krazy Kat and Scrappy were tremendously merchandised in the early 1930s (Scrappy especially, who appeared to be second only to Mickey Mouse at that time). For more information check out Harry McCracken's Scrappyland.
What's the name of the Krazy Kat theme song?
"The Kat's Meow" is the name of the Krazy Kat theme song. It was inspired by the 1930 Krazy Kat short of the same name. Click here to hear the theme in RealAudio!
Are there any lyrics to "The Kat's Meow"?
Yes, "The Kat's Meow" does have lyrics and here they are below lifted from the copyright description of the 1930 short, "The Kat's Meow" (please note that the short and the lyrics were both made prior to the infamous Hays Code):
You are the Kat's Meow,
You are the Kats an' how,
You're rather nice,
I go for mice,
Poop, poop, pad, doop.
Won't you please come to my yard tonight,
Pray for a pale moonlight,
I'll rub your fur,
[instrumental line]
Poop, poop, pad, doop.
I'll show you a new kind of loving that is hard to beat,
You'll throw rocks at all the other Kats you meet,
My Mousie,
I go for you an' how,
You are the Kat's Meow,
You're hard to make,
Give me a break,
Poop, poop, pad, doop.
The Mintz studio's Krazy Kat looks very little like Herriman's. Did they ever try to do a more accurate version of the character?
Yes. The Mintz studio made one attempt to make an actual Krazy Kat cartoon, "Li'l Ainjil" (1936). It was inspired by I. Klein and featured not only the Herriman Krazy Kat but Ignatz Mouse and Offissa Pupp as well. The short failed to garner much public attention and soon Mintz and his staff returned to producing Krazy as a Mickey Mouse knock-off.
You obviously have a majority of these cartoons. Can I have copies?
No.
I'll even pay you! Please!
The answer is still no. If I were to copy cartoons for money, then that would be video piracy. However, I'm always up for a cartoon trade (under certain circumstances) for cartoons I still have yet to see. Right now, some of the more Columbia-oriented stuff I need includes Technicolor prints of "Dreams on Ice", "Mysto Fox", "Kickapoo Juice", and the Barney Google shorts, a handful of Mister Magoo shorts including "Spellbound Hound", "Trailblazer Magoo", "Magoo Saves the Bank", "Magoo's Cruise", and "Merry Minstrel Magoo", and the following lost cartoons: "Monkey Love", "The Novelty Shop", "The Stork Takes a Holiday", "Hollywood Graduation", "Hollywood Sweepstakes", "The Grayhound and the Rabbit", "Who's Zoo in Hollywood", "King Midas, Jr.", "There's Something About a Soldier", "He Can't Make It Stick", "The Herring Murder Case", "Lionel Lion", "Rippling Romance", "River Ribber", "Cockatoos for Two", "Fowl Brawl", "Kitty Caddy", and "Wacky Quacky". I also need more "Ham and Hattie" cartoons.
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