Cartoon Sunday: Bill Tytla's Leprechauns Gold

How's it going lurkers? These next 2 Cartoon Sunday blogs somewhat have creepy tones to them.

Is it just me or does it seem like animated shorts from the 1920's to 1970's had creepier illustrations?

I don't recall of any animated shorts from the 1980's and '90s, especially animated shorts with creepy art illustrations. We had more cutesy illustrations. Otherwise, some looked really generic, abstract, or were just horribly illustrated cartoons.

If there were any animated shorts, that aired on local and cable channels, during the 1980's and '90s, I don't recall of them. Then again, I reached puberty very early in the early 1990's and outgrew MOST of the cartoons and TV shows meant for children. 

Now, here I am in my mid-30's discovering and watching cartoons, again.

We already know there is a stigma to watching animation as an adult. However, there is always a justification for why it is highly acceptable for adults to rush to the movie theaters to go see the latest Disney film.

Regardless of how adult animation elitists want to justify it, most Disney films ARE cartoons in movie form. Disney films are usually sugarcoated and dumbed down content meant for children.

As an adult, I view the characters and stories in animation differently.

Yes, I know those characters are NOT real people. Although, the characters and the stories DO have some "human-like" (also known as anthropomorphic) qualities with more realistic topics.

Bill Tytla's animated shorts somewhat reflect realistic characters with human-like qualities to them. 

Only judging based on 2 of this Ukrainian American animator's shorts, which I have seen, Tytla's works were similar to Ub Iwerks.

Cartoon Sunday: Ub Iwerks' Skeleton Frolics (2016)

Cartoon Sunday: Ub Iwerks' The Skeleton Dance (2016)

Like last October when I featured Ub Iwerks' animated shorts, these next 2 Cartoon Sundays will feature Bill Tytla's animated shorts in the spirit of Saint Patrick's Day. Today we have Bill Tytla's Leprechauns Gold. 

Leprechauns Gold is an Irish themed animated short depicting leprechauns, during their annual gold-washing ceremony. 

They also manage to outsmart an evil landlord, who plots to steal their gold in the process.

Bill Tytla's Leprechauns Gold (1949)

Cartoon Sunday: Ub Iwerks' Skeleton Frolics

How's it going lurkers? Adult Swim's Toonami block finally premiered the English dub of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood, last night. I swear, that Dio character is EVIL.

Dio Brando reminds me of a certain troll I know personally from another website. I only watched episode 1 of Phantom Blood, a few months ago. 

While watching Season 1: Episode 1, it felt more like I was watching a Soap Opera because it had Soap Opera Drama in it.

After watching the Toonami promo on Adult Swim these last several weeks, I was quite surprised by the amount of action that was shown for this series.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood Promo On Toonami (2016)

Normally, I marathon or "binge watch" Anime online but my time is spent now on many other activities both on and offline. 

Judging by the Toonami promo, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure looks like it is a combination of Dragon Ball Z (except much better) and Bleach.

Since we are already on the topics of Shonen Jump Action Anime and Adult Swim's Toonami, I forgot to mention last week, that Blue Exorcist will be getting another season!

Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Impure King Arc Anime Reveals January Premiere, More Cast

Hopefully, this next season will focus more on the character, Renzo Shima becoming a double agent.

Considering that we are already on the topic of animation with darker themes to them, I am finally sharing this particular animated short by Ub Iwerks. 

Originally, I meant to share this last October, but I was really sick. Last October, I was lucky to have even published any blogs much less work on my Halloween Music Playlist Thread for Adult Swim's seasonal sub-forum, Adult Scare.

As I was saying, I managed to find a darker animated short by Ub Iwerks. 

Iwerks had a history of working for both Walt Disney and Columbia Pictures' cartoon division. To be more specific, he produced and directed The Skeleton Dance in 1929, during his time at Walt Disney.

After Ub Iwerks supposedly had a "falling out" with Walt Disney, Iwerks launched his own studio called The Iwerks Studio in 1930. 

The Iwerks Studio was shortly lived and had shut down, during the 1936.

BTW: This all happened during the same time as The Great Depression.

In 1937, Iwerks drew Skeleton Frolics. During that time, he began working for Color Rhapsodies at Columbia Pictures. Skeleton Frolics is very similar to Disney's The Skeleton Dance.

Skeleton Frolics is in color with obviously some minor alterations whereas The Skeleton Dance was animated completely in black and white.

Ub Iwerks' [Walt Disney] Silly Symphony: "The Skeleton Dance" (1929)

Ub Iwerks' [Columbia Pictures] Color Rhapsodies: "Skeleton Frolics" (1937)

It was not until 1938, that Ub Iwerks became the director for several of Columbia Pictures' Color Rhapsodies shorts.

Iwerks' history in entertainment is quite extensive, especially when it comes to darker content. In fact, not only was Ub Iwerks an animator, but he also became an expert in special visual effects.

For example, Iwerks worked on the special effects for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds in 1963. (It is amazing what you can learn.) 

Rather than giving you a long history lesson about Ub Iwerks, here is Skeleton Frolics for Cartoon Sunday.

Ub Iwerks' Skeleton Frolics (1937)