8mm Forum: Flip the Frog Cartoons: UB IWerks

This is topic Flip the Frog Cartoons: UB IWerks in forum 8mm films for sale/trade/wanted at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on September 15, 2015, 08:25 AM:

Hi All,
I ordered some 'unnamed' cartoons from ebay the other week and we were pleasantly surprised to discover these cute little cartoons. My kids love them and the frog opening song with flip on the piano my youngest has me rewinding constantly.....
I would love to find a collection of these, or just a few more we do not have... We were fortunate enough to get these ones for 7$ each and almost all of them were 'Darn-Near-Mint'[TM Joe Caruso [Smile]

] except for one that seems to flash bright and not-so bright throughout..... Looking for nice copies, SOUND only...
Cheers,
Matt

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 15, 2015, 08:42 AM:

'Morning Matthew,

Are yours Blackhawks?

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on September 15, 2015, 08:54 AM:

Yes Sir! The boxes are the older blackhawk tanned box with the indian feather head profile on it.
Is that good? [Smile]

I know nothing about these little gems.
Here are the titles i got so far:
*Spooks
*Soda Squirt
*Techno-cracked
Not many yet, but they are fun.
The Soda Squirt in my opinion was a real great find....It has cartoon Laurel and Hardy and Marx Brothers throughout the whole thing!!! It is awesome.
Matt

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 15, 2015, 08:57 AM:

Another one to look for is "The Cuckoo Murder Case"

-it's a good one!

I also have "Spooks". Since I am not a horror collector it's kind of a (pathetic) go-to reel on Halloween!

(Scariest thing I have!)

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on September 15, 2015, 09:35 AM:

Ubbe (Ub) Ert Iwerks was a mainstay behind Walt Disney for ten years, often single-handily animating cartoons (The Skeleton Dance-1929.)
He left Walt in 1930 to make his own cartoons for Pat Powers starting with Flip the Frog, then Willie Whopper, and eventually the Comicolor cartoons which were filmed in Cinecolor.
He returned to Disney in 1940 and made many new contributions to the studio and latterly was involved in Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on September 15, 2015, 09:52 AM:

@steve- I agree. That is the one that is kinda flickery anyways. I kinda think it adds to the pathetic creepiness of it. kids like it.
I think my scariest film is the ken films silent b/w version of Little Rascals Haunted House(aka Hide N Shriek) [Smile]

@Maurice - Thats some great info. Thanx. I've corrected my thread title as well!

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 15, 2015, 01:42 PM:

Blackhawk released most of the Flip the Frog cartoons that were rleased, as Blackhawk had the earliest negatives for these cartoons, and they were great.

I would hunt down the very first "Flip the Frog" cartoon, "Fiddlesticks" which also holds the distinction as one of the earliest color cartoons. It was only two strip Technicolor, but it was a good two years before Disney's "Flowers and Trees", and is a fun little color experiment by Iwerks. It even hosts a "Mickey Rip-off" Mouse (complete with red pants and buttons), which is kind of funny, as Iwerks actually animated the very first Mickey Mouse shorts.

Beware, however, and hold out for the fairly rare silver box edition, as that is on LPP film stock and unfaded and it looks really good, where-as the earlier printings of this cartoon by Blackhawk, were on quick fade Eastman stock and have lost most or all of their color.

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on September 15, 2015, 02:11 PM:

Thanx for that tip Osi!! One thing I have learned from you from this forum is to beware of quickfade eastman stock! Very valuable info.
Here's a little interesting tidbit on Iwerks from wikipedia:
"Animator Chuck Jones, who worked for Iwerks' studio in his youth, said “Iwerks is Screwy [Skrewi] spelled backwards.”
[Smile]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 16, 2015, 01:53 PM:

Yep! Chuck's very first job was washing animation cels! It's sound terrible today, but studios had to bring down costs for their pictures, so they washed the animation cels after photographing them, so that they could re-use them!

This is why original animation cels from the 30's and 40's (especially Warner Brothers), go for incredibly high dollars these days, and those that the paint hasn't all "flicked off" from.

Iwerks, after shutting down his studio and then doing a few cartoons for Warners (yep, two of them, Porky's) and some contract work for Columbia studios animation department, completely shut his studio and went back to Disney, where he finished his career making many a valuable technological advancement for animation and beyond, (which, of course, Walt benefited from greatly). According to Maltin, they were happy to be back and never spoke of the years they were apart.

Iwrk did produce some very memorable cartoons. he tried darned hard, but most of his output was less than memorable.

Posted by David Guest (Member # 2791) on September 16, 2015, 03:07 PM:

I have about 6 of these all sound and very good cond all on 16mm and would sell the lot contact me if interested

Posted by Mathew James (Member # 4581) on September 17, 2015, 07:41 PM:

Makes me want to get into 16mm next!!
btw- Just started watching some of the silly symphony disney cartoons. Pretty good! Some have Laurel and Hardy and the MArx brothers etc...I like the ones with that in them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnP03WtR2to
[Smile]

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