8mm Forum: It's a Living!! Dinky Duck Terrytoons Super 8 SCOPE!!

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 26, 2016, 11:44 AM:

This hobby tends to be a never-ending source of surprises. There always seems to be one right around the corner. In this case, I was surprised to find a super 8 scope release, that was never intended to be a super 8 scope release...

It’s A Living!

This is a Terrytoon cartoon, (the studio responsible for the Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle films). The star is Dinky Duck, which was a lil ole duck character that, while not necessarily very funny, did have a long running series at the Terrytoon studio. This, however, is a unique dinky Duck cartoon!

I'll, of course, elaborate!

In 1955, CBS, (who had recently bought the Terrytoon studio from Paul Terry), decided that the studio needed a major “upgrade” in quality. This isn’t so surprising, as the studio had been putting out cartoons that still looked like they were being made in the early 40’s, in the mid 50’s. Terrytoon’s never really upgraded their product much, but as long as they were paying decently in the theaters, Paul Terry didn’t have any reason to upgrade, in his opinion. Now, CBS brought in a new Studio head, Gene Deitch, one of the new generation of modern artists, who had become well known for his work at the Columbia pictures UPA cartoon studio.

Deitch came with new ideas and new characters and, in large part, retired all of the earlier cartoon characters at Terrytoon’s, including Dinky Duck. Deitch brought a very modern graphic style to the cartoons and suddenly Terrytoons looked vibrant and fresh in a way that they never had before and instantly started to receive more bookings at theaters, (never mind the fact that, in large part, while vibrant looking, the cartoons just weren’t all that funny).

Deitch’s stay at the studio wasn’t very long, however, (two years), and upon his departure, the Terrytoon studio decided to bring back the old characters, while keeping the modern graphic style, and this brings us to the cartoon, “It’s A Living”.

This is Dinky’s “swan song,” and it’s a good one. The cartoon opens in the best way to show off the cinemascope format. Dinky is on screen yet again, running for his life; in this case, from a crocodile, and the image is in the old “academy” non scope format. Suddenly, Dinky stops the proceedings, claiming that he’s sick and tired of always being chased, and he hops off the screen and proceeds up the aisle and out of the theater (as the screens widens to the full scope width). Dinky wants new work and when he sees a commercial, (with a squeaky voice like Dinky’s) He decides to become a commercial actor.

The network decides that Dinky is just what they need for commercials, but what follows is a bunch of embarrassing and painful uses of Dinky for television. After a while, Dinky is fed up and stomps back to the theater (where the croc is still waiting up on the screen). He jumps back into the frame, and the chase is one, with Dinky exclaiming, “It’s a living”

This cartoon is more a moralistic fable than a funny cartoon, but it’s pretty good on it’s merits. This cartoon definitely benefits from the modern design that Deitch brought to the studio and is a good example of those improvements to the studios output. It’s a fun romp and a different kind of cartoon that makes you think, but only just a bit.

When CBS/Terrytoons decided to release Terrytoons on super 8, they must have just went through their catalog of cartoons and just randomly picked, and didn’t actually realize what they were releasing, as it is apparent that they didn’t know that they were releasing a scope cartoon (either that, or they just didn’t care), as this cartoon is not stretched into the scope format and then a flat print made. In fact, the title card, (the generic “Dinky Duck” title card with the title of the specific release) IS in the flat academy format, while the rest of the cartoon is in scope. Sadly, being that it has the flat title card, this cartoon does not benefit from having the original beginning and ending credits, (another cost saving move, as less footage would be needed for each super 8 print), which is a shame, as the original beginning credits, (which ran close to 35 seconds), had a very charming “Dinky Duck” theme song. Alsom, it should be noted that there is a short section (Dinky running from the street to the high thwe rise building, and going up to the floor where the network is, which runs approximately 22 seconds as well, which is really a very unnecessary cut.

The color on the actual scope portion of the cartoon is not as good as the title, (which can be seen from the perfect blacks after the title card, going to a nasty brown for the fade into the scope portion), but it’s passable. As with these Terrytoon titles on super 8, there is no THE END to the film, just a fade out from the last moment of the cartoons action.

Still, the very fact that this ended up on super 8 in the scope format is a nice find for us super 8 collectors and gives us, yet again, another opportunity to enjoy a film in it’s original format, when almost nobody else can enjoy it this a way. Good luck on finding a print, all of you happy collectors …

and, as always …

LONG LIVE SUPER 8!!

[ October 27, 2016, 11:29 AM: Message edited by: Osi Osgood ]

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on October 26, 2016, 03:26 PM:

Great review, Osi! Who released "It's A Living"? Does it require a scope lens?

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on October 27, 2016, 11:26 AM:

I'm not sure as to who released it on super, but I think that Ken Films had the rights to release the Terrytoon cartoons, but someone else is more than welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, this film would need a scope lense to be viewed appropriately.

Here is a link to a scope copy of it on youtube ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eeKoJXRU7E

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