Saturday, March 7, 2009

Everything's Bigger In Texas


So? Where's it from? I happen to really enjoy this drawing, although I've no idea if it's a one-off when the muse struck or if it belongs to an actual longer cartoon. By the paper and drawing style it looks like Paramount. Also, in my father's freelance ledger -- listed under Paramount, 1959, but might well have been released in 1960 -- I have a job listed simply as "Rabbit and Turtle".

THE RING A DING KID: Have You Seen Me?
In the near future I'll be posting a very short segment of boards and the story treatment to my father's Famous cartoon from the early sixties, The Ring A Ding Kid. I've never seen it, nor do I know anyone who has. But maybe YOU have seen it. If so, how did it turn out?: Stud or Dud? Even better, if anyone has the cartoon in a form that can be put online, I'd love to link it with the post. Much obliged, pardnuh'.

5 comments:

Dave Mackey said...

Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare were characters that were part of the studio's backlog sale to Harvey Films, so it's possible that by 1959, the studio would have no interest in further developing the characters and scrapped anything in production with them. There were four TT/MH cartoons, all written by different studio personnel: Irv Spector ("Winner by a Hare"), Larz Bourne ("Rabbit Punch"), Izzy Klein ("Sleuth but Sure") and Carl Meyer who wrote the last completed film with the characters - "Mr. Money Gags", released in 1957 and directed by Izzy Sparber.

You probably saw that "Ringading Kid" shows up empty in my list of Paramount cartoons, so I certainly haven't seen it. I don't believe it aired on Nickelodeon when they were running the post-1960 Paramount cartoon package. Further, I don't believe I saw "In The Nicotine" or "Harry Happy" there, either. Wish I had more info for you on that one.

Dave Mackey said...

Me again. There was a fifth TT/MH in 1961 called "Turtle Scoop". Your dad received no credit on that film.

p spector said...

Thanks Dave. For the present Texas Tortise must remain a mystery.
A bigger mystery, however, is the absence of Ringading. A western with ice cream rather than bullets is a lot more benign than plotting to kill one's spouse, a roomful of cigarette smoke, or cannibalism.

Anonymous said...

"Turning the Fables" is another tortoise/hare Paramount cartoon. Someone posted it on YouTube, minus most of the opening credits. The character designs are the same ones used in "Turtle Scoop".

p spector said...

Thanks Bobby, I'll check it out.