to drop us a line--we'd love to know what you think about Scrappy,
Scrappyland, or related matters. (We may publish your letter here
unless you request otherwise.)
And
now let's dip into Scrappy's mailbag:
Updated
February 2006
From
Kevin Butler: I remember watching "The Scrappy" movie
cartoons on
a weekday evening cartoon show: "Merrytoones Circus."
"Merrytoones
Circus"was seen weekday evenings on WOR TV Ch.9 in NYC back in
the early 1960's. Claude Kirchner (the first ringmaster/announcer
of ABC
TV's"Super Circus" and NBC TV's"Marx Magic Midway!")
was the show's host and head puppeteer.
"Scrappy"..along
with The Columbia/Charlie Mintz movie cartoons "Prof. Small &
Mr.Tall,""Lil Abner," and the Paramount/Famous movie
cartoons became a big hit with the kids of the TV generation...myself
included.
According
to an interview that I conducted with Mr.Kirchner back in the 1980's..he
told me that "MerryToones Circus" beat out the network TV
news in the local NYC TV ratings.Which didn't endear this local kids
TV cartoon show to the news dept heads at the three major tv networks.
"Scrappy"
was the little boy who tried to get his chores done and have the kind
of fun that a lot of kids would like to have? But? His miserable little
brother and an obnoxious little girl did everything that they could
to make his life..lousy. I can relate to a kid like that..since I
have a younger brother. Who is even more of an obnoxious creep that
poor "Scrappy's"little brother.
It's
sad that "Scrappy" only performed in a few movie cartoons.
But..for the few films that we did see this little guy in. He gave
us all a lot of laughs. Thank you for remembering "Scrappy."
From
Sergio Rodriguez: I had discovered this website just prior to
hurricane Katrina, and I had meant to write a letter to this wonderful
website back in the summer, but then came Katrina and I who have lived
in New Orleans since 1964, had to evacuate and temporarily relocate
along with my family. Since we are heading back to my beloved New
Orleans this December, and since we will be having a very "Scrappy"
holiday season at best, I being an amateur artist decided to use an
old Columbia Pictures drawing as the inspiration for my card this
year.Of course, I redrew the picture with obvious changes as you can
see and I added color too. I hope I do not offend anyone, it is meant
to be a personal tribute to this beloved and forgotten cartoon, a
cartoon that since my childhood has meant a lot to me.
Let me digress, my name is Sergio G. Rodriguez, and I was born in
Ciego de Avila, Cuba in 1952. By 1957, Cuban television stations were
showing Scrappy and Betty Boop cartoons daily, Betty Boop was my favorite
and Scrappy a close second. The baby boomer generation of Cuba was
raised on the wonderful U.S. cartoons of the 1930's and 1940's. One
of my favorite cartoons of all time by any character is Scrappy's
" The Bad Genius", (I hope I have the name right) the images
of Scrappy running along a roof edge being pursued by the bad genius
and the images of the futuristic world were everyone could fly with
propellers on their heads fascinated
me since childhood. I guess we all dream of flying and Scrappy made
it look so easy.
Suffice
to say that Castro not unlike Katrina came along. Many of us had to
flee our beloved Cuba and luckily got a chance to make a new life
in the U.S. Unfortunately, no one here in 1960 was playing Betty Boop
or Scrappy cartoons or even remembered them, at least not kids. Consequently,
these two characters became
edged in my mind and soul as icons of my lost Cuban childhood. Since
I had been drawing since childhood, I became an "animation aficionado"
early on. I searched high and low for anything having to do with them.
Today my wife who is also Cuban, along with me enjoy collecting Betty
Boop and some Scrappy items. We have a huge collection that fortunately
survived Katrina, I am also a proud owner of an almost mint "Scrappy
Puppet Theater". I also have some "Scrappy" cartoons
on VHS, a private collector of films put them on tape (shame on Columbia
Pictures for not releasing "Scrappy" on DVD). I wrote them
many years ago requesting that they put the cartoons on tape and release
commercially but my request went sadly ignored. My passion for these
icons of my past led me to design Betty Boop Christmas cards, I've
designed one each year since 1989. This year I decided to give Scrappy
star
billing, and I included Betty Boop as a prop, Margy who is a very
hip 1930's littlegirl ;o) is carrying her "hot" Cameo jointed
Betty Boop doll (these were very popular back in the 1930's and highly
sought after by collectors today).
This website is such a great tribute! I commend you (Harry McCracken)
and all those who contributed to its creation. What a labor of love
it is! It was high time that Scrappy have a place were he could be
honored and remembered, and not only is there
one now, but it is designed with such taste and class. For those who
never heard of him, it offers a fascinating window into "Scrappyland".
I have one humble request, I would be honored if you would post my
Christmas card on the website for all to enjoy.
From
Dewey Webb: My God! It's been so long since I've thought about
Scrappy, finding your site was like uncovering a suppressed memory!
Does anyone know the last time (roughly) these cartoons appeared on
US TV? Here in Phoenix, I'm guessing it was the early-mid Sixties.
He'd been on since I was a kid; who knew I'd never see him again?
[Scrappyland
replies: We don't know when Scrappy was last a staple of local
programming--we don't remember him from our own mid-to-late sixties
youth. But he was seen, in hisrare color appearances, on the short-lived
Voom HDTV satellite service. The Dish Network picked up Voom's Animania
channel, so it's possible that he's still showing up sporadically.
We hope so.]
From
Audrey Gleske: I was getting ready to post a punch out set "Scrappy's
Puppet Theatre" on eBay when I decided to do some research to
see what I could find out about this cartoon character when I came
upon your site. I absolutely loved the information that you have compiled
and while I was born in 1959 and I have some vague recollection of
seeing the Scrappy cartoons growing up, I've decided NOT to sell my
set because of the nostalgia and history behind this cartoon that
you have compiled. You've done a wonderful job and I think I'll hang
on to my puppet theatre for a while.
From
Dimi Dumo, in regards to our Gallery's Scrappy
soap, which was sculpted by famed soap artist Lester Gaba: Just
like Lester Gaba, I'm a soap sculptor. I dedicated some pages to his
work on my Web site. They might interest all soap sculptors (young
and old), because they give a clear and simple guideline to the question
"how to sculpt in soap", including many photographs of his
work. Please check it out here.
From
Carl Sneyd:
Thanks for reminding me of the days when we got our first TV, around
1955. Our local TV station in Hamilton Ontario, CHCH, was just starting
and used to run a half hour compilation after school, and as my parents
had not yet come home from work, I was able to watch Scrappy and Oopie
at my leisure. They used to run the Krazy Kat cartoons as well but
certainly not as often as Scrappy. I remember my favourite being an
episode in which time stopped for everyone except Scrappy. I found
the idea fascinating and the animation using drawn figures moving
over still photos quite amazing. Keep up the great work!
From
George Evelyn: Great Web site, beautifully designed! There was
this Scrappy cartoon I vaguely remember seeing with my brother (on
TV, about 1959) in which Scrappy got blamed for something the baby
(Oopie, I guess) did. Broke something, and had to stand in the corner,
or stay inside on a sunny day. What was memorable was the baby taunting
Scrappy about it, singing some little song or something. My brother
got really worked up over this, got REALLY mad at that baby, saying:
"I'd bash that baby's stupid head and throw his dress in the
garbage." Do you guys happen to know what cartoon that was, by
any chance?
[Scrappyland
replies: We're not sure which cartoon you're remembering. Anyone
out there know?]
From
Dr. Richard Huemer (son of Scrappy creator Dick Huemer): Thanks
for Scrappyland! Rarely has serious research on an obscure subject
produced so risible a result. Thanks, too, for the link to huemer.com.
In return, I'm offering
my web guests an
invitation to Scrappyland, straight from Scrappy's mouth. What's
next? Toby-the-Pup Land? Talk about obscurity!
From
Richard Sutor: I'm a 64 year-old retired educator who first became
acquainted with Scrappy via home movies. Back in the early 1940's
my dad had a Univex 8mm camera and projector. He also had several
reels of commercially made films. One of these was Scrappy Trailer.
I still have the film. It's on a 100 foot reel which was rare for
films of those days as this is almost the equivalent of the complete
35mm release. Of course the film is silent and runs at the slower
18fps of the silent equipment giving all the cartoon movements a kind
of sliding gracefulness. My brother and sister and I saw this cartoon
many times and especially liked the "futuristic" gadgetry
Scrappy had in his trailer.
Years
later, when I was in my teens I bought a 16mm movie collection from
a store that formerly had used these prints in rental service. I was
delighted to find copies of Scrappy Rodeo and Holiday Land. These,
unfortunately, were also silent.
I
would love to see prints of these films with their original
soundtracks.
Thank
you for setting up the web site. I will be returning to it frequently
to become re-acquainted with an old friend.
Another
letter from Paul Etcheverry: Kudos
on your fun and most pleasingly designed website. You turned up some
amazing stuff! Appropriately, Scrappy merchandising is, 70+ years
later, disturbing, odd, and inexplicable. Could the irate Cantonese
fellow in the puppet theatre be the star of the seventh cartoon in
the series, The Chinatown Mystery (one of the prime titles
that, incidentally, NOBODY has seen)?
From
Peter Mork: I stumbled onto your website and spent a pleasant
evening with it. You obviously put a lot of care into the presentation,
and the black-and-white look really makes it stand out. Thanks for
not putting a bunch of Scrappy faces as wallpaper behind the text
and making it completely unreadable.
As
a tyke in the 50s and 60s I saw a LOT of Scrappy cartoons on television.
The bits and pieces I remember about them are mostly disturbing. Wasn't
there one set in a dark house, where the figures on the wallpaper
bounced up and down? That one gave me bad dreams. (There was also
a Krazy Kat episode involving scary bomb-throwing Bolsheviks that
has lingered in my mind.) I have only once since my childhood gotten
a chance to see any of these films (along with the Walter Lantz Oswalds
I was also heavily dosed wiith), and I hope I'll be able to again
some day.
I
didn't recall Oopy as having a name; me and my brother just called
him Baby.
From
Ed Golick (www.detroitkidshow.com):
I've only seen one Scrappy cartoon in my 49 years on this earth. Believe
it or not, it was in a drive theater in in the late 1970s. It was
a beautiful, splice-free color print. The only thing I remember about
it was that Scrappy kept singing "I'm the bird man." Would
you happen to know the title of this cartoon?
[Scrappyland
replies: We ran your question by several Scrapologists, and the
consensus is that you're thinking of the 1935 cartoon The Bird
Man. However, this was a Krazy Kat, not a Scrappy--and if you saw
it in color, you saw one of those crummy recolored jobs of then-recent
vintage.]
From
David Gerstein (via Harry-Go-Round):
A laurel and a hearty handshake to you, Harry...great Web resource
you've built here. A proper tribute to the round, lovable, occasionally
disturbing mass of contradictions that is His Scrappiness.
All
together now, a round of "Scrappy's Theme Song" -- no, wait,
I don't remember it! All I seem to be channeling is Barney the Dinosaur's
theme (which as I recall is uncomfortably similar!).
From
Don Markstein (of Toonopedia):
An ENTIRE DOMAIN just for SCRAPPY!!? Yow! (Do you get some kind of
discount on hosting? Multiple small domains for the price of one big
one or something?)
I'm
really going to enjoy going through this over the next few days. And
when it comes time to write my Scrappy article for the Toonopedia,
this ought to make it easy to dig up the facts. Problem is, I hate
to get al my info from one source, and I suspect it might be hard
to find a factoid you haven't covered.
Good
job, as usual. Thanks for putting it up for us.
From
Gordan Calma (of the Fleischer
Popeye Tribute site): What a fantastic website!!! Thank you so
much for making such a beautiful tribute to until now a marginalized
and almost forgotten classic cartoon character--Scrappy.
From
Dewey McGuire: I just re-emerged from Scrappyland. Having read
it all, I can only say I want a permanent visa to this land right
away. Naturally, I remain entranced by Scrappy's
Puppet Theatre, and the original works of drama performed in it.
However, I see no need to remain limited to the Scrappy repertoire...
I'd like to see the cast try putting on a performance of, say, "Death
of a Salesman." I favor casting the Chinaman in the lead.
Seriously,
this site is really a terrific piece of design work. I applaud your
decision to make it monotone, although a color annex would
be welcome as well
From
B. Baker: I simply wanted to congratulate you regarding your new
"Scrappyland" website. I am also grateful--I haven't even
seen the Animania articles on Scrappy since they were published;
it was a pleasure to re-read them after all these years. I know a
lot about these shorts -- but I'd forgotten that most of what I know
about them, other than personal observation and appreciation, is derived
from [this] work. Thank you.
In
the '70s and '80s I would periodically see a variety of Columbia shorts--in
beat-up 16mm prints, of course- at college screenings and in annual
animation programs at revival houses. I'm pretty lucky --thanks to
my good fortune to have been up and around back then -- and to have
read Mindrot/Animania, Funnyworld, the wonderful Maltin
book and other scholarship. I'm familiar with the Mintz pictures and
have seen many of the black & white shorts. (As you note, the
Phantasies and other color specials are much easier to see.) They
are the product of some unique talents, and I look forward to the
development of "Scrappyland"-- your knowledge and insight
on these films is of great value. (Somewhere Dick Huemer is smiling.)
From
Paul Etcheverry: A few reasons why one should be interested in
Scrappy, for starters:
--Scrappy
predates James Dean, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Lenny Bruce
as antisocial anti-heroes by two decades!
--Scrappy
cartoons made in 1931-1934 rank atop that list of the funniest films
you've never heard of.
--Best
cartoon picks to complement an Andy Kaufman TV special or Pee-Wee's
Playhouse episode.
The
first season of Scrappies, stylistically speaking, are the closest
thing to a Robert Crumb animated cartoon--much more so than Fritz
the Cat. (one wonders if Mr. Crumb, as a tot, sat in front of
the boob tube in the mid-50's for hours and hours and hours viewing
Scrappy cartoons repeatedly)
For
film buffs and animation historians:
--Consider
who made these cartoons: Disney animator and story guru Dick Huemer,
WB director and animator Art Davis, legendary animator Emery Hawkins,
etc. . . And then there's Sid Marcus...far and away the most underrated,
unjustly unheralded of Golden Age cartoon directors.
--Let's
Ring Doorbells and The Puppet Murder Case are among the
first cartoons to feature montage sequences. I'm not sure who got
there first - Hugh Harman (Circus Daze) and Frank Tashlin (almost
every B&W Porky Pig he directed) were also working concurrently
along similar lines. In any case, you have to reach back to the most
far-out segments in the Fleischer and Messmer silents to come up with
anything like what these guys were doing.
