Richards Favorite Videos

Cast of Family Matters introduces the preview of the cartoon during a TGIF special.

“ENOUGH IZ TU MUCH! go awn an singa. about ya moona and ya joona batta swinga…” And also, how good is the gag about the girl reading the telegraph saying “stop” to the dudes advances? golden…

I Love to Singa is both the title of a song written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg and a later Merrie Melodies animated short subject based on that song. Arlen and Harburg originally wrote the tune for the 1936 Warner Bros. feature-length film The Singing Kid. It is performed three times in the film: first by Al Jolson and Cab Calloway, then by the Yacht Club Boys and Jolson, and finally again by Calloway and Jolson.

During this period, it was customary for Warners to have their animation production partner, Leon Schlesinger Productions, make Merrie Melodies cartoons based upon songs from their features. One of the resulting short subjects, I Love to Singa, was directed by Tex Avery and released by Warners on July 18, 1936. The cartoon, one of the earliest Merrie Melodies produced in Technicolor’s 3-strip process, is recognized as one of Avery’s early masterpieces.

Plot

I Love to Singa depicts the story of a young owlet who wants to sing jazz, instead of the classical music that his German parents wish him to perform. The plot is a light-hearted tribute to that of Al Jolson’s film The Jazz Singer.

The young owl, voiced by Tommy Bond, best known as “Butch” of the Our Gang (Little Rascals) films, is unjustly kicked out of his family’s house by his disciplinarian violinist father (voiced by Billy Bletcher) after he is caught singing jazz instead of Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes to his mother (voiced by Martha Wentworth)’s reed (pump) organ accompaniment. While wandering, he comes across a radio amateur contest, hosted by “Jack Bunny” (a pun on Jack Benny), and billing himself as “Owl Jolson”, wins the contest, but not before his father has finally seen his son’s potential and allowed him to freely sing jazz.

Cultural influence

The I Love to Singa cartoon has taken on something of a cult following in recent years. In the “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe” episode of the adult cartoon South Park, characters Eric Cartman and Officer Barbrady lapse into Owl Jolson’s odd song-and-dance routine whenever they get hit with an alien beam. In Warners’ 2003 film Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Owl Jolson’s dance sequence from I Love to Singa repeatedly appears on the video screen of the ACME Corp. Chairman (Steve Martin), since he cannot properly operate his remote control. He also shows up in the Looney Tunes: Back in Action game, in the France, Las Vegas, and Africa levels. He can be turned on and shut off by being hit by either character. When approached, Bugs and Daffy will make comments.

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Toot, Whistle, Plunk And Boom

Professor Owl takes class through a basic history of music, from cavemen times to present day, explaining the four archetypes and how they work together to create pleasant sounds. This Academy Award winner is presented unedited and in its original Cinemascope aspect ratio.

Melody (also from 1953)

This Classic Short Shows The New Experimental Animation Of “The Nine Old Men”.This Was Also The Studio’s First Foray Into The Field Of 3-D Animation.

1932 Castle Films – Banned in the USA because apparently there is something racist about a kid and his dog defeating a tiger. Tigers everywhere were offended and now the video is extremely taboo.

I used to watch this on occasion and even then thought it was a little odd.
Every episode starts with the tale of how SuperTed came to life: He was a teddy bear found to be defective in the toy factory where he was made, and then disposed of into a storeroom in the basement. A Spotty man found him there and brought him to life with his “cosmic dust”. He was later taken to Mother Nature and given magical powers that enabled him to fight evil. This evil invariably takes the form of Texas Pete (An evil cowboy) and his gang; Bulk (an overweight, bumbling fool) and Skeleton (an undead cowardly skeleton with pink slippers). Texas Pete’s plots are generally aimed at advancing his own wealth, ruling the world and the power or the destruction of SuperTed, his nemesis.

SuperTed’s powers are activated by his “secret magic word”, which (as the name suggests) remains a secret. SuperTed whispers it every time he or someone else is in peril and he transforms into a Superman-like red suit with rockets built in to the boots. These allow him to fly. In one episode, Bulk overhears the secret magic word and also whispers it, briefly acquiring identical powers to SuperTed. However, he subsequently forgets the word.

The episodes take place all over the world (but quite often in Wales) and even in space (SuperTed is the owner of his own space station). He also has a tree house in an unspecified jungle.

SuperTed has many similarities to Captain Marvel. Like Captain Marvel, SuperTed gets his powers from saying a word. SuperTed’s costume is very similar to that of Captain Marvel. SuperTed was given his powers by a being known as Mother Nature, much like how Captain Marvel’s powers were given by the wizard Shazam.

Waynehead was a Saturday morning cartoon produced by American actor Damon Wayans and ran on Kids’ WB for the 1996-97 season. It is about a young child from a poor background with a clubfoot and was based on Wayans’ childhood in urban New York City. Actors cast in the show include Gary Coleman, Orlando Brown and Marlon Wayans. Waynehead lasted for only one season due to poor ratings. From 1997-2000, reruns aired on the Cartoon Network.

Hammerman is a Saturday morning cartoon produced by DiC Entertainment, which aired for one season (1991 – 1992) on ABC.

The program featured pop rapper MC Hammer as a youth center worker named Stanley Burrell (Hammer’s real name). Burell owns a pair of magical dancing shoes (which were alive and could speak), which when worn cause Burell to transform into the superhero Hammerman. He frequently gets advice from his “Gramps”, who was a former owner of the shoes and was known as Soulman. While in the guise of Hammerman, Burrell was dressed in MC Hammer’s signature purple parachute pants and myriad golden chains. The show was hosted by the real MC Hammer who also sang the show’s theme song, telling about the origin of Hammerman. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, Gramps (real name unrevealed) was the superhero Soulman, but as he grew older, he grew weaker and was forced to retire. Gramps and his granddaughter Jodie traveled to find the next new superhero. Their search was over when they met Stanley and when he put on the shoes. Thirteen episodes of the program were produced.