Category Archives: Monkey Cartoons

THE CARTOON CRYPT: Betty Boop and Pudgy in My Friend the Monkey (1939)

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THE CARTOON CRYPT

I must confess, I used to really dislike Pudgy and Grampy… the characters that invaded Betty Boop’s cartoons after her pre-Hays code prime. I blamed them for the decline of quality in Betty Boop cartoons, not to mention the unfortunate disappearance of Bimbo and Koko. I’ve been watching them a lot lately, however, because my daughter LOVES Pudgy… and they really are fun cartoons. Betty is nowhere near as interesting as in her earlier cartoons… but I guess it ain’t Pudgy and Grampy’s fault. This is the 6th from last Fleischer Betty Boop cartoon, and 2nd from last Pudgy cartoon. This may be my favorite of the Pudgy cartoons I’ve seen.

PLEASE NOTE: This cartoon contains ethnic depictions that some people would certainly find offensive, and you may not want to watch it if this sort of thing bugs you.

Read more about this cartoon at the Big Cartoon Database.

THE CARTOON CRYPT: The Mascot (1933)

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A great, great short by Ladislaw Starewicz, The Mascot, in three parts. I posted a short excerpt from this cartoon previously… this is the full cartoon at a much better quality. The Mascot is one of the most bizarre and beautiful puppet animations I’ve ever seen. And it has a monkey! Don’t miss it!

Part 1

Part 2

Part3

Read more about Ladislaw Starewicz at Animation Heaven and Hell.

Read more about Ladislaw Starewicz at Wikipedia.

See a tribute site to Ladislaw Starewicz made by his granddaughter.

For more old cartoons with monkeys, go here.

THE CARTOON CRYPT: Swing, Monkey, Swing (1937)

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THE CARTOON CRYPT

An incredible Charles Mintz produced cartoon animated by Manny Gould for Columbia Pictures. Unfortunately, some of it is cut off, but it is still utterly fantastic. What a great soundtrack! They start with some Cab Calloway style hi-de-ho mixed with a Mills Brothers-esque monkey making music with his mouth, move into something that sounds a lot like Jungle Fever (which I know through the Mills Brothers), and finish with St. Louis Blues. The person who posted this on DailyMotion thinks the soundtrack was most likely by Les Hite and his Orchestra.

Please note: The monkey jazz musicians in this cartoon could definitely be read as a racial slur if you’re inclined to read monkeys as a racial slur. If this sort of thing offends you, you may not want to view it.

Go here to see a whole lot of other classic monkey cartoons on this website.

Read more about this cartoon on the Big Cartoon Database here.

THE CARTOON CRYPT: An Elephant Never Forgets (1934)

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THE CARTOON CRYPT

What? A rerun won’t cut it for your Saturday morning? You kids today are spoiled! When I was a kid long, long ago in the decade we called the Seventies, we had four channels, and one was PBS, which didn’t even count! We were happy to get reruns! We’d watch the same Woody Woodpecker cartoon 100 times, because that was the Woody Woodpecker cartoon the local station had a copy of! Hell, forget Woody Woodpecker, we even watched Fred and Barney meet The Thing and The Shmoo! And we liked it! Loved it, even! And it was terrible! You… you’ve got the low-res version of the history of animation at your fingertips whenever you want it! What the hell is wrong with you?!? Be grateful!

Oh, fine, have another, you lucky little bastards… here’s the Fleischers’ An Elephant Never Forgets from 1934.

Read more about this cartoon on The Big Cartoon Database.

THE CARTOON CRYPT: Baseball Group of Forest (1934)

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THE CARTOON CRYPT

Babel fish translates the title of this short YouTube video (森の野球団 Mori No Yakyuudan (1934)) as Baseball Group of Forest. The cranking cat tail gag may have been lifted directly from Disney’s Steamboat Willie (where a goat is getting cranked)… although that gag was probably used in a lot of cartoons.

THE CARTOON CRYPT: Doctor of Forest and Brave Warrior of Sanitary Gown

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Another mysterious old Japanese cartoon from YouTube… this one is titled 森のお医者と白衣の勇士, which Babel Fish translates as Doctor of Forest and Brave Warrior of Sanitary Gown. The cartoon part starts a quarter of the way in. I like how the Brave Warrior of Sanitary Gown seems to be saluting a monkey.