Saturday Morning Cartoon: Super Chicken

I've ben trying to post a Super Chicken adventure since I started this blog, but it's hard to find a good-looking copy posted on the internet.   I am finally giving up and am posting the best copy I can find of "Wild Ralph Hiccup" first broadcast in 1967.   Super Chicken was a component of the "George of the Jungle" TV show, produced by the legendary Jay Ward.  Ward had previously produced "Rocky and Bullwinkle" with a Mexican animation studio and was never completely satisfied with the sloppy animation of that series.   He produced "George of the Jungle" completely in Hollywood, which caused the entire project to go overbudget.   This ended up being Ward's last television series.   He ended his animation career by producing commercials for Cap'n Crunch and other breakfast cereals.   Pull up a a bowl of Quisp (or Quake, if you prefer) and watch "Wild Ralph Hiccup."   Enjoy! 

Restaurant review: Fosselman's Ice Cream

As summer slowly draws to a close, I am drawn to my favorite ice cream spots to enjoy one last scoop before the summer is over.   It's not like I won't enjoy ice cream the other three seasons, but there's something about ice cream in the summer that makes it taste especially good.   And one of the best places to get some great ice cream is Fosselman's Ice Cream Parlor in Alhambra.

Ice cream is one of my favorite foods, and Fosselman's is one of those places that does it right.   Family owned since 1919, the current owners still produce a high quality product in a large variety of flavors.  They have all the regulars you'd expect, from chocolate chip to spumoni, but they also have several flavors unique to the store, such as chocolate covered strawberry, chocolate raspberry mousse and green apple sherbet.   They have a few exotic flavors as well, such as lychee nut and taro but fortunately these flavors are kept to a minimum.   Most of the flavors are the regular crowd pleasers, and they usually have about 46 flavors available on any given day. 

Best of all, Fosselman's has a full-service soda fountain with people who actually know how to use the equipment.   This is a big plus in my book.  I am a big fan of strawberry ice cream sodas, but unfortunately making a good ice cream soda seems to be a dying art.   No one seems to know the correct way to make it right.   You have to start with a "starter" then add the syrup, then the soda, then the ice cream...  you do it wrong, and either the syrup doesn't mix right or you get ice crystals on the ice cream.   Worse yet, you have to know the right amount of syrup to use, or the soda will be either too week or too strong.   I have been many places and tasted quite a few ice cream sodas, and I can say with some certainty that Fosselman's is one of the best.   They use a strawberry puree for the syrup that makes a perfect soda every time.   YUM.

Fosselman's great claim to fame is their designation as "The best place in the world for a milkshake."  This honor was bestowed upon them by several food critics reporting "The 50 Best Things to Eat in the World and Where to Eat Them" for Guardian Magazine.   I admit, they make a great milkshake, but I'm not sure I'd deem it the best.   Besides, there are so many other great reasons to come here.   From my own personal experience, I'd recommend the blueberry ice cream and the raspberry ice cream.   I mix them together to create a berry ice cream that is simply delicious. 

This is one of my two favorite places for ice cream.  In a coming post, I'll give you the second place.   Until then, enjoy a trip to Fosselman's!

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Puss 'n' Booty

Here's a classic Warner Bros. cartoon from 1943, Puss 'n' Booty, directed by Frank Tashlin.   I've mentioned several times before on this blog what a fan I am of Frank Tashlin's work, and here's a prime example of his directorial skills.  This was the last black-and white cartoon released by Warner Bros., and Tashlin makes use of the limited grays to create a real film noir feeling in this cartoon.   Parts of this cartoon were re-made five years later with Tweety and Sylvester in "I Taw a Putty Tat," but that's a cartoon for another time.   Enjoy!

Olympic Highlights

Just like every other reasonable person in the world, I've been fascinated with the summer Olympics.   Who can stand to miss the pagentry, the sportsmanship, the beach vollyball players....   not to mention the promos for the fine NBC shows we're missing while they are broadcasting the games.   For those of you who may have missed some of the 1,764 hours of broadcasting, I have found this three minute truncated version of the games, courtesy of Monty Python...

Travels with Joe: The Ship Ashore Motel

Last year, while driving up route 101 near the Oregon border, I came across a ship sitting in the middle of a field.   My first thought was, wow, high tide is pretty bad around here, and I decided to drive towards higher ground.   Then I realized that this was the infamous Ship Ashore Motel and Resort, located in Smith River, California.

The ship was built in Germany in 1925 for a New York millionaire.   No expense was spared to make this yacht one of the most palatial type ever built.  It sailed around the globe, and many foreign dignitaries, including members of the royal family, accepted a ride on the "Caritas," the original name of the ship.
In 1941 the US Government bought the ship and retrofitted for use as a naval ship in World War two. It was stationed in Hawaii until 1946, when the ship was decommissioned.  She made the rounds of different harbors in the next few years, eventually becoming a floating restaurant, gift shop, museum and motel office in the waters off of Smith River.
In 1965, 12 tractors were hitched to the boat, and she was dragged a quarter mile to her current resting place along Route 101.   The trip took 10 hours, but she made it intact, and is now a prominent landmark in the area. 
Unfortunately, the boat was closed for repairs when I arrived, with no re-opening date announced.   Still , it was worth a quick stop for a picture.

Did I mention that this was the infamous Ship Ashore Motel?   As I looked up the ship's history, I discovered that the Ship Ashore motel was also the site of a mass shooting.   In March of 1975, Robert Sander killed seven people in cold blood for apparently no reason.  I had prepared this posting a few days ago, unaware of what was going to happen over this weekend in Colorado.  I considered pulling it, but decided to go ahead.   It's amazing how little changes.   My prayers go out to the people in Aurora....

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom

Here's a great Disney cartoon from 1953:   Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, directed by Ward Kimball and Charles Nichols.   At this time, UPA studios was the new Hollywood darling, creating cartoons with bold new graphic design.  This was in direct contrast to the realism Disney had spent years perfecting in their animation.  Disney decided to jump on the bandwagon and show they too could use the "new style" in their animation.  They also decided to film this cartoon in CinemaScope, making this the first animated cartoon released in the new format.  Hollywood took notice, and this film won the 1954 Academy Award for best animated film.  More recently, in 1994 it was chosen #29 in the Top 100 cartoons of all time.  You may want to hit the "Full Screen" button on the bottom right when watching this one, as it is presented in widescreen. Enjoy!

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Mickey's Service Station

Here's one of my favorite Mickey Mouse cartoons of all time:  Mickey's Service Station, released in February of 1935.   This was the next-to-last black and white Mickey cartoon, and the first one to feature Mickey, Donald and Goofy working together as a team.  This cartoon never slows down from start to finish, with numerous gags constantly coming at you throughout the film.   You really have to watch it twice to catch it all.   One of my favorite moments is when Mickey holds the door open for Pete and it comes off the hinge...  It's a quick, subtle gag that you may miss, beautifully animated.  Mickey cartoons were at their high point in the early 1930's, and this was one of the last great ones before Mickey began to lose the spotlight to Donald and Goofy.  Enjoy!




As an added bonus, here's some production artwork from the film, including a different ending that was not used...