Bonus cartoon! Safety Second

I can't think of a better way to celebrate July Fourth than with random cartoon violence.   So, with that, I give you "Safety Second" a Tom and Jerry cartoon from 1950, directed by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera.  Not one of the better Tom and Jerry's.  The subject matter kept this one off of TV for quite some time.   Enjoy!  



Tom and Jerry - Safety Second cartoon TJ by takuyamiyata

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Yankee Doodle Bugs

In our never-ending efforts to be timely, this week we bring you Yankee Doodle Bugs, a 1954 Looney Tune from Friz Freleng.  I donm't have much to say about this one, except this note to trivia fans:  This is one of only two cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny's nephew, Clyde.   His other appearance was in His Hare Raising Tale, released three years earlier in 1951.   (He also appeared in a television special, but we don't count that).  Enjoy!

Saturday Morning Cartoon - The High Note

This week's cartoon is a little-known Warner Bros. gem from 1960, The High Note, directed by Chuck Jones.   By 1960, the Warner Bros. cartoon studio was nearing the end, but was still capable of producing some great cartoons.   In the coming months, they would lose their top two writers, Mike Maltese and Warren Foster, to Hanna-Barbara.  The quality of the cartoons dropped dramatically at this time until the studio closed in 1963.  However, enjoy this one, one of the last great ones from the studio!

Alaskan Cruise, Part Leaven

California, here we are!   With the last installment, we completed our adventures in Oregon and were about to have some California Adventures!  (no relation to any theme parks, living or dead) 

As you enter California, the first thing you pass is a minimart that sells lottery tickets.   But once past that, you are amazed by the beauty extolled in the Lucky Seven casino, run by the local Tolowa Indian tribe.   I was scalped for sixty bucks.   But, once past the casinos, the mini marts and the fruit fly inspections, you soon enter Redwood National Park... the beginning of the largest collection of redwood-themed tourist traps I have ever encountered.  

Now, don't get me wrong...   the scenery was beautiful.   The drive down the coast would prove to be a mixture of beautiful forests, ocean views and historic townsights.   But the Redwood area also contains several tree-themed points of interest, each with a gift shop, snack bar and dirt road leading to a gravel parking lot.  Yes, it was Nirvana for me.   Let's start exploring!

Stop one:   The infamous Trees of Mystery.   Ya like trees?  Well, you better, because you're going to see trees.   Lots of trees.   Big trees.   Little trees.  Trees in odd shapes.  Trees on top of other trees.   Trees carved into unusual shapes.   If this was a 1940's Tex Avery cartoon, we'd now cue a dog screaming, "Trees!  Trees!  Thousands of trees!  And they're mine!  All mine!   Ah ha ha ha ha!"   When you first arrive at the Trees of Mystery, you are greeting by that enemy of trees everywhere, Paul Bunyan and his giant (and anatomically correct) big blue ox, Babe.  He had a little laryngitis, so it was a little hard to hear him, but he still greeted us to the Trees and hoped we'd have a good visit.  I stayed clear of Babe and walked past him to the walking paths.

Along the paths, you'll see several fascinating sites.  Marvel at the upside down tree!   Be awestruck by the cathedral tree!   Wonder with delight at the world-famous candelabra tree!   Finds inner peace at the elephant tree!  It was actually a very nice walk through the forest, with several wood carvings along the way in case trees alone aren't enough to hold your interest.   But the finale of this attraction was the most impressive:   a sky tram through the trees up to the top of a nearby mountain, where you get a breathtaking view of the forests and the Pacific Ocean!   It was truly overwhelming and magnificent...   or so I heard.   Personally, the sky tram scared the willies out of me.   But my travel partner rode it and took pictures, which she showed to me later.   I was awestruck.

In the same area you can find the Tour-Through Tree, which I will review in an upcoming article where I will compare the two drive-through trees.   The infamous Ship Ashore Hotel is also in the area, which I wrote about here.  Also in the area was the Bear River Casino, where I was mauled for eighty bucks.  

Eventually we made it down to Eureka, situated on the Northern Coast in Humboldt County.   This is a beautiful town where I would eventually like to spend more time.  However, one of the best reasons to stay in Eureka is its close proximity to the Samoa Cookhouse, located on the Samoa peninsula.   This eatery is one of the best examples of pure Joe Food that I have ever encountered.  

 

The Samoa Cookhouse opened in 1890 as a cookhouse for the logging operations in Samoa, one of the last company-owned towns in the U.S.   For years, the cookhouse fed the loggers working the camp.   Finally, in the 1960's the logging company closed up, and the Samoa Cookhouse began serving meals to the locals.   Not much has changed since those days.  The restaurant serves two entrees every night, family style and cooked in the big vats and ovens that once served the hungry loggers.  First course:   Fresh-baked bread and homemade soup.  This is followed by salads, then the main courses.  The night I went couldn't have been better... they served fried chicken and meatloaf.   Corn and carrots were the side dishes, along with mashed potatoes and gravy.   Normally I'm not a big carrot fan, but these had been cooked with brown sugar and were just delicious.  Everything was homemade and they kept filling the plates until you were full...  and believe me, it was with a certain pain of sadness when I told them they could stop.   Dessert was a piece of spice cake, baked that day. 

This is the Main Dining Room, my home for the next six hours.

The kitchen.  I want to get a range like that for my house.

Eating dinner.   Notice my fine two-handed eating technique.

The restaurant itself is a relic of the old logging camps.   Inside the side room is a small museum full of logging memorabilia, which is good way to pass the time when waiting for a table.  Be sure to ask for a loaf of bread to take home the minute you get there - they usually run out.   My travel partner was very disappointed to find this out, until they offered to give her a few pieces of spice cake to go.

Another great dining location in Samoa is the Fresh Freeze, a local drive in that has been in operation since the 1950's.   I drove by, but who could eat?   I was full of spice cake.   This is why I need to spend some quality time in Eureka.

In our next thrilling chapter, we'll visit more Redwood Tourist traps, and drive through not just one, but TWO trees!  You won't believe your eyes (and neither did the rental company when I returned the car)!   See you then!

Saturday Morning Cartoon: A Fractured Leghorn

Foghorn Leghorn is one of those cartoon characters that some people love, and some people hate.  I fall in the middle.  Some of his early cartoons are among the best cartoons Warner Bros ever made...   in fact his first one was nominated for an academy award.  On the other end of the spectrum, some of his later cartoons are among the worst ever made.   Check out Mother was a Rooster, The Slick Chick or Strangled Eggs to see the worst.  Look for Walky Talky Hawky or The Leghorn Blows at Midnight to see the best.   You'll notice I didn't create links for the worst; you'll have to find them yourselves.  I won't take blame for that.

A little history about Foghorn Leghorn might be appropriate here.  He started out as a supporting character to Henery Hawk, a character who had already debuted in a cartoon directed by Chuck Jones.   Foghorn debuted in Walky Talky Hawky and literally stole the show from Henery.   The cartoon earned an Academy Award nomination for director Robert McKimson, and a new cartoon series was born.  Twenty eight Foghorn cartoons were made, all directed by McKimson.

Most people think that Foghorn Leghorn was patterned after Senator Claghorn, a character that lived on Allen's Alley on the Fred Allen radio show.  In fact, in his early days he was patterned after a sheriff character that appeared on a 1930's radio show called Blue Monday Jamboree.   However, as the character developed, he began to sound more like Senator Claghorn, picking up many of his catchphrases ("That's a joke, son!" is among the most obvious)

The interesting thing about Foghorn is that, although it may seem like his cartoons are all the same, the writers and directors actually tried to create some variety in the series.  They created several characters to inhabit the Foghorn universe, and each cartoon may differ depending on the supporting cast.  Henery Hawk, the weasel, Miss Prissy, Little Egghead, and Barnyard Dog were among the regulars.  Sylvester and Daffy Duck also made appearances in the series.   This is in contrast to Pepe Le Pew, Hippity Hopper or the Roadrunner, in which every cartoon had the same basic plotline.

The cartoon I'm posting below is Foghorn's fifth cartoon, A Fractured Leghorn, from 1950..   It's a bit different than most of the others, and was rarely seen on television.  No Barnyard Dog, no Henery Hawk in this one.  Enjoy!

Alaskan Trip, Part X

Here it is, at long last:   Chapter ten in the tale of our Alaskan cruise.

We find our heroes in a small, cheap hotel room in Florence, Oregon, waking up to what they assume will be an uneventful day.   Little do they dream that today they will find themselves face-to-face with tigers, bears, irate hoteliers, a big scary bridge, and monsters from the depths of the Mesozoic era, the mighty dinosaurs!   But I'm getting ahead of the story.   Let's go back to the Big Scary Bridge.

The Siuslaw River bridge opened in 1936 and is the gateway into Florence.   It's tall, it's thin, and at night it looks like a bridge into the abyss.  I was able to get over it by keeping my eyes closed.   Unfortunately I was driving.   Thank goodness for guard rails.

When we left the hotel, I had grabbed a bunch of travel brochures, looking for interesting sights to stop along the coast.   My travel partner began to start flipping through them as we drove.   At about the fifteenth brochure. she stops...   one phrase among all the brochures has caught her utmost attention.  The brochure was for the West Coast Game Park, and the phrase was:  Pet a Leopard.   My partner was immediately hooked, and WCGP became our first stop on this leg of the trip.










Me, posing as Frank Buck, ready to take on any dangers that the safari might entail.   I would encounter the first one moments later, when I discovered the admission fee.  The animals might roam free, but i sure didn't.

This tourist trap advertises itself as "America's largest walk-through safari."   It was opened in 1968 as a deer park, then rapidly expanded into the attraction it is today.  It's a family run attraction, still owned by the family that started it.  It is basically a small zoo and petting farm.  Its two most distinguishing characteristics are the large number of cats housed here, and the chance to pet a leopard.   They had almost every kind of cat you could think of:  lions, tigers, bobcats, cheetahs, pole, copy, and various varieties of each, including the rare white tiger.   They also had an assortment of other animals, including goats, geese, gibbons and gorillas.  Porcupines, peacocks, prairie dogs and parrots.  Bears, badgers, bison, boars, birds, bunnies, beavers, burros...  Well, you get the idea.  My partner most enjoyed the show area, where just as advertised you could pet a leopard...

 

Along with various other animals, like a bear, or a tiger.

They also had an animal nursery, where you could handle some smaller, friendlier type critters.   The day we were there they had a ferret, a raccoon, and a possum available for flea-sharing...

I, of course, with my skills as an animal handler, had no problems here...

Here I am teasing a small cheetah.  You can tell this is at the beginning of my time with the cheetah because I still have all my fingers.

Later, i spent some time with the bear.   I am petting him bare-handed.   No one thought that was funny, including the bear.  I guess I made a little Boo-Boo.   There's a joke there if you're not too particular.

Petting the farm animals was a big attraction here.   In this picture, I'm not sure which one of us is most thrilled with this prospect. 

 

Here I look like I'm trying to engage the llama with a magic trick. Unfortunately he won't take his eyes of my left hand.   He got really annoyed when I tried to pull a handkerchief out of his ear

Me with the leopard.   It looks like I have my hand in my pocket but in reality I have lost all my fingers.

I'm trying to remember what separated me from this lion.   I don't remember.

After this exciting encounter with exotic wildlife, you would think that no other attraction could meet the same level of adrenaline.  Well, if you thought that, you were wrong.   This was just a precursor to the main event - our encounter with prehistoric beasts.   And where else could that be but in Port Orford, Oregon?   Because that is the home of PREHISTORIC GARDENS.

Prehistoric Gardens was founded in 1955 by EV Nelson.  Born in Minnesota, he was fascinated by dinosaurs as a child.   At the age of 50, he moved to the Oregon coast in search of the perfect place to build a prehistoric playground.   Eventually he settled here and spent the rest of his life building life-size dinosaur models.   His family now runs the attraction.
The great thing about Prehistoric Gardens is that it is an actual rain forest.  This makes a perfect setting for the monsters you will encounter here.  A well-marked path takes you far into the forest, among the giant redwoods, ferns and moss.  As you turn each corner, you come face to face with the sculptures, towering above you as if to say, "I may be chicken wire and plaster, but I could still kill you if I happened to fall over."  Naturally, I had a field day here and did what any neanderthal man would've done in a similar situation:  posed for pictures.

Entering Prehistoric Gardens.  I figured the dinosaurs would be nice to me since I'm getting close to their age.  

I soon learned they were a great bunch - of herbivores.   I felt the best idea was to blend in.   here I am posing with a stegosaurus.

Here I am again, still blending in.   It's hard to tell where the large, ugly creature ends and I begin.

Here I blended in so well you can't see me.

I have fooled this ancient creature into thinking I can fly.  Boy, he sure looks stupid.

I may be biting off more than I can chew here.   I'm not sure he's buying my tyrannosaurus act.

He's not.

"Start the car!"

 In our next thrilling episode, we actually make it back into California, visit a mystery spot, and eat one of the best meals I have ever had the pleasure of gorging myself with.   You won't want to miss it!



The Great Honda Heist, Part II

Hi all!   Sorry for the delay in posting, but some serious life issues have kept me away from my valuable blogging time.   The biggest issue, was of course, a sequel to one of my original posts:
The Great Honda Heist (now labeled "Part l").   Yes, my car was stolen again.   I don't get it.   The car has 315,000 miles on it, the radio is the cheapest I could find, I buy cheap gas...   the car is so old it has two plates:  upper and lower.   But someone found it worth stealing again.   I'm not sure how they stole it.   Someone told me to be sure to put a Club on it to keep it being stolen.  It seemed silly to me, but every day I placed a bacon, turkey and tomato sandwich on the hood.   It seemed to keep thieves away, but it sure attracted pigeons.  My neighbor actually saw it being stolen.   I asked her if she saw the thieves, and she said, "No, but I got their license number!"   Yeah, I know that's an old joke, but it's an old car.

Like most sequels, this was pretty much a repeat of the previous chapter.  I ended up getting the car back, with only the radio, some CD's, some clothes, and my spare tire stolen.  The most frustrating part is trying to remember what CD's I had in the car.   If you think that sounds silly, just wait until your own car gets stolen.   I'll bet it will be one of your top concerns.
Now that things are calming down, and my current illness is clearing up, I will go back to blogging a little more regularly.   I've got a back-up of articles I want to write.  Hopefully in the next few weeks, you'll see such articles as;

• My visit to Prehistoric Gardens:   Where I go face-to-tail (I was running away) from a Tyrannosaurus Rex!
• More Restaurant reviews!   I have pictures from the oldest restaurant in Pomona, a great donut shop, and other delectable delights!
• A Trip Report from Universal Studios!
• Comic Strips!   I am hoping to launch an online comic strip here soon...    More details as they arise!
• My Six-Hour Looney Tunes Marathon!   Now THAT was an experience.

What you won't see is a review of the Chuck Jones Experience in Vegas.   I visited that, and take it from me, SAVE YOUR MONEY.   It was bad.   See you here soon!