Saturday Morning Cartoon: Broomstick Bunny

Here's one to celebrate Halloween:  Chuck Jones's 1956 short Broomstick Bunny.   Not a great cartoon by any means, but hey, it's timely...

Halloween do's and don'ts...

Every year about this time, I am asked by several friends and relatives about what treats are appropriate to give to the kids who come to your door on Halloween.   Being an expert on this subject, I decided to post the answer here.   That way, I will have...   oh, about two less people ask me this year, judging by my readership. 

Halloween Treats Do's and Don'ts:

Homemade cookies: DON'T.   Let's be honest, the people in your neighborhood don't trust you.  Anything that you give them that is not clearly sealed by some factory worker in Mexico is immediately thrown in the trash.   That goes for the Christmas cookies you bake them every year as well.  Why go through the trouble?   Go buy something and stimulate the economy.  Besides, I've tasted your cookies... 
Tootsie Rolls:  DO.   But do them a favor and give out the fruit flavored ones.   They only come out once a year and taste better than the regular flavored ones.   What is the original flavor of Tootsie Rolls supposed to be anyways?   It's kinda like chocolate and yet it isn't. 
Candy Corn:  DON'T.   This is one of the few candies where the actual organic food tastes better than its candy counterpart.   I'd prefer you put a ear of corn in my bag than a bag of candy corn.
Twix Bars:  DO.   Just because I like them.   And you may give me the leftovers.
Any Candy With Wax Features:  DON'T.   What, do you think you are going to get trick-or-treaters from the 1930's?  Wax is not candy, it is WAX.   So, no wax lips, no wax fangs, no Nik-L-Nips...  none of that.   Keep the wax in your pumpkin where it belongs.
Candy Necklaces: DO.  Wow, candy you can wear!  Can it get any better than that?  Just turn your head and eat!   Best of all, it travels very little.   You wear it on your neck at the beginning of the night and wear it on your waist at the end of the night.
Money:  DO, but it better be more than nickles and pennies, bud.  Have you priced a candy bar lately?  Five bucks per person is appropriate.   Please send me your address if you decide on this option.
Fruit:  DON'T.   We are not in Victorian England, so do not give out apples and oranges, or you will get the fruit thrown at your front door later that evening.   It's called TRICK or TREAT for a reason, pal.
Mass produced, pre-packaged, recognizable candy are all DO'S.   Please notice that I said mass produced and recognizable.   Chick-O-Stick, Abba Zabba, and Bit O'Honey do NOT meet these standards.   Meanwhile, Smarties and Dum-dums do meet these qualifications, but please, how cheap do you really want to look to your friends and neighbors?   Give out a candy that actually look like you give a darn.  Bubble gum is out, or you'll step in it in the morning. 
Last big DON'T:   nothing flavored butterscotch.  And please, no button candy.  You might as well just feed them paper.

One last piece of advice:  Have a stock of those Harry Potter Jelly Beans on hand.... the ones that come in flavors like mud, grass, pepper etc.  These are the treats you give to anyone over the age of 15 .   This includes parents with an infant in their arms.   New Flash: They are not collecting for the kid.

Happy Halloween!

Saturday Morning Cartoon: Here Comes the Grump!

Here's one of my all-time favorite Saturday morning cartoon shows:  Here Comes the Grump, produced in 1969 by Depatie-Freleng and broadcast on NBC.  The show must have cost quite a bit, as every episode required new characters, new settings, etc., as Princess Dawn and Terry visited new lands every episode in their pursuit of the Crystal Key.  Dave Depatie and Friz Freleng based the Grump on Yosemite Sam from the cartoon "Knighty Knight Bugs"  which Freleng directed while at Warner Bros.   Odd Fact:   Yosemite Sam was originally based on Friz Freleng himself.  Here is the title sequence, with a theme song I was still singing years after the show went off the air:



This is probably the best episode of the bunch....   And I am proud to say that I actually own the  "Cheese Mountain" background painting from this episode!   It's the Blabbermouth of Echo Island:



Here's The Grand Slam of Door City...



And the end credits...

Cartoon Saturday: Three Little Bops

Here's a favorite of mine from Warner Bros.:   Three Little Bops, released in 1957 and directed by Friz Freleng.  A great cartoon from Warner's later period, and one of the few with no voices by Mel Blanc.



If you haven't had enough yet, here's a version done live at the Blackstump Festival in Australia in 1993, performed by the Belvedere Blues Band:

Cartoon Saturday: Cartoon Network bumpers

I miss the old days of Cartoon Network.   Back then, they had real fun with their cartoon stars, and made some extremely imaginative bumpers between the shows.   Here are a couple of good ones...

Papoo's Hot Dog Show is a no-go.

Sorry for the lack in posts lately...   However, I will make up for it in the coming weeks.   I have stories to tell.  In the meantime, let me tell you about the closure of another favorite hang-out of mine...   Papoo's Hot Dog Show. 
Every year or so I conduct an annual "Hot Dog Tour" of Los Angeles.  I draft unsuspecting friends for a cook's tour (pun intended) of the best hot dogs in LA.   The more famous places you'd expect are part of the tour...  Pink's and Carney's for instance.  But Papoo's was one of the lesser known stops on the tour, which was a shame.  It was truly a place I relished (that one was intended too).

Papoo's was an instituation in Toluca Lake for 62 years.   It sat in the glow of its more famous neighbor, the oldest Bob's Big Boy, which sits across the street and is an architecture treasure in it's own right.   But Papoo's had it's own charm.   The best part was the big neon sign, which is where I assume the place got it's name.  Who could not be entranced by a giant weiner dog with wings, flying through the clouds on a 6-foot stage?   When nightime hit and the neon turned on, it was truly a site to behold.

Inside, Papoo's was just what you'd expect, a 50's diner atmosphere and a lot of locals having lunch.   The hot dogs, in my opinion were good.... not great, but a good dog.   I will say that many of my friends from the tour said this was their favorite dog.   I guess it's a matter of taste.   The variety of dogs that they sold were great, from the "Show Dog"....


to the "Bean Dog"...

and the "Pastrami Dog"...

...each one of them a weiner in its own right (pun was intended, but I may disavow it).    Now all these fine dogs, plus a classic hot dog joint, are lost to the ages.
Pappo's had quite a history in itself.   It started as the simple hot dog stand pictured here.  








As the years went by, it gained a certain following among those of us in the Hot Dog commmunity; we had to wait for the rest of you to catsup (this one was clearly a reach).  It appeared in a few feature films, such as this appearance in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

 This is now the THIRD hot dog joint from my tour that has closed....  The Weiner Factory having closed in 2007 and Tail of the Pup in 2006.   Thank goodness Cupid's remains open.  I may have to move my buns and get over there (and this one was just unnecessary).