repeated posts 03 Oct 2009 07:49 am
Recap – Toonerville Trolley
Here’s a piece originally posted in June 2006. I thought of it when I recently came upon my book of Toonerville Trolley comic strips. I thought I’d like ot post some more, but think it might be worth reposting the following first
- I’ve been a big fan of the “Toonerville Folks” for a long time. I didn’t find the strip for a while. When I was young, a local TV channel, an ABC subsidiary, ran a lot of old silent Aesop’s Fables. They had classical music backing them up; usually Bizet filled the bill.
One year they upgraded by throwing a number of the Van Buren shorts in betwen the Terry silent films. These Van Buren films, many of them directed by Burt Gillette or Tom Palmer, were odd. There were a number of films with Greek gods as their stars. Then came the shorts with Molly Moo Cow and those with the Toonerville Trolley characters.
I liked these and learned from the credits that they were adapted from a comic strip by Fontaine Fox. So, I sought out the comic. Of course, in those days, prior to computers, all you had was the library to research things. My local branch had only one or two examples of the comic strip which ran from 1915 through 1955.
(Click on any image to enlarge.)
The animated shorts were made in the mid-thirties when Van Buren tried a run to improve their films. Neither sound and color nor the acquisition of the rights to this strip didn’t help; even the “terrible tempered Mr. Bang couldn’t help.” The studio closed before the decade had ended.
In 1978 I worked with R.O. Blechman as his Assistant Director to put together the PBS show, Simple Gifts. This was a package of six segments woven around Christmas themes with a number of different illustrators designing the segments. One of them, the one I was most attracted to, was The Toonerville Trolley. Blechman bought the rights from King Features (at an enormous price) for a four minute film in the middle of the program. I’d worked hard to get to animate the piece. I did a one minute sample of the film in my off time at night, and I thought it was pretty good. However, Blechman was afraid of losing me in the day-to-day operation of his studio. (We were doing more commercials than show, and I hated it.) Bill Littlejohn did a nice job of animating the entire Toonerville Trolley which was completely subcontracted out to him. That was probably appropriate since Bill worked at Van Buren when they originally produced these shorts.
on 03 Oct 2009 at 12:33 pm 1.John Bollinger said …
Mike, this brings back a lot of memories. Toonereville Trolley was one of my favorites. Do you have any idea where I can find archive on-line?
Thanks, John
(10/03/2009)
on 03 Oct 2009 at 1:27 pm 2.Michael said …
I don’t know of anything on line, however you can still buy the book published in 1973 from Amazon.
You can also get the DVD which includes a couplf of shorts at Amazon.
on 03 Oct 2009 at 2:08 pm 3.Richard O'Connor said …
Do you still have your test for the Simple Gifts segment?
on 03 Oct 2009 at 3:17 pm 4.Michael said …
I stored it for a while, but Bob’s decision so depressed me that I ultimately dumped it. I was a bit sad that the final film ended up so limited in its movement. I guess the poor schedule offered little else.
on 03 Oct 2009 at 3:26 pm 5.bill said …
That’s a shame, Michael. It would have been fun to see your test.
Lesson for young artists: Never throw any of your work away!
on 31 Aug 2013 at 12:02 pm 6.Chris Sobieniak said …
“So, I sought out the comic. Of course, in those days, prior to computers, all you had was the library to research things. My local branch had only one or two examples of the comic strip which ran from 1915 through 1955.”
well at least you had that. I’m sure if I had saw these cartoons as a kid, I’d probably do the same too if that was the first place to look for. No doubt the internet age has shorten that wait time greatly, but some things can go lost to the ages if we’re not careful.
on 17 Jul 2017 at 4:48 pm 7.Ellie said …
What a shame! I too find myself very disappointed with the final result. The animation leaves so much to be desired, and the voices just didn’t seem as funny as the ones used for the ’30s shorts. If I had the skill, I’d make my own animated piece, just so there was something better out there. But alas, I am no animator. When I was younger, I tried a bit of stop motion, but I don’t think I was any good at it. If you ever found the heart and the interest for it, I would positively love to see what you might create. I am a big fan of more ‘zany’ animation, as well as an avid toy train and railroad enthusiast. In fact, I have a particular fondness for trolleys- and as luck would have it, about 45 minutes away from where I live, there is a small non-profit establishment known as the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum. I suppose visiting it as a kid, and then now, many years later, I’m learning how to operate the museum’s current only operating piece, a Trolley which once ran in the winding country Trolley line known as the Shelburne Falls & Colrain St. Ry. In the visitor’s center, there are pictures of the Trolley in an accident, in which the car derailed, and keeled over off the embankment into a ditch. One end was half underwater, the other sticking helplessly up in the air. Now that I’m better aquatinted with Fontaine Fox’s work, it feels rather like the kind of predicament that the Toonerville Trolley might get into, except that SF&C No. 10 is 38 feet long, and the toonerville car appears to be less than 10 feet long. So because of this, it simply wouldn’t look as funny. I guess that’s why the car getting bounced into a muddy pond in the first short makes me laugh- it takes the little Trolley out of its rightful place, and then puts it in one of the last places a Trolley ought to be, all in an instant. Anyhow, sorry for all of that ramble, i hope some of it was interesting, in some way shape or form. Cheers!
-Ellie F.