SPATCH'S YOUTUBE RODEO ROUNDUP

[spatch]

Tonight, my friends, we shall swing.

1. I LOVE TO SINGA (1936). Cab Calloway vs. Al Jolson. ON ROOFTOPS. Oh, Jackson! (No, Jolson's not in blackface, but he drops a Mammy reference something fierce.) Cab struts.

2. Cab Calloway vs. THE REEFER MAN. If he says he's swum from China, wants to sell you South Carolina, then you know you've been talkin' to that reefer man.

3. Cab Calloway vs. THE TWO-HEADED MONSTER from Sesame Street. With an all-Muppet orchestra. A neat, clean way to get Cab to do his "Hi-Dee-Ho" routine from Minnie the Moocher without having to sing about kicking the gong around Chinatown. It must have been fun to have been a Muppeteer that day. and no, peggy, you can't be a yellowcoat

4. Animal vs. BUDDY RICH on a very special episode of the Muppet Show. Redubbed in Italian, curiously enough. Consider that a bonus, a little extra special helping of sprinkles on your cupcake, from me to you.

5. Benny Goodman's ALL THE CATS JOIN IN (1946), a short animated by Disney legend Freddie Moore for the Make Mine Music feature. The animation on this is incredible, and no doubt served as inspiration, along with Al Hirschfeld, for Eric Goldman's amazing Fantasia 2000 short RHAPSODY IN BLUE (PART 1 | PART 2). Oh, yeah.

Comments

[ticket-monkey.livejournal.com]

Huh. All these years I just thought "I Love to Sing-a" was only in the one old Merry Melodies cartoon about the singing owl kid.

For more interaction with Cab and the Two-Headed Monster, plus a little hoofin' from the Cabster, check out Jump and Jive (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn7gGpP9a0M&mode=related&search=)

[limax.livejournal.com]

Do you mean that owl kid called 'Owl Jolson'? ;) Cool selection of songs here!

[ticket-monkey.livejournal.com]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Plus, the plot of the cartoon is a tribute to The Jazz Singer. I get it now.

[toonhead-npl.livejournal.com]

If you love Cab Calloway, go check out the Betty Boop version of Snow White. The CC sequence (with a healthy dose of rotoscoping) is great and real off-the-wall.

I love how the Fleischers' cartoons often used jazz. Being based in NYC, they really connected with the whole scene. Their cartoons always felt "grittier" with a closer connect to the real people.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing, Spatch! I really enjoyed them, especially the animated shorts.

[cheezdanish.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Spatch finds nummy treats on youtube and I am pleased. Om nom nom.

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

I can't watch stuff like this at the fryin pan restaurant I'm at here, so I'll ask. Do you know if #2 is from the film International House? I love pre-code films.

[mr-bad-example.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about the Fleischer cartoons. It took me a while to really get into them, but now I'm a huge fan.

[mr-bad-example.livejournal.com]

Dang, these are awesome.

In the "Related" section for "Reefer Man," there's a link to "Blues in the Night," which has long been one of my favorite Cab Calloway songs.

[antiquated-tory.livejournal.com]

Awesome vids, Spatch! Many thanks for the links.

[phonemonkey.livejournal.com]

Wow.

All The Cats Join In must be the best example I've ever seen of cartoons where the cartoonist's pencil makes an appearance. Wish I could remember the name for that.