The Hep Cat [part two]: Clampett's horny expressions

That should say plenty on its own.

Back to the cartoon though! We're about a quarter done with it. Maybe I'll jam more screencaps into this one.

Here's something that became a staple of Clampett cartoons; shadows! I don't recall excessive usage of them in his black and whites, but I could be wrong. Maybe somebody could throw me an example or two, I'd love to see 'em!

The shadows are especially prevalent in cartoons like The Wise Quacking Duck and The Great Piggy Bank Robbery. Anyways, back to the cartoon!

Any he-men out there who talk to their partners like this? Does it actually work?

And who animated this bit? It looks really solid, like McKimson did it, but I also see some wrinkles, characteristic of Scribner. I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and guess McKimson.

Relatable bit here, if I do say so myself.

I know some folks who appreciate a good smear any day of the week. (Does drybrushing like this count as smearing?)

I always loved this part! The way the brick smashes into the cat's skull is animated so thoughtfully. In fact, this whole next part is arguably the best in the entire film.

Everyone's favorite hobby:

This whole part is a lot of fun! It has some really lively movements going on the entire time, and the cat frantically shadow-boxing is really fun to watch. You can also feel his frustrations too! Honest-to-god humanity. We need more stuff like this!

You have to watch this part to understand the joke. While I'm not huge on a lot of verbal humor, this really hits the nail pretty good! Maybe I'm just in a good mood after refreshing on some Abbott and Costello. Or maybe it's the vanilla swiss-roll cake that's fueling me at the moment.

I'll be god-damned if this isn't Scribner.

Jeez, I never noticed this scene until now! There's so much hidden stuff in every Clampett cartoon. It's like an Easter egg hunt; you keep finding goodies! I'll bet he knew there would be people like myself taking these cartoons apart. Damn mindreaders!

This take reminds me of some Ub Iwerks takes from his ComiColor cartoons, only much wilder. You never got a whole lot of really crazy takes with lines emanating from the characters' bodies in this degree.

This take is much more restrained than the one before it. You almost don't even see it!

And with that, we cut to the next scene in a later post. Maybe tomorrow, or Wednesday, if I'm not really feeling it.

The Hep Cat [Part One]: Clampett's brilliant transition to color cartoons

This post (the first in a little series) in particular deals with The Hep Cat, a 1942 Bob Clampett cartoon, which was also one of his first color films. If you're a sucker for great color combinations and design, then this cartoon is for you!

Also, does anybody know if this cartoon exists outside of a Merrie Melodies reissue? I'd love to know!

The cartoon begins with a beautifully rendered moonlit night. Look at those colors! For being one of his first color films, Clampett really knew what he was doing.

Wow! These hues are wonderful, aren't they? Very subtle blues and greys combining to create pure visual candy. Even the cat conforms to the palette! Absolutely exquisite. This cartoon always gets me.

I always found this kind of strange. The doghouse for Willoughby (I think that's the name of this dog, wasn't he am Avery character for awhile?) is painted in completely different colors than the fence and the ground, but it doesn't look bad either! The colors are mixed with grey and it doesn't overly detract. I'm sure that was done on purpose; like this doghouse serves as an extreme focal point in this shot. I sure can't think of another reason it would be like this.

Isn't this painting Jim-dandy too? I absolutely adore it! Everything has a purpose; no arbitrary placement of objects whatsoever! And this cute Scribner animation doesn't hurt at all, either.

Not even a minute into the cartoon, and we're met with some great stuff. What else would you expect of Clampett? Why doesn't everyone have such a high regard for quality?

Whoever was animating this sure had a lot of fun doing it. Lots of very solid forms and clear silhouettes. There's also a lot of lively, tightly-timed musical coordination too! Very skilled! It looks like it was drawn by Robert McKimson, but I could be wrong. (ibcf, if you read this, would you mind confirming?)

Now who would think of that? Heels on a lady cat! Ideas absolutely everywhere, and things that nobody would ever think of. Fascinating!

It looks like I'll have to do this in a series of posts, or else this will get to be absolutely huge. I'll post some more thoughts on this cartoon later!