One of the most profoundly influential television shows – at least, in my life – was “International Animation Festival,” a PBS presentation that aired during the mid-1970s. Hosted by Jean Marsh of “Upstairs Downstairs” fame, this weekly half-hour series was the rare program that offered a glimpse into the animation universe existing beyond the realm of the standard Saturday morning shenanigans or the old Disney and Warner Bros. shorts that dominated television.
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BOOTLEG FILES 938: “Fred Flintstone & Barney Rubble in Songs from Mary Poppins” (1965 album mashing up the Disney and Hanna-Barbera classics).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None – but, then again, it is a spoken-word recording.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Clearing the rights to this would be nearly impossible.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It would be fun as a special feature on a Flintstones-related DVD, but that is unlikely.
This week’s entry is not about a film or television production, but instead focuses on a bootleg video that shares a rare example of cross-pollination between two rival animation studios – in this case, Hanna-Barbera characters promoting films made by the Walt Disney Company in a long-playing album.
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The Unmentionables (1963)
Directed by Friz Freleng
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Gerry Chiniquy, Virgil Ross, Bob Matz, Art Leonardi, Lee Halpern
Music by Bill Lava
“The Unmentionables” is a spoof of the then-popular television series “The Untouchables,” with Bugs Bunny as the federal agent Elegant Mess (a riff on the series’ crime fighter Elliot Ness). He is tasked with bringing in the notorious underworld figures Rocky and Mugsy, but he does his job a little too well. Bugs handcuffs the miscreants to his wrists and marches them to justice, but winds up serving their prison sentence with them because he lost the handcuff keys.
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Beginning in the 1910s, the American Red Cross offered a high volume of fundraising films that highlighted its work. These films were mostly seen in nontheatrical settings – churches, schools, social clubs – and they offered a straightforward presentation of Red Cross workers helping those in physical and economic distress.
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Hare-Breadth Hurry (1963)
Directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble
Story by John Dunn
Animation by Tom Ray, Ken Harris, Richard Thompson, Bob Bransford, Harry Love
Music by Bill Lava
In this strange experiment at cartoon cross-pollination, Bugs Bunny is brought in as a replacement of the Road Runner – he explains to the confused viewer that the celebrated bird “sprained a giblet cornering a sharp curve the other day, so I’m standing in for him.”
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It is never a good idea to approach a film with preconceived notions of its awfulness. That is not easy when the film in question of the 1977 “A Little Night Music,” which has a reputation for being something of a mess.
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BOOTLEG FILES 937: “Fallen Angels” (1974 British television version of the Noel Coward comedy starring Joan Collins and Susannah York).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Maybe someday.
One of the hottest tickets on Broadway today is the revival of Noel Coward’s 1925 comedy “Fallen Angels,” starring Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara is Tony Award-nominated performances. But if you can’t make it to Broadway – or if you can but don’t want to pay elevated prices to see that show – I would like to direct your attention to a 1974 British television of “Fallen Angels” starring Joan Collins and Susannah York.
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