Author Archives: Phil Hall

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The Bootleg Files: Tin Pan Alley Cats

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BOOTLEG FILES 765: “Tin Pan Alley Cats” (1943 Warner Bros. animated short).

LAST SEEN: On DailyMotion.com.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Withheld from release due to politically incorrect humor.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

In today’s woke environment, the possibility of giving a second chance to the long-banned racially insensitive Warner Bros. cartoons collectively known as the “Censored Eleven” is nil. At least one of these cartoons, the 1943 “Tin Pan Alley Cats,” is certainly deserving to be kept out of circulation – but not so much for its broadly demeaning caricatures as for the laziness and sloppiness that went into its creation.
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Travels in the Congo (1927) [DVD]

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In 1925, French filmmaker Marc Allégret’s traveled to the French Equatorial Africa colonial region with writer André Gide to create a documentary record of the customs and cultures of the diverse tribal groups within the region. Unlike other documentaries of that era, most notably Robert Flaherty’s “Nanook of the North” and “Moana,” Allégret took an observatory approach to the subject, capturing the everyday life and special events of the African people.
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A Woman of Paris: Chaplin’s Misunderstood Masterwork

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Charlie Chaplin’s “A Woman of Paris” (1923) has been one of the most misjudged films of all time, for both its content and its history. In this episode, we take a new look at this work with Wes D. Gehring, author of “Charlie Chaplin and A Woman of Paris: The Genesis of a Misunderstood Masterpiece.”

The episode can be heard here.

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The Bootleg Files: Popcorn

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BOOTLEG FILES 764: “Popcorn” (1974 animated short by Hanna-Barbera on behalf of the U.S. Air Force Reserve).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Fell through the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Hanna-Barbera animation studio supplemented its television and film production output with contracted work on behalf of government agencies and nonprofits. One of the strangest of these works was “Popcorn,” made in 1974 on behalf of the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
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The Bootleg Files: Ship’s Reporter

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BOOTLEG FILES 763: “Ship’s Reporter” (1948-1952 celebrity interview television series).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: A few episodes have turned up as special features on VHS and DVD releases, but the complete series has not.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Fell through the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

Jack Mangan’s name is mostly unknown to today’s entertainment news aficionados, but back in the day he was a pioneer in television’s celebrity interview genre. Mangan’s specialty was not a studio-bound tête-à-tête or an on-location chat. Instead, Mangan brought his camera crew to New York City’s piers and on board the luxury liners traveling to and from Europe, where he would seek out prominent passengers for quickie interviews.
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