Category Archives: The Bootleg Files

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The Bootleg Files: Sinbad Jr. and His Magic Belt

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BOOTLEG FILES 912: “Sinbad Jr. and His Magic Belt” (1965-55 syndicated animated series).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube and other online video sites.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely at the moment.

The other day, I was scrolling through an animation history forum on Facebook and I saw a post where someone asked a question about a series called “Sinbad Jr. and His Magic Belt.” While I would like to imagine that I have some degree of expertise regarding animated television series, I found myself stumped – this was the first time that I ever saw any mention of “Sinbad Jr. and His Magic Belt.”
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The Bootleg Files: West Virginia Squares

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BOOTLEG FILES 911: “West Virginia Squares” (2014 public television special offering a Mountain State version of “Hollywood Squares”).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Obscure one-shot riff on the classic game show.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nope.

Have you seen the new CBS reboot of “Hollywood Squares,” with Nate Burleson as the host and Drew Barrymore as the center square? If you haven’t, consider yourself lucky – nary a crumb of entertainment value can be located in that tacky, over-caffeinated, significantly unfunny attempt to update the classic game show. But for sheer strangeness, that new version pales in comparison to the 2014 version of “Hollywood Squares” that was made for West Virginia Public Television.
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The Bootleg Files: My Annie Hall

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BOOTLEG FILES 910: “My Annie Hall” (2018 short film based on Woody Allen’s classic).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Unauthorized mini-remake of the Oscar-winning film.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nope.

When the subject of fan films is raised, most people associate that genre with younger people creating souped-up spins of classic action and adventure films. In 2018, a most unusual fan film made headlines, but this did not involve a hyperactive riff on the “Star Wars” or “Batman” series, but instead it was inspired by Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” – and even more remarkable, the film’s stars were a pair of senior citizens.
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The Bootleg Files: Rabbit Stew and Rabbits Too!

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BOOTLEG FILES 909: “Rabbit Stew and Rabbits Too!” (1969 animated short).

LAST SEEN: On DailyMotion.com and several other sites.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A one-shot outing that came at the end of Warner Bros.’ animated theatrical run.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Maybe in a Warner Bros. anthology collection.

The last iteration of this column featured “Rabbit Habit,” an underground parody film that imagined a drug-hazed post-script for the Warner Bros. animated characters. In retrospect, “Rabbit Habit” would have been a better sign-off than “Rabbit Stew and Rabbits Too!”, a 1969 short that was completed just before the celebrated animation studio finally ended its theatrical output.
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The Bootleg Files: Rabbit Habit

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BOOTLEG FILES 908: “Rabbit Habit” (1975 parody of the Warner Bros. cartoons).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube and Internet Archive.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A wildly unauthorized use of copyright protected material.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

Over the years, this column has occasionally featured underground cartoons that wickedly parodied beloved animated characters – “Apocalypse Pooh,” “Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown,” “A Charlie Brown Kwanzaa” and “Mickey Mouse in Vietnam” were among best titles that I’ve celebrated. However, I must apologize for taking so long to highlight a true masterpiece of this micro-genre: the 1975 “Rabbit Habit,” which imagines the Looney Tunes icons as drug dealers and addicts.
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The Bootleg Files: A Weighty Problem

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BOOTLEG FILES 907: “A Weighty Problem” (1980 educational filmstrip featuring characters from “The Flintstones”).

LAST SEEN: A restored version is on YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Educational filmstrips have no perceived commercial reissue value.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely, unless a documentary on the subject is made.

If you were a K-12 student in American schools during the 1960s and 1970s, you probably remember the use of filmstrips in your classes. Filmstrips were a spool of 35mm film that featured still photographs on each frame. The filmstrips were shown via a hand-operated projector, with one frame at a time projected on a screen while a soundtrack recording on either an album or a cassette tape provided narration or character dialogue to match the images. The soundtrack recording would offer a beep or a ding, which was the cue to the projector’s operator to turn the spool to the next image.
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The Bootleg Files: Disney’s Yellow Submarine

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BOOTLEG FILES 906: “Disney’s Yellow Submarine” (cancelled animated feature from the early 2010s).

LAST SEEN: Bits and pieces of the pre-production planning are on YouTube and Internet Archive.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Disney never made any of the material available for commercial sale.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely, unless a documentary on the subject is made.

Last month, this column shined its spotlight on “Strawberry Fields,” an aborted animated feature using covers of Beatles songs that was being produced in the late 1980s by Al Brodax, the producer of the 1968 classic “Yellow Submarine.” This week, we take a look at another piece of Beatles-related ephemera – a much-ballyhooed but quickly cancelled remake of “Yellow Submarine” that was planned for production and release by The Walt Disney Co.
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