Tag Archives: Gene Deitch

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The Bootleg Files: Springtime for Clobber

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BOOTLEG FILES 773: “Springtime for Clobber” (1957 animated short by the notorious Gene Deitch).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell deep into the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: None, thank goodness.

Most film buffs may recall animator Gene Deitch as the inheritor of the Popeye and Tom and Jerry cartoon franchises – as well as being the man responsible for the worst additions to those respective, long-running series. He also created the egregious 1966 animated feature “Alice of Wonderland in Paris,” which I included in my book “The Greatest Bad Movies of All Time.”
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The Bootleg Files: The Juggler of Our Lady

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BOOTLEG FILES 594: “The Juggler of Our Lady” (1957 Terrytoons animated short).

LAST SEEN: It is on YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It’s just one of those things that slipped through the proverbial cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It would be lovely.

Among the major animators of the post-World War II period, Gene Deitch had one of the most erratic careers, with output that ranged from memorable (the Oscar-winning “Munro”) to excruciating (the near-unwatchable feature “Alice of Wonderland in Paris”) to mind-boggling (those disturbing Tom and Jerry cartoons from the early 1960s). Deitch first gained prominence in the early 1950s at the United Productions of America (UPA) studio before moving to Terrytoons, where he became creative director. At the time, Terrytoons turned out a series of noisy and frenetic works that lacked the artistic polish of Disney or the subversive wit of the Warner Bros. output. Indeed, even Deitch would ruefully admit that his studio “made the most gross and grotesque cartoons in the galaxy.”

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