The Bootleg Files: Luno

Posted on March 29, 2024 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 859: “Luno” (1963-1965 series of theatrical and television animated shorts).

LAST SEEN: Some of the shorts are on YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: A few shorts turned up on VHS video.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

You never know what you’ll find on Facebook. The other day, while scrolling through the site I came across a couple of a screenshots from an old cartoon that I didn’t immediately recognize. After reading the captions for the screenshot, I vaguely recalled the production being featured. I looked up the titles and found them on YouTube – and then, I remembered viewing these works during my childhood in the early 1970s.

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The Bootleg Files: Oceans of Love

Posted on September 29, 2023 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 843: “Oceans of Love” (1956 animated short from the Terrytoons studio).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: The rights holder will not make it available.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

Cartoon lovers of a certain age will recall the glory days of Terrytoons, an animation studio founded by Paul Terry that specialized in cartoon shorts that were usually lacking in artistic genius but more than compensated with good silly fun. Terry himself acknowledged his studio’s shortcomings regarding its low-budget animation, once describing Walt Disney’s operation as the “Tiffany’s in this business” while his was “the Woolworth’s.”
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The Bootleg Files: Springtime for Clobber

Posted on July 9, 2021 by Phil Hall

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

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Phil Hall

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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