Remember those we lost this past week

This year has been nothing but celebrity deaths, and while it's true that many of them are getting up there at a ripe old age, names like Prince, Carrie Fisher, and David Bowie continue to be a shocker to their fans.  This past week, every single one of them had something to do with cartoons (if only for a brief moment).

First off, George Michael.  He was best known for being a part of the group Wham.  He went on to win a Grammy for his album, Faith.  What so many people don't know is that he performed the theme song to The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which became one of the most popular cartoon theme songs for those who grew up watching Saturday Morning at the time of its airing.

Incidentally, Wham is also known for the holiday hit, Last Christmas.  This has been accused of being covered by artists way too many times, so may I add another one to the list?  When one of the Sailor Moon Christmas albums was released in Japan, Sailor Mars did a cover of Last Christmas, and it's really really good.  The song had some.....issues with the actress singing in English, but overall it is a nice cover and should be mentioned in this tribute

We now move on to George S Irving.  Unlike most of these celebrity deaths, Irving was pretty much done and left us at a ripe old age of 94.  While it's ok to feel sad, this is a great opportunity to celebrate his life.  Irving was a Broadway actor, and a Shakespearean actor at that.  He has won a Tony Award at least for his performance and has appeared in many TV shows including All in the Family.  You would think a guy like that would be ho hum about voicing cartoons.  Not at all, he loved it just as much.
Irving's role in animation mostly came from Total Television which made cartoons for Saturday Morning.  His first role was advertising Twinkles for General Mills.  When Twinkles cartoons would come on King Leonardo, he would narrate the story a la Thomas the Tank Engine style voicing every single character.

Occasionally he would do an incidental character, but when Underdog came on, he was the narrator and many villains of the show.  His introductions to the Underdog Show gave a feeling of excitement to tune into the next show.

Some other characters he's done inlcudes Major Minor in Klondike Kat, and Running Board in Go-Go Gophers.  In fact, Irving was one of the singers for the theme to Go-Go Gophers

There were other voices that he did such as Papa Gepetto in Rankin Bass's Pinocchio's Christmas.

But his most famous role would be that of Heat Miser in The Year Without a Santa Claus.  He sang one of the most popular Rankin Bass songs singing Heat Miser's song.  This special continues to be rerun to this day. When Warner Bros brought the Miser Brothers back for a new special for ABC Family (now Freeform), Irving came back as Heat Miser, marking it his final performance in TV.

Perhaps the biggest shock of them all, was when the news first rang out about Carrie Fisher being hospitalized due to a heart attack.  A few days later, she would not make it.  Fisher to everyone was best known for her role as Princess Lea in Star Wars.  She did a few things related to cartoons though. Though mostly it was with Family Guy, where she played Peter Griffin's boss.

The Family Guy staff loved Star Wars so much that they made parody episodes based on the first three movies.  They were really well done in detail, and yes Fisher got a cameo in one of the films.

Fisher was the daughter of famed movie actress Debbie Reynolds, who passed away one day later.  She was best known for movies such as Singing in the Rain, but she also did a few things animation related.  In the later years of Rugrats, Reynolds voiced Granpa's new wife (although by then Rugrats have jumped the shark so many times).  Reynolds however, also voiced Charlotte in  Charlotte's Web, which would be Hanna-Barbera's most successful full length feature film.  This scene I think is very fitting.

RIP to these and other celebrities we lost this year <3

Top forgotten Christmas Cartoons

Everyone has their favorite Christmas specials like Rudolph, Frosty, or The Grinch.  However, not all Christmas cartoons are well known to the general public.  This list takes a look at some of the rarest yet some of the best Christmas cartoons made.

1. Christmas Comes but Once a Year (1936)

This cartoon was part of Max Fleischer's Color Classics series.  The same studio that brought you Popeye and Betty Boop, this cartoon stars Grampy who makes Christmas merry for a bunch of orphans.

2. early Disney shorts (approx 1931-1933)

To be fair, everyone knows that Disney and Christmas goes hand in hand, and Disney has made some of the best Christmas cartoons and specials.  Heck, they have their own Christmas parade.  However, the earliest Disney shorts having to do with the holidays are a little bit difficult to see.  This is because the Mickeys are in black and white and some contain racial political incorrectness.  These include Oscar nominated Mickey's Orphans, The Night Before Christmas, Santa's Workshop, and Mickey's Good Deed.

 3.  Cricket on the Hearth (1967)

Rankin Bass is known for having the most highest rated holiday specials on television, but not all of them became classics.  This special stared Danny and Marlo Thomas in this hour long special.  Rarely seen, but has been released on DVD surprisingly.

4. Mice Meeting You (1950)

Paramount's Famous Studios is best known for Popeye and Casper the Friendly Ghost as well as other Harvey characters.  This entry from 1950 starred Herman and Katnip that were a lot like Tom and Jerry but a wee bit more violent.  These rare cartoons are hard to see due to the massive popularity with Casper, but they do turn up time to time.

5. Santa's Surprise (1947)

Another selection from Famous Studios, this marked the debut of Little Audrey who would become part of the Harvey family.  Since it showcases kids from different cultures, some political incorrectness has caused it to not air so much anymore.

 6. Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)

Considered the first televised Christmas special, this showcased Mr. Magoo as an actor as opposed to a comic character as he was in the 1950's and 60's.  The special was a hit.  However, when more specials such as Rudolph and Charlie Brown emerged, Mr. Magoo's popularity went down.  The special has been given good treatment over the years though, but seeing it on TV anymore is very rare.

7. Merry Jingles TV shorts (early 1950's)

Chicago TV was a big market in those days and probably still is.  As part of their kids shows such as Bozo the Clown and Garfield Goose, these shorts would showcase a popular kids song based on holidays at the time.  These include Frosty the Snowman, Suzy Snowflake, and Hardrock Coco and Joe (and for Easter, Here Comes Peter Cottontail).  UPA animated a couple with others using stop motion animation thus pre dating the Rankin Bass specials.  Ultimately, Frosty is the song that outlasted the rest, but the cartoon would be replaced with the more popular Rankin Bass special in 1969.

8. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1940's)

Before becoming a hit song, Rudolph was originally a book to be sold for Montgomery Store.  Max Fleischer worked on a cartoon adaptation at the Jam Handy organization.  This well produced classic originally did not have the song until later on when Rudolph became a hit song in the late 1940's.  It has been seen occasionally on TV and the Rankin Bass special pretty much became the main cartoon version of the tale.  However, since this is a public domain film, you may see snippets of it here and there.

Got any rare Christmas cartoons that's your favorite?  Let us know.  And a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!!

Snoopy Walkaround Costumes

Who wouldn't wanna come up and give Snoopy a big hug?  While no two parks are the same where you can meet Snoopy (save for Cedar Fair runs those parks), they all have one thing in common: Snoopy is well loved by all ages.  But what you may not have noticed is that Snoopy had a lot of different looks as a walkaround character in the parks over the years?  This is a rundown of all of these costumes

NOTES: 1. This is only about Snoopy.  The rest of the Peanuts gang will not be featured at this time.
               2. This is only concerning theme park appearances.  Any other costume uses will not be listed be it official or unofficial and would be IMPOSSIBLE to list ALL the costumes as a result of bootleggers.  Only official costumes being used will be covered.
               3.  The names given for each one are chosen by me; no official name has been given for any of these costumes.
               4.  All dates of uses are approximate and not official.  Many of these costumes have also overlapped each other, and specific details on where you can see them are given in each post.  Keep in mind this post is to be updated if any significant changes.
               5.  This post is about the suits specifically, not the many outfits Snoopy wears such as Camp Snoopy or Planet Snoopy.

"Old Fashion Snoopy"  1982
This is the earliest use of Snoopy at a theme park.  Knotts wanted to use Snoopy in their ice skating show, and when they asked permission by Charles Schulz, he said, "Oh....do you think my daughter could skate as Snoopy?" (Jill Schulz was a great famous skater).  And that's how it started.  Snoopy when not ice skating would walk around the park.  This costume gave Snoopy a big snout, paw like hands and feet, all white, and holes on his snout and his sides.  The performer sees through the nose.  It is unclear if the performer could also see through the eyes.  His mouth is curled at the bottom of the snout.  This look gives him the look of Peanuts merchandising days of old (1950's and 60's), but it sadly also gives the look of "guy in big dog costume stranger danger", as most bootlegs refer to this design.  One person wore a costume similar while trying to rob a bank

Big Mouth Snoopy  1983-early 1990's
With the success of Snoopy at Knotts, they decided to keep Snoopy for good with the addition of Camp Snoopy.  The new costume for the park was similar to Old Fashion except for some key details.  The black facial areas stand out more.  His mouth is bigger, his nose sticks out, and some holes disappeared.  The performer can still see through the nose, but again, is unknown about the eyes.  This the one used the most at Knotts in the 1980's.

NOTE: It should be noted that both Old Fashion and Big Mouth Snoopy were both made in the late 60's/early 70's for the Ice Follies.

Wolf Hound Snoopy 1980's or early 1990's
This is another version of the Snoopy costume used for Knotts.  Actual dates unknown.  The costume bares some resemblance of Old Fashion Snoopy, but has smaller eyes.  The two holes on his snout returned.  Again, unknown if the performer can see through the eye, but can see through the nose. The mouth is thin again. This costume may have been used at Knott's Camp Snoopy as well during its early days at Mall of America.

Mall of America Snoopy 1990's-mid 2000's
This version of Snoopy is very similar to costumes previous, but he is much more cuddly than previous versions  The costume is much lighter in weight.  Snoopy's nose is big and has a long narrow snout.   The hands now have fingers but still not enough wiggle room to use them as they are sewn together. This version supposedly was only used in Knotts Camp Snoopy at Mall of America, hence its name.

Styrofoam Snoopy 1990's-early 2010's
This version of Snoopy would end up being at every Cedar Fair Park at the time when the company bought Knotts Berry Farm and installed Snoopy at Cedar Point, Dorney Park, Worlds of Fun, Michigan's Adventure, and Geauga Lake.  Valleyfair was still using The Berenstain Bears at the time as well as their own mascot.  Knotts would also get this costume too.  It is unknown if Knotts Camp Snoopy got one too at Mall of America.  The fingers are no longer sewn together giving more finger movement by the performer.  There were two versions of the costume.  This is version B used at Michigan's Adventure and Geauga Lake.   

Version A was used at all other parks at the time.  This version had a more rounder body, but the head remained the same, although the nose varies costume to costume.  The performer only sees through the nose.  The head looked like it was made out of Styrofoam as if you could punch a hole though his head.

Little Chubby Snoopy 1990's-mid 2000's
This is argued to be Styrofoam Snoopy Version C, but there were minor differences in the head.  It looks much softer now and not made out of something cheap, and the mouth is thicker.  This costume was used at Knotts Camp Snoopy at Mall of America. he performer only sees out of Snoopy's nose.    His feet are flatter. Some shots make him look much flatter in the front, but believe me he's full rounded.  It may have been used at Knotts Berry Farm too, but is unsure.

Official Snoopy  mid 1990's-present day
Once again a new Snoopy costume was made.  This time for promotional uses   Hence the name, Official.  This version has different design eye shapes and are smaller.  The nose is nice and round.  The snout is smooth and slightly round.  The mouth is also a little curly.  Returned from the first costume are the paw hands.  The performer can see through the nose, but may also see through the eyes as well (not sure).  No Cedar Fair park has used this costume to date, but considering Universal currently does,  this costume is included here.

Fat Snoopy 2001-mid 2000's
With the opening of Universal Studios Japan, the Peanuts gang became a part of it with Snoopy Studio.  This Snoopy was designed to look similar to the Dumbo type of flying Snoopy ride at the park.  The pictures make him look fake like a video game version of a walkaround; we guarantee you, it's real.  Snoopy's fur is thinner, giving him that CGI 3D look to him.  Many lines are thin and detailed.  The performer may be only seeing through the nose, but not sure about the eyes since they sit so high.  His smile seems to be U shaped, and his fingers are sown together making his hands very flat, not like the paws used.  This makes his fingers completely useless.  His body is very round.  While not possible, it shouldn't be ruled out that some parts of the costume could be inflatable like Japan's other costumed characters like Pikachu.  He had a very foamy look to him too.  This may be because they were produced cheap which may explain why this costume was short lived.  It was probably all plush and wore out rather quickly.  The costume had since been out of use.

Big Eyes Snoopy  2010-2017
Now this Snoopy was made specifically for the former Paramount Parks when bought by Cedar Fair and began wiping everything Hanna-Barbera and Nickelodeon out and replaced them with Planet Snoopy.  This costume holds some similarities to Old Fashion as his eyes are big and the snout is long.  The nose is nice and round.  His hands are similar to the older paws, but flatter.  Many versions of this costume has a much skinnier and slimmer Snoopy.  The performer can see through the eyes and the nose.  The eyes also looks similar to Official's, but much bigger.  This costume has also been used in Valleyfair in 2011 when they opened Planet Snoopy.  After a while, the costumes began to no longer be in use possibly due to its cheapness of the product.  The costume is still in use at Kings Island, Kings Dominion, and Carowinds.  These are the only exceptions as of this writing that does not use the newer costume listed below.  UPDATE: As of June 1st, 2018, Kings Island no longer uses this costume anymore, and as of March of 2018, neither does Carowinds.  

Cuddly Snoopy early 2010's-present day
The Snoopy costume bears resemblance to Styrofoam Snoopy but with a softer look and a much rounder snout. The nose is big and round.  The mouth does not curve into the snout, rather just a simple small curve shaped like a U.  The performer can only see through the nose.  His hands are similar to Big Eyes Snoopy.  This costume is in use at all Cedar Fair parks.

Sheepadoodle Snoopy (2023-present)

Introduced at Cedar Point and Kings Island as the latest Snoopy Costume, it bares some resemblance to Official Snoopy but with a bigger head and snout and smaller eyes.  The nose is a bit smaller and he looks a bit more fuzzier.  He almost looks like that Snoopy in real life dog you see on the internet, hence the name Sheepadoodle.  As of now this costume could only be seen at Cedar Point and Kings Island

The Truth Behind Macy's Felix the Cat Balloon

As previously stated in this blog, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a Thanksgiving tradition as much as turkey and pumpkin pie. This year marks the 90th march of the parade with floats, celebrities, and the stars of the parade, the giant larger than life balloons of famous iconic cartoon characters like Snoopy, Spongebob, and Pikachu.  This year one of the new additions is a recreation of what is supposedly the first Macy's balloon in the parade, Felix the Cat.  But was Felix the first balloon???

Macy's historian, Robert M Grippo, begs to differ.  His Facebook page, The Big Parade History Project, has come across some interesting facts based on his research.  The Felix the Cat balloon that we saw in pictures in 1927 which the new balloon recreates is not that of the Macy's Parade, but rather a parade in New Jersey, just across the river from the Big Apple.  It's unsure how or why the mistake was made.  Perhaps someone at the time mis-organized some old photos way back when and have it say "Macy's Parade, 1927" at the time.  I don't know.  Macy's, however, took that as a fact that Felix was the first balloon and continues to use that theory to this day.  Grippo has currently been accusing the staff at Macy's for lying to us and not changing their facts.  Why Macy's have not come to grip of the truth behind the "first balloon" is a mystery.  That doesn't mean Macy's never had a Felix balloon.  In 1931, Felix flew in the Macy's parade as the first cartoon character to fly, but by then it was too late for Felix anyways (explained later in the blog).  This version had him on an all fours position rather than standing up right like his official cartoon counterpart.

And if I may add some additional research, above is a picture of a supposed Wheeling Christmas parade in the 1920's.  This photo, courtesy of the Church of the Diocese in Wheeling, WV , shows a Felix the Cat balloon similar to that of a photo from a New Jersey parade in 1927 which became known as Macy's "first balloon".  Could this have been more of a cooperate balloon available for use by all communities?  I tend to think so.  If it was the first Macy's balloon, it would have been much bigger than this, and it would have been specially made for the occasion.  If multiple Felix balloons flew in parades across the country, there would have been no way this was a Macy's balloon.  Here's hoping Macy's changes their minds soon and fix their errors because if they were wrong with this fact, what else in history is wrong????

Although this is the 90th Macy's parade, this isn't the 90th Anniversary of the event.  The parade started in 1924 at first called the Macy's Christmas Parade and featured performers such as clowns and live animals.  The live animals were dropped in 1927 and replaced with larger than life giant helium balloons that graced the skies of New York City.  The parade has also been known as the Macy's Santa Claus Parade in the mid 1930's before becoming the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Here's where the number 90 comes in, during the war years of WWII wartime restrictions included rubber and helium, and the Macy's parade had to abide by these restrictions, so no parades marched those years.  Hence, subtracting the WWII years making in the magic 90.  Still, it makes it easier to remember my grandma's age (wink wink).  With the exception of the early years, only one Macy's parade accrued without any balloons, 1971, due to high winds.  A few more close calls also came for Macy's.  A major snowstorm hit New York in 1989 causing snow and ice throughout the parade route.  In 2001, a major devastation hit New York on 9/11 when alleged hijackers attacked the World Trade Center among other terrorist attacks in our country that day killing around 3,000 people.  This led to question if the parade would go on that year, but it did with some help of a New York City police officer singing our national anthem.  

And with many cartoon characters taking over today's world such as Anna and Elsa, The Lion Guard, Spongebob, Pokemon, and Teen Titans Go, it's hard to imagine when animated cartoons started out and Felix was among big names of the time.  Otto Messmer created Felix in 1919 as a one shot character for Pat Sullivan's studio (the cat would commit suicide at the end), but quickly became the number 1 cartoon character in the 1920's.  The mischievous cat would get away with anything using cartoon antics of the time.  But by the late 1920's, sound became the enemy of Felix as Steamboat Willie became the first cartoon with synchronized sound and introduced the world to Mickey Mouse.  Mickey's popularity instantly rose, and Felix's went down the tube.  Despite trying to get into sound, the end of Felix came in 1930.  A few attempts to bring him back came about including a comic strip and comic books.  Van Buren Studios tried to bring him back in 1936, but failed miserably due to the closure of the studio.  In the late 1950's, Joseph Oriolo brought Felix back in a TV series.  This time with a magic bag of tricks that became his signature.  Felix returned again in the 1970's as a live action children's show.  In the late 80's, a movie starring Felix was made, but caused major criticism for being loud, obnoxious, and making no sense.  Some more attempts were made to bring him back, but none could match his success in the 1920's.  Felix wasn't totally forgotten however.  In 2015, one of the Miraculous Ladybug characters was almost named after Felix since he looked like a black cat as Cat Noir.  That character would later be named Adrian.  In 2014, Dreamworks animation acquired the rights to Felix the Cat.  Dreamworks has since been acquired by Universal in 2016 and thus they inherited Felix among other characters.  While Macy's may be wrong with who was the first balloon, seeing Felix fly for the first time in many years is a welcoming addition to the parade this year.

Some other entries this year include new versions of Charlie Brown and Diary of a Whimpy Kid, Dreamworks Trolls, The West Virginia University Marching Band, Tony Bennett, The Muppets, and many more.  The parade will march Thursday at 9am and will air on NBC and CBS (under a different name).

Everything you need to know about Pokemon heading to Disney XD

A major era comes to an end with Pokemon for more than one reason.  Not only will Ash be getting a redesign, but the new anime, Pokemon Sun and Moon, will air on Disney XD instead of Pokemon.  Here's everything you need to know about this move.

While major network deals happen more often than not, this is a bigger one.  Although not since day one, the majority of Pokemon's lifespan aired on the Time Warner networks.  Kids WB is where the show scored in ratings big time.  It soon moved to Cartoon Network once it became clear that Saturday mornings were not the place to be anymore.  Reruns soon after began airing on Boomerang even during the classic cartoon days.  It seemed like an obvious move for Pokemon as Cartoon Network had major successes with anime they acquired for Toonami including Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z.  The series evolved over the years, but up until now, Time Warner assured the rights to air Pokemon over their networks.  Seeing them move to Disney XD is major as a result.

The deal includes the new Sun and Moon, the movies, and all previous 19 seasons.  In other words, nearly anything related to Pokemon will no longer air on the Time Warner networks and will move to Disney XD.

Disney XD has had some anime on in the past during its ownership of Saban, but recent success came about with Doreamon and even bigger with Yo-Kai Watch.  While it will seem strange watching Pokemon on a Disney network, it may fit right at home thanks to the other anime success.  Not to mention Disney XD is more of a male oriented network.  This isn't a Disney Princess network/Mickey Mouse network.  Rather it is Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, etc.  Considering Pokemon's demographics, it will work for them.

We don't know why this event is taking place.  I have two theories.  1. Pokemon's popularity and value has gone back up since Pokemon Go launched back in July.  Could the result have been Pokemon asking for more money from Time Warner as a result.......who knows.  2. Time Warner is going through a merger with AT&T right now.  Mergers means cutting costs, and Pokemon may be one of them since it's broadcasting rights.

Lastly, this is NOT a major Disney acquisition like they did with Marvel and Lucasfilms.  This is strictly television rights for one network, Disney XD.  As far as I know it will not be airing on Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Freeform, or ABC.  Viz Media continues to hold the DVD/streaming rights to the series as well as theatrical rights should they decide to screen any of the movies (as they have with Pokemon the First Movie).  Nintendo still holds on video game rights to previous and upcoming games, and the card games/merchandise will continue to be handled by The Pokemon Company.  A major buyout is possible (because this is Disney after all), but at the moment, Disney does NOT own Pokemon.

Regardless of your opinions, this is a major changing of the guard and should be treated as such.  However, whatever happens, this move should not alter you're enjoyment of the anime and movies.

Got any questions for anything not covered?  Comment below.

Book Review: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

My next book review takes us to a tradition as grand as turkey, pumpkin pie, and football on Thanksgiving.  I'm talking of course about The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Written by Robert M Grippo and Christopher Hoskins, this book's goal is to give a detailed history on this famous parade.

While not entirely cartoon related, the Macy's Parade over the years gave beautiful full colored giant balloons of many cartoon characters.  Many characters have come and gone due to popularity.  Characters such as Bullwinkle and Underdog dominated the 60's, while Barney, Rugrats, and Dexter would have most popularity in the 90's.  And today's era would have Adventure Time, Spongebob Squarepants, and Pikachu.   Some characters such as Mickey Mouse and Snoopy however, would have the most staying power.  And with Snoopy, he holds the record of seven different designs.

This book is filled with not just information, but also some great pictures of Macy's Parades past.  You may recall this will be the 90th parade this year.  Some may think that it's the 90th Anniversary and debuted in 1927.  While that was the year of the first balloons, that's NOT the first parade.  It was the Macy's Christmas Parade back in 1924.  Ok...so then I originally thought that since the balloons debuted in 27, so was the change to become the Thanksgiving Day parade.  This book proves you wrong.  Even in 27, it was still called the Macy's Christmas Parade up until the 1930's (at one point being called the Macy's Santa Claus Parade).  Where does the 90 number come in then?  This is the 90th parade, not the 90th year.  During WWII, helium and rubber was needed, and wartime restrictions forced Macy's not to have their parade.  Subtract those years, and that's where the number 90 comes in.

You know, reading this book and looking at the pictures, it is like a time capsule really.  You are taken back to days of old when different stars and celebrities took the streets.  Stars like Ed Wynn and Eddie Cantor were in the parade.  Now compare that to today with stars like Miley Cirus and Idena Menzel.  And even as I said with cartoon characters over the years.  Mickey Mouse was huge in the 30's.  Bullwinkle and Underdog were a staple of 1960's TV animation.  It took a little while for some of the characters to become giant balloons however.  Bugs Bunny was never a giant balloon until around his 50th birthday despite his popularity during his hey day.  Olive Oyl made her debut in the 80's as did Yogi Bear and Woody Woodpecker.  This sometimes showed that no matter what the era, some characters stood the tests of time.  However, most of the classic characters were sided for more modern day stars like Adventure Time and such, but Snoopy and Charlie Brown still fly as of late.

This episode of Linus the Lionhearted promotes the new Linus balloon for the Macy's Parade

Some of the most popular balloons include the first Mickey Mouse balloon in the 1930's.  Many Superman balloons were also popular being some of the biggest balloons ever made.  Others include Woody Woodpecker, The Cat in the Hat, Charlie Brown, Big Bird, Barney, and Snoopy.  Contrary to popular belief, there was NO Stewie Griffin balloon (sorry Family Guy fans), and Underdog has also been one of the most popular balloons and one of the first to be angled vertically giving the illusion that he is flying.

The book does have its flaws though, and its biggest one we could blame Macy's for (not the authors).  They claim that Felix the Cat was the first balloon to grace the skies of the parade.  While there was a Felix balloon in the 30's, the photos from 27 that we actually see are from another parade across the state boarder in New Jersey.  I believe that the same balloon even flew here in Wheeling, WV making me believe this was a cooperate made balloon not specific to Macy's.  This was according to research found out on a later date many years after this book has written, as one of the authors is fighting to get this history fixed.  Who knows what other lies have been found about the history by Macy's if that mistake happened, or worse, in general.  Still, gathering up everything known about the parade, this is THE BOOK to own.

Anybody interested in history will indeed enjoy this book.  Memories of old may come flooding back to some and may make some wish to go back to when nothing needed a major gimmick like today to force the magic onto us.....the balloons, the bands, the floats, and just seeing Santa alone makes the magic happen naturally.  Well worth owning in my opinion.

Cartoon events coming up.....SO MANY SAILORS!!!!!!!

As they say during the depression, movies and entertainment is a great way to get your mind off of things if only for a little while.  Here are some upcoming events coming up with cartoons that should be worth highlighting for this upcoming week.

First up, if you live in the Wheeling, WV area, the Winter Festival of Lights at Oglebay Park will light up once again ringing in the holiday season Thursday night at around 6:15pm.  While not entirely cartoon related, there are some displays featuring Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang.

On Friday, Viz Media will be holding their annual Moonlight Party to celebrate the upcoming blu-ray of Sailor Moon S.  The party begins at around 8:30pm ET and will last until about 10:30pm.  The Party will feature clips from the newly dubbed Sailor Moon S and hopefully some Sailor Moon news.

Speaking of sailors.......the original "sailor guardian" will be taking the TV airwaves for a little while.  Two of Max Fleischer's Popeye the Sailor featurettes will air on TCM at 8pm ET.  Popeye the Sailor meets Sinbad the Sailor and Popeye the Sailor meets Ali Baba and his Forty Thieves will be a part of the program, with Sinbad not only gaining an Academy Award nomination, but also considered along with Ali Baba as some of the greatest cartoons ever made.

Finally, on Tuesday Viz Media will be releasing the long awaited released of Sailor Moon S the way it should be....uncut and with a brand new dub preserving the relationships between Sailors Uranus and Neptune.....I'll be doing another blog post, maybe, on this blu-ray in the near future.

Creepypastas and Conspiracy Theories: Charlie Brown has Cancer

Time for another conspiracy theory.  This time it involves Good Ol' Charlie Brown.  This theory claims the Charlie Brown is dying of cancer?????

Here's the theory and it is as simple as this, Charlie Brown is bed ridden with cancer dying.  What we see are his dreams.  The reason everything goes wrong is because he is depressed about having cancer.  This explains everything going wrong with Charlie Brown as well has his bald head.

Here's what we know.  Charles Schulz made Charlie Brown to show some of his own insecurities such as unrequited love.  That's not to say Schulz was a depressed man, and if anyone has been around him, they will tell you that's not the Charles Schulz they knew.  But even he felt bad that Charlie Brown never could kick that football.  Not to mention Schulz did die from Colon Cancer in 2000.
But here's where things get fishy.  A Watch Mojo.com video says in a sarcastic voice describing this theory...."Try watching a Charlie Brown special NOW!!!!!"  In other words, "your childhood is ruined."  C'mon........this joke about ruining your childhood is getting old.  We know a coyote can outrun a road runner.  We know cats can catch mice in real life.  Stop going, "your childhood is ruined" because these things are all just a cartoon.  We know they do not equal real life most of the time.  So yeah...this is just a story to just wanna "ruin your childhood" so to speak.  This conspiracy theory is BOGUS!!!!!!  Sorry.
That said, there is a Peanuts special that involves a girl having cancer called Why Charlie Brown Why.  I highly recommend that one.  There's also a play called Dog Sees God, not officially licensed by Peanuts Worldwide....that's depressing.  And there are better and more scary conspiracy theories/creepypastas to enjoy about your favorite cartoon characters.  Next!

Public Domain Highlights: Amvest Video

Let's get all comfy and cozy.  Actually, let's rather not.  The next public domain video company to highlight is a very notorious one called Amvest Video.

Amvest Video was actually Audiofidelity records.  They have released numerous records over the years, but most of them bootlegged.   There were two lines in the Amvest video department which was formed in the late 80's: Grampa and Kid Pics

Grampa's videos were mostly Halloween tapes such as horror flicks, trailers, and cartoons.  It was hosted by Al Lewis who played Grandpa Munster.  Noticed the series was called GRAMPA, not GRANDPA in order to get away from a potential lawsuit against Universal.  Grampa's Scary Stories and Silly Scaries featured public domain cartoons that were themed Halloween.  So you get Casper the Ghost, Popeye the Sailor, and many others.  Surprisingly, The Raven, which was never a public domain cartoon, made it to the cut on one of these tapes.  However, like most of these cartoons, it was faded red 16mm prints.  Sometimes Grampa's make up would look....bleh......

While Grampa's tapes were more Halloween themed, the scariest series of tapes has to be the Kid Pics.  Why?  I explain in grave detail on a previous post of mine, but there was this group to cash in on Alvin and the Chipmunks' renewed popularity called The Happy Hamsters.  They mostly sang Michael Jackson songs and Ghostbusters.  It failed.  Read it all here
In 1988, The Happy Hamster came back from the dead to host the Kid Pics videos.  The videos are your typical public domain cartoons like Bugs Bunny, Mighty Mouse, and Popeye.  But they're not typical.  They had a guy in a hamster suit to make kids feel comfortable enough to trust him like you would trust Mickey Mouse, Barney the Dinosaur, Big Bird, Elmo, and others.  And....yeah...it gets worse.  Take a look:

As you can see, the end of the tape shows that kids could join a club called the Kid Pics Club.  You get all kinds of great stuff for joining (so he says) including a T-shirt, newsletters, a poster left over from one of those failed Michael Jackson albums, and a one hour cartoon tape.
But you didn't get any of those sadly.  Here is the truth about Amvest Video.  Noticed how they said, "Please include a paragraph about yourself".  Parents...noticed a red flag there?????  Yep....the children that did that were in fact being sold to various pedophiles who run beauty pageants for kids.  This hamster is no nice friend to kids like Mickey Mouse is......this hamster did things unimaginable to man.    
Okay, onto the tapes themselves.  The covers were awful, and on one of them they used the name Disney for the public domain Disney cartoons on there.  This had to get them into even more trouble years later.

But THIS tape below has to be the most interesting......

This was a 3 tape collection of Disney cartoons.  The public domain cartoons by Disney leaves very little choices.  The Mad Doctor, Minnie's Yoo-Hoo, Oswald shorts, Alice shorts, and WWII propaganda shorts.  TONS of them.  For a collector at the time, these are rare cartoons never released by Disney, but noticed this collection was called Kid Pics 3 pack, no Disney name anywhere.  This has to be the strangest Disney tape ever released (since Disney never released this).  Once again...The Happy Hamster hosted all three tapes.  Not talking about the shorts, instead....JOIN MY CLUB!!!!!!!!  Yet another way to sell more kids to pedophiles...YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Fortunately, Disney released these WWII cartoons on DVD in the 2000's as part of the Walt Disney Treasures.  Leonard Maltin hosts instead of the dreaded Happy Hamster, and are beautifully remastered.
It was no surprise that the company died with all the controversies it had ranging from using the Disney name to using the letters from kids to sell to beauty pageant.  Many believe, however.....that The Happy Hamster is still out there.....waiting for his next victim.........