As if we needed to find more examples of why former animator / layout man and Dell and Gold Key comic book artist HARVEY EISENBERG (...whose comics work on TOM AND JERRY was the stuff of legends) was so great, let's examine CHIP 'N' DALE # 19 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: September-November, 1959! (Click to enlarge all images!)
Pete is about to use his steam shovel to destroy Chip 'n' Dale's tree! The shovel scoop has taken on the look of a hungry mouth!
In desperation, Chip 'n' Dale hurriedly loosen-up everything they can! Just look at Pete's steam shovel REAR-UP on its "hind wheels" before charging!
Things literally "fall to pieces" for Pete! His forward rush and screeching halt in the lower tier are priceless!
Confronted by a "Prototype for Ranger Smith" (a character Eisenberg would often draw over the next few years in Dell and Gold Key Comics), Pete gets his deserved comeuppance - and some wonderfully perplexed expressions courtesy of Harvey Eisenberg!
As noted above, this story (which, if it wasn't a Chip 'n' Dale theatrical short, certainly SHOULD have been) was originally published in Dell's CHIP 'N' DALE # 19 (1959)...
...And was reprinted in CHIP 'N' DALE # 3 (1969) from Gold Key, allowing me the opportunity to showcase - not one, but two - Harvey Eisenberg covers!
...'Cause you can never have too much Harvey Eisenberg!
8 comments:
This is taken from the ending to 1954's "Dragon Around", with Donald playing Pete's part, and no Ranger Smith prototype. I think that I like Pete as the villain better than Donald, but I'm thinking of comic book Donald. Animated Donald (sadly) has a history of bullying small animals and insects. Animated Donald really lost something when they put him in parts that would be better played by Tom or Sylvester (in my opinion).
Deb:
“Dragon Around”, eh?
So, THAT’S WHY that ending seemed somehow familiar to me, yet I couldn’t recall another “Chip ‘n’ Dale vs. Pete” cartoon beyond that “western one”.
I agree with EVERYTHING you say, and have felt so for a very long time! If you’d care to wade through it, you can find my views on “Donald [having] a history of bullying small animals and insects” in this long-ago post of mine on the Disney Treasures “Chronological Donald Volume 3 (1947-1950)” DVD set HERE!
WARNING: You’ll have to put up with one of my odd earlier color schemes, and a fair amount of “the economics of collectables” and “why limited edition DVD sets were a VERY BAD idea”, but you’ll get my views on pairing Donald Duck with Chip ‘n’ Dale, Bootle Beetle, and Spike the Bee WAAAY too often.
You’ll also get a taste of how great Donald Duck cartoons would/could/should have been (and sometimes WERE), if not for this almost inexplicable and repetitive left turn – and how a director can really make a difference.
And, to be fair to Chip ‘n’ Dale, just like Donald, they could also be head-and-‘munk-shoulders above their animated appearances when in the comics – as this post bears out!
Here's a link to an interview with Jack Hannah on these cartoons: https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/in-his-own-words-jack-hannah-remembers-donald-ducks-foils/
My index-loving brain would love to see a complete index of the adaptations of cartoon shorts into comics and Little Golden Books and the like. INDUCKS does usually mention a cartoon source for a story, but not always, and not, as here, when it is a partial adaptation. I find it fun to compare the original cartoon short to the adaptations. I read "Business Buddies" in childhood, decades before I ever saw the cartoon "All in a Nutshell." The story was a childhood fave among C&D stories, and now the cartoon is one of my top three C&D cartoons. I have three retellings of "Pluto's Christmas Tree"--the two somewhat different versions of the Little Golden Book adaptation where Mickey is replaced by Donald and Korhonen's comics adaptation--and two differently scripted versions of the comics adaptation of "Toy Tinkers"--the original Dell version later titled "Such a Clatter" by Gemstone, and "Christmas Fray," the version with the silly attempt to have the 'munks speak standard English rather than chipmunkese, published in the Disney Interregnum's Holiday Parade 2.
Very interesting, the comments you and Deb make about Cartoon-Donald as the nemesis of small, cute critters. Just one of the reasons why despite my deep affection for Comics-Donald I really rarely care much about Cartoon-Donald. I just read the post/comments you linked to and learned more. Comicbookrehab's comment "King's cartoons cast Donald in a sympathetic light, whereas Hannah's cartoons become all about losing sympathy for Donald" just about sums it up...no wonder I didn't like Cartoon-Donald! I will have to now watch "The Trial of DD" on YouTube. There could have been great Brittle Mastery cartoons, couldn't there?
I'm fond of some of the "DD vs. C&D" cartoons, but it's because I'm siding with C&D. I completely agree that the predominance of this sort of plot was the ruination of Cartoon-Donald's character.
Deb:
The Jack Hannah link was very interesting, but also shows why I have such a fundamental disagreement with his point of view.
Anyone who’s read that older post of mine that I linked-to above, knows MY thoughts on Jack King – that he was the most “Barks-like” director of the Donald Duck theatrical shorts. Of course, having Barks himself as one of his “gag-men” (…I prefer the term “WRITERS”, but that’s the way it was at Disney back then) didn’t hurt, but I tend to think that King was “already in that zone” – certainly in contrast with Hannah.
Hannah: “We began looking for foils for the Duck. Naturally his three nephews were always available. You’ve got to give a storyman an outlet for a new line of gags. It was natural that the Duck would have a girlfriend so Daisy came along. Anything to open up story possibilities. That’s why the nephews were there.
“For a while there, somebody came up with the idea that it would be clever to have the three nephews say one line of dialog with all three of them sharing in the sentence. One nephew would say the first two words, the next would say the middle of the sentence and the third would finish it up. I put a stop to this because it ruined all sense of timing and you couldn’t go on and carry through a gag. You’d have to stop and wait for each nephew to say his lines and you couldn’t incorporate the dialog in the action as well that way. We got each nephew saying an individual line all by himself.
“Jack King (who had been directing the Duck shorts) was never noted for his timing so I guess it didn’t bother him but I got rid of it.”
I can’t just be me, but why such an overarching lack-of-love for Jack King’s Donald cartoons? Especially since I made what I felt was a good case FOR them. Particularly when contrasted with large portions of Hannah’s output!
…And I can’t help but wonder if the “somebody [who] came up with the idea that it would be clever to have the three nephews say one line of dialog with all three of them sharing in the sentence.” might have been Barks (because he certainly did that a lot in his 1940s stories) or Al Taliaferro (who created the nephews in the first place)!
Hannah continues: “I put a stop to this because it ruined all sense of timing and you couldn’t go on and carry through a gag.” Just like THAT, huh? But, I guess the manic, sped-up, unintelligible chitter-chattering of Chip ‘n’ Dale hampered Hannah’s’ “timing” not a bit!
I mean no disrespect toward Mr. Hannah, an individual of great achievements, but this must be a case of “agreeing-to-disagree”! …And, for what it’s worth, like Donald Duck, Chip ‘n’ Dale were better characters in the comics too!
HERE is Deb’s link. Everyone, go read it! It’s not long, but IS insightful.
Elaine:
Maybe someday, all of us with similar “index-loving brains” will be able to pull together all of the information we’ve separately catalogued. …I can dream, can’t I?
An animated series for a character as multi-faceted as Donald Duck could be should have been much more in line with the great comics interpretations begun by Taliaferro and Barks and carried on non-stop for many decades hence – even if Donald were “often difficult to understand”. House of Mouse and the two incarnations of DuckTales proved that it could be done.
Repeatedly pitting Don against lots of little critters just seemed like too easy a way out, and did the character what I feel is a great disservice. As you say: “There could have been great Brittle Mastery cartoons, couldn't there?”
Let us know what you think of "The Trial of Donald Duck"! I could see it done by Barks as a flashback with the nephews telling the story to Daisy in a WDC&S ten-pager.
Even more than House of Mouse and the two DuckTales, Legend of the Three Caballeros proved it could be done! You really have to find a way to see LTC sometime, Joe, I think you'd enjoy it. I like it tremendously, and only wish Disney still put things out on DVD.... But you must have some friends or relations who subscribe to Disney+. That's if you're not willing to set aside your principles and sign up for a single month and watch LTC and all the animated shorts you don't already have on dvd. Some of the "Short Circuit" animated short-shorts are super-cool.
The waiter in "The Trial of Donald Duck" is definitely a better antagonist than any of the cute little critters. Particularly as he also seems to be the owner of the restaurant, not just a working stiff. The scene I'll remember longest is Donald's reaction to the tiny cup of espresso!
Elaine:
While I *would* like to see “Legend of the Three Caballeros”, it will be a long, dark, cold, snowy, hunger-plagued, dam-breaking, volcano-erupting day before I pay for Disney+!
For the record, I’m not interested in paying for the many, many, many (Did I say “many”?) different streaming services of today, because it will be “financial death of a thousand cuts”. And, as long as we “keep cable” (More “WE” than “ME” on that matter!), it’s just not feasible. So, yes… I’m behind on all the new Star Trek shows (or things like “Harley Quinn” – adult, but hilarious), but will catch up with them when they are released on Blu-ray or DVD.
Besides, I also refused to pay for “The Disney Channel” way back when it was a premium cable channel… so I’m just following a time-honored tradition!
If COVID ever allows me to again attend comic conventions, it’s likely I might find a bootleg DVD of “Legend of the Three Caballeros”, just as I did for House of Mouse and the complete first season of New-DuckTales… and so many other things that studios never put out like Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Tex Avery (until recently), all of the theatrical Popeyes, Quick Draw Mc Graw, and so many more!
I don’t necessarily endorse bootlegs but, if the various studios won’t sell me “authorized editions” (which I’d vastly prefer and have supported without hesitation), what choice is there?
My love for physical media is also reinforced by the notion that – any time, due to the ever-changing standards of acceptability – Disney+, or any of the other services, could REMOVE anything at whim and will. With physical media, once it’s on my shelf… it STAYS on my shelf! But, that’s a whole ‘nother conversation, and one that I frequently have with certain members of my Thursday Night Film Group!
Glad you enjoyed "The Trial of Donald Duck"! I think some of its appeal is from having a good one-shot antagonist, as opposed to annoying little adversaries that appear over and over again. Imagine if the series eventually went in the direction of regular competitions and set-tos with Uncle Scrooge or Neighbor Jones! …Jack King MAY have eventually gotten there! Jack Hannah would not. …Timing, you know!
Gosh, I’m crabby today! …But, I’m having fun!
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