It's time for the Sunday Funnies!

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The answer to 'What came first--Koko or the egg?'

Ko-Ko Gets Egg-Cited (aka "Koko's Barnyard") (1926)
Starring: Max Fleischer
Director: Dave Fleischer
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Ko-Ko tries to start an chicken farm that bridges the animated and physical world.

"Ko-Ko Gets Egg-Cited" is one of the most fascinating "Out of the Inkwell" installments, and it turns what passes for reality in this world where the cartoon characters cross back and forth easily between their two-dimension existence and our three-dimensional one completely on its head: Usually, it's the Animator (played by Max Fleischer) who brings Ko-Ko and his environment into existence, but here it's Ko-Ko who uses the ink pen to create the Animator (as well as the incubator which become the center of some stop-motion animation sequences in the film's second half).

The antics of Ko-Ko and his pet dog in the animated world are funny, but fairly standard for the series, but the scene where Ko-Ko woos a chicken to get her to lay eggs, and what eventually comes out of those eggs, is equal parts hilarious and horrifying. It's one of the many touches that makes this a must-see, as well as one of the most creative and wildest entries in the entire series. (I didn't think they'd be able to top destroying the world, but they did so with this one!)

Take a few minutes of your day to watch reality break down completely in this masterfully executed short film that mixes traditional animation with stop-motion animation and live-action footage.

Then there's that time the world ended...

Koko's Earth Control (1928)
Starring: Max Fleischer
Director: Dave Fleischer
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

In 1928, the world was destroyed through the actions a psychopathic cartoon dog that gained that power due to the irresponsible behavior of an animator (Fleischer) and his magic ink. Clearly, some superior being must have stepped in and remade the world, or you wouldn't be reading these words, or be able to click below to watch the video evidence of the horror that unfolded.

Felix the Cat Breaks the Fourth Wall

Comicalamities (1928)
Director: Otto Messinger
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Felix the Cat and the Animator break the Fourth Wall for seven minutes straight, giving Felix a new girlfriend and sending him to the bottom of the sea in the process.

If you've been around this blog for a while, you know how fond we are of humor that breaks the Fourth Wall. There's some of it in almost every Felix cartoon--over the course of his adventures, he detaches his tail and turns it into a flute or a club, or any number of things--but "Comicalamities" goes further into that territory than any other Felix cartoons I've watched yet.

Like the Koko the Clown films by the Fleischer Bros., "Comicalamities" mixes live action and animation. Also, like in the Koko 'toons, Felix knowns he's a cartoon character and that he can, with the help of the Animator, manipulate and alter his world to fit his needs. Unlike Koko, where the relationship with the Animator is frequently adversarial, he is at Felix's beck-and-call and always helpful. 

There is very little about this excursion into strangeness that I don't like. In addition to the Fourth Wall antics--which I won't comment on because it would ruin the fun to not experience them cold--there are some nice visual puns in this film, with the scene of oysters resting on the seabed being my favorite among them. The only complaint I can think to mount against it is that I find the ending rather disturbing. It's probably the bit in the film that makes the most sense, but I still found it borderline horrific.

I've embedded "Comicalamities" for your viewing pleasure. Take a look, and if you disagree with my estimation (or if you agree), feel free to let everyone know in the comments section. (Also, maybe you can tell me what's going on with the Animator pouring ink into the ocean. Is he making it thicker so Felix can climb out? Is he making it darker so the creatures chasing Felix can no longer see him? I don't understand that scene.)

If you enjoyed that, maybe you need to treat yourself to some DVD collections of Felix cartoons that have been curated by film restorer and historian John Carpenter? They are tons of fun!

Koko's off the rails while driving the crazy train

KoKo's Toot-Toot (aka"Toot-Toot") (1926, re-released 1950)
Starring: Max Fleischer
Director: Dave Fleischer

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

While traveling by train, the Animator (Fleischer) doodles in his sketch book. His drawings of KoKo the Clown and his pet dog come to life, and soon they are causing train-based havoc in both the animated and real worlds.

"KoKo's Toot-Toot" is another tale where animated characters escape their two-dimensional world to cause chaos in ours. It's not the best I've seen of this series--there are several sequences that go on for just long enough to stop being amusing--but it does have its high points. My favorite bit is where KoKo, after disassembling the sketch of a non-operational train and putting it back together again all wrong but now working, as well as much of the train-ride that follows.

A common weakness that all the Out of the Inkwell shorts seem to share is a lack of a satisfying close to the films. That is mostly the case here, too, but it is also so surrealistic that I can't help but give the filmmakers points for thinking big.

I've embedded the film below for your convenience and viewing pleasure. I believe the version I watched (and featured here) is the one that was aired on Australian television, with added sound effects and soundtrack. I felt the music got a bit tiresome as it looped through the same tune for the third or fourth time toward the end, but you're mileage and tolerance for such things may be higher than mine. I actually found myself wondering if someone has put this 'toon to "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Obourne--which in turn led to finding the "bonus" I've included at the bottom of the post. (Yes, it's two-for-one day here at Shades of Gray!)

And here's a bonus--Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" performed by cartoon characters!

Ko-Ko vs. the Spider-Creature!

Trapped (1923)

Starring: Max Fleischer

Director: Dave Fleischer

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

After a disagreement about how urgent it is to deal with a mouse in the studio, the Animator (Fleischer) draws a monstrous spider-creature to put Ko-Ko the Clown in his place.

"Trapped" is another fun mix of live action footage and animation, with the fourth wall disintegrating between our world and the animated one. As is often the case, Max the Animator and his creation, Ko-Ko, are at odds over something, but Max seems extra petty this time around. (Watching this one will make you appreciate Ko-Ko's actions better in "The Cartoon Factory".)

When I first watched this "Trapped", I thought Ko-Ko's actions were as badly motivated as the Animator's hostility toward him; Ko-Ko's desire to see that rodent dealt with seemed a bit much--even considering that they're smelly, disease-carrying animals--but then it occurred to me that the mouse was chewing on cardboard and paper, and that Ko-Ko's entire world exists on a foundation of paper. From Ko-Ko's point of view that mouse more than just an annoyance, but something that can literally destroy his world and possibly end his existence. This makes the Animator's reaction seem all the more mean-spirited.

Of course, I could also be overthinking the whole thing, and it's nothing more than the tale of a cartoon clown worrying about a rodent infestation while fighting for his life against a bowler hat-wearing giant spider. Why don't you give me YOUR take after clicking below and spending a few minutes watching some silent movie era cartoon weirdness?

Ko-Ko's Martian Adventure

Trip to Mars (1924)
Starring: Max Fleischer
Director: Dave Fleischer
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Over Ko-Ko the Clown's objections, the animator (Fleischer) sticks him in a rocket and shoots it at the moon... but Ko-Ko ends up crashing on Mars instead. Ko-Ko has the last laugh, however, when the animator also ends up in space.

In "Trip to Mars", the Fleischer Brothers once again effectively show off their ability to convincingly make it appear as though animated character Ko-Ko the Clown has leaped from the cartoon universe and into this one. The interactions between him and the live-action Max Fleischer is particularly fun in this one--with the moments when Max picks Ko-Ko up by his collar and puts him inside the rocket that is intended to take Ko-Ko to the moon; and when Ko-Ko and Max are both riding in the "Mars Rover" as the film is careening toward its close.

As impressive as the mixture of live action and animation is in this film (especially when considering its age), it falters a bit when it comes to the story. I'm not sure how I would have ended a short film that features its stars being blasted all the way to Mars via cartoon explosives, but I like to think that if I put my mind to it, I could have come with something better than what we got here; it makes no sense. (And if you watch the film--which you can do, right here from this post--you may say "Miller... you're asking for THAT to make sense? They go to Mars, the run around on the rings of Jupiter, and you want an ending that makes sense?!" And yeah... I would want it to make sense in the context of a world where animated characters emerge from the ink well and interact with human beings, and then return to the ink well. When we get to the end of "Trip to Mars", the rules of that world seem to be violated in a major way. And with that said... I DO see a way that the ending works, but it breaks the fourth wall to a level that even *I* think is a bit much. Or maybe I missed something? Check out the 'toon below and let me know what YOU think of the ending.)

The weak ending aside. "Trip to Mars" is a bucket full of strangeness that's worth the few minutes it'll take to watch it. The purely animated sections where Ko-Ko deals with Martians and their civilization are also a great deal of fun... although I think he would have been happier if he'd run into some of the Martian princesses that are featured every now and then on this blog. Max certainly would have been.

'Cartoon Factory' shatters the fourth wall

The Cartoon Factory (1924/1930)
Starring: Max Fleischer
Directors: Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

An animator (Fleischer) invents a way to automate the creation of cartoons. This, in turn, leads the animated character Koko the Clown to create a cartoon version of the animator. 

"The Cartoon Factory" doesn't just break the fourth wall--it turns it to dust. Several times over. Not only does Ko-Ko the Clown know that he's a drawing--he's a drawing who understands drawings are just lines that can be put on paper or erased as the creator chooses. And that Ko-Ko can create and erase those lines. It's fascinating to watch Koko go about trying (intentionally or not) to corrupt the animated world he lives in by creating a version of the person who originally animated HIM... and then to watch this creation turn on him, because the creation can never fully become the creator and fiction can never fully escape into reality, nor can reality ever fully merge with fiction. (That's at least the message I took away from this... even if I may be overthinking things.)

I've mentioned before my fondness for cartoons and movies that break the fourth wall in other reviews on this blog, so I enjoyed "The Cartoon Factory" quite a bit. I've seen at least one commentator state that he felt the ending is a result of Fleischers not knowing how to bring the story to a close, but it seems to me that it's simply following the format of the series: Most (if not all) episodes open with Ko-Ko emerging from the animator's inkwell in some fashion, and then returning to it at the end. 

But how about you take a look for yourself, and perhaps let me know your take on this fun fusion of live- and animated-action? You can watch it from this very post, and then use the comments section at the very bottom to sound off.

Trivia: The original version of "The Cartoon Factory" was first released into theaters on Feburary 21, 1924. It was one of roughly 130 silent "Out of the Inkwell" series, all of which combined some degree of live-action footage with animation. (The version embedded in this post, and that forms the basis for this review, was released in 1930 with the soundtrack added.)

Tom & Jerry destroy the fourth wall

Pencil Mania (1932)

Starring: Margie Hines (various voices)

Directors: John Foster and Geo. Stallings

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

To Tom's amazement (and annoyance), Jerry uses a pencil to alter the reality of their cartoon universe in extreme ways.

"Pencil Mania" starts with Tom painting a portrait of a dancing cow, which is really not that strange an activity for a character who's flirted with mermaids at the bottom of the ocean. It's when Jerry pulls out a pencil and starts creating animations within the animated world, dispelling the 3D illusion of the animated world and revealing it's just flat lines moving at 32 frames a second.

This is one of those films that really needs to be experienced cold, and I can only spoil it by saying too much. In fact, the moment I chose to illustrate this post is a bit of a spoiler in itself--but it's milder than some of the things that precede it.

While an animated character breaking the fourth wall by taking advantage of the fact he exists in a two dimensional world where lines are put down to create an illusion of depth--Felix the Cat did it on a regular basis during the second half of the 1920s-- the extremes to which this idea is taken in "Pencil Mania" keep compounding until the film's finale where the fourth wall isn't just broken, it's completely demolished and the fragments are ground to dust and scattered on the four winds.

"Pencil Mania" is a wild and unpredictable ride from beginning to end. If you enjoy cartoons from the early sound era, surreal humor, or are just in the mood for something a strange and funny, you won't regret watching it from this very post, right here and now.

Betty Boop at her most nightmarish?

Ha! Ha! Ha! (1934)
Starring: Mae Questel (voice of Betty Boop)
Director; Dave Fleischer
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Betty and Koko escape the cartoon world, and when Koko develops a toothache from eating real-world candy, Betty tries her hand at dentistry. Surreal horror ensues.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" is a fantastic bit of craftsmanship that sees cartoon characters roaming in and interacting with the real world, or real cars and other objects transforming into cartoons through a mixture of animation and standard film. It's a great deal of fun watch the cartoon world interact with the real one as seamlessly as it occurs in this picture.. at least until it turns nightmarish and terrifying.

It seems like I've been creeped out by cartoons from the 1930s a lot lately--"The Rocketeers", for example, contains the most horrific scene I've witnessed in just about anything--but "Ha! Ha! Ha!" is another one that I found to be an example of surrealistic horror on a Junji Ito level, with the world undergoing bizarre changes that may well ultimately lead to madness for all of humanity. It's not so much what's in this short film, but what isn't that keeps my imagination working once it's over... and it's not happy place that I find myself imagining.

But why don't you take a few minutes to watch this masterpiece of surreal humor and horror via the embedded YouTube video below. I'd also love to hear your take on it.