Andy Panda - "Scrappy Birthday"

OK, this will be the last Andy Panda cartoon I post for a while. It's also the last cartoon that Andy starred in for Lantz. He would show up again in the "Spook-A-Nanny" TV special and in "The Woody Woodpecker Polka". It opens with a great walk cycle by Fred Moore, at least I think it's Moore. I'm pretty sure that Ed Love handles some of the early fox hunting scenes.

Andy Panda - "Dog Tax Dodgers"

I've been on a bit of an Andy Panda kick lately, so here's another Dick Lundy directed cartoon. There's some great animation by Fred Moore and Pat Matthews in this one. I've posted clips of Moore's and Matthews' animation at half speed. Matthew's scene has some great subtle timing that I found to be really effective. When Wally Walrus starts to yell at him watch Andy's reaction. It's like Wally's words are hitting him right in the face. What an underrated animator. The more I watch the last of the Lantz cartoons before he closed the studio the more I wish that he was able to keep the studio going and retain some of the great talent he had started to accumulate. People like Matthews and LaVerne Harding really developed into strong animators over the years at Lantz. Matthews in particular developed a stand out style that really got watered down during some of the cartoons he worked on later at UPA. (Sorry if the quality of the slow motion videos is crappy.)

Fred Moore

Pat Matthews

Andy Panda - "Playful Pelican"

I posted this model sheet from Dick Lundy's "Playful Pelican" but never the cartoon and since I was just watching it the other day why not repost it with the cartoon.

Dick Lundy - "Bird-Brain Bird Dog"

Another great Barney Bear short directed by Dick Lundy and animated by Walt Clinton and Grant Simmons. I've been way to busy to post but I'm going to try and pick up the pace a little over the next few weeks.

Bird-Brain Bird Dog
Uploaded by klangley

Dick Lundy - "Impossible Possum"

I've mentioned before that Michael Lah is one of my favorite animators, and "Impossible Possum" has some great Lah animation in it. Particularly the dance scene. I might be in the minority on this one, but I really love Lundy's Barney Bear shorts. Maybe it's because it's basically Tex's unit.

Impossible Possum

Uploaded by klangley

Dick Lundy - "Kiddie Koncert"

I love cartoons set strictly to music, so the Lantz Swing Symphonies series and Musical Miniatures are among my favorite cartoons to watch. Even if they're not loading with gags like a Tex Avery short. Here's Dick Lundy's "Kiddie Koncert" which is set to "Morning, Noon, and Night In Vienna".

Kiddie Koncert

Uploaded by klangley

Barney Bear - "Heir Bear"

Another fine Dick Lundy short with the usual great animation by Grant Simmons, Michael Lah and Walter Clinton.

Heir Bear - Dick Lundy

Uploaded by klangley

Barney Bear - "Barney's Hungry Cousin"

I'm going to interrupt these Screwy Squirrel posts to throw in one of my favorite Barney Bear shorts directed by Dick Lundy, "Barney's Hungry Cousin". Though Lundy's shorts aren't on the comedic level of Tex Avery's I think they're real funny and he at least had Tex's great animator's working on them. I love the bear's design in this one. He reminds me of the "hick" wolf in Tex's "Little Rural Riding Hood". Here's some model sheets I found online some time ago. Though they're not from Lundy's unit, they're most likely from one of Rudy Ising's shorts or possibly even George Gordon's.

Barney's Hungry Cousin

More Dick Lundy

I've been going back lately and watching more Dick Lundy cartoons and he's fast becoming one of my favorite directors. The pace of his cartoons at MGM is much slower than Tom and Jerry and Tex Avery but he seems to still load up on the gags. Plus, he had some great animators working for him, Michael Lah and Walt Clinton from Tex' unit. Coincidentally, Mark Mayerson has posted a letter from Dick Lundy on his blog that he used for a history of MGM cartoons article he wrote. Check it out here. Here's two of my favorite Dick Lundy cartoons, Woody Woodpecker in Drooler's Delight and Barney Bear in Sleepy Time Squirrel.

Barney Bear

Here's a Barney Bear cartoon I uploaded titled Cobs and Robbers, released in 1953 and directed by Dick Lundy. I enjoy his Barney Bear cartoons the most, though Preston Blair and Michael Lah's are quite good also. Dick Lundy directed a lot of cartoons for Walter Lantz including my favorite Woody Woodpecker cartoon, Drooler's Delight. I'd like to thank Amid at Cartoon Brew for the plugs. The cartoons I've posted for the most part aren't available on DVD and unfortunately it seems likely they'll stay that way for some time. A lot more people watched them through Cartoon Brew than here so it makes sharing them worthwhile.