A quick note: It’s student show week here, one of the busiest weeks of the year, so I’ll forgo anything about Thunderbean for this week other than to say I’m looking forward to some quality time catching up with my own little business in a few days. Lots happening there and more on that soon…

So, here’s a cartoon- and a print I especially love the color on. “Flea for Two”

I’m a huge fan of the 50s Don Patterson pictures at Lantz. They are funny, corny, and surprising in their design at times, yeah are completely unpretentious in design. Sometimes the lack of a stronger sense of design sensibilities could be noted and criticized in Lantz’s work generally in this period- but what a revelation it was to me to see some of these films in IB Tech compared to the TV prints I grew up on.

The first one I saw in IB was Red Riding Hoodlum (57). I was especially impressed with both the color choices and how elegant the overall appearance was in a Technicolor print compared to any other version.

Flea for Two is similar. While this vintage 16mm print isn’t the sharpest and has seen some milage over the years, it’s beautiful to see what these films looked like theatrically. Patterson’s timing seems to be influenced a lot by Avery in pose timing and action, and while this isn’t as strong as a good Avery, it’s still all sorts of fun. Micheal Maltese, over at Lantz in this period, wrote this one, and that combination of talents is especially good here and brings some really fun dialogue.

When I was a kid I especially loved the gags involving the flea jumping from dog to dog and discovering a different group of fleas on each based on the dog breed. As a kid I didn’t understand it but laughed at the silliness of the gags. All these years later I really still enjoy this one a lot.

So, watch for a little escapism and enjoy this small cartoon for what it is: a nice break from the world. Thanks to Tommy Stathes for the lend. Wish this was my print!

Have a good week everyone!