1952: UPA Makes It Now

The New York Re-Inquirer
December 21, 1951

BLOODY AFTERMATH OF VERDICT IN SEX MURDER TRIAL
---------------
Woman Found Innocent of Murder Shoots Attorney Dead
---------------
FUTURE CONVICTION ALL BUT CERTAIN
---------------
Shocking Events Rumored to Become Animated Film
---------------
By T. Ryan
Court Reporter

   Central Court — Moments after the Frankie Baker jury returned a verdict of "not guilty" in the Johnny Britt murder trial shots rang out with a "rooty toot toot" leaving defense attorney Jonathan Bailey dead. The assailant: Bailey's own client, the briefly exonerated Frankie herself.
   The trial started and ended swiftly today. The defendant was accused of having murdered her sweetheart, pianist Johnny Britt, with three gunshots to the back after chancing upon him and one Nellie Bly in flagrante in the backroom of the Sordid Bar.

The Sordid Bar, scene of the alleged homicide of the house musician Johnny.

   Testimony by the bartender, a fellow obviously well-known to everyone in the courtroom, placed Johnny, Nellie, and Frankie at the scene of the crime. Nellie, who claims to be a singer by profession, testified that allegations of a secret liason between herself and Johnny were groundless. "I was in the backroom there with John-boy," she told the jury. "But only to rehearse." In Nellie's twist on the events, Frankie shot a terrified Johnny through a hardwood door as he attempted to hide from her unreasonable jealous rage.

Leaving the witness stand, Nellie Bly catches the eye of attorney Bailey.

   Defense attorney Bailey, mentioned in some circles with the unlucky epithet "Honest Jon the Crook," delivered a fantastic defense of Frankie. Playing up to the jury in a ballet-like performance, he extolled the virtues of the "sweet and demure" defendant and suggested that it was, in fact, Johnny who attempted to shoot Frankie when she spurned his overtures of love and then took his own life.
   The jury took Bailey's story hook, line, and sinker. They deliberated so swiftly that they barely had time to leave the courtroom. They unanimously found the defendant innocent of the crime.

Courtroom Celebration Interrupted by Slaying

   After the verdict was rendered, the courtroom unexpectedly exploded into raucous celebration; the judge, jury, and spectators reveled with glee as the state prosecutor looked on in open-mouthed disbelief. But the festivities were cut short when attorney Bailey prepared to leave the courtroom to personally celebrate his victory in the company of Nellie Bly. Seeing the couple together, Frankie suddenly leapt to her feet, grabbed the alleged murder weapon (marked "Exhibit A" and somehow still loaded), and shot him three times. Fittingly, Bailey's final words were, "I rest my case."

Bailey, moments after being shot by his own client in the courtroom.

   In the aftermath of the brutal slaying, the bailiff escorted Frankie from the chamber in chains. The prosecutor was happy to see her off, no doubt certain of a conviction this time.
   Though Johnny's alleged homicide remains an unsolved mystery, it is Frankie's murderous act today that leaves this reporter scratching his head. Bailey's defense had set her free, and she was seen only moments earlier expressing her gratitude for his successful efforts with a big, wet kiss. Why then should she kill him?

Following the shooting, an unrepentant Frankie is led off to jail.

   According to some witnesses, there were signs during the trial that the relationship between lawyer and client wasn't all business. Others put it more simply, "he was a man who done wrong." Whatever the truth, this case has all the cache of a traditional ballad re-imagined through the modern mind.

Motion Picture Rumors

   Over the course of the trial, this reporter overheard frequent rumors concerning plans by the United Productions of America (UPA) to turn the trial and its scandalous conclusion into an animated film to be titled, Rooty Toot Toot (1952). Those who had the pleasure to view UPA's Ragtime Bear (1949) or the exceptional Academy Award-winning cartoon for Columbia, Gerald McBoing Boing (1951) will remember the company's unique approach to theatrical cartoons.

Gerald's parents and doctor examine him in hopes of discovering a physical cause for his unique way of expressing himself solely through sound effects in UPA's Gerald McBoing Boing.

   UPA embraces modern art, cubism, fauvism, expressionism, surrealism, more mature themes and satire, original music, and offbeat content. They strive to use colors, textured patterns, and abstract backgrounds to establish mood and setting rather than paint realistic backdrops. In animation, to paraphrase one of their talents, they create drawings that move rather than draw life-like movement a la the rigid standards of the Walt Disney studio, the leading American animation studio for over two decades. With their individualistic, modern style, the UPA cartoons mark the pictorial realism and storybook cuteness of Disney and the endless slapstick gags of Warner Bros.'s Looney Tunes as belonging to the past. It seems fitting then that this up and coming company should create an animated version of the outlandish events we've seen here today. For if Disney or Bugs n' the gang should tell this tale it would be altered drastically, made accessible to children, and feature funny animal characters. No doubt plenty of "hurt gags" would be thrown in for good measure. But in UPA's thoroughly modern style this courtroom tragedy of love, betrayal, and murder can be successfully told.
   Ezra Pound once encouraged the modern movement to "Make it new." UPA will make it Now.

Rooty Toot Toot (1952)
Directed by John Hubley
8 min.; U.S.A.; Color: Mono
This post written by Thom Ryan
Copyright 2008 Thom Ryan Some rights reserved

Comments

[Brian]

Love this cartoon! Of course you're right to differentiate the UPA style from what was going on at Disney and Warner, but it's also worth noting that both studios displayed evidence of UPA influence shortly after this film was released. Disney with its musical films Melody and Too, Whistle, Plunk & Boom and Warner with From A To Z-z-z-z and other shorts.

Glad you picked this for your latest pastiche.

[Thom]

Brian - I'm glad you stopped by and read the post because I had you especially, my friendly neighborhood animated shorts fan, in mind when I wrote it. I've been perusing the UPA shorts over the past few weeks and have completely fell in love with the modern art-influenced style. I also felt like exploring a different voice this time out. It's been a while (since the Slapstick Blogathon in fact) since I let loose a little and I hope the post gave you a chuckle or two.

Kimball's cool Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom is strong evidence that Disney was aware of what UPA was doing (hard to miss when UPA were the chief competition at the Oscars for a few years running) and responded splendidly. As for WB from this period, I also like the self-reflexive Duck Amuck (1953).

We should do a UPA cartoons omnibus review together on our respective blogs someday, Brian. What do you think?

[Jacqueline T Lynch]

I had never seen this particular cartoon before, but thanks for the link. This is fantastic. I recognized the wonderful voice of Thurl Ravenscroft as Honest John the Crook, who among his other work, is probably remembered best for singing the Grinch song.

Your reportage on this unseemly affair is magnificent, Thom. How fascinating it must be for you in a time traveler's sense to approach each year in your journey and be hit with such drastic changes in tone and style. The elusive key to when eras change and what changes them has always fascinated me. Make it new, man. Make it new.

[Thom]

Jacqueline - What vocal presence Ravenscroft had at his command! I like the way his rich baritone helps the character seem like a shyster from the first moment we hear him speak. And the deep voice contrasts with the way the character moves, stepping so lightly like a ballet dancer. Come to think of it, there seems to be a lot of UPA influence going on in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) (Dr. Seuss wrote the original story for Gerald McBoing Boing too). I'll have to look at that with new eyes this yuletide season.

Thanks for the nice compliments about the writing. I was recently called for jury duty so the whole court scene must be on my mind. I also listened to about three or four versions of the song and read a few trial articles from the 1950s before I stepped into the flux capacitor and travelled back to 1952 to take a job as a court reporter in that animated courtroom :)

What did you think of the cartoon when you saw it? As you say, the UPA cartoons (at least the ones I've seen so far) appear drastically different in style and content from the other American cartoons encountered on the blog to date. I wish they were available on DVD (besides McBoing Boing) because they're a great help in imagining where certain artistic boundaries might have been in the early years of the 1950s and what was being done to push those boundaries. They represent a good healthy breakaway from what had came before. Now to see what other animation studios were doing at the time...

[Brian]

We should do a UPA cartoons omnibus review together on our respective blogs someday, Brian. What do you think? If the timing is right, I'm all for it, Thom! Let me know what you have in mind sometime.

[Jacqueline T Lynch]

I'm intrigued by the cynicism most, I think. Some of the trial, particularly the way the lawyer painted Frankie as an innocent in her garden, reminded me of the courtroom scenes in "All That Jazz".

This cartoon and this era perhaps marks the first separation of cartoons for children and cartoons for adults. There have always been displays of humor or social inferences in cartoons meant to go over the heads of the kiddies, but this cartoon does not seem to reach out to kids at all. If they are in the audience, they are irrelevant to the director.

The artistry is so different to what had been animated up until that time. It seems childlike, and yet there is a spareness and fluidity that actually is mature. It's like the Scandinavian furniture that started to be popular then.

I especially like when the bar owner appears in the witness stand, and he wrings his hands in the folds of his handkerchief, then it dissolves to his hands wiping the bar.

By the way, I've tagged you for the Alphabet Meme. If you've no time for it, please don't concern yourself. But if you're interested, the links an explanation are up at The Self-Styled Siren: http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/2008/11/alphabet-meme.html.

[Thom]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it, Jacqueline--I never would have considered a furniture connection; I'm going to look into that. The adult target audience, as well as the modern art and design influence, encouraged me to write about this cartoon rather than the more friendly (and accessible on DVD) Gerald McBoing Boing. For a theatrical cartoon released by an American animation studio I feel this one really stands in contrast with what came before it.

I like the design of the bartender character too: the drooping eyes, the hunched back, and that always-mopping rag. Of course, he's the one who alerts Frankie to both murdered men's, uh, indiscretions, isn't he?

That scene in the garden you mention is unusual in the way the background opens up with so much space. Then the flowers pop up and we suddenly grok a garden without any sort of Disney-style realistic painted backdrop of a garden. I like that. The animators are aware of the leaps we'll make in our imagination too. If you slow down the cartoon when Johnny runs into Frankie's garden you'll see that they stretch his character through archway rather than animate the whole range of movement. It's almost like Bop improvising around the melody.

For even earlier modern art influenced and experimental animated cartoons (also primarily targeted at adult audiences) check out some of the stuff on the DVD compilation series titled Animated Soviet Propaganda. Some of it is pretty different from what Disney, WB, MGM, etc. were into earlier in the century. Here's a link to it at GreenCine.

Ok, I'm off to see what the alphabet meme is all about...

[Joe Thompson]

Thom: Good choice of movie. UPA made some good ones, and some bad ones. This was a good one. The story of the battles within the studio is interesting. And some people blame them for showing the way to minimal television animation.

Regards,
Joe Thompson ;0)

[jmac]

Scandalous! :)

Hey Thom,

I really love the hard-boiled reporting style of this post. (At first glance, I knew that this essay would have a surprising creativity, and I was right!) You might also do well at the NY Post! :)

Are you a fan of Raymond Chandler? I love those stories and the poetic descriptions of the lonely detective and the mysterious worlds he stumbled into . . .

These illustrations are so charming! You and Bri and Jacqueline are the animation experts, and I am seeing all of this for the first time. (Although, I have seen other films by the Hubley team that are painterly and playful too!)

Thanks for this awesome post! There is no other blog like Film of the Year!

[Thom]

Joe - thanks pal. I agree, the creation of the animation studio by a breakaway faction of disgruntled Disney talents, its later political troubles, and the history of the slide of theatrical animated cartoons from the screens to television is fascinating. I recommend "Cartoon Modern" by Amid Amidi for a really excellent treatment of the changing style of animation in the era. Wish all this stuff was readily available on DVD.

Jen -I'm really glad you enjoyed the post, but that kind of praise makes my head spin. :) The creators of the animated short deserve the real credit though 'cause they inspired the piece.

Yes I am a fan of Chandler. Michael at The Evening Class wrote some posts about film noir this year that encouraged me to start looking around for some of the source novels. I have a stack of them yet to read, but Chandler grabbed my attention first. I really like the hardboiled writing style, the tough characters, Marlow's clipped dialogue. As you write, Chandler maps out the urban setting with endless secrets, dangerous places, and mysterious people. And though Marlow has a jaded world-weariness about him he also has a strong personal moral code to balance it out. I like that too. Great stuff. Do you have a personal favorite Chandler novel?