At the Hodge Podge Lodge, a crotchety, near-sighted Mister Magoo takes a banjo-playing bear to be his nephew, Waldo. The first Magoo feature. It was made to show in theaters back in the day. September 1949 (UPA)
Damn! That is a NICE looking cartoon. The styling is great. The color superb. But the actually character animation is the star here. It’s not either/or, it’s the whole package. Love it. I sure miss great character animation.
Mr. Magoo - Ragtime Bear 1949 First Magoo Cartoon 1220pm 19.2.23 no idea why the curmudgeonly aspects of cartoon presentations are enjoyed by myself - whether magoo or Yosemite sam... and to some degree foghorn leghorn.
Yes, that's right. These earlier 'theater-shorts' animations were really made in the late 40s. The TV Show that others remember about Mr. Magoo was done in the late 50s and shown on TV in the Fall of 1960, and of course it was a lot tamer by then. They even produced an animated 'A Christmas Carol' Musical Special for commercial-television. I suppose you can guess what part Mr. Magoo played in that one. ;)
I used to watch Mr. Magoo as a kid in the 80's in New York. I was born in '75 and today I shared this cartoon with my 4yr old daughter and 3yr old son. They enjoyed it just as much as much as I did. Thanks for sharing this.
Not only did the character look meaner, none of the vocal inflections from Jim Backus are present, either. Of course it's him providing the voice for MaGoo but it's interesting to hear a mostly straight, less comical vocal performance.
Columbia made UPA soften Magoo up for TV distribution after this. They did it, but they didn't want to, and they thought he was too soft afterward. So soft friendly Magoo is literally the embodiment of executive meddling. I kinda like mean Magoo better, but meh, it worked, they made a loooot of cartoons about him.
It's called the Ragtime Bear but most of the riffs the bear plays are Foggy Mountain-style (except for _Oh My Darlin Clementine_ ). Waldo's playing was Ragtime-style, though. I had this episode recorded on VHS as a kid and watched it all the time! 😂😂😂🪕🐻
+macsnafu Hey m8 something is Silly here and that is bear sleeping on a tree on one branch as if in real life that branch wuld shoreliy breake up:)But who am i to judge anithing is posebol in cartoons no?:)
@@pasquale5074 Right. The Magoo we love is the character that interprets the situations so differently from what they really are, and manages to come out unscathed by it all.
Columbia didn't want them to do a human character that it til they realized how successful Magoo was. As for source, I might had heard someone who was did the history of UPA said something like that or I read it online After all prior to this short for Columbia they did two Fox and Crow shorts. Which UPA didn't want to do. But agreed in order to get the distribution deal with them.
For the people that I know in my life: Patrice Rushen aka Breyana's imaginary aunt-Quincy Magoo aka Waldo's uncle & Breyana Smith-Waldo Magoo aka Quincy's nephew.
Of course the only things I really notice are technical. Why is it so satisfying to see animation that works around a big piece of plaid (at the beginning)? I watch the nephew and notice he's not precisely rotoscoped but still has a lot of live-action reference, unlike Mr. Magoo and the bear which are free-hand and stylized. The snow is wonderful to watch. I know Disney got similar effects in Lady and the Tramp by painting cornflakes white, shooting them against a black backdrop, and then overlaying that footage with the rest of the film. Couple of continuity errors - Mr. Magoo's footprints disappear after he walks up the hill, and when Mr. Magoo goes back to the spot where Waldo fell, the piece of cliff that fell off is back.
As seen on Nickelodeon's "Weinerville" and "Cartoon Kablooey". Cartoon Kablooey aired 1960's cartoons from Paramount Pictures (Modern Madcaps, Noveltoons, Merry Makers, GoGo Toons, and Fractured Fables) and late 1940's-1950's cartoons from UPA, and others.
Right at the beginning you'll see "Magoo" put on a pair of glasses. Gotta make you wonder.....is this a real Magoo cartoon or a parody? Sure sounds like Jim Backus.
If it's Jim Bacus it's a young Jim Bacus. His voice was lower in the later cartoons. Wonder who the banjo player(s) is/are? Sounds like Pete Seeger's playing the five string part, but who knows?
No its 1949. This is actually one of the early examples of Modernism that was used in the 50's. Columbia needed a new animation unit and UPA was the one for them.
Mr. Magoo - Ragtime Bear 1949 First Magoo Cartoon 19.2.23 1215pm of course, no one is allowed to enjoy mr magoo... cos it causes ructions somewhere. dunno where.
