The Rarest Warner Bros. Cartoons of All Time
Written by Matthew Hunter, Jon Cooke, and Pietro Shakarian
Images courtesy of Brian Collins and Thad Komorowski
Although there are many Warner Bros. cartoons that are considered "rare" or "obscure", most of them can be found if one looks hard enough. However, there are a select few that, after their initial theatrical release, were never seen again. These cartoons do indeed exist and are owned and maintained by Warner Bros. but their lack of exposure has kept them out of the public's reach. Despite this, thanks to a few diligent collectors and their hunts for old theater prints, we were able to acquire these cartoons, previously thought impossible to find. Provided below are images and detailed descriptions of these rare films.
2/3/1968, Cartoon Special. Direction: Alex Lovy
"Norman Normal" opens with a multi-colored band playing the "Norman Normal" theme song. Norman, the cartoon's self-described "hero" closes the door on the band and tells us that we'll hear the song "again at the end." He walks down the corridor and enters another door where he meets his boss. He tries to coax Norman into making a cilent sign a contract by getting him drunk. "Eveybody's doing it, Norm!" Norman is clearly uncomfortable about the request. "Nobody'll ever know," the boss says. "I'll know," Norman responds. Both begin arguing, as the cartoon illustrates as children. Finally, Norman gives in, but really won't do it. "I'll go to his office and I'll say, look here B.B. we got a good ball bearing and we haven't. You don't buy favors with alcohol."
Norman then drifts off towards another door and meets his father, seeking advice. However, his father only rambles about his childhood during the Great Depression. He tries to tell Norman "not to make waves" and "fit in" while mysteriously blending into the scenery. From there, Norman enters another room where he finds a business party. There he meets his friend Leo who wears a lamp-shade on his head and worries about seeking the approval of others. Another one of Norman's friends starts telling him a joke about "the traveling salesman." But Norman asks him if the joke is "going to be about a minority group" and if after he tells it that "we're all going to laugh and feel superior?" The bartender, Hal, insults Norman after Norman selects ginger ale as his beverage of choice and not giving into the pressure of selecting an alcoholic drink. Norman leaves and apologizes to the audience before returning to the door with the multi-colored band. We zoom out and we see that the door is on Norman's head. Norman shuts the door and the film ends abruptly.
"Norman Normal" is a very interesting cartoon. A "think piece," it seems to focus on the importance of individuality as opposed to conformity in society. It was released as neither a "Looney Tunes" nor "Merrie Melodies" short, but as a "Cartoon Special". It featured music by Paul Stookey of "Peter, Paul, and Mary," who had released an album in 1967 by Warner Bros. entitled "Album." Dave Dixon (mis-credited as Paul Dixon) provided the voice of Norman. The film is rarely seen, but has made a few appearances on TV, notably during the late 1980s on "Looney Tunes on 'Nick at Nite'" and in 2002 on Cartoon Network in the United Kingdom.
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-P.S.
6/1/1968, Direction: Ken Mundie, presented by the Campbell-Silver-Cosby Corporation, associate producer: Les Goldman, Music: Clark "Mumbles" Terry
This cartoon was not officially a Warner Brothers cartoon, but it was an independent short film acquired and released under the cartoon banner. It was directed by Ken Mundie and produced partly by Bill Cosby. Two stylized, watercolor-rendered American Indians go hunting, to the scat-sung, mumbled soundtrack. They come upon an Indian maiden who shows them a strange door...they open the door and see live-action shots of busy cities, war, and other modern chaos. As they see this, the music becomes more and more frantic. The ending of the cartoon shows an atomic bomb exploding, as the door closes, revealing the precautionary, and very 1960s message: "peace". It's an interesting film, but frankly, it isn't particularly enjoyable more than once or twice. Perhaps the reason it is so rarely seen, and has rarely if ever aired on television alongside the other cartoons, is that it might not appeal to children.
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-M.H.
9/20/1969, Merrie Melodies. Direction: Robert McKimson. Starring Cool Cat.
The lost last of the last. The final Cool Cat cartoon, Robert McKimson's last Warner Brothers cartoon, the last of the Seven Arts Productions Warner Brothers cartoons, and the last of all original-run Warner Brothers theatrical cartoons 1930-1969. They went out with a bang, though, this cartoon really ain't half bad. McKimson's second try at Alex Lovy's Cool Cat character, and like his first, "Bugged By A Bee", it is one of the funniest of the six Cool Cat films. Cool Cat, driving a dune buggy, is riding in the desert and comes accross Native American territory, and sets himself up for a series of rapid-fire puns.You know it won't go well for the poor guy when a smoke signal tells him "Go home Cool Cat!". He encounters one Indian with a bucket on his head ("Look, me PAIL face!) and gets chased by an Indian on horseback who, when clinging for dear life on the edge of a cliff, asks for a hand...Cool Cat claps for him and compliments him on the great stunt. Cool Cat is also given an ugly squaw by a brave guarding the Indian village, causing Cool cat to scream: "Indian giver!" Another guy asks Cool Cat "Why", and when the tiger responds, confused: "But I thought Indians wanted to know HOW", the Indian, imitating comedian Groucho Marx, replies "I know how, now I wanna know why!" Yet another wacky Native American hands Cool cat his shirt so he can ride his horse 'bare-back'. Finally, Cool Cat enters the city of HotFoot (A jumpin' town!") and sees horses playing "human shoes". He sees a sign for a topless bar, and winking to the audience, walks right on in...only to find a male bartender with no shirt on. Cool Cat makes the best of it and plays cards with cowpuncher Gower Gulch, but when he learns how Gulch literally "punches", Cool Cat announces that he's 'cuttin' out'...and with a pair of scissors, cuts a hole in the film and exits. If anyone asks you what the last line of the last Warner Brothers classic short was, tell them this: "So cool it now, ya hear?"
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-M.H.
4/1963, TV Pilot/theatrical featurette, Directed by: Richard D. Donner, Story by: Friz Freleng.
Philbert was an idea for a television series thought up by Friz Freleng in 1961. Warner Bros. produced the pilot for ABC. It never broadcast due to executive politics between ABC and Warner Bros. which resulted in ABC canceling all Warner Bros. programming from their network in the early 1960s. It was later released as a theatrical featurette in 1963.
A cartoonist named Griff (William Schallert) draws the Philbert comic book, the title character has the ability to come to life in the form of a six-inch tall cartoon character (in a blend of live-action and animation). In the pilot, Philbert (voiced by Trustin Howard) tries to cause trouble between Griff and his girlfriend, Angela (Joanna Barnes) when he overhears her plans to marry Griff and "make something of him" ("No husband of mine is going to spend his time drawing corny jokes for a living.").
-J.C.
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