The big Four-Oh is coming this June and to be honest it's bothering me a bit. I've already got the younger trophy wife (h/t to Mrs Bugbear). I've been experiencing a impulse to get a new vehicle, and I've been indulging in nostalgic longing for some of the totems of my erstwhile childhood. Last night I was walking past the videos at Costco and saw the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, all six volumes, and I was gripped by moment of schmaltz.
I haven't been able to enjoy Looney Tunes since the movement to political stupidity...pardon me...political correctness emasculated cartoons. How many cartoons can you watch today that are chock full of comic violence and don't contain some sickly sweet moral message? None as far as I know. So when I saw the Looney Tunes collection I had brief moment of nostalgia followed by a longer moment of impending disappointment and depression at seeing a neutered icon of my childhood. With a sense of trepidation I picked up volume one to read the back.
Imagine my delight when I read the words uncut and digitally remastered. YES!!! THE ORIGINAL CARTOONS IN ALL THEIR VIOLENCE LADEN, ANVIL DROPPING, TNT FILLED, ACME PRODUCTS, GLORY. CAN I GET HALLELUJAH MEL BLANC!?!
Okay, maybe that's a little over the top, but I've finally got a chance to watch the Bugs Bunny version of the Barber of Seville with all the violent parts still in it. It was a great moment for me to sit down with my oldest daughter and enjoy one of highlights of the Saturday mornings of my childhood.
On an interesting side note. I watched Bugs Bunny's bullfight and saw an advertisement for Corona Extra in the stands. I guess merchandising in cartoons may have started even earlier than I previously thought, but since I don't drink very much Corona I would have to question the effectiveness of beer ads in cartoons.
Please put your "HALLELUJAH MEL BLANC!" in the comments.
One of my roomies in college had grown up in Turkey and Rome; he'd never seen Bugs and Company until he was at university. We'd wake up Saturday mornings to find him sitting in front of the TV, literally laughing so hard that tears came.
ReplyDeleteI've been going through some the cartoons with my oldest daughter and my wife and there are a few I've never seen and some I only vaguely remember, those ones get the biggest laughs.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, there are two comedians that I fear. Robin Williams and Mike MacDonald. Both of them have made me laugh so hard I thought I was going to have a stroke. Mike MacDonald, although not as well known as Robin Williams, is the funnier of the two.
I got to see the NAC (National Arts Center for Chris) Orchestra do a big show on 'The Music of Bugs Bunny'. I had no idea how much really good classical music I was surreptitiously exposed to. Niebelungen, Barber of Seville, and the list goes on and on.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great show and so were the original cartoons. The neutered ones are ridiculous. But then again, the latest study says I'm lucky to have been spanked and not ended up an aggressive child.
That miraculous escape is even more surprising when you consider I watched the original truck-to-the-face, fall-off-cliff, rock-falls-on-head, cliff-falls-on-head fate of the Coyote time after time.
How I'm not a combative serial committer of violent acts, I will never know.
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I did have one question for Bugbear from the original post: How could you be really having visions of your childhood? Wouldn't you have to have escaped it first? :0)
And also: When you talk about remembering some of the episodes only vaguely, I consider that actually on par with your usual memories of past events....
ROFL!
Without implying whether this is applicable to Bugbear, or Lux, or both: It's easier to have visions of your childhood if you're still in it.
ReplyDelete"I thought I'd see my life flash before my eyes?"
"You did. While you were living it."
I'll freely admit your comment applies to Lux. I'm having a second childhood via my children. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
ReplyDelete