CONVICT CONCERTO (Walter Lantz)

CONVICT CONCERTO is the 58th Woody Woodpecker cartoon, released theatrically on November 22, 1954. Woody is the piano tuner at the "Melody Music Shoppe." Check out these very musical pieces of background art, digitally re-assembled.

As the cartoon opens, we see Woody tuning a grand piano in the music store window.

Meanwhile, out in the street, there's a neighborhood bank being robbed.

After an exchange of gunfire, the robber flees, ducking into the music store. This digitally re-assembled pan B/G is the street in front of the "Melody Music Shoppe."

Woody continues tuning until rudely disturbed by the cash-toting gangster. He first confronts Woody here, just inside the front of the store:

Here's the scene of much of the cartoon's activity - the grand piano. Note the cel overlay bag-o-cash at the left!

Meanwhile, a policeman issues a "calling all cars" alert on the police alarm.

This wonderful pan B/G is the musical playground where Woody displays his virtuosity!

Look at the exquisite detail in this harp...

Left side detail, marimba and harp:

Right side detail including a policeman sitting on the stolen loot!

A big truck waits out front, for the get-away - to include the gangster, his mob buddies, the grand piano and the loot!

Here's a very loooooong pan B/G, the scene of a humungous explosion which wreaks obvious havoc on the store's instruments::

Left side detail, complete with euphonium (cel overlay):

Right side detail:

Here's that harp we saw before, far less concert ready:

And here's the remains of a drum set and some band instruments...

The street, scene of the big get-away...

The get-away continues over this gorge...

There's even a silent-movie-style railroad incident...

Ultimately, the bad guys end up where they belong... landing smack dab in the middle of a prison yard!

Knock! Knock! (Universal/Lantz, 1940)

On a whim, I pulled out a collection of Woody Woodpecker cartoons recently. Having grown up on the sparse 1960s TV cartoons, I was reminded that when Walter Lantz was on top of his game, he was really, really good. This background art from 1940 is as good as Disney's short cartoons, and that's high praise indeed! A couple of wonderful pan B/Gs I would have loved to include, but there was just no way to remove the cel characters. However, I still managed eighteen pieces from one cartoon!

This digitally re-created background art is from "Knock! Knock!," an Andy Panda cartoon in which Woody Woodpecker made his debut.

Take a look, and enjoy this wonderful art from Walter Lantz and associates!










OK, I had to include this pan... the cel characters are the first frame in the sequence which pans right.

DESTINATION MEATBALL (Universal, 1952)

This Woody Woodpecker cartoon produced by Walter Lantz just screams 1950s, and induces some irresistible nostalgia for baby boomers. I remember watching Woody on TV, even at the local "Starlite" drive-in movie theatre. Furthermore, the cartoon exactly captures the look of the era's supermarkets. Just like the "Piggly Wiggly" back home!

The style of the title card alludes to the to the Sci-Fi films of the era, but that's misleading. Woody is simply hungry, and Buzz Buzzard (supermarket owner) has his hands full dealing with Woody's appetite for mischief.

No mere backgrounds for this cartoon - the painted "sets" (!) are attributed to artist Fred Brunish.

The opening pan background is digitally re-created here.

This very clever B/G of Woody;'s wristwatch reveals the day not in hours but by a timetable of meals! 9 am is a stack of pancakes swimming in butter. Noon is a salad with olives and toast (more butter). 3 pm is tea time (how utterly civilized). 6 pm is dinner: a huge slab of steak, with french fries, peas, two dinner rolls (even more butter) and a big piece of pie for dessert. Now THAT'S nostalgic!

Next, a vast array of artery-clogging red meat in the butcher section:

An undressed chicken:

The sleek lines of the checkout counter, complete with turnstile and scale...

This loooong pan B/G looks exactly as I remember my childhood grocery stores, except for the trap door in the middle of the aisle...

Next, the bakery, complete with wedding cake cel overlay.

And the bakery B/G without without the wedding cake cel overlay. Note the paper doily!!!

And finally, the meat locker...


This artwork doesn't take itself too seriously, but is still stylish in a lean way. Great fun!