Willie Whopper

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Willie Whopper is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks. The Whopper series was the second from the Iwerks Studio to be produced by Pat Powers and distributed through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 14 shorts were produced in 1933 to 1934. [1]

Contents

History

Willie is a young lad who tells of his many outlandish adventures, which are then depicted on-screen. His fantastic accounts are, in fact, outright lies or "whoppers". His stories are usually preceded by his catchphrase, "Say, did I ever tell ya this one?"

The character's first-produced film was The Air Race (1933), in which Willie tells of how he entered and won the 1933 National Air Race—even receiving a kiss from Amelia Earhart in the end. The short reflects Iwerks' own fascination with aviation. One scene even involves a plane crashing into a "Fireworks" stand which, afterwards is reduced in spelling to "I WERKS" (the animator Ub Iwerks' last name).

The Air Race was initially left unreleased because distributor MGM rejected it, asking for a revision to explain more about why Willie entered the race. In the largely reanimated revision — Spite Flight (1933) — the story shows Willie interested in the race's cash prize because it will help him pay off his girlfriend's mom's mortgage. The new footage also turns Willie's racing rival into the girlfriend's landlord.

Animator Grim Natwick initially designed Willie for The Air Race and the subsequent Play Ball, the character's first theatrical release. He was, at first, tall and lanky, much like a boy version of the earlier Flip the Frog. Iwerks wasn't completely satisfied with this design and decided to make the character more "cartoonlike". By the series' fourth entry, Stratos-Fear, Willie became roly-poly and more endearing to audiences. Critics too especially went for this new change. Before 1933 was over, Willie also appeared in his first Cinecolor endeavor, Davy Jones' Locker.

1934 was the final production year for the Whopper series, but some of Willie's best emerged from this particular year. One interesting 1934 entry is The Good Scout, an outrageous short in which boy scout Willie manages to help a beautiful girl who has been kidnapped by a big brute in downtown New York City. The bulk of the film's soundtrack is composed of a jazzy Jelly Roll Morton 78-rpm record and its backgrounds are breathtaking. The short also features a Bosko look-alike, possibly a joke on the parts of Harman-Ising animators Bob Stokes and Norm Blackburn. The Good Scout was later re-colorized for a 1943 re-release. The final entry in the series was Viva Willie released on September 20. Other Iwerks staffers on the series included Al Eugster, Norm Blackburn, Berny Wolf and Shamus Culhane (who referred to Willie as a "boy Baron von Münchhausen").

After MGM dropped Iwerks, they hired Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising to produce a cartoon series called Happy Harmonies directly for the studio. Harman and Ising had just left Warner Brothers, where they had been producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Leon Schlesinger.

Filmography

1933

FilmOriginal release dateDVD / Blu-ray
The Air RaceJuly/August 1933Cartoons That Time Forgot (DVD)
Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
Play BallSeptember 16, 1933Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
Spite FlightOctober 14, 1933Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
Stratos-FearNovember 11, 1933Cartoons That Time Forgot (DVD)
Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
Davy Jones' Locker1December 9, 1933Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)

1 Filmed in Cinecolor

1934

FilmOriginal release dateDVD / Blu-ray
Hell's Fire (a.k.a. Vulcan Entertains)1January 6, 1934Cartoons That Time Forgot (DVD)
Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
Robin Hood, Jr.February 3, 1934Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
Insultin' the SultanApril 14, 1934Cartoons That Time Forgot (DVD)
Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
Reducing CremeMay 19, 1934Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
Rasslin' RoundJune 1, 1934Cartoons That Time Forgot (DVD)
Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
The Cave ManJuly 6, 1934Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
Jungle JittersJuly 27, 1934Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
The Good Scout September 1, 1934

June 15, 1943 (Brewster Color version)

Cartoons That Time Forgot (DVD)
Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)
Viva WillieSeptember 21, 1934Cartoons That Time Forgot (DVD)
Ub Iwerks' Willie Whopper (Blu-ray/DVD)

1 Filmed in Cinecolor

Further reading

See also

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References

  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 155. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7.