Left, the Van Beuren Studio's The Haunted Ship (1930) and right, Ub Iwerks' Flip the Frog in Spooks (1931).

Scary Halloween Cartoon Fun

PRESENTED BY GARY SCOTT BEATTY, PUBLISHER AND EDITOR, MUSKEGONMAGAZINE.COM, AND AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR

For October we delight in Halloween nonsense, with two spooky cartoons from the early 1930s.

Once again we visit Ub Iwerks' Flip the Frog, this time in a chilling cartoon called Spooks (1931). Iwers was a two-time Academy Award winning animator who co-created Mickey Mouse with Walt Disney. Iwerks opened his own studio in 1930, under contract with MGM, producing Flip the Frog shorts, the Willie Whopper series and more. Here, skeletons are taken to absurd extremes, reflecting Iwerks' famous The Skeleton Dance short with Disney three years earlier.

With offices across the street from Fleischer Studios in New York, the Van Beuren Studio produced a steady stream of oddly unfocused, stream-of-consciousness cartoons for the blossoming black and white film market in the late '20s and early '30s. The Haunted Ship, produced in 1930 just before Walt Disney Studio became the cartoon market leader in style and popularity, proves a cartoon doesn't have to make a whole lot of sense to be entertaining. Put your logic aside and enjoy!

Have a spooky Halloween! If you want to see more classic cartoons here, let us know on Facebook!

These Works are in Public Domain and not Derivative as specified by U.S. copyright law (title 17 of the U.S. Code).

Gary Scott Beatty is excited to share projects, art, video and other updates with those who are interested. If you want to enjoy a free story, and have him share his creative journey with you, join the Aazurn Fan List at http://strangehorror.com/

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Our Contributors:

• Gary Scott Beatty
• Hackley Public Library
• Muskegon Community College's Carr-Fles Planetarium
• United Way of the Lakeshore

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