Every now and again, I get in the mood to rewatch the Fox and the Crow cartoons produced by Columbia during the 1940s. I wrote about those cartoons a couple of years ago, and although they aren’t always the funniest of slapstick toons, I am deeply fond of them. They’re honestly a kind of comfort food, where I can relax and enjoy the animation, the expressions and the dynamics of its main characters.
It was on one of these revisits that I came across an upload of the 1945 toon “Phoney Baloney” (a great cartoon for demonstrating how weirdly alike the Fox and Crow can be, incidentally) by the YouTube channel Cartoon Comedy Culture. The upload contains a very detailed description that gives a glowing review of the cartoon, along with noting some of the staff involved:
‘”Phoney Baloney” is a laugh-out-loud animated escapade, brought to life under the direction of Bob Wickersham. Sid Marcus skillfully weaves a humorous and engaging storyline, providing ample opportunities for Frank Graham and Harry Lang to shine with their voice talents.’
My eyes focused specifically on the credit to Sid Marcus, famed cartoon funnyman who worked at many studios such as Warner Bros, Walter Lantz Productions and most notably Columbia throughout the 30s and 40s. My knowledge of Marcus is pretty lackluster, so I was surprised to learn he had some involvement on the Fox and Crow cartoons.
Unfortunately, this is something that I couldn’t immediately confirm because most of the title cards for these cartoons have been lost* – like many Columbia cartoons. A YouTube description isn’t inherently a reliable source of info without sources, which that description sadly doesn’t provide.
*For the sake of accuracy, it seems that the only shorts known to have title cards still in existence are “The Fox and the Grapes”, “Slay it with Flowers”, “Mr. Moocher”, “Grape Nutty”, and the three John Hubley-directed shorts “Robin Hoodlum”, “The Magic Fluke”, and “Punchy de Leon”.
Stuck for options, I spent part of an evening doing some digging around, and I eventually wound up on Cartoon Research where they had a trio of articles featuring staff listings for Totally Tooned In.
This was a compilation series produced in the late 90s (though it wouldn’t air on American shores until 2011), which played three Columbia cartoons in every episode. While it began as a Mr. Magoo-focused show, many Columbia shorts were included to boost the episode count to 65 for syndication purposes. It just so happens that nearly every Fox and Crow cartoon appeared in this series (with the exception of “Mysto-Fox” from 1946).
The three articles on Cartoon Research, compiled and written by Jerry Beck (who acted as co-ordinating producer on Totally Tooned in), feature credits for all the shorts included. That made for a great starting point in trying to gather info, and although there was nothing for the missing “Mysto-Fox”, the day was saved by CJM from the World Animation Discord, who found an entry for it in the 1953 publication “Motion Pictures, 1940-1949”, which is a guide to copyrighted motion pictures of the 1940s.
This guide featured entries for all the shorts, and they contained credits for the major people involved such as directors, animators, story people and the like. With everyone’s help, I was able to put together a rough collection of the credits for all the Fox and the Crow cartoons.
Most of the entries from that guide didn’t feature any credits for voice actors, which is especially a shame since Frank Graham’s performances as both the Fox and Crow defines a lot of these cartoons for me. Thankfully, I asked around and Eliza “aka Duck Twacy” Herndon offered to look through Keith Scott’s hugely comprehensive “Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-70, Volume 2: Studio Filmographies With Voice Credits” – an enormous tome containing as many voice actor credits as possible for the filmographies of every major Golden Age cartoon studio
She was able to find credits for every short, which I’ve been able to include along here alongside everything else. (Though it’s worth noting that a handful of voice credits are uncertain and labelled with either “unknown roles” or a question mark, so this isn’t going to be 100% accurate.)
I’d like to present these to people who are interested to know who worked on these cartoons, as best as I can. All credits are a combination of the various listings as found on Totally Tooned In, “Motion Pictures, 1940-1949”, “Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2” and the cartoons’ title cards.
THE FOX AND THE GRAPES (1941)
Direction & Story: Frank Tashlin
Animation: Bob Wickersham
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Mel Blanc (Fox & Crow), Harry Lang (whistling)
WOODMAN SPARE THAT TREE (1942)
Director: Bob Wickersham
Story: Jack Cosgriff
Animation: Phil Duncan
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow)
TOLL BRIDGE TROUBLES (1942)
Producer: Dave Fleischer
Director: Bob Wickersham
Story: Leo Salkin
Animation: Louis Schmidt
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow)
SLAY IT WITH FLOWERS (1943)
Producer: Dave Fleischer
Director: Bob Wickersham
Story: Leo Salkin
Animation: Phil Duncan
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow / “Telegram for Joe Crow!”), Kent Rogers (Fox’s singing voice for “Old McDonald”), Crow’s laughter is re-use of Pinto Colvig track from Poor Little Butterfly, 1938
PLENTY BELOW ZERO (1943)
Producer: Dave Fleischer
Director: Bob Wickersham
Animation: Howard Swift
Story: Leo Salkin
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow), unknown Yodeler, Harry Lang (“Moron”), Mel Blanc (rec. re-use of hiccups)
TREE FOR TWO (1943)
Producer: Dave Fleischer
Director: Bob Wickersham
Animation: Howard Swift, Phil Duncan
Story: Sam Cobean
Music: Paul Worth
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow)
A-HUNTING WE WON’T GO (1943)
Producer: Dave Fleischer
Director: Bob Wickersham
Animation: Howard Swift, Phil Duncan
Story: Jack Cosgriff
Music: Eddie Kilfeather, Leo Erdody
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow)
ROOM AND BORED (1943)
Producer: Dave Fleischer
Director: Bob Wickersham
Story: John McLeish
Animation: Phil Duncan, Ben Lloyd
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow)
WAY DOWN YONDER IN THE CORN (1943)
Producer: Dave Fleischer
Director: Bob Wickersham
Story: Sam Cobean
Animation: Phil Duncan, Basil Davidovich
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow)
THE DREAM KIDS (1944)
Producer: Dave Fleischer
Director: Bob Wickersham
Story: Sam Cobean
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow / “Night Mare”), Grace Lenard (Dream Girl), Earl Keen (Dog barks)
MR. MOOCHER (1944)
Director: Bob Wickersham
Story: Sid Marcus
Animation: Chic Otterstrom, Ben Lloyd
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow / Uncle Happy Chappy the radio host)
BE PATIENT, PATIENT (1944)
Director: Bob Wickersham
Story: Dun Roman
Animation: Chic Otterstrom, Phil Duncan
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow)
THE EGG-YEGG (1945)
Director: Bob Wickersham
Story: Sam Cobean
Animation: Ben Lloyd, Volus Jones
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow), John McLeish (Egg Detector voice)
KU KU NUTS [aka KU-KU-NUTS] (1945)
Director & Story: Bob Wickersham
Animation: Paul Sommer, Chic Otterstrom
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow)
TREASURE JEST (1945)
Director: Howard Swift
Animation: Volus Jones, Grant Simmons
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow)
PHONEY BALONEY (1945)
Director: Bob Wickerham
Story: Sid Marcus
Animation: Paul Sommer, Ben Lloyd
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Newsboy / Police Radio / Fox & Crow), Harry Lang (Newsboy #2)
FOXEY FLATFOOTS (1946)
Director: Bob Wickersham
Story: Webb Smith
Animation: Paul Sommer, Volus Jones
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow / Police Radio Voice)
UNSURE-RUNTS (1946)
Director: Howard Swift
Story: Sid Marcus
Animation: Grant Simmons, Volus Jones
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow)
MYSTO-FOX (1946)
Director: Bob Wickersham
Story: Sid Marcus
Animation: Chick Otterstrom, Ben Lloyd
Music: Eddie Kilfeather
Voices: Frank Graham (Fox & Crow / Stage manager), Harry Lang (M. C.)
TOOTH OR CONSEQUENCES (1947)
Producers: Henry Binder, Ray Katz
Director: Howard Swift
Story: Cal Howard
Animation: Grant Simmons, Paul Sommer
Music: Darrell Calker
Voices: Jack Mather (Crow), Cal Howard? (Fox – Meathead voice)
ROBIN HOODLUM (1948)
Direction: John Hubley
Supervision: Ed Gershman
Story: Sol Barzman, Phil Eastman
Design: William Hurtz
Animation: Bob Cannon, Willy Pyle, Pat Matthews, Rudy Larriva
Color Design: Herb Klynn, Jules Engel
Music: Del Castillo
Technical: Max Morgan, Mary Cain
Executive Producer: Steve Bosustow
Voices: John T. Smith? (Crow), Arthur O’Connell, James O’Rear, Peter Virgo, William Cottrell (roles unknown)
THE MAGIC FLUKE (1949)
Direction: John Hubley
Supervision: Ade Woolery
Production: Ed Gershman
Story: Sol Barzman
Music: Del Castillo
Design: Herb Klynn, Jules Engel, William Hurtz
Technical: Max Morgan, Mary Cain
Animation: Bob Cannon, Willy Pyle, Rudy Larriva, Pat Matthews
Executive Producer: Steve Bosustow
Voices: John T. Smith (Crow)
GRAPE NUTTY (1949)
Story: Cal Howard, Dave Monahan*
Animation: Chic Otterstrom, Paul Sommer, Jay Sarbry
Layout: Jim Carmichael
Background: Al Boggs
Music: Darrell Calker
Produced by: Raymond Katz and Henry Binder
Direction: Alex Lovy
Voices: Will Wright (Crow), Cal Howard? (Fox – Meathead voice)
*it’s worth noting that “Motion Pictures, 1940-1949” credits Dave Monahan on animation along with the other credited animators. Considering the animation credits appear right after the story credits and Monahan doesn’t seem to have any credits as an animator, I’d presume this is a typo and he’s supposed to be credited for the story alongside Cal Howard.
PUNCHY DE LEON (1950)
Direction: John Hubley
Production: Ed Gershman
Color: Herb Klynn, Jules Engel
Technical: Max Morgan, Mary Cain, Jack Eckes
Story: Millard Kaufman, Phil Eastman
Design: William Hurtz
Animation: Rudy Larriva, Bill Melendez, Pat Matthews, Willy Pyle
Music: Del Castillo
Executive Producer: Steve Bosustow
Voice: Tony Barrett (Fox), Jack Mather (Crow), Daws Butler (Crow’s “guard voice” / Palace announcer), Marvin Miller (Narration / King)
I suppose I should put this here to say that in doing this research, I could confirm that original claim by Cartoon Comedy Culture that Sid Marcus had done the story for “Phoney Baloney”. Not only that, but he also did the stories for “Mr. Moocher”, “Unsure-Runts” and “Mysto-Fox”. Marcus was heavily involved in Columbia from the early 1930s through 1940s, doing the story for and directing many cartoons.
Another unexpected interesting find is discovering that Philip “Phil” Duncan – perhaps best known for working on Disney films and shorts throughout the 1940s and 50s – animated on at least seven early Fox and Crow shorts. Specifically, he’s credited as an animator on “Woodman, Spare That Tree”, “Slay It With Flowers”, “Tree For Two”, “A-Hunting We Won’t Go”, “Room and Bored”, “Way Down Yonder in the Corn”, and “Be Patient, Patient”. (It’s possible he worked on more shorts but simply wasn’t credited, as was often the case for many Golden Age cartoons)
Working alongside Duncan in “Way Down Yonder in the Corn” was Basil Davidovich, an animator who also worked at Disney [albeit during the 50s and 60s], but I best know for animating on Chuck Jones and Art Davis’ Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons in the mid-to-late 40s. I’ve only become a fan of Art Davis’ LT work quite recently, so it was nice to discover that someone who I strongly associate with him was involved in these cartoons.
Actually, that goes back to Sid Marcus as well, since he and Davis used to work together at Columbia during the 1930s, most memorably on the Scrappy cartoons with Marcus on story, and Davis on animation. They later worked together briefly at Warner Bros in the late 40s when Marcus became a story man; he was the story man for “Bye Bye Bluebeard” and “Ham in a Role” (though the latter was completed by Bob McKimson’s unit after Davis’ closed up); and at Walter Lantz in the 60s – Davis on animation and Marcus directing.
On that circular note, I think I’ll wrap up on these extra observations, otherwise I’ll probably spend the rest of eternity noting all the connections that these credits contain to countless parts of the Golden Age era of theatrical animation, regardless of how little I know about those connections beyond surface-level observations. Dirk Gently was definitely onto something about the holistic nature of the universe.
SOURCES:
The Totally Tooned In credits lists by Jerry Beck:
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/totally-tooned-in-1/
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/totally-tooned-in-2/
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/totally-tooned-in-3/
Motion Pictures, 1940-1949 (1953), published by the Library of Congress.
Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-70, Volume 2: Studio Filmographies With Voice Credits (2022), by Keith Scott.
An animation reel of Philip “Phil” Duncan, created by tiny crow (it features a tiny snippet of his Fox and Crow work, but it makes for nice viewing to see what else he’s done): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzvlGzqz_c0
Massive special thanks to CJM and Eliza Herndon for their help in supplying the information from the above two books. This article would genuinely not exist without their help.
Special thanks to Cure from the World Animation Discord, who told me about the Fox and Crow cartoons that still had title cards.
Special thanks to Cartoon Comedy Culture, whose mention of Sid Marcus’ involvement in “Phoney Baloney” sparked the genesis of this article.
FrDougal9000 writes for hardcoregaming101.net as Apollo Chungus. When he isn’t writing about video games, he is cultivating his love of animation that’s only increased over the last few years as he’s explored the wide, weird and wonderful world of the medium.