WolfieToons by Dave Wolfe

WolfieToons by Dave Wolfe

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Howdy, Gang! More Bear Bottoms!

I bet you remember the first few times in your very early years that you saw some spanking on a cartoon show and thought, "Huh!"



So, the Spankin' Cowboy in the week's "DISCIPLINE & DESIRE" WolfieToon isn't just any Spankin' Cowboy-- he's a Kansas City Star!!



Y'see, Kids, back in the Olden Days of Only-Three-Channel, Mostly-Black-And-White Television, there were live (and taped) local children's programs, usually on weekdays after school, that followed the format established by Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody when the Medium was newer:  A Cowboy, or a Clown, or a Sailor, or Somesuch Host who cavorted with Puppet and People Sidekicks, doing live commercials with a studio audience of kids, and showing cartoons!

There were several I really liked.  One of 'em actually did come on TV grinnin' and wearin' pistols and a hat!  He wasn't a Kansas City Star, though, but was a hit in Oklahoma City whom we got to see while visiting the grandparents in the 60's.  His name was Foreman Scotty




and the unique appeal of his show was that besides the cartoons and studio bits, he'd show the adventures he had with his fellow ranch-hands, kinda like a lower-budget version of Gene Autry or Roy Rogers. 



But possibly my favorite was Kitirik on KTRK, Channel 13, when we lived in Houston, Texas.  Channel 13's logo-mascot was a black cat (get it?) and so their afternoon kids' show host, whose name came from their call letters, was a woman in a cat costume:  a wimple with ears, drawn-on whiskers, black leotard and gloves, a tail, and fishnet nose.  

Now, she never went Julie Newmar with this;  she was never sly, sultry and slinky, just fun, your playful big kitty buddy.  However, I'm sure the fathers who were home at that hour never minded peering at her over their papers.


They don't do this sort of thing these days because the Federal Communications Commission and their bosses decided that hapless children are unduly influenced to buy crap promoted by TV People, but mostly because owners of local stations would have to spend money to do it.

Anyhow, while watching these programs all those years ago, studying and honing my humor for my own cartooning career, I noticed that nearly every big cartoon star at some point spanked and / or got spanked:  Felix the Cat, Woody Woodpecker, Popeye, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, and even Bugs Bunny!  Of course, a lot of "one shot" or "limited" characters wound up with their ends up, too.




It never ever failed to grab my attention, but I began to feel it was disappointingly unfair that there were never any female characters getting spanked!  

For instance, you could count on Little Audrey winding up over someone's knee pretty frequently in the comics, but I never saw it in the animated cartoons!  There was the time she dreamed the fish sizzled her seat for a few seconds in the "eel-lecric chair," which pushed a couple of buttons...




I think it was Hermione who referred to Audrey and similar little girl characters as "white-bottomed cherubs!"  Maybe it would have been crossing a line to enjoy their fanny-whapping just a little too much?  Perhaps the owners of paddled po-pos should be a bit older, say, at least Tinker Bell's age...  




or like the young woman in the Hanna-Barbera "Speed Buggy" TV cartoon who got her butt buzzed by a bee!




Well, here's a dandy batch of stills that you may not have already seen.  They're from one of the better versions of  the story of "The Three Bears," a 1935 "Comicolor" cartoon done by animation pioneer and Mickey Mouse's co-creator, Ub Iwerks!

Near the climax, the bear family is chasing invader Goldie through the house and they all tumble into the closet.  In the ensuing fracas, Papa Bear thinks he's caught the culprit in the dark!  But as the door opens again, we see that he hasn't.







So Mama Bear clocks him, and the seat of Goldilocks' Minnie Mouse patched panties appears to be in grave peril.     

(SPOILER:  She escapes.)



The whole thing is on YouTube if ya wanna see it-- just click HERE!

And enjoy!



14 comments:

  1. I loved those old cartoons when I was growing up in the 70's. One of my favorites was the little rich guy who kept doing things and his butler kept getting hurt or having to clean up what the rich guy broke. At the end the rich guy shoots down the butler's plane with an arrow and the butler takes him over his knee and spanks him with the arrow. Always loved that cartoon.

    Does anyone remember the comic strip "Tumbleweeds"? There would be occasional strips which included the adult characters being spanked, but I cannot find any of these old strips. I grew up in Oklahoma City area but was after the days of Foreman Scotty but heard him spoken of often while growing up.

    Thanks for the memories. ;-)

    JSG

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    1. Why, you're welcome, Guy, and thank you! Seems we have several things in common; and I'm supposing you're close to my youngest brother's age!

      I do know the cartoon you're writing about! It's "The Oily American," and you can watch it again!! Just CLICK THIS!

      I also recall T.K. Ryan's newspaper strip very well, but I don't remember any of its spankings! Must not have made an impression, which would be odd, so maybe I just missed 'em!

      Anyhow, you can see some of the old stuff at the "Tumbleweeds" website-- HERE'S ANOTHER CLICKABLE LINK!

      Enjoy, and thanks for the remarks!

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  2. I have heard of Howdy Doody but most of that was before my time. I always learn something new over here!

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    1. Aw, thanks, Lea! The WoofieBlog, it's Fun AND Educational! You'll always leave smarting, er, smarter!!

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  3. I remember the "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" scene and it's a good one. I did not know about the Speed Buggy cartoon. While not an actual spanking, and while I'm generally lukewarm toward non-spanking "behind at risk" gags, the "spankee's" bending over position is so perfect here it immediately brings to mind giving her a good swat! I'll have to see if I can locate this episode anywhere (I don't have Boomerang).

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    1. Hiya, Web-Ed!

      I should have said, "as I recall it was 'Speed Buggy'"-- there was some kind of anthropomorphic car involved.

      You see, I ran across the clip on line accidentally, somehow following a link from a link, you know how it goes. Some gal and a guy were hiding in a tree and the bee, or more probably a giant mosquito, saw a great opportunity.

      As you note, the pose is terrific, so I saved that, but no real info on where it came from! What shoddy practices, I apologize!

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  4. Well, you certainly brought back some memories with this one! Here in Minnesota we had no end of local kiddie show hosts and programs while I was growing up--I even was on two of them in my elementary school days (probably arranged by my parents in connection with my birthday).

    "T. N. Tatters" was a hobo/clown combination, and one of the better ones. I remember being heartbroken when he did his final show. And there was a sailor named, believe it or not, "Captain Ken" (or perhaps "Cap'n Ken"--it's been too many years to remember!) He had a turtle puppet for a sidekick, as I recall.

    Others included Clancy The Cop, and I seem to recall Carmen the Nurse. One of the longest running was a railroad engineer, Casey Jones, and his human sidekick, Roundhouse Rodney. The Casey Jones show lasted way beyond all the other local offerings, it (and he) was that popular.

    My earliest memory, though, was of a show called "Axel and his Treehouse". Axel had a Scandinavian accent and was given to bad jokes (well, weren't they all, really....) He used to sing a little song, and the last line would be some spoken groaner of a gag, sure to tickle the funny bone of any adolescent watching. He'd sing, "Birdie with a yellow bill/ Hopped up on my window sill/ Cocked it's shining eye and said/
    (and then the joke, like) "What's that up in the road....a head?"

    I was also a big Roger Miller fan, so thanks for the "Kansas City Star" clip. And. like you, I don't remember a single spanking in "Tumbleweeds".

    Dr. Ken

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    1. Doc, that's terrific, thank you! Exactly the sort of response I was hoping to provoke!

      I bet you've found this already, but here's a website with pictures and info about all the hosts you mentioned that were in MINNESOTA KIDVID!

      Yeah, Roger's CD of biggest hits has been playing in my car all week!

      Say, you and I should get together and talk about the various Horror Hosts, too!! My favorite was "Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi's Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting" on late Tulsa Saturday Night TV in the early 70's!

      Mazeppa was Gailard Sartain, dressed up like a wizard from "Magical Mystery Tour" (LIKE THIS) He went on to be a "Hee Haw" regular and character actor in a batch of movies as well. His sidekick on the show (one of 'em) we later found out was Gary Busey!

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  5. Dave, love this post. Spankings in cartoons set off the early tingles in this boy even though I didn't understand them until years later. When I was a kid I lived in the New York City television market and there was Officer Joe Bolton, a faux police officer who hosted Three Stooges shorts. Don't remember if they were boxers or briefs. :-) There was also Captain Jack McCarthy - eight bells and all's well - who showed Popeye cartoons. Bozo the clown also had a show but I was never a big fan of his though my two sisters loved that clown. Also loved The Little Rascals but that show didn't have a host, and the same with the Looney Tunes where I think I ODed on Bugs Bunny and all the rest of the crew. The Looney Tunes cartoons contained many spankings so maybe that explains why I loved them so much.

    FYI just put up a post and mention you towards the end, DW.

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    1. Thanks, Mike!

      I just saw your post, and it's top drawers, absolutely top drawers! Says... pantsless subway rides and bear bottoms, there seems to be a connecting thread.

      I think it was revealed from time to time that Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine and Dr. Howard did in fact go with boxers.

      Glad you enjoyed the post here! And Post cereals make breakfast (with Captain Jack et al) a little bit better!

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  6. Oh, my gosh! I was just thinking about Kitrik the other day (my brother was on her show and SO excited about it!). Then there was Don Mahoney and Jeana Clare and all their Kiddie Troupers and Cadet Don, remember? Houston was a great place to be a kid (at least a TV watching kid)! Thanks for sharing this - I think cartoons are where most of "us" self-identified as spankos.

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    1. Audrey, Cadet Don was a major figure for me! I loved the songs he and Seymour sang! (For the rest of you-- Seymour was an outer space alien puppet in a little flying saucer-- he kinda looked like Harpo Marx and a chimp had a kid) My sister and I sometimes still sing, "I'll bust your heeeeaaaad, if you don't go to bed!!"

      If you haven't seen it already, you'll enjoy THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO ABOUT KITIRIK! I never knew her real name was Bunny!!

      Glad you got a kick out of this post, and thanks very much for your reply!!

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    2. Thanks for that video - I had not seen it before! Boy, that took me back (I used to have a crush on Dave Ward when I was really little)! And THAT's why I always say "Go to bed or I'll bust your head!" - I had no idea where that came from!

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    3. Yep-- Here's the one bit of that song I remember, but of course, you can't hear the 60's sort of rock tune here:

      "When I wanna watch
      my favorite TV show,
      I gotta turn the sound down
      and keep it real low!
      'Cause when it gets exciting,
      I hear those words I dread!
      I hear my parents holler,
      "Seymour, go to bed!"

      Go to bed! Go to bed!
      Got to beeeeed!
      Go to bed! Go to bed!
      Got to beeeeed!
      I'll bust your heeeeaad
      if you don't go to bed!!"

      In case there's anyone else still reading this :-D I should explain that Cadet Don was the Channel 13 Morning Space Cadet, because the Apollo Missions were heating up then and Houston was where NASA wanted to be!

      Here are some PICTURES and a bit from the Houston Chronicle about CADET DON!

      Say, Audrey, I bet your folks were very proud to see you following local news and current affairs so intently, eh?

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