Someone uploaded a letter-boxed Cinemascope copy of Sick Sick Sidney, so not only can you see all that beautiful Jim Tyer animation proper (or at least as proper as 30 dpi will allow), but you can now hear Sidney’s neurotic theme song at the beginning too.
I’ll take this over that other Deitch animated [sic] cartoon everyone was fawning over at Cartoon Brew recently. Hell, I’d take Dicky Moe over that.
This has to have been the first time I have ever seen any of the CinemaScope Terrytoons in its’ widescreen format—-and with original titles.
As with the Famous Studios period under Dan Gordon and Izzy Sparber, Art Bartsch and Dietch are smart enough here to make sure Tyer gets the most frantic motion scenes to animate, to make sure his style is used to its best advantage. Connie Rasinski also tended to use Tyer that way at Terrytoons, while Eddie Donnally and Mannie Davis were a little less selective about which scenes they gave Tyer to animate (but did let him do his thing, unlike Kneitel over at Paramount).
Also, given what Bill Weiss wanted out of his cartoons — future fodder for Saturday morning and syndicated kiddie shows — you can see why a cartoon featuring a character with more neurosis than Woody Allen and a send-up of Ernest Hemmingway’s hunting fetish might set Bill a little on edge over Gene’s continued employment.
Thanks for the link, Thad! I’ve seen “Sick Sick Sidney” numerous times, but not like this, and with its original titles intact. It almost seems like a different cartoon watching it in its original aspect ratio.
That other Deitch cartoon wasn’t so bad though, but it still pales in comparison to this.
“Also, given what Bill Weiss wanted out of his cartoons — future fodder for Saturday morning and syndicated kiddie shows — you can see why a cartoon featuring a character with more neurosis than Woody Allen and a send-up of Ernest Hemmingway’s hunting fetish might set Bill a little on edge over Gene’s continued employment.”
Ironically, Sidney was the only Deitch-created character to survive his departure.
Only two “Sidney” cartoons were made with Deitch on helm (the other being Oscar nominated “Sidney’s Family Tree”); the other dozen or so were made without his involvement.
Sidney the Slurm Queen?
I love me some Dicky Moe.
Dicky Moe RULES!!!
Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. I hadn’t seen this in probably 45 years.
I’d love to know who did the voices. I’m guessing Allen Swift(?) for Sidney and the lion. That giraffe sure sounded like Carol Channing — could she have done a cameo here?
Oh yeah. This is kinda off-topic, but someone started posting up a bunch of Columbia cartoons on YouTube recently.
Here’s an interesting one I found. Sid Marcus apparently wrote it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-VSAOOtDcQ&feature=related
Doug Drown,
Uh, the voice actor is listed in the opening credits. It’s Lionel Wilson, BTW.
Yeeesh,What an annoying voice. Nice color and layout, but I doubt audiences were able to sit through this one without wincing in pain. Sometimes a little silence can be a thousand times more effective.
It’s funny how Lionel Wilson would later become the voice of Eustace on Courage the Cowardly Dog
That music is a masterpiece.
Sidney’s original voice worked best, as annoying as it might’ve been for some. His second voice wasn’t nearly as good.
I know Tyer animated the scene where Sidney yells “A Safari!” (because of the “shrink take” Sidney does), but what other scenes are Tyer’s work?
Why does the elephant suck his trunk? Because he can!
Bothering to spill the beans, it was I who stuck that vid up! I actually taken it from another place and modified it to it’s original form for best results (and I got it). It certainly has room to breathe here than in a Pan & Scan version I once saw back in the 80’s on a local kiddie show here in Toledo. It’s really a shame these cartoons haven’t gotten the respect they deserve in so long. I guess we’ll still have to keep waiting.
“It’s funny how Lionel Wilson would later become the voice of Eustace on Courage the Cowardly Dog”
It is fascinating the people behind these voices and what else they done in their time. I noticed Wilson voiced a chipmunk character in a anime dub back in the 80’s I bothered to check out recently (his performance gets overshadowed by Orson Welles and Jim “Magoo” Backus who were also brought in on that too). He certainly played a good Sidney here.