Beans the Cat

Welcome! I, the writer present to you a blog that tells about the history of old cartoon characters.

I LOVE old cartoons. Like, from the 30s. Those are the cartoons that help me "chill out." For this article, I'm talking about Beans the Cat, who is, wrongfully, in obscurity- while his sidekick, the shy Porky Pig, made his way to stardom. Beans was an old cartoon character, and the creation of Bob Clampett and Jack King.

It began with Bosko- who was notable for being the first Looney Tunes star. He was created in 1929 by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, hoping their creation would rival Mickey Mouse, the most popular cartoon character at the time. Their humanoid "inkspot" creation did fail to rival Disney's mouse, who was always surging ahead of Bosko in popularity.

After a four-year run with Leon Schlesinger, the producer of Looney Tunes and its sister series, Merrie Melodies, budget disputes with Schlesinger, Harman, and Ising sent the animators- Harman and Ising included- to the Van Beuren Studio, where the former employees worked on a couple of Cubby Bear cartoons before leaving for M.G.M.- with Bosko.

Schlesinger attempted to touch up the studio, hoping his contract with Warner Bros., who released the early cartoons to the public, would still remain with him. He lured in many animators from other studios, among them Tom Palmer from Disney, who created the second star of the Looney Tunes shorts, Buddy. The character himself caused the popularity of the cartoons to sink, thus forcing Schlesinger to fire Palmer, and replace him with Isadore "Friz" Freleng, who had worked on the original Looney Tunes shorts.

When Buddy's career ended for good because of low popularity, Schlesinger asked newly signed employees Jack King, Bob Clampett, and Tex Avery to create new characters. And this was the beginning of Beans the Cat, the third Looney Tunes star who made an impact on the cartoons we know and love today.

Beans made his debut in 1935's I Haven't Got a Hat, part of the Merrie Melodies series. Also the debut of Porky Pig, this short was an enormous success. Beans and Porky were named after the term "Porky and Beans." Buddy faded away from the screen almost immediately, and Beans took his predecessor's place as star. The character only appeared in 9 shorts, the first one being A Cartoonist's Nightmare. Unfortunately for Beans, Porky got most of the attention, and Beans disappeared.

 Beans resembled Bosko somewhat, although he was more mischievous than his predecessors. He was also known for making cameos when his days were done. To watch the first Porky/Beans cartoons, copy the link. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2guxlm_lt099-i-haven-t-got-a-hat_fun

That's all folks!