When the legal department of Warner Bros. were notified of a forthcoming feature-length Casablanca spoof in 1945 - A Night in Casablanca, featuring a lead character named 'Humphrey Bogus' - they were naturally curious as to the specifics, and so innocently requested more information from the movie's creators, the Marx Brothers. Very quickly Groucho, sensing the opportunity for free publicity, fabricated a lawsuit from the studio and a crowd-pleasing defense... [more inside]
posted by hippybear
on Feb 21, 2011 -
14 comments
The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down (a SLYT 40 years in the making) showing one frame from every Warner Brothers theatrical cartoon made from 1930-1969 (thankfully at a rate of about 3 per second). See the evolution of animation! Porky Pig's successful diet in '37! Michigan J. Frog's memorable single appearance! And illegal alien Speedy Gonzalez replacing American toons in the '60s! (via
M.E.)
posted by oneswellfoop
on Sep 23, 2010 -
80 comments
Saturday morning cartoons were once a staple of American television, but by the year 2000
they had all but disappeared. Of course, the Internet
never forgets. Case in point:
Cartoon Network Video -- a free, searchable, ad-supported service that provides hundreds of full-length episodes of classic shows like
Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Johnny Bravo, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and
The Powerpuff Girls, as well as current offerings and scads of shorter material. Too recent for you? Then give
Kids WB Video a whirl -- it does the same thing with the same interface, but for older programs like
Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, Thundercats, and the original
Space Ghost. If you're in the mood to learn (and don't mind some live-action),
PBS Kids Video has educational fare such as Arthur, Wishbone, and Zoom. And don't forget about
Sesame Street,
The Electric Company,
Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood,
The Magic Schoolbus and
Schoolhouse Rock! Now if only we had some
Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs...
posted by Rhaomi
on Sep 22, 2009 -
160 comments
Did you guess wrong about which format would win the high-density disk war? Buy a lot of HD-DVDs? Warner Brothers has
a special program now where they'll swap your WB HD-DVDs for Blu-Rays of the same titles for $5 each.
[more inside]
posted by Chocolate Pickle
on Apr 24, 2009 -
50 comments
Hey daddy-o, when you hear that big brash horn section pump out that
oddly familiar riff, only to stop cold and make way for that that prescient single note from an electric guitar, followed straightaway by a twangy voice in
perfect rockabilly delivery proclaiming "
well, she's got a dress that looks like a sack!", then brother, you're listening to the hoppin' boppin' sound of
Wally Deane's
Drag On. Once you hear it, you'll wonder why Quentin Tarrantino never put it in a movie.
Wally Deane: one of the greatest rockabilly acts you never heard of.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 8, 2007 -
21 comments
The Censored Eleven [
IMDB] is a
group of Warner Brothers cartoons that have been withheld from syndication because of their racial stereotypes:
Hittin' the Trail to Hallelujah Land (1931;
info),
Sunday Go to Meetin' Time (1936;
info),
Clean Pastures (1937;
info),
Uncle Tom's Bungalow (1937),
Jungle Jitters (1938),
The Isle of Pingo Pongo (1938),
All This and Rabbit Stew (1941;
info),
Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943;
info),
Tin Pan Alley Cats (1943;
info),
Angel Puss (1944), and
Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears (1944).
[more inside]
posted by kirkaracha
on Jul 10, 2007 -
65 comments
Education for Death. (YouTubefilter.) Disney-produced
anti-Nazi cartoon short from 1943. Look for Hitler's Satanic horns. More weirdness from WWII: Warner Bros
Snafuperman, starring Pvt. Snafu (originally created by Dr. Seuss!), who also deals with
spies, all while jabbering away in a voice that sounds disconcertingly like that of a certain cwazy wabbit. From Archive. org -- Pvt. Snafu learns about
booby traps, in one case literally. Bugs himself joined the Air Force, and was faced with
gremlins for his trouble. Superman himself got in on the act, battling
Japoteurs. After all, during the War we were plenty worried about those canny
Japanese.
posted by Astro Zombie
on Mar 23, 2006 -
26 comments
They sold everything from
Earthquake Pills (caution: not effective on Road Runners) to
Trick Balls (warning: explode on contact!). They may be the world's most diverse goods & services company, with the possible exception of Wal Mart. I speak, of course, of the fine folks at ACME, whose full catalog is finally available
online.
Go, now, read! Don't make me use my
Ultimatum Dispatcher!
posted by jonson
on Jun 28, 2003 -
20 comments
Harry Potter released unprotected. In a move that makes me say both "Wha?" and "Kickass!", Warner Bros chose to release the Harry Potter DVD and VHS home versions sans the Macrovision copy protection. It could stand to be quite an experiment, or quite a blunder on their part.
posted by mathowie
on Jun 15, 2002 -
14 comments
AOL Time Warner's Marketing Wizardry : "With its Hollywood studio, Warner Bros., AOL leveraged its promotional and advertising might across its empire of Internet, cable TV, movie, music and magazine outlets to ensure that kids, parents, teens and everyone else knew that "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was debuting in theaters Nov. 16. In the days leading up to the film's release, tracking studies showed an extraordinary 100% awareness among moviegoers that "Harry Potter" was coming."
posted by owillis
on Dec 2, 2001 -
18 comments
