For Scent-imental Reasons (B+W, 1949)
“It is love at first sight, is it not?” asks Pepe Le Pew of his tortured love object in this early entry in the beloved Merrie Melodies cartoon series. The distraught Penelope Pussycat flees Pepe’s unabashed advances until a change of heart turns the tables on our odorous friend. Oddball’s print of the film includes an often-censored sequence of Pepe threatening suicide! With the iconic voice work of Mel Blanc, the cartoon won legendary animator Chuck Jones his first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (Color, 1965)
Another Oscar winner narrated by Robert Morley about how love and self-discovery always has its own unique geometry. A real departure from Jones' animal cartoons, this poetic and unique piece only features lines dots and squiggles as its characters.
Naughty But Mice (Color, 1939)
Sniffles the mouse, in his first appearance in a Warner Bros. cartoon, goes to a drugstore and gets drunk on a cold remedy, then befriends an electric razor and gets it drunk as well. One of the first films directed by Jones for W@rner Brothers.
The Squawkin’ Hawk (Color, 1942)
Henery Hawk (who is called "Junior" in this cartoon) wants a chicken for dinner, saying that he is a chicken hawk. His mother refuses to give him chicken, insisting he eat a worm, or he will get no supper. Henery refuses, much to the worm's relief. Henery's mum put him to bed and tell him to "straight to sleep". Henery sneaks out his house at bedtime, then goes to the chickenhouse to find himself a chicken, but runs into the chicken's huge rooster husband who gives Henery a run for his money!
Much Ado About Nutting (Color, 1952)
A squirrel in the New York City doesn't know what to do when confronted by the seemingly insurmountable task of getting a coconut into his home, much less crack it. He starts looking at peanuts, then walnuts, then brazil nuts, but when he sees the coconuts, he is determined to take one home and eat it somehow. He even tries climbing up the Empire State building and throwing it off to break it open, all to no avail. Will he ever get his tasty coconut treat?
Ralph Wolf tries to prey on the sheep while Sam Sheepdog comes onto his shift to guard the sheep. Sam continues to capture and clobber Ralph despite Ralph’s clever attempts to sneak past him, such as hiding under rocks and in smoke and trying to knock Sam with boulders. Eventually, the time clock sounds and Sam and Ralph are relieved by Fred Sheepdog and George Wolf, who pick up exactly where they left off.
The Hypo-Chondri-Cat (Color, 1950)
Herbie and Bertie have a good time at the expense of Claude the Cat who suffering from a phobia that makes him think he is always sick. Convincing Claude that all of his maladies can be cured, they eventually get rid of him, and take over his home and supply of cheese.
A Hound For Trouble (Color, 1951)
Charlie dog, who is always looking for a master, tries to find one in Italy. In a restaurant where he tries to help with the customers including a hilarious song and dance routine. The owner gets rid of him by telling him to right the leaning tower of Pisa.
Punch Trunk (Color, 1952)
The world's tiniest elephant wreaks havoc in the city when no one can believe their eyes and mass-hysteria breaks out.
Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (Color, 1952)
Daffy Duck stars as space hero Duck Dodgers, Porky Pig as his assistant, and Marvin the Martian as his opponent. Duck Dodgers must search for a rare element, called Illudium Pohsdex (aka The Shaving Cream Atom), which can be obtained in the mysterious “Planet X.” Duck Dodgers is about to claim Planet X in the name of Earth, when it turns out that Marvin the Martian has also landed on the same planet. Duck Dodgers and the Martian battle it out, using various instruments of mass destruction-- after all of the explosion, there is no planet to claim. Duck Dodgers, Porky Pig and Marvin the Martian are left dangling from what is left of Planet X.
Is There a Doctor in the Mouse? (Color, 1964)
Jerry has a secret potion that makes turns him into a hyper-fast mouse. In fact, he's so quick Jerry is able to grab food from Tom’s mouth without his noticing! Puzzled and famished, Smart-cat Tom comes up with the idea of filming Jerry and then projecting the film in slow motion...
Beep Prepared (Color, 1961)
Once again the chase is on between the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. As always, Wile E. Coyote tries and fails to catch the Road Runner-- this time he uses his extended to trip (but gets run over by a bus instead), an arrow but the bow throws him into mishap, a hole on the road (which backfires on him and he falls in instead, a winded-rocket outfit (which throws him into outer space), two electronically activated machine guns, and a super magnet. An Academy Award nominee.
For the Early Birds: (starting at 7:45pm)
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (Color, 1975)
An iconic cartoon rendering of Rudyard Kipling's story of a brave mongoose pitted up against the king of the snakes. Narrated by Orson Welles.
For more about Chuck Jones' Legacy:
http://www.chuckjones.com/about-chuck-jones/
Curator’s Biography
Kat Shuchter is a graduate of UC Berkeley in Film Studies. She is a filmmaker, artist and esoteric film hoarder. She has helped program shows at the PFA, The Nuart and Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater and was crowned “Found Footage Queen” of Los Angeles, 2009.
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.
