Mike Durrett CONFIDENTIAL: September 2006

Mike Durrett: CONFIDENTIAL

Cartoon Carnival

Saturday mornings during my elementary school years were spent at the neighborhood movie theatre. Each week at 11:30, an older film would be shown, preceded by three color cartoons.

We were trapped in the black-and-white TV era amid the late 1950s and early '60s, so seeing familiar animation from the small tube transformed into full big screen splendor was quite a revelation.

I specifically recall the first time I saw Popeye the Sailor's famous spinach in color. The can was red! Who knew?

Those weekly Kiddie Shows rank high among my fondest memories. Even now, I load up the DVDs, making the ritual effort to watch cartoons and a movie on Saturday mornings.

Here's a representative Cartoon Carnival package....

Tom and Jerry in "Cue Ball Cat" (1950)

Popeye in "Taxi-Turvy" (1954)

Bugs Bunny in "Long-Haired Hare" (1949)

Mike Durrett: CONFIDENTIAL

Follow That Bird

Recently, my friend Arnold was discussing character actor Walter Slezak ("Lifeboat," "The Pirate," "The Inspector General") and cited this anecdote about the man's father, found at IMDb:

"He [Walter] was the son of Leo Slezak, operatic tenor (Aug. 18, 1873 - June 1, 1946), later a comedian in Austrian films. Leo Slezak was a famous Lohengrin, and is credited with this story: during one production of the opera 'Lohengrin,' when the mechanical swan that was to carry the hero across the lake malfunctioned and 'floated' off too soon, he was heard to say, 'What time is the next swan?' This quote became the title of Walter Slezak's autobiography."