Here's a good print of a vintage cartoon that you may never have seen. Bob Clampett directed some of the funniest cartoons that came out of the Warner Brothers Studio during its Golden Age but he left there in 1945, worked briefly for Screen Gems (Columbia's short films and cartoon division) then made a deal to try and put Republic Pictures into the cartoon business. It was a helluva deal but it fell apart after one cartoon…It's a Grand Old Nag.
The cartoon introduced, for his one and only appearance anywhere, the character of Charlie Horse. His voice and a few others were done by Stan Freberg, getting his first-ever screen credit since his name was not on the many WB cartoons he'd done with Mel Blanc receiving sole credit. Other voices in It's a Grand Old Nag were done by Dave Barry, who did not receive credit.
Clampett managed to assemble some real good animators and he reportedly got Michael Maltese to moonlight from WB and write the script, sans credit. It's not a bad little film but problems quickly arose which, according to Bob, had nothing to do with the cartoon and any reactions to it. Republic Studios just got themselves into a financial mess and had to close down some divisions and cancel many projects. It was the last cartoon Clampett directed in that era before redirecting his energies to the new medium of television and his show, Time for Beany, also starring Freberg.
It's interesting to speculate what the new operation would have produced if they hadn't been shut down after this one film. Given the potential in this film and Bob Clampett's track record, wonders might have occurred. As it is though, we have to settle for just this…
