Just to get you in the mood for Halloween…
In 1964, animation producer Walter Lantz whipped up a syndicated Woody Woodpecker special called Spook-a-Nanny (or maybe Woody Woodpecker's Spook-a-Nanny) comprised of old cartoons and some new footage. Today's clip contains most of the new footage. The rest of the show was live-action intros with Mr. Lantz, some scenes of him socializing with an animated Woody, the old cartoons, and a couple of replays of the semi-catchy "Spook-a-Nanny" song that you'll hear if you make it to the end of this clip.
One of the thing that amazes me about technology today is how it's made a lot of stuff that was once impossible to come by not only available but almost effortless to obtain. I saw this show in '64 when I was twelve years old. That was about the age I started to outgrow these characters but I liked the little song and would have liked to have heard it again. This was not possible in the sixties or even the seventies. The program ran in 1964 and if it repeated anywhere, I sure didn't see it. And now, here it is on the Internet.
The most interesting this about this special is that Mr. Lantz stuck in most of the characters in his catalog, including several who by then existed only in merchandising and comic books. In '64, his studio was long past making cartoons of most of them, doing films in three series — Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy and The Beary Family. (Lantz was just winding down a fourth series, Inspector Willoughby.) I'm not sure why they didn't include the Beary Family in Spook-a-Nanny unless it was because Walter didn't want to spring for the rather minor dollars to bring in Paul Frees, who did the voice of Charlie Beary. In the clip that follows, Grace Stafford (aka Mrs. Lantz) did Woody and Splinter, while Daws Butler did all the other speaking voices, and Gloria Wood performed the song.
It was interesting to see Andy Panda included. The last Andy Panda cartoon was made in 1949, though he made a few cameos in later Lantz cartoons. Homer Pigeon is in there. Lantz made three Homer Pigeon cartoons — one in 1942, one in 1943 and one in 1956. I remember that when I was a kid, Homer was in a number of my comic books and on toys, and every article I read about Walter Lantz mentioned the pigeon among his list of animated superstars…but I still don't think I've ever seen a Homer Pigeon cartoon. Space Mouse was in there. As explained, here, he was a character from the comic books, though Lantz made one film with him. I believe his "Spook-a-Nanny" appearance was the only other time he was animated and based on his participation, it looks like they had this cartoon all storyboarded and then someone said, "Hey, let's stick that Space Mouse guy in it somewhere."
They also left out Oswald the Rabbit because this was 1964. Even before 11/22/63, Oswald was becoming a forgotten character and then along came Lee Harvey Oswald to despoil the name. Oswald Rabbit merchandising came to a screeching halt.
Anyway, here's the "Spook-a-Nanny." I'm not sure if it's a trick or a treat but it is something I remember vividly from my childhood.
