Customer Reviews

The Complete Adventures Of Cubby Bear

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Around the early 1930's, nearly every studio tried to catch up with Disney, even to the extent of making Mickey Mouse-type characters. One example is Van Beuren's Cubby The Bear. Created by animator Mannie Davis as a repacement for Tom & Jerry (not the famous cat-&-mouse, but a Mutt & Jeff-type duo), he made his debut in "Opening Night" in 1933. The character design wasn't uniform throughout the cartoon, and he didn't have much of a personality (neither did Mickey Mouse), but the cartoon featured great, bizzare gags, and a wonderful Gene Rodemich music score. Overall, a good debut, and most of the cartoons afterwards are very entertaining too (highlights include "Love Labor's Won", "Barking Dogs", "Croon Crazy", and "How's Crops?"). There were also three Cubby cartoons made by Harman-Ising after they left Warner Bros (Van Beuren only released two). Although enjoyable, Cubby was redrawn to look like Bosko, and some gags and animation were taken from earlier H-I Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons ("The Gay Gaucho" does borrow quite heavily from "Lady, Play Your Mandolin"). Unfortunately, the Cubby cartoons ended towards the end of 1934, when ex-Disney employee Burt Gillet took over as head director.

This is a first DVD title from Thunderbean Animation, and this is a vert strong debut. The cartoons have been restored using "Wetgate" technology, and look even better than the ones you can normally find on other PD videos and DVDs. In fact, the quality of some of the cartoons are on a par with the restored B&W Mickey Mouse cartoons featured on the Disney Treasures DVD. The only extra on this DVD is an unreleased cartoon, "Mischievious Mice" (made by Harman-Ising in 1933-34, but was released as a television cartoon later in the 1940's).

Overall, a fantastic DVD from Thunderbean (they subsequently made more brilliant classic animation DVDs), and an essential DVD for any animation buff!

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny we all know these cartoon stars. But Cubby Bear?

The character was intended to emulate the Mouse, but somehow he never could quite escape the surrealistic imagery the Van Beuren Studio flavored their cartoon films with. He only lasted about a year, but this series of cartoon films is now cherished by vintage cartoon fans, and rightly so.

Thunderbean Studios has produced another excellent quality DVD, using films sourced from probably the highest quality prints still in existence. Every title is here, even one which never saw theatrical release! Beautifully transferred, with excellent sound quality, the production values rival that of much more expensive "major title" animation DVDS. This is not a "cheapo" quick buck release! If you love vintage animation cartoon films then you will not be disappointed with this one!

Del Walker

DVDToons.com

I'm sure the segment of the Earth's population who've even HEARD of the cartoon character "Cubby Bear" would statistically work out to be roughly 0% but here we have a disc that contains beautiful transfers of EVERY cartoon in this obscure series!

If you like black & white 1930s cartoons this collection is sure to please! Keep up the good work, THUNDERBEAN!

This is an excellent release that compiles every Cubby Bear short from the Van Beuren Studios. Cubby Bear was Van Beuren's attempt to give Mickey Mouse some competition, and in retrospect it's easy to say that any attempt to knock Disney off their box was doomed to fail. But the Cubby shorts are very entertaining, with some nice surreal touches that the Mickey shorts lacked. If you're a fan of classic animation, you'll love these Black and White shorts. And Thunderbean has done an excellent job of transferring these shorts to DVD - the video and audio quality is amazing. There are no extras, but the 'toons themselves are the real attraction here, and it's great to have them all in one place. So if you love the old stuff, this DVD comes easily recommended. Also check out Thunderbean's Popeye release, which does have some nice extras.

THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF CUBBY BEAR consists of 19 animation shorts released to theaters in 1933-34, plus one 'toon from the vaults ("Mischievous Mice"). Also included are four pages of liner notes and a DVD animation stills gallery.

For a brief time, VAN BEUREN's Cubby Bear was Mickey Mouse's main rival. Although Cubby 'toons did look a bit like Disney's work, they tended to be rougher, had jazzier soundtracks and were surreal (ala early Fleisher Studio animations). Cubby was renamed 'Brownie Bear' when these shorts were released on home-use 16mm prints.

Created by Mannie Davis, "Cubby" shorts had many directors, including Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, who both went on to pioneer WARNER BROS. animation division with their "Bosko" character (who resembles Cubby).

Also recommended for fans of early sound animation is POPEYE THE SAILOR: 1933-1938, which contains 58 classic Fleisher Studios shorts.

CONTENTS of "The Complete Cubby Bear" (including synopses)--

OPENING NIGHT (1933) - At the opera house, Cubby Bear conducts an energetic version of "Faust."
LOVE'S LABOR WON (1933) Shakespearen-style operetta.
THE LAST MAIL (1933)
BUBBLES AND TROUBLES (1933)
BARKING DOGS (1933)
INDIAN WHOOPIE (1933) - Cubby as Capt. John Smith in the Pocohantas story.
FRESH HAM (1933) - Cubby as a theatrical agent auditions many strange performers.
THE NUT FACTORY (1933) - Sherlock Bear (Cubby) solves the case of the many missing sets of false teeth.
CUBBY'S WORLD FLIGHT (1933) - Includes caricatures of Chas. Lindbergh, the 4 Marx Brothers, Maurice Chevalier, Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi.
CUBBY'S PICNIC (1933) - Cubby and Cuddles have a bizarre outing at the park.
GAY GAUCHO (1933) - Cubby is chased from a cantina and pursued by a mob.
Galloping Fanny (1933) - Fanny is a thoroughbred that caricature of Mae West.
CROON CRAZY (1933) - Cubby carries a radio show when guests (cartoon versions of Kate Smith, Al Jolson and Paul Whiteman) fail to appear.
SINISTER STUFF (1934) - Animated take on "Perils of Pauline" has Cubby rescuing the girl from a villain's buzzsaw blade.
GOODE KNIGHT (1934)
HOW'S CROPS? (1934) - Cubby defeats a garden-wrecking opossum.
CUBBY'S STRATOSPHERE FLIGHT (1934)
MILD CARGO (1934) - Cartoon parody of Frank Buck "Big Game Hunter" films.
FIDDLIN' FUN (last release--1934) - Cubby in a Roman chariot race, while Nero plays his violin.
MISCHIEVOUS MICE (unreleased--1933) - Unfinished short released by Hugh Harman in 1948 with no sound effects or voices and a tacked-on unmatching musical score.

BONUS: Animation stills gallery