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Farmer Alfalfa - Classic Cartoons

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Paul Terry's now forgotten Farmer Al Falfa (also: Alfalfa) was the star of the first ever sound cartoon, "Dinner Time," which premiered a month before Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie." The Mickey Mouse short was more popular by far, and is now incorrectly cited as the first animation with a soundtrack. Such are the vagaries of fame and fate. (Terry went on to create Heckle 'n Jeckle, Mighty Mouse and Deputy Dawg.)

His original cartoon star, "Farmer Al," first appeared in 1916, when Terry animated for the Bray studio. He took his grizzled geezer with him when he left Bray in 1921, and starred Alfalfa in a series of Aesop's Film Fables, for the Pathé company. The majority of this set consists of these, while the two sound shorts were made at Terry's own studio and distributed by Educational Pictures.


Another early cartoon character created at Van Bueren (where Paul Terry was a minor partner until going on his own) may be seen on THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF CUBBY BEAR.


CONTENTS for "FARMER ALFALFA - Classic Cartoons":
(Studios: Fables Studios [fs], TerryToons [tt]

THE TWO OF A TRADE (silent-1922) [fs] - Odd Prohibition-era toon. Al and his cat go fishing. Cat buys hootch from an octopus, and the Farmer drinks it, then hallucinates.

SMART SALESMAN ("The Traveling Salesman") (silent-1923) [fs] - A tenacious potion peddler causes accidents that convince Farmer Al to buy his painkillers.

IN DUTCH? (silent-1925) [fs] - Al as a Holland farmer, in another surreal short (mouse B.O. used to make cheese smell?).

WHY ARGUE? (silent-1926) [fs] - It's one annoyance after another for poor old Farmer Al. (Watch out for that mule!)

THE WIND JAMMERS (silent-1926) [fs] - A mouse and cat use helium on Farmer Alfalfa and some doggie cops.

THE SMALL TOWN SHERIFF (silent-1927) [fs] - Al Falfa toon featuring a strange jalopy, a rollerskating elephant and the "Speakeasy Soda Fountain."

CRACKED ICE (silent-1927) [fs] - Farmer Alfalfa animation has a mouse and elephant seesawing, penguins used as bowling pins and other weird stuff.

THE HUNTSMAN (silent-1928) [fs] - Hunter Al Falfa and cat encounter a dinosaur (!), a lion, a giraffe, an ape, an elephant herd, and more.

STATIC (silent-1928) [fs] - Animals running a radio station get Farmer Al Falfa's blood boiling.

WOODEN MONEY (silent-1929) [fs] - Farmer Alfalfa sells his dilapidated house to some weird-looking twins, but things don't work out for him as planned.

NOAH'S OUTING (1932) [tt] - Singing and dancing animals are interrupted when it rains cats and dogs. (Sound-era remake of an Aesop's Fables short.)

YE OLDE SONGS (1932) [tt] - Typical early sound era Farmer Alfalfa toon includes a character that looks suspiciously like a certain mouse...

Anyone over age 47 will remember these under the title "Farmer Brown"(they seemed to like to re-title shows in the early 1960's) and they ran at the crack of dawn. This dvd brought back alot of memories. The soundtracks are dull on most of them, but there are moments when a 1920's song is used in the proper place. Picture quality is good, and thats what counts while watching silent films anyway. There are a couple of sound films here too. All in all, worth the low price.

Beware....the silent toons have a boring piano track added to them....Music is so
crappy it takes away the fun of the cartoon....put the volume down.
The last 2 have sound sych to the action and are lots of fun