Father's Day Off

MAYBE IT'S JUST my being now a crabby, old codger; but it seems that many of the Disney short subject cartoons of this period (the early 1950's) weren't quite up to the same level that those of only a few years before. Oh sure, we'd never castigate the work of the animation team as worthless; for such as this FATHER'S DAY OFF (1953) has its bright moments.

PERHAPS IT IS a case of going to the well once too often, for the same people under Director Jack Kinney had been at the helm for some years. That they had a fine record of accomplishments in their resume and a few Oscars to boot. So what is it that we find to be at the heart of the matter?

IT COULD BE a combination of factors which contribute to our slight irritation. This was now several "Ages" beyond the zenith of the theatrical cartoon that flowered during World War II. It was now: the Atomic Age, the Television Age, the Age of the Post War Baby Boomer, the Rock n' Roll years and what was perhaps the greatest years of Pro$perity in the USA.

SO WE THEORIZE that the Disney production team made a conscious effort to "change with the times." That meant slightly different story lines, different treatments, pacing was changed and even the artwork, both in character design and the backgrounds, was "adapted" to this new decade.

ONCE AGAIN, WE may well be Old Fashioned", but as my good friend, Schultz, would say;"If ain't broke, why fix it?"