Hunger Strife

It's tourist season at Peachstone National Park and the Ranger has to turn on the geyser, fill the lakes and put Fatso Bear on a diet in this very good late Lantz cartoon.

Jack Hannah, who directed some of the best Donald Duck cartoons, adapted very well to the tighter budgets at Lantz, opening up and simplifying has style, while keeping up the pace of gags. There are some obvious cheats, like flipping the tourists as they enter the park to show them exiting, and the same agonized dance that Fatso does when he is balked, but it's all good.

Although the casual fan may think that this is a rip-off of Yogi Bear, who had debuted the previous year on THE HUCKLEBERRY HOUND SHOW, there had been major bear stars in cartoons for decades, including MGM's Barney Bear. This one looks like a one-shot, but a fine one.