Greedy Humpty Dumpty

Growing up as a kid in the 80s, "Greedy Humpty Dumpty" was one of the more memorable cartoons for me. This cartoon was, and still is available on VHS and DVD by numerous companies as it is Public Domain. Humpty Dumpty is the king and when he learns that there is gold in the sun he decides he wants it. He forces all the people who live in his kingdom (who are all characters from other famous fairy tales) to build him a golden tower that will reach the sun. When the tower is built Humpty Dumpty is too greedy and crashes to earth and shatters. Some segments of this cartoon were filmed with the rotoscoping process, in which live actors were filmed, and then those films were traced by animators to get realistic movement for the characters. This cartoon has very memorable songs.

As a child, I watched a LOT of cartoons, but the ones that both fascinated and disturbed me the most were the Depression-era films of Dave and Max Fleischer. This cartoon is extremely well made, with clever songs and great attention to detail. The segment about building the tower to the sun is absolutely wonderful--all the characters from different fairy tales pitch in. But like many films of this genre, it's just too scary for little kids, and there's something strangely unsettling about King Humpty Dumpty himself - it could be his exaggerated features or the thought of him whipping Little Bo Peep--I'm just not sure.

Although the copy of this cartoon that I saw recently on the Classic Arts Showcase (ARTS) was somewhat faded, it did show the artistic and technical skill for which the Fleischers were justly famous. It also shows the weird streak that runs through many of their films.

In this cartoon, Humpty Dumpty is not just the chatty fellow who fell off the wall, but a tyrannical king who has an insatiable appetite for gold, constantly bellows a sinister laugh, and turns cruel at the drop of a hat. He reminds me a lot of Tybo the Carrot Monster from the "Lost In Space" episode "The Great Vegetable Rebellion."

Little wonder that the Fleischers later produced "Superman" cartoons with larger than life villains and outlandish situations.

I remember watching "Greedy Humpty Dumpty" on TV back during the 50's. This cartoon disturbed me and I never forgot it. I just purchased the Max Fleischer cartoon collection on DVD and finally saw "Greedy Humpty Dumpty" in color this time. When that bolt of lightning spanks Humpty Dumpty, kids will just freak out. Some parents may end up taking their kids to a child psychiatrist. I feel that out of control kids need to be propped up in front of a TV and compelled to see this disturbing cartoon. They'll be shell-shocked and they will no longer sass back their parents.

Thank you, Humpty Dumpty!

I'm only 16 years old but for some strange reason when I was really young we had a collection of cartoons from earlier decades, including this movie.

I have no idea why we had them, but anyway my brother and I used to watch this short, along with numerous others (I don't know their names I just remember the plots) almost every single day. For some reason it didn't scare me.

It was great, even though I vaguely remember it. Kind of twisted, probably not great for little kids. It teaches a good lesson though! You're never going to find me building weak infrastructure..