Seal Skinners

Der Captain and Long John Silver battle over who gets to return an escaped seal to the circus for a hefty reward. John Silver (lifted right out of R.S. Stevenson with no apologies) was often used in the strip as a shifty friend and later a rival to the Captain. The animated series cast him firmly in the latter capacity and allowed him free reign to hog the spotlight. (With that Mel Blanc voice how could he not take center stage?)

This entry was directed by an uncredited Friz Freleng whose gifts and limitations are on full display here. Legend has it that he argued with producer Fred Quimby against making a "Captain and the Kids" series on the grounds that human characters rarely work in animation. It's ironic that one of Freleng's final projects was producing a "Blondie and Dagwood" TV cartoon special. Trust me - the "C&K" series, for all it's flaws, is a better show.

A $5000 reward is offered for a trained seal which has escaped from the circus. The Captain and the Kids go after the reward, as does peg-legged Long John Silver.

It's fast and frantic and not particularly funny, even by the standards of the series of movie cartoon. They were directed without credit by the inimitable Frizziest Freleng. He had jumped from Leon Schlesinger's cartoon factory to MGM's with the hope of working on his own projects, but his assignment to this series infuriated the animator whose height, hair color and temper were the basis of Yosemite Sam.

Freleng believed that making cartoons about humans was a waste of ink this particular effort, although competently done, is pretty much proof of that, at least for Freleng. Later in the year, he scurried back to Schlesinger.

The Jingling Brothers circus has offered a $100k reward for the return of escaped seal Hardy. Hardy is homesick and heading north where the Captain pilots a taxi-boat. Peg-legged John Silver has a submarine. Hardy picks Captain over John Silver, but that doesn't stop Silver who dresses in a seal costume to get his bounty.

This is A Captain and The Kids cartoon. I don't have any great love for the franchise, but they are at least energetic. I don't understand the meaning of the title. I wonder if John Silver is actually skinning seals and wearing a seal skin. The bigger problem is the award. It's too big. I want the Captain to set Hardy free, but the reward is too big to ignore. The better ending is the Captain growing a heart.