Happy Days

The hero of this story is "Pinhead," a term I never hear outside of "The O'Reilly Factor," where the host calls dopey people "pinheads." Here, the neighborhood kids call the wimpy, little one "Pinhead." He's obviously the outcast of the group.

The gang wants to go fishing but don't want him around. However, they can't find any worms but Pinhead finds them (at the golf course, in a strange scene.) What happens with the fishing is pretty good; not laugh-out-loud stuff but mildly entertaining and better and better as the cartoon goes on. Without spoiling anything, let's just say Pinhead has some wild adventures.

I've read where this was the last of the Ub Iwerks cartoons, so it is noteworthy for that, if nothing else. It's also in color. This cartoon was viewed on a DVD called "Cartoons That Time Forget: The UB Iwerks Collection Vol. 1."

While not one of my favourites, Ub Iwerks was responsible for a lot of interesting work. Especially when working with Walt Disney, his oldest friend and one of his best, and co-creating one of animation's most famous characters in Mickey Mouse. His career since opening his own studio had interest value but the quality was variable, often being successful in the animation and music but wanting in the story and variable in gags, lead characters and tone.

1933 to 1936 saw twenty five cartoons, mostly based on famous fairytales and familiar stories, as part of Iwerks's "ComiColor" series. The "ComiColor" series is very much worth watching and interesting, as is the case with many series some cartoons are better than others but there are no real animation nadirs. 1936's 'Happy Days' is a pretty good pleasant watch and a pretty good swansong for the series, with a few issues but a lot of big strengths.

'Happy Days', while faithfully adhering to the basic details of the story while putting its own spin, is slight and is at times a little too cutesy and gets at times silly.

However, 'Happy Days' in no way disgraces the story and has enough freshness to stop it from being stale. It avoids the over sentimental factor, while having traces of poignancy, and is never dull.

There are amusing gags, that aren't too corny and never repetitive, it's very charming, endearingly wild at times and there is a genuine likeability and cuteness. The characters drive 'Happy Days' well, with a very likeable main character who is also relatable to anybody who is regularly ridiculed and treated like an outcast.

Furthermore, the animation is great. Meticulously detailed, fluid in drawing, vibrant in colour and often rich in imagination and visual wit. The music is cleverly and lushly orchestrated, is infectiously catchy and adds a lot to the cartoon.

Overall, pretty good. 7/10 Bethany Cox

At least one source lists this short as the last release from Iwerks studio. If that's so, then their swan song was a most impressive finale. The sad thing is, this cartoon is better than the overwhelming majority of the shorts that preceded it, but likely got booked in far fewer theaters, because by that time there was no major studio distribution contract. A beautiful cartoon that's inventive, entertaining and has a cast of characters capable of engaging audiences and sustaining at least a short series, particularly a little wisecracking twerp who has more life and wit in an eyebrow than Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper combined ever did or probably could have. A good script helps out here too. What could have been. Ah, well-that's life. Perhaps it's just as well, as Ub Iwerks eventually wound up back with Disney, where he could work on the technical aspects of animation, virtually to his heart's content. Excellent cartoon, very much worth seeing. Highly recommended.

final cartoon pinhead lovely backgrounds sell car to kids?! black joke turn off brain

This happens to be the final cartoon that Ub Iwerks made before giving up his studio and returning to the Disney company. From 1930 into 1936, Iwerks made quite a few independent cartoons as well as cartoons for MGM...with only fair results overall. Sadly, the quality of this last one is pretty good for the era.

The story revolves around some kids who look to be about 5-8 years old. This is odd because a sleazy used car salesman sells the boys a lemon of a car--now the notion of selling a car to little kids is ridiculous. So, just turn off your brain and enjoy. Also turn off your brain when it comes to the youngest and smartest member of the group, Pinhead. No, he is thankfully NOT a microcephalic kid...just a kid with a bizarre nickname!

Overall, this one is quite fun and has nice color animation. Worth seeing...if you can find it. I found it at archive.org...where it can be viewed or downloaded for free.

Happy Days (1936)

*** (out of 4)

Pinhead isn't invited fishing by three mean boys so he plans on going by himself. When the mean boys see how many fishing worms he has they try to tag along. All of this ends up with them at a car dealership where they force Pinhead into giving a nickle so that they can buy a junk car. This Ub Iwerks short isn't the greatest film ever made but it's at least entertaining enough to make it worth watching. The characters here were actually pretty good and there were some creative scenes throughout the picture including one where the kids put too much air in the tires and the car takes off. The animation is quite good throughout and there are a couple nice laughs along the way.