MERRY MELODIES / "Back Alley Uproar" - 1948

Since I'm pressed for time today, here's a great little cartoon fer y'all. It stars Sylvester, who wants to serenade the neighborhood, and Elmer, who wants to get a good night's sleep, and never the twain shall meet!

Sylvester starts his night with an operatic number...

And get a big old shoe in the mush from Elmer!

Then, Sylvester does another number that requires him to stomp up and down the stairs at Elmer's place in oversized army boots! This gets him tied up and his boots replaced with sneakers!

So, Sylvester greases the steps and sprinkles a few tacks on the ground for  good luck. Then he creates more noise.

Elmer slips and slides down the stairs and through the tacks. At that point, he turns around and heads back up the stairs, all akimbo.

He goes inside and grabs his rifle, then it's back down the stairs!

Sylvester is on the roof and sees Elmer coming up on a ladder. He grabs another kitty and gives him his sheet music, and disappears.

Kitty sings an annoying operatic song which gets him conked in the head with a rifle butt!

It's time for the old (who even knows what this is anymore) Alum gag!

This shuts Sylvester up for about 10 seconds.

My favorite part, Sylvester breaks out in a Spike Jones number, the last straw for Elmer!

He grabs a case of dynamite from a construction site, time to rid the neighborhood of that pesky old cat! So, Elmer lights the fuse and it immediately explodes!!

Elmer is so happy that he can now get some sleep, heaven it great, ain't it! Until, all 9 lives of Sylvester show up singing at the top of their lungs!

ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS - "The Jar" (1986)

Probably anybody who reads this blog will not be surprised by this week's Saturday Night Special.

One of the interesting things about "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" from the 80's is that it's assbackwards from the way most things were. What's usually the case is that the 1950's or 1960's version would be thirty minutes long, and then in the 80's or later when they remade a show it would be an hour long. "The Twilight Zone" is a good example. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" from the 60's was an hour long, and the 80's versions were on only 30 minutes.

 

So, like it or not, you can't blame Alfred, because he had already been dead for six years when this show came out. This version of "The Jar" was episode number 19 from the first season of the 'new' "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." It's still based on the same Ray Bradbury story, but now our hero is an artist instead of a country bumpkin, but for the most part, the basic story is very similar.

Griffin Dunne plays the lackey in this version, a struggling artist named Knoll. I've always liked Griffin Dunne for his paranoid character in the 1985 film "After Hours," and of course, the unforgettable "American Werewolf In London."

I have in the past, and I will in the future, watch almost any damn thing that Paul Bartel is in. Here he's a pompous art critic.

Tim Burton directed this version of "The Jar" in between "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," and "Beetlejuice."

Instead of Billy Barty, the little man who sells the dupe "The Jar" this time is Peter (Grizzel) Risch as junkyard proprietor Happy Kaufman. Peter was only 2'2" tall. He passed away a couple of years after this at the age of 42.

This time the mysterious jar was found inside an old wrecked car.

Knoll decides to make "The Jar" the star of his newest exhibition, and makes a nice stand for it.

As weird as this one is, the black and white version of the contents of "The Jar" were a lot creepier!

In fact, this version of "The Jar" is kind of pretty by comparison.

Just like in the other version, his wife likes her boyfriend better than "The Jar."

They might be high society muckety-mucks, but they are as just as transfixed and enamored by "The Jar" as the country folks were.

The gallery crowd is completely captivated!

Mesmerized, stupefied, and bewitched. Nobody knows what to make of it!

 

Another high point of this version is lovely and hilarious at the same time, Laraine (104 episodes of SNL) Newman, in a rather small part as gallery owner Periwinkle.

Knoll is now on the top of the art world with his latest exhibition "The Jar, Part Deux."

 

Who cares that his wife has permanently left him? His newfound success is much more important, and besides, she was a two-timing bitch anyway!

AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE / Kidney Car - 2003

Seems like it's time for a dose of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, so, here an episode where Carl gets screwed over by Shake once again.

It all starts when Shake is showing Frylock his trophy he just got as a participant in the Smash'em Up Finals for a car demolition event.

And, there's a knock on the door, it's Carl and he wants to know what happened to his car!

Because, it's been torn to bejesus and back!

Carl tries to get some answers from Frylock and Meatwad but it doesn't go well, and Shake has gone to his room, which he doesn't have.

Carl donates the car to the Kidney Foundation, maybe he can get a tax write-off.

Shake comes out wearing a crash helmet with a lame excuse as to why he's wearing it. You can see what the conversation does for Carl.

The tow truck driver then drops it off in front of the Aqua Teen's house next door. 

Although Meatwad doesn't have any kidneys, the foundation gave him the car so that he can get to work and back. Carl has had it with his neighbors and leaves.

Meatwad has already spray painted Hot Wad 3 on the back fender.

And since it doesn't run now, Meatwad gets his tools out and starts working on the engine.

Meatwad even employs the help of his paper bag friend, Foxy Brown, whose job it is to turn the ignition key to start the engine when Meatwad says, okay.

Meatwad has to bring in Frylock and Shake to help him get the car running, but zilch. Frylock tells Meatwad to get an estimate from a mechanic to see what it would cost to get it repaired.

The next morning Meatwad is in the car pretending to be in traffic trying to get to work, yelling at the other drivers. Shake shows up as a cop to harass Meatwad for driving without a seat belt and threatens to throw him in jail.

Here's the faxed estimate for the repairs from the mechanic!

In the meantime, Shake has acquired a jet engine and drops it on the car. If you notice, the engine is actually backwards!

Shake has Meatwad start the engine and immediately Carl's new hatchback gets pulled toward the engine's air intake!

And within seconds, Carl's new car is sucked into the engine. Carl comes out to see what the noise was, and where's his new car! After talking to Shake about the incident, Carl's head explodes!