Sunday, July 3, 2011

On DVD: Little Lulu (1943)

Here's a case of caveat emptor, which is Latin for "let the buyer beware". A while back, I traded for a Little Lulu DVD at a used bookstore in town. I finally got around to playing it last night, and, well, let's just say that Genius Products, which released this DVD in 2005, can be accused of false advertising.

The back cover text to the DVD suggests that there is material from the 1995 Little Lulu series produced for HBO and starring comedienne-singer Tracey Ullman. However, no such material is to be had. Instead, there are 8 shorts, produced in the 1940's by Famous Studios (Paramount). Now, I'd never seen any of these when I was younger, perhaps a rare commodity in that Famous/Paramount's other series (i.e. Popeye, Superman) were readily available on cable. Jackson Beck, the voice of Bluto in the Popeye shorts, and the narrator of Superman's 1966 TV series, is the voice of Lulu's dad in the short, "Chick & Double Chick":



My first exposure to Lulu was in some comics released by Gold Key back in the 70's. As with the books, these cartoons remain faithful to creator Marjorie Buell's vision. After Paramount lost the rights to Lulu, they created their own Lulu clone in Playful Little Audrey, who would also appear in comics herself, with Harvey, in the 60's & 70's.

Rating: A.

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