A couple of clips from the very first Sesame Street:

The debut of (orange) Oscar the Grouch. Note that this is the first actor to play Gordon, Matt Robinson.

Aaaand, the closing credits from that first episode.

This commercial was burned into my brain way back when, to the point where I would sing it all the time — even though we never bought the product. Ah, the power of advertising.

I’m not sure how much longer this is free, but at Google Video you can watch a handful of old “The Mighty Hercules” episodes like this one. And if you REALLY want to relive your childhood Saturdays, skip the atrocious new opening and closing titles and go here for the real thing.

Animation ID: The Worst Looney Tunes Ever

The CBC is pulling the plug on reruns of Mr. Dressup, the beloved Canadian childrens series. The show had been out of production for 11 years, and Ernie “Mr. Dressup” Coombs died in 2001. Still, it seems like this show (and Friendly Giant) could find a home on Treehouse. BUT only if Casey and Finnegan [...]

Greenbriar Picture Shows has a pretty good article on the decline of theatrical animation in the 60s. He’s entitled to his opinion on the work of Hanna-Barbera and the Pink Panther (I disagree with his assessments); but I do think it’s in good taste as a critic to have actually SEEN what you deign to [...]

At YouTube, the last Warner Bros. cartoon of the theatrical era, from 1969. Talk about going out with a whimper.

(EDIT: Does anybody know why embedding YouTube links doesn’t work in WordPress?)
(MORE EDIT: The tip on this page doesn’t work.)
(EDIT AGAIN: Fixed it. Just have to disable the Rich Text Editor.)

Cartoon Brew has the big news: a proper Popeye DVD release is forthcoming, thanks to Time Warner and King Features hammering out an agreement.
They’ll start with the original Max Fleischer cartoons, which makes sense, I guess. Frankly, I think I prefer the Famous Studios cartoons — they just seem a little more lighthearted. (These aren’t [...]