My Darling Clemintine And Stuff Like That There

Yesterday I wrote about Saturday morning cartoons that I watched growing up, and I got distracted when I started thinking about Huckleberry Hound. Huckleberry Hound was cool. That’s the only way to describe him. Nothing fazed him. Where every other cartoon overreacted to his situation, ice wouldn’t melt in Huck’s mouth. I liked how he would “break character” by turning towards the camera and speaking to the audience directly. Back then everything was about the story. I don’t know if the show originally aired at nighttime, but the whole thing was a bunch of puns that were over a kid’s head, while still being funny for the kids. The best example that stuck with me – or scarred my brain – was the short where he was a dog catcher. That’s kind of twisted. The animation was barely animation. Huck was drawn almost like a hieroglyphic. I guess they were on a tight budget because none of the Hanna Barbera stuff even tried to look like the Disney stuff. Huck scrolled from right to left and from left to right. There was no third dimension. He was like an old school, 8-bit video game. I think my favorite part was his constant way off key wailing of “My Darling Clementine”. He never sang the right words, and he never sang it the same way twice. Even though Daws Butler, the voice actor who did Huckleberry Hound, is dead, and the voice was the whole thing, I think they should find someone who can get close to the drawl and make a Huckleberry Hound movie. I bet Tommy Lee Jones could get the cadence right. It could be about a sheriff in Texas, kind of like No Country For Old Men, but instead of worrying about retirement, he could focus completely on cleaning up the town. There wouldn’t be a wife because Huckleberry Hound is a straight up dawg before he’s anything. Quentin Tarantino could direct it. The technology is there. Look at Avatar. A single blue hound dog should be no problem at all.