Short films – Noveltoons

Noveltoons is the name of a short animation series produced for Paramount Pictures, from 1943 to 1967. Here we look in which of them you can find turtles.

The Old Shell Game (Year: 1948)
100% turtle short. We see the turtle playing checkers with itself (as in The Big Flame Up), then for most of the rest of the time the wolf trying to catch and eat this turtle. At the very end, the hare from the story about the tortoise and the hare appears, informing the tortoise that he is in the wrong animation .

The Big Flame Up (Year: 1949)
A firefighter turtle is shown, playing checkers with himself – using his shell as a board/having the board unfolded on its shell, and turning it alternately, so that once the head and hands come out of one side of the board, then on another.

A Haunting We Will Go (Year: 1949)
The turtle appears in one scene, walking slowly, but when ghost Casper greets him, he runs away in terror, at super speed.

The Case of the Cockeyed Canary (Year: 1952)
Little Audrey, investigating, asks the turtle for an alibi, he explains that he was watching TV, we can see the antenna coming out of his shell and how he is looking at the TV inside.

Winner by a Hare (Year: 1953)
The first of four animations featuring Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare, another incarnation of the classic couple from The Tortoise and the Hare story. This time, unusually, we have two races in one animation! In the first, the turtle wins, he additionally made a bet and won a lot of money. The second race, which takes up most of the animation, is won by the hare – even though he makes every effort to ensure that the turtle wins, because this time he also bet on it. The punch line is the turtle receiving a huge win, because he bet on the hare in the second race. Perhaps obvious, the whole animation is full of turtle scenes.

The Oily Bird (Year: 1954)
Very small role, a turtle is shown going to sleep, putting an empty bottle out of his shell, probably for the milkman.

Rabbit Punch (Year: 1955)
Another duel between Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare, this time boxing. Also this one ends with a turtle winning – thanks to the turtle breaking the fourth wall and using the script of the episode.

Sleuth But Sure (Year: 1956)
We meet Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare again, this time the first one is a detective, chasing Moe, who is escaping from prison. By default, whatever the hare would do, the turtle is ultimately the top.

Mr. Money Gags (Year: 1957)
Last animation starring Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare. This time the turtle comes to town, where Moe tries to trick him in various ways. Typically, the turtle is on top.

Turning the Fables (Year: 1960)
The turtle appears throughout the whole animation. His opponent is a hare, so this can be considered a reference to the story of the tortoise and the hare. The hare tries to trick the turtle and take the uranium sample he has found, in theory he even succeeds – but it turns out that the turtle was a part of a scam to encourage prospectors to spend money on rights to worthless pieces of land, so the turtle, in a way, win.

Turtle Scoop (Year: 1961)
Another variation about the story of The Tortoise and the Hare, but this time with differents characters than in the above four animations. They are both photographers working in the editorial office and tasked with taking a picture of the rocket taking off. As in the above stories, however, the pattern in which the turtle wins was retained, largely due to the fact that the actions taken by the hare to harm him, turns to the reptile’s advantage.

Author: XYuriTT