Buccaneer Woodpecker

Buzz Buzzard’s panicked escape in “Buccaneer Woodpecker” (1953) reminds me of a scene in “Alley to Bali” the following year. Body parts stretch, and multiples and brush strokes are used to indicate speed. Here’s a good example.



Both this cartoon and “Bali” were directed by Don Patterson with his only credited animators being LaVerne Harding and Ray Abrams. I suspect he was doing some animation as well as directing. His cartoons featured stretchy characters.



And multiple pointed telescopic eyes.



Patterson directed until, for reasons that aren’t known, Lantz farmed out two cartoons to his brother’s studio, Grantray-Lawrence. Then Tex Avery arrived to direct his unit. Patterson never got it back when Avery left and he left Lantz by 1959 without directing another cartoon.