I'm a Stooges fan but anything photographed in b&w is obsolete (there's an entire generation of "film aficionados" who are clueless in regard to Laurel and Hardy. As an apprenticing archivist, my disgust is genuine but hardly infectious. Exempting AMC, cable channels are opting for sophomoric comedy that forfeits timing or talent [JERSEY SHORE anybody?]). I was fortunate to view the Stooges, when I was only 11 or 12, on the Spike Channel (screened a couple of classics, e.g. MEN IN BLACK, PUNCH DRUNKS, WOMAN HATERS [hardly qualifies for the same adulation as their lesser 2-reelers but it's one of my personal favorites], THREE LITTLE BEERS and POP GOES THE EASEL). I appreciate the inherent fetishism of SPACE SHIP SAPPY. But my libido was reformed by some subversive cartoons, including FISH TALES, a 1936 Looney Tune that has provoked some Freudian free-for-all on the internet. In a bit of role reversal, Porky Pig is reeled-in by an oversize fish and prepared as dinner (stripped, garnished, peppered and popped in the oven, an apple lodged in his mouth. The flames, literally dancing around the roaster, are a stroke of Sadean genius). I often fancied myself in the Porky Pig role. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJrMAYGUID8
Another cartoon that wielded further fetishistic influence was a Little King short titled DARKEST AFRICA (aka ON THE PAN). This early 'toon was likely banned from TV as a result of its racist content (I viewed it during a "lost 'toon" retrospect). Adhering to the FISH TALES motif, carnivores abduct a virginal waif; dinner preparations include stripping, garnishing, whipped cream, cooking. Yep, I fantasized about role-playing as a castaway who is prepped as a hot meal by the tribe. Check it out at
http://www.animationarchive.org/pics/onthepan.mov
I viewed these toons during my pre-adolescence; the "nudity", a naif-in-distress and the link to (non-violent) cannibalism proved pretty combustible; all of these components converged and have been indelibly linked in my mind. Tickling appeared to be an inevitable appendage to the venue (it would certainly manifest itself with the oiling, et al). Hence, the recurrent theme in my videos!
SPACE SHIP SAPPY may have subconsciously drawn viewers, on the advent of puberty, into the tickling fetish's erotic affluence. Thanks Moe, Larry...and Joe (
"I'll harm you!").