Shinbone Alley

Adapted from the “Archy and Mehitabel stories” by Don Marquis with screenplay based on the musical book “Shinbone Alley” by Joe Darion and Mel Brooks, this wonderful animated feature brings with it all the atmosphere and style of its original broadway production, and much more. Its uniqueness is in the ink and paint animation technique blended with a jazzy musical comedy style and an eclectic mix of character personalities including Archy (Eddy Bracken), the philosophic newspaper journalist who after drowning himself comes back as a cockroach reincarnate; Mehitabel (Carol Channing) the sassy, indomitable and occasionally scandalous alley cat and friend of Archy’s; Big Bill (Allen Reed, Sr.) top cat and hell-bent on winning the affections of Mehitabel; and Tyrone T. Tattersall (John Carradine) the charming theatre cat who just loves to ham it up. Whimsical, weird, funny, sometimes dark, but with a fabulous music score by George Kleinsinger supported by the Fine Arts Hollywood Orchestra conducted by George Kleinsinger, the film is more directed at the older child or teenage/adult level. The voice characterisations are simply superb, and the support cast, which includes Hal Smith, Joan Gerber, Ken Sansom, Sel Delano and the Jackie Ward singers as the alley cats, are terrific. Also features Byron Kane as the narrator.