Turner Classic Movies is adding animation to its lineup with CARTOON ALLEY, a new franchise hosted by TCMs weekend daytime host, Ben Mankiewicz, premiering at 11:30 am on Dec. 4, 2004, and repeating at various times throughout the month. The programming block includes three classic cartoons themed around a particular subject with Mankiewicz providing wraparounds for each.
Titles will be drawn from Turner Broadcastings library of more than 1,000 classic cartoon titles from MGM and Warner Bros. Many of the titles have rarely, if ever, been seen since their initial release, and each offers an amazing glimpse into the early years of the genre when animated shorts regularly preceded features films. Mankiewicz offers factoids about the particular cartoons and the genre in general during the wraps.
CARTOON ALLEY for Dec. 4 includes three Christmas-themed cartoons just in time for the holidays: THE PUPS CHRISTMAS (1936), directed by Rudolf Ising; PEACE ON EARTH (1939), which was nominated for the 1939 Nobel Peace Prize as well as a Best Short Subject Oscar; and the Tom and Jerry short, THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1941), which was also nominated for a Best Short Subject Oscar.
Turner Classic Movies (www.turnerclassicmovies.com), currently seen in more than 70 million homes, is a 24-hour cable network from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company. TCM presents great motion pictures from the largest film library in the world, the combined Time Warner and Turner film libraries, from the 20s through the 80s, commercial-free and without interruption.
