"The Tears of an Onion"

"The Tears of an Onion" is a Fleischer Color Classic released on 02/26/1938. This cartoon is notable for several reasons. First, it's the only Color Classic still protected by copyright. Because of that, it couldn't be included on "Somewhere in Dreamland" DVD collection, and it is relatively rare and unknown to many fans.

Another curiosity is the connection with a Harman-Ising cartoon "Poor Little Me" released three years earlier. Both cartoons share essentially the same plot and both have protagonists with "odor" problem (in H-I cartoon, main hero is a skunk). Even more interesting is the fact that one of the credited animators Joe Oriolo co-created Casper the Friendly Ghost several years later. "The Tears of an Onion" serves almost as a blueprint for all the typical Casper cartoons produced in late 40s and 50s. Most of the basic ingredients for Casper are already here, minus the ghost/horror component.

The main animator and de facto director of this cartoon, Dave Tendlar was responsible for some of the strongest entries in Color Classic series (including "Play Safe" presented here last week). According to animation historian and Fleischer expert Mark Langer, this cartoon persuaded Paramount executives that the Fleischer Studios had the talent to make a feature film that could compare with Disney's Snow White.

We are presenting this rare cartoon with the screenshots from an excellent quality print that has the original Paramount opening and closing titles.