American animated television series
Clutch Cargo
is an American
animated
television series
created by cartoonist
Clark Haas
and produced by
Cambria Productions
,
[1]
syndicated beginning on March 9, 1959.
[2]
The series was notable for its
limited animation
yet imaginative stories,
[3]
as well as for being the first widely-known use of
Syncro-Vox
technology.
Plot
[
edit
]
The series' stories centered on adventurer Clutch Cargo, who was sent around the world on dangerous assignments. Accompanying him on the assignments were his young ward Spinner and his pet
Dachshund
Paddlefoot. Live-action footage of a 1929
Bellanca
C-27 Airbus
was used; series creator Clark Haas was previously a jet pilot.
[4]
Episodes were produced and serialized in five 5-minute chapters each. The first four chapters ended in cliffhangers, with the fifth chapter concluding the adventure. Haas explained that the show was formatted this way so that "the stations can run one a day on weekdays, then recap the whole for a half-hour Saturday show."
[5]
Production technique
[
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]
The show was the first to use the "
Syncro-Vox
" optical printing system because of budgetary limitations and the pressure to create animation within a tight time frame.
[6]
Syncro-Vox was invented by
Edwin Gillette
, television cameraman and partner in Cambria Studios, as a means of superimposing real human mouths on the faces of animals for the popular "talking animal" commercials of the 1950s.
Clutch Cargo
employed the Syncro-Vox technique by superimposing live-action human lips over limited-motion animation or even motionless animation cels.
To further cut costs, Gillette and special-effects man Scotty Tomany supplemented Syncro-Vox with other tricks to save time and money. Haas explained, "We are not making animated cartoons. We are photographing 'motorized movement' and?the biggest trick of all?combining it with live action...Footage that
Disney
does for $250,000 we do for $18,000."
[4]
Gillette and Tomany simulated action in the real-time movement either with the camera or within the cel itself. Other live-action shots were superimposed as a means of adding a certain degree of realism and to keep production costs down; for example, footage of real smoke was used for explosions.
[7]
Traditional animation was also employed in the series on occasion.
The musical soundtrack to
Clutch Cargo
was also limited. Jazz musician
Paul Horn
provided a score using bongos, a vibraphone, and a flute.
Episodes
[
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]
The series consisted of 52 episodes.
[8]
- The Friendly Head Hunters
- The Arctic Bird Giant
- The Desert Queen
- The Pearl Pirates
- The Vanishing Gold
- The Race Car Mystery
- The Rocket Riot
- Mystery in the Northwoods
- Twaddle in Africa
- The Lost Plateau
- The Ghost Ship
- The Rustlers
- The Missing Train
- The Devil Bird
- Pipeline to Danger
- Mister Abominable
- Operation Moon Beam
- Air Race
- The Haunted Castle
- The Elephant-Nappers
- Dragon Fly
- Sky Circus
- The Midget Submarine
- Cliff Dwellers
- Jungle Train
- Space Station
- The Swamp Swindlers
- The Dinky Incas
- Kangaroo Express
- The Shipwreckers
- The Ivory Counterfeiters
- Dynamite Fury
- Alaskan Pilot
- Swiss Mystery
- Pirate Isle
- Crop Dusters
- The Smog Smuggler
- Global Test Flight
- Dead End Gulch
- The Missing Mermaid
- Flying Bus
- Road Race
- Feather Fuddle
- Water Wizards
- The Terrible Tiger
- The Circus
- Bush Pilots
- Cheddar Cheaters
- The Blunderbird
- The Case of Ripcord Van Winkle
- Fortune Cookie Caper
- Big "X"
Home video
[
edit
]
Clutch Cargo
home media releases
DVD name
|
Episodes
|
Release date
|
Additional information
|
Volume 1
|
26
|
March 22, 2005
|
- The Story of
Clutch Cargo
- Clutch Memorabilia
- Clutch & Company: Mini-biographies and details of the cast
- 1959 Facts and Trivia
- Bonus Syncro-Vox Cartoon episode
|
Volume 2
|
26
|
March 22, 2005
|
- The Making of
Clutch Cargo
- Politically Incorrect
- As Seen in
Pulp Fiction
- 1959 Trailers
- Bonus Syncro-Vox Cartoon Episode
|
In 1996, a live music venue named after the series, Clutch Cargo's, opened in
Pontiac, Michigan
,
[9]
but it closed in November 2013 with the site returning to its original use as a church.
[10]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
MeTV Staff.
"8 lip-smacking facts about Clutch Cargo"
.
Me-TV Network
.
Archived
from the original on September 11, 2018
. Retrieved
January 25,
2021
.
- ^
Woolery, George W. (1983).
Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981
. Scarecrow Press. p.
70
.
ISBN
0-8108-1557-5
. Retrieved
March 14,
2020
.
- ^
Markstein, Don.
"Clutch Cargo"
.
Don Markstein's Toonopedia
. Retrieved
March 6,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Margaret Kerry: Memorabilia & Collectibles
Archived
May 13, 2006, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Don't believe your eyes! How 'Clutch Cargo' cuts corners as a television comic strip."
TV Guide
December 24, 1960, p. 29.
- ^
Perlmutter, David (2018).
The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows
. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 130.
ISBN
978-1538103739
.
- ^
Erickson, Hal (2005).
Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003
(2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 206?207.
ISBN
978-1476665993
.
- ^
Collier, Kevin Scott (2019).
Clutch Cargo's Adventure Log Book
.
ISBN
978-1092645546
.
- ^
"Clutch Cargo's"
.
metromix detroit
. Archived from
the original
on February 23, 2012.
- ^
"Popular Concert Venue Clutch Cargo's Shutting Down"
.
CBS News Detroit
. November 7, 2013.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Arceneaux, Noah. “Clutch Cargo, Space Angel, etc.”
Outre
#5 (1996).
- Collier, Kevin Scott.
Clutch Cargo's Adventure Log Book
. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2019.
ISBN
1092645543
- "Don't believe your eyes! How 'Clutch Cargo' cuts corners as a television comic strip"
,
TV Guide
, December 24, 1960, pp. 28?29.
- Erickson, Hal.
Syndicated Television; The First Forty Years 1947?1987
. p. 119.
ISBN
0-7864-1198-8
- Haas, Clark.
"Clutch Cargo" (comic strip)
.
Jack and Jill
magazine, Feb. 1961, pp. 56?61.
- Terrace, Vincent.
Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots and Specials 1937?1973
. New York, New York Zoetrope. 1986. pp. 96?97.
ISBN
0-918432-69-3
External links
[
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]