Bob Clampett's Beany and Cecil (ABC, 1962-67) ranks among the most beloved cartoon shows of the baby-boom era, and adults and kids will enjoy the 12 shorts in this collection. The animation is extremely limited and the plots are often thin, but neither matter. People watch these cartoons for the strings of wincingly terrible puns, the lively vocal characterizations, and the comic villainy of (nya-ha-ha) Dishonest John. In these selections, Beany, Cecil, and Captain Huffenpuff encounter beatnik artist Go Man Van Go, So What and the Seven Whatnots, and the Singing "Dinasor" (who inhabits the No Bikini Atoll). The animated Beany was based on Clampett's puppet series "Time for Beany," which began in 1949. The episodes and clips here suggest this program has aged less gracefully. Although it was both a critical and popular success in its day, black-and-white footage of hand puppets is unlikely to hold modern viewers' attention. Much of the disc (over three-and-a-half hours) is devoted to Clampett's long and distinguished film career, including intriguing tests for an animated version of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars novels and several never-realized programs, plus home movies, still photos, and an oral history. The material is interesting but viewers would probably prefer more cartoons. --Charles Solomon
