Expert: debra - 6/4/2009

Question
when I was a kid growing up I used to watch these VERY VERY exotic and elaborate cartoons told in a very adult manner. No goofys, no funny talking animals, no slapstick. They  were so adult they were almost scary to me as a child. I was mesmerized. These fairy tales were like nothing I ever saw or seen since. Someone suggested that they may have been foreign and dubbed, like Polish, Czech, something very exotic. I can believe that. I have never found anything close on the web. I also recall them as being drawn in a very linear style, NOT fully rendered nor colorful like american cartoons.

Specifics: I saw them in the 50's in Los Angeles. Maybe they were saturday cartoons, but I think not. I seem to recall them being on a daily show like Engineer Bill or Sheriff John,,,my guess is Sheriff John. SURELY I'm not the only one who remembers these cartoons.

Answer
Hi Milt,

I must admit I have no idea about what you are talking about. I doubt anything like these made it to Australia. I did a search and found this site about an animator named John Sutherland. An excerpt from the site reads:

"John Sutherland worked as a assistant director for Disney before opening John Sutherland Productions in 1944 with the encouragement of Walt Disney. They specialized in writing and producing animation/live-action films and supportive print material during the remainder of the war years.
Soon thereafter, Sutherland began turning out animated industrial and propaganda films and was a place many animators went during periods of inactivity at the other animation studios during the 40s and 50s."

Have a look at this site : http://bibi.org/box/archives/cat_vintage.html?offset=80

There are links to video footage of some of his work. Im afraid if this isnt correct then Im stumped. I do hope this helped.

Cheers from down under
Deb