Blackboard Revue (1940) Online

Chalk stick figures awake at midnight, leave the black board and perform in a "Mayhem in the Classroom" revue in this Ub Iwerks cartoon released through Columbia.

The use of the simplified drawings and a black background is an interesting conceit, and appropriate for the idea of the cartoon, but I cannot help but wonder how much of it was impelled by budgetary concerns; the absence of background illustrations and the simple style of illustration must have been an enormous draw in Iwerks' last year as an independent cartoon producer/director, before he returned to work for his old boss, Walt Disney. It makes the cartoon seem tired and rote, even though the timing of vocal artist Mel Blanc is, as always, impeccable.