Saturday Afternoon Cartoons: Kids Will Be Kids

2024 / 60min / 16mm

Saturday Afternoon Cartoons is New York City’s prime theatrical showcase of early and classic animated cartoons, shown in vintage 16mm film prints from the personal archives of historian Tommy José Stathes. Beginning over 20 years ago as a casual effort to find and see early cartoons that were unavailable on home video, Stathes’s collection has grown to become perhaps one of the largest of its kind. It includes many titles and “orphan films” that are difficult to access or view elsewhere.

Stathes joins Metrograph in early April with Kids Will Be Kids, a selection of vintage animated shorts that highlight the trials and tribulations of being a human child in a cartoon world. Come enjoy an ornery little boy wreaking havoc with a steam shovel, bedtime stories with a surrealist flair, a little girl getting caught in the middle of a stage show magic act, a discipline lesson for parents during the child-rearing years, and more. Spanning the 1910s through to the ’50s, this assortment showcases classic characters such as Bobby Bumps, Dinky Doodle, Willie Whopper, Betty Boop, Popeye, Little Lulu, Little Audrey, and others.

Featuring an introduction from and Q&A with Tommy Stathes on Saturday, April 6th.