Classic Cartoons: The Spook Fest

2024 / 60min / 16mm

This event coincides with our ongoing Saturday Afternoon Cartoons series featuring vintage animation, and shown in archival 16mm film prints from the personal collection of historian Tommy José Stathes. Beginning over 25 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 near the end of October with The Spook Fest, a selection of ancient animated shorts that are just right for Halloween. Come enjoy a creepy ghost story that interferes with an age-old love triangle; a sultry flapper's musical encounter with nighttime spirits at home; a famous cat rubbing elbows with a clever witch; a lovable little ghost trying to find friendship among the living; an evil spider's quest to decimate a couple of newlywed fleas, and more. Spanning the 1920s through to the ’50s, this assortment showcases classic characters such as Felix the Cat, Betty Boop, Popeye, Casper, and others.

Introduction and Q&A with cartoon curator and historian Tommy José Stathes on Wednesday, October 30th