Cultoons

Kool Penguins (1x4)

Udgivelsesdato: Jan 01, 1935

Kool Penguins (1935, 7:40) is the first commercial in this collection, announcing the arrival of a fun bunch of cartoon penguins who were intended, and would become, major mascots of the Kool Cigarette Company. As with the later PM Picnic in this collection, it’s films like this that really show how animation was essentially part of the adult culture back then. This would have been shown during a program for mature audiences in theaters, who would have lapped up cartoons just as much as a sophisticated comedy short or a newsreel, a far cry from today when companies are doing their best to cut smoking from family films and going as far as digitally altering children’s animation to remove traces of cigarettes. Despite being promotional, perhaps it was that fact that meant it had money spent on it: Kool Penguins certainly looks as good as any other cartoon of the time and it’s clear to see why smoking became the in-thing to be caught doing.