Cartoon
Clutch Cargo
The story
Clutch Cargo is an American animated television series created by cartoonist Clark Haas and produced by Cambria Productions, syndicated beginning on March 9, 1959. The series was notable for its limited animation yet imaginative stories, as well as for being the first widely-known use of Syncro-Vox technology.
Plot
The series' stories centered on the adventurer Clutch Cargo, who was sent around the world on dangerous assignments. Accompanying him on the assignments were his young 9 year old ward Spinner and his pet Dachshund Paddlefoot. Live-action footage of a 1929 Bellanca C-27 Airbus was used; series creator Clark Haas was previously a jet pilot.
The episodes were produced and serialized in five 5-minute chapters each. The first four chapters ended in cliffhangers, with the fifth chapter concluding the adventure. Haas explained that the show was formatted this way so that "the stations can run one a day on weekdays, then recap the whole for a half-hour Saturday show."
Production technique
The show was the first to use the "Syncro-Vox" optical printing system because of budgetary limitations and the pressure to create animation within a tight time frame. Syncro-Vox was invented by Edwin Gillette, television cameraman and partner in Cambria Studios, as a means of superimposing real human mouths on the faces of animals for the popular "talking animal" commercials of the 1950s. Clutch Cargo employed the Syncro-Vox technique by superimposing live-action human lips over limited-motion animation or even motionless animation cels.
To further cut costs, Gillette and special-effects man Scotty Tomany supplemented Syncro-Vox with other tricks to save time and money. Haas explained, "We are not making animated cartoons. We are photographing 'motorized movement' and—the biggest trick of all—combining it with live action...Footage that Disney does for $250,000 we do for $18,000." Gillette and Tomany simulated action in the real-time movement either with the camera or within the cel itself. Other live-action shots were superimposed as a means of adding a certain degree of realism and to keep production costs down; for example, footage of real smoke was used for explosions. Traditional animation was also employed in the series on occasion.
The musical soundtrack to Clutch Cargo was also limited. Jazz musician Paul Horn provided a score using bongos, a vibraphone, and a flute.
Episodes
The series consisted of 52 episodes.
The Friendly Head Hunters
The Arctic Bird Giant
The Desert Queen
The Pearl Pirates
The Vanishing Gold
The Race Car Mystery
The Rocket Riot
Mystery in the Northwoods
Twaddle in Africa
The Lost Plateau
The Ghost Ship
The Rustlers
The Missing Train
The Devil Bird
Pipeline to Danger
Mister Abominable
Operation Moon Beam
Air Race
The Haunted Castle
The Elephant-Nappers
Dragon Fly
Sky Circus
The Midget Submarine
Cliff Dwellers
Jungle Train
Space Station
The Swamp Swindlers
The Dinky Incas
Kangaroo Express
The Shipwreckers
The Ivory Counterfeiters
Dynamite Fury
Alaskan Pilot
Swiss Mystery
Pirate Isle
Crop Dusters
The Smog Smuggler
Global Test Flight
Dead End Gulch
The Missing Mermaid
Flying Bus
Road Race
Feather Fuddle
Water Wizards
The Terrible Tiger
The Circus
Bush Pilots
Cheddar Cheaters
The Blunderbird
The Case of Ripcord Van Winkle
Fortune Cookie Caper
Big "X"
Home video
In 1996, a live music venue named after the series, Clutch Cargo's, opened in Pontiac, Michigan, but it closed in November 2013 with the site returning to its original use as a church.