"Balloon Land" (1935) Ub Iwerks ComiColor Cartoon

[fringeelements]

I think the metaphor is pretty clear. Try to pop people's bubble, and they'll mob you and cover you with shit.

[paisleystreet]

Out of sync...

[GunnarMcGriff]

Why does the Pincushion Man have that gigantic needleboner sticking up at all time?

[DoAction]

This was after Ub left Disney studios.

You know, I took my nephews to Disney World the other day, where we went into an exhibit called Disney: One Man's dream or something like that. They mentioned a lot of Iwerks' more notable Disney cartoons such as "Plane Crazy" and "Steamboat Willy". They mention his many innovations such as multi plane dimensional animation, but never mention the man's name.

Ub Iwerks. The man behind Mickey. Most influential animator of all time.

[manwithouthat44]

-part 3 - ....but the atmosphere was so scary with shadows and the vibe was this is serious. You dont think for yourself when youre a kid, you just take wathever the vibe is. It is when youre grown up and you look back at some toon like this you think ".......actually, when you think of it. that is pretty disturbing.......for kids"

[manwithouthat44]

-part 2 - So for example when theres someone killing and torturing other people like this toon or tom and jerry but theres a happy tune in the background and the atmosphere is funny or happy, kids will be happy and funny. There were other films that disturbed as a kid, but that was more because if was very real and you could sense from the vibe/atmosphere that it was meant to be scary but there wasnt anything real cruel happening. Just one murderer and in the end he got arrested. -part 2

[manwithouthat44]

To the people who say this is cruel disturbing and stuff. Me myself I saw this toon many times as a kid and I never got really scared or scarred by it. There were othher films that disturbed me but not this one. I think the thing with kids is that you cant really think logically, you can only feel vibes and atmospheres, you cant really think for yourself. -part 1

[GabeV08]

My fav cartoon, i remember seeing this as far back as i can rememger

[marshlm1989]

OMG I remember watching this when I was younger!!!!

[Scullnblades]

I actually think this would be a great idea for a full length feature film, the pin cushion man is a beast villain.

[navpat09]

@ 0:05 to the right , What the hell is that! looks like something to me?! subliminal messages XD

[luridplanet]

If pins are outlawed, only outlaws will have pins.

[nighthunter30]

@luridplanet same as gun here

[AksZ09]

It's kind of sad Ub Iwerks is not known or something like Ugh! He's actually the one who invented Mickey Mouse, whoa!!!

[TheHUMANIDEE]

Subliminal messages =

0:14 'kill' written in balloons

0:28 bomb head character

0:32 one-legged seedy looking baby

0:46 muddy tap character handing out water scene

1:00 bread machine with one eye, processing flattened people

[BLEAHGames124365]

I think I saw a penis balloon in the beginning.

[serbcommander]

And Oscar for best Cartoon cast ever goes to.................DOORMAN at 3:20

[pienipaha]

That's prettu cruel when you think about it. Poor balloon people. Cool cartoon though. Haven't seen this one before.

[dfarmbrough]

Well if they didn't want to be popped, they oughtn't to have been made of balloons!

[svgamevidsmk2]

This doesn't hold up at all to modern animation such as the CAD animated series you can really see where technological progress has brought us and how stupid people back then must have been when all they had was Gisnep cartoons

[luridplanet]

@svgamevidsmk2 You still need good artists and writers no matter how far technology has advanced.

[WendyAnn420]

i remember this from when i was little..it was my favorite!!

[w00tcake]

This is so very distant familiar to me, I'm sure I've seen this before loooong ago.

[DragonSkinner]

This was the only cartoon I wouldn't watch at my grandparent's when I was a kid....years later....it still freaks me out....

[albinocify]

@DragonSkinner lol this is my 1st time watching this.. and it's.. creepy x__x lol but it's still good :D

[UkuFromHell]

Wow, I've finally found it! :D

When I was a small kid, I watched that cartoon on VHS several times.

Thanks for the upload!

[SkieBluFox]

I lol'd at the balloon people who resembled Laurel and Hardy.

[thewben]

this cartoon was so acary for me !

[HamonLord]

man watching the battle scene was awesome. TAKE THAT, PIN CUSHION MAN! That's for terrorizing the innocent balloon people!

[MrWms1980]

for some reason the sequence at 6:23 made me think of the Balrog from Fellowship of The Ring

[balloonyangel]

OMG. I suddenly feel guilty about popping balloons!

[ohnololohnololohno]

This is bringing back so many memories.

[nshaboo101]

gosh i love these freaking cartoons.....

[zenarcher99]

i guess tim burton got inspired by this one. the nightmare before xmas

[Thataswellwillpass]

Balloon land is a pretty cool guy. eh filled with air and not afraid of the pin cushion man.

[DudeL26710]

The Pin Cushion Man: the most lovable serial killer ever.

[jackrenter]

im here because of merlins shop of mystical wonders.

which a mystery science theater 3000 episode featured.

[purplelilferret]

erm... pause at 0:06 and look at the pink ballon on the right side O_O

[blaise998]

1.Watch while on acid

2.Trip balls

3.???????

4.Profit

[vgcatslol]

Does this remind anyone of the song Fixxxer by Metallica?

[kragoraaahh]

WAT

[DOYLERULES69X]

Why would a good and loving God create such a creature as the pin cushion man?

[gween]

@DOYLERULES69X So we could tell right from wrong eventually.

[PandaMishima]

@DOYLERULES69X

Personally I think God has a major sense of humor. The PCM may be the bad guy, but it's hard to really hate someone who has such a good time popping the stupid balloon people.

[Omnywrench]

@DOYLERULES69X "Good and loving god". How naive you mortals are.

[1mpr0vinG]

That Pin Coushin Man seems like a decent guy.

[bunnywailer14]

That was terrifying...

[EminemFan202]

Ah effort, honest to God effort!

[pinkweeker]

I can't get over the rather large and strategically placed needle in the front of pin cushion man.

[Familygirl17]

How does one twist a chin?

[krucifixhorrorcore]

@Familygirl17 excellent question

[Shaman145]

It's amazing to think that so many people think Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse and the credit for such a historical creation doesn't go to Iwerks. I suppose it's easier to remember a charismatic businessman than an actual artist.

[Samkoolkid14]

I want a balloon duck!

[Familygirl17]

0:29 Whoever let a guy like THAT be the gatekeeper?

[Familygirl17]

1:15

I can't believe he said "rip your skin"!

[HyperSonicXtreme]

3:51

Epic fail

[TheSaintGamer]

Yknow, If that was people instead of balloons, then this would basically be a slasher cartoon.

[PandaMishima]

@TheSaintGamer

True, but even Freddy Kreuger never had as much fun as the Pincushion Man doing people or balloons in.

[kristell9]

I remember seeing this in an old PeeWee Hermann episode.

[vicente89zente]

75 year ago... amazing!

[WindowshadeCure]

Hey, it's the Pincushion Mahn! But where's Mah Freen Ami?

[SkittlekittenNG]

Out of syncccc

[Josh3455]

This cartoon seems pretty perverted.

[freetinnies]

Folks all hate me, how they hate me, tickles me the way they RAPE me!

[matthewtoo]

@freetinnies lol

[SpiritoftheEmperor]

is it just my computer or is the synching off?

[LORDBOJANGLES]

@SpiritoftheEmperor the synch is indeed off.

[lolowahine95]

ub iwerks mother was my 2/3 greats grandma (:

i have some of her old credit cards and such (:

it's so cool that my family made things like this.

[honeyhunter111]

@lolowahine95 You didnt do shit stop corrupting his legacy

[jackhillty]

an allegory on the creation and manifestations of terrorism? or just good clean fun?

[SynertiaNB]

in which cartoon was the theater set-up with the people in it with the guy who dances and then gets pull by a stick ???

[DarkL1]

Is it just me or is the sound out of sync?

[whxre06]

the pin cushion man has a big boner that he keeps on touching.

[MrBlackmambo]

Never saw this one! Fantastic cartoon! Wow!! 5 stars! Thanks for adding this 1!!

[Xtro2005]

In short cartoons have become a tool to program children with.

[Xtro2005]

keep holding hands like that and you could probably kill him with static charge.

[Dgile]

the pin cushion man raped me :'<(

and nobody believed it

[SweetBrwnSuga]

this cartoon used to scare the shit outta me

[thalazar]

why are these old cartoons so much better than the new ones?

[FranzGrrl]

@ thalazar

Because older cartoons took time and effort and talent to make. Now people just draw some crap on their computer and effortlessly animate it and rely on stupidity for humor.

[thalazar]

amen to that

[TehNoun]

@FranzGrrl

You're saying that as if there were no bad cartoons in the 30s but somehow everyone is now incapable of making an even remotely acceptable cartoon. I sense the Nostalgia Filter.

[FranzGrrl]

@TehNoun I'm so sick of everyone and "The Nostalgia Filter". Yes, there were bad cartoons in the 30's. There may be some good cartoons now. The statement wasn't supposed to mean every single cartoon ever made. I stopped watching...TV in general I guess back when I was 13 or 14 because nothing really suited my interests. I find older cartoons much more entertaining because they don't rely soley on crude humor to get you to laugh and I like older animation better.

[FranzGrrl]

@TehNoun PS I can't be nostalgic about this because I wasn't alive in the 1930's to watch it.

[TehNoun]

@FranzGrrl

Sorry about that. I don't know why I thought you were from the 30's. *brain fart*

[TeamRocket2010]

@FranzGrrl THANK YOU!!

[Lightice1]

@FranzGrrl That's hardly all there is to it. It's simply that they're old; the bad stuff of the time has been gracefully forgotten, and most have been destroyed as worthless. Only the good stuff remains for us to wonder. 50 years from now people will compare today's classics to their fluff and complain about the same thing.

[King1N]

@thalazar

Creative freedom.

[FanMa5ter]

@thalazar because education is taking over the cartoon industry. : / like "backyardigans" and "little einsteins"

[aflowboarder]

@thalazar because drugs weren't illegal then. ;)

[Catterpillala]

@thalazar they got fantasy, you know...

[dfarmbrough]

@thalazar Because people worked hard and cared.

[pienipaha]

@thalazar

There's also the phenomenon known as pussification. They've gotten kinda censorhappy, which in turn forces movie makers to be more careful. And then there's the moral panics that overprotective adults get into... Animation age ghetto also has issues.. they think that all animated things should be family friendly or aimed at young children especially.

Now, it's true that kids tend to get scared sometimes rather easily, but it doesn't mean they get scarred for life when they do...

[thalazar]

@pienipaha the question was rhetorical

[TheHUMANIDEE]

@pienipaha i beg to differ. sometimes they ARE scarred for life.

[pienipaha]

@TheHUMANIDEE

I never even implied that there are no children who can not get severely traumatized by what they see. I know better than that. I'm just saying that most of the time adults underestimate what children can take.

Another problem is the animation age ghetto, that is to say people who think animation should or is always intended for young children, even though this is not the case. One should consider the material and who it is the aimed audience.

[GabeV08]

@thalazar cuz they have a point or lesson thats of actual value

[artistandy77]

when i was young, we enjoyed so much being scared of and entertained by these magical yet real creatures like tigers, lions, bears, rhinos, elephants, girraffes, octopi, giant squids....now that magical world is dissappearing forever, as there are about 500 tigers left alive in the wild, etc...

[eigi717]

ohh.. I missed this cartoon... thanks for uploading :D

[XxKibaTheHunterxX]

This cartoon used to scare the Shit out of me!

[lawsec]

Does anyone notice anything strange on the Title section...0:04. I believe I see two things that should not be there. Just happened to catch my eye.

[jdough789]

I see them too. I'm sure it was unintentional. lol

[slowwgirl]

yes i have its a balloon penis hehhe

[Twigs47]

Omg! Thanks for uploading this! I had this on video as a kid!! :D

[friendsfamilyaccount]

I remember this from Matinee at the Bijou as a kid. This is great!

[Panditha666]

long live the true creator of mickey mouse!

[GELTONZ]

XD You know...Pincushion Man's design...I know it's supposed to be a giant safety pin but...WOW DOES THAT LOOK WRONG! XD

[EminemFan202]

This cartoon is better than the shit they put on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon's line ups

[Pizzo12]

The Pincushion man looks like he's going to have to choke a bitch.

[judyleeverro1]

still love this one!

[DarkwingDork]

2:42 Hey, the Pincushion Man laughs just like Freddy Krueger does! I wonder if Robert Englund had seen this cartoon as a kid.

[artistandy77]

BRILLIANT!!!!!!! AND BEAUTIFUL!!! is it just a misperception of mine that that this era was a more innocent time? it sure seems that way.

[slacknhash]

I fear so. Given the political climate in Germany at the time, the levels of racism in the more enlightened democracies...

But I'm getting of the point, obviously. There is a level of craftsmanship in cartoons like this that you don't often see nowadays.

[artistandy77]

are you one o' thm thar libruls? hahaha...yeah, if only we could return to a time when women knew their place and werent all uppity to want to vote, and kids could work all day long with dangerous factory machinery...no, seriously, i could be wrong. but as enlightened as humans may have become since this cartoon was made, the world simply has crept further from the garden of eden through relentless urban sprawl, massive species extinction, environmental pollution, electronic sensory pollution..

[TruKriegsaffeNo9]

That'd be a pretty bad idea. Most of the pollution we have to deal with now got its kickstart Back In The Day. It used to be that cities were barely-inhabitable hellholes choked by smog--there was even a time when "the Stink" in London got to be a nearly-physical problem.

Sheer inertia is why we're still polluting now. That and reliance on oil as a fuel source.

[fuzzywzhe]

> Sheer inertia is why we're still polluting now. That

> and reliance on oil as a fuel source.

No.

We pollute far more now than we ever did, we just dump it where human beings don't live - which is why eating dolphin meat is hazardous to your health - all dolphins have mercury poisoning today.

The ocean has become our landfill, and when that dies, we all die, because it's also where 85% of the planet's oxygen is generated.

[PandaMishima]

Well, all that's true, but it was an age when such happily destructive cartoons could be made and shown without excessive worry about its effort on kids. These days you have to have messages in everything, whether it's Save the Rain Forest, or being MultiCulturally Aware or some such thing.

It is more important to be Politically Correct than to just have some good clean fun, *sigh*

[artistandy77]

that era had a care-free air, (as much as i can recall from my indirect exposure through my grandparents attitudes)

its kind of like when you get a big paycheck, for the first little while, you feel like you can spend freely on pleasures without regret or guilt or concern, because...like roosevelt going to africa to shoot every bizzarre beautiful wild animal he sees to bring home. but now we need to start being frugal and concerned and rebuilding the dying diversity of life on earth or else.

[tonyy0]

This scared the fucking shite out of me as a child and it still gives me the chills now...

[artistandy77]

i was probably just in the right place at the right time to feel like this was part of a more innocent time...middle class white family in nice clean wholesome prosperous neighborhood...all-whiter vacation camps where race wasnt an issue...because there was no presence of other races to have to even consider...all unquestioning christian parents and grandparents.. and i think the abundant and naively, seemingly inexhaustable beauty and mystery of the natural world fed these peoples imaginations

[Sreggaematic09]

clean wholesome, prosperous neighborhood?

IT WAS THE FUCKING 1930's!!! PEOPLE WERE STARVING, UNEMPLOYED, AND depressed!

get a history lesson, foo

[artistandy77]

wow. you need to read more thoroughly. if you re-read my comment, you might understand what i was saying.

the "wholesome, clean prosperity" was partly an illusion for my particular family's somewhat eletist, exclusionary segment of society, and also, simple gratitude for living conditions which were still better than countries which cant seem to ever escape the vicious cycle of carnage , oppression, and famine.

the cartoon is an escape into a happy illusion but also a reflection of one.

[artistandy77]

it may seem wildly unrelated to this cartoon, but i also believe that the prolific variety of strange and colorful species and wilderness areas on earth back then before so much of it was extinguished by human "progress" fed the bizzarre imaginings of the artists who made this piece of art.

[PandaMishima]

But balloons don't have to eat anything.

[DSX147]

I remember watching this on some kind of compilation tape with other great cartoons.

[EminemFan202]

yea i remember a tape like that, it had the 3 little pigs and a superman cartoon to best of my knowledge.

[LastTree]

OMG I loved this cartoon.

[missymiss209]

omg this was one of my most favorite childhood cartoons! i had the VHS along w/ some classic casper episodes! gosh i wish i knew where it's was.

[mothgirlwings]

U B Iwerks was sooo talented and he is the one who "invented" Mickey Mouse, not Walt Disney - while he was working at the Disney Studios.

[theleterminator]

Why would they put such an incompetent man to guard the only door into balloon town! WHY!

[PandaMishima]

They're balloons, and thus airheads.

[zincink]

:D :D :D i love this! thanks for sharing! lots of laughs

aduck! hahahah quak!

[Dunja0712]

Oh, I loved this cartoon sooo much when I was a child! And I've been looking for it for months. I have it taped on VHS, but I have no idea where it is. Thank you so much. :)

[bigmetroid]

Oh God, I've been looking for this for months!

Thank you! A million times over, thank you!

[dude482953]

ub iwerks used to work with walt disney for a short while

[10INTM]

Anybody recognize the voice of the Pin Cushion Man? In the old Disney cartoons he was the voice of the Big Bad Wolf and Black Pete (that big cat that would usually hassle Donald or Mickey).

[SIMPFANN]

The voice belongs to a guy named Billy Bletcher, who did voices in tons of cartoons for both Disney and Warner Brothers.

[MislaidAlbum]

THE PIN CUSHION MAN! *screams and hides*

[collin1374]

what the.....fuck!!!!!!!!!!!

[Panditha666]

how dare you insult the creator of mickey mouse in this way end your life now! you have no reason to live!!

[TheXVadimirXDarknes]

wow a little over the top there. ; )

[Panditha666]

hey respect must be given to the guy that MADE disney wht he is now!

[PandaMishima]

Hey, this stuff is a MILLION times better than Mickey!

[lisatime]

the pin cushion man ruined my child hood.

[ehenocka]

The soundtracks has some variations on "The Cameraman's Revenge."

[EminemFan202]

I loved this cartoon when I first saw it, 'cept that pin cushion man gave me nightmares. LOL!

[Fightnight92]

I always wondered why the pinman didn't just stick a pin in the floor and bedone with the whole world.

[PandaMishima]

Because that's not nearly as much fun as chasing all the idiotic balloon people around and popping them.

[Alos21]

pure awsomeness...today crap lacks originality!

[OfficialMC2]

I love the Pincushion Man's laughs, I'm gonna be emulating those for a while.

[Gameguru162]

does the pic cushion guy have a dick??? great cartoon btw:)

[frankdiddly]

If he's a Pincushion "GUY" I guess he would!!!

Hahaha!

[princesskiwi15]

its so demented

I LOVE IT!!

[wassherface69]

God, this is so scary. lol. I love it!

[madhi8]

Yawn

[christieleelah]

WOW!! thank u for uploading this video it was my absolute favorite as a kid and still is!

[imanerd36]

The first time I saw this(and to this day) it scares the hell out of me. Just so creepy.

[sassytangerine]

The goofy balloon with the crossed eyes and messed up teeth cracks me up everytime.

[AcidCakes]

Gotta love these rubber hose cartoons = )

[KorparnasTid]

This reminds me of a cartoon I saw a long time ago and have been trying to find. It takes place in a city full of instruments and I think the king is a big saxophone. Any one know what I'm talking about?

[bdog1987]

I think its disney's silly symphony "Music Land". Hope this helps :)

[KorparnasTid]

Yesss thank you! It's such a brilliant cartoon :)

[misslatinlove]

i think its called music land cartoon. look it up here on youtube

[aladaube]

My kid has this on an old low-budget VHS tape. We both dig it and sometimes do a few of the exchanges, like:

- That Pincushion Man, he's a fake!

- So, you're not afraid of pins? HA HA HA HA!

I always planned to digitize it because it's such an amazing piece of pre-psychedelia, but after finding it on YouTube I needn't bother.

Thanks to the uploader. I find this has the best color and sharpness of the various versions here, even if the audio is a little out of sync.

[mishashana]

this cartoon made me blast from the past..lol

i used to watch this when i was in 5th grader

[robertwmartens]

Massacre - such a fun subject for a cartoon!

[BondoFox]

My kids got this on a tape of cartoons in the 80's. I'd seen it before, so imagine my shock and surprise when I saw it'd been censored -- the words "Pincushion Man", every instance, had been cut out!

What on EARTH was up with *that*??

[WhoseLineFanXD]

Why would they censor the words Pincushion Man?

[BondoFox]

That's what I asked. I have no idea.  But they did.

[WhoseLineFanXD]

It's gonna bug me forever now! :[

[WindowshadeCure]

ARFENHOUSE!!!!1