Hard Drinkin' Lincoln

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Hard Drinkin' Lincoln
Created byMike Reiss
Directed byXeth Feinberg
Voices ofJim Ward
Jocelyn Blue
Tress MacNeille
Maurice LaMarche
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes16
Production
Running timeapprox. 3 minutes
Original release
Release2000 (2000) –
2002 (2002)
Related
Happy Tree Friends

Hard Drinkin' Lincoln is a Macromedia Flash Internet cartoon series produced in 2000 for the Internet animation company Icebox.com. The series was created by Mike Reiss and directed by Xeth Feinberg. Unlike Reiss and Feinberg's later series for Icebox, Queer Duck, Hard Drinkin' Lincoln did not receive attention from other media outlets, but still received some coverage.[1][2][3][4]

Synopsis[edit]

The series portrays Abraham Lincoln (voiced by Jim Ward)[5] as a boorish alcoholic who enjoys pestering his wife Mary Todd Lincoln (voiced by Jocelyn Blue, later Tress MacNeille) and causing trouble during shows at Ford's Theatre.[6] Many episodes end with Hard Drinkin' Lincoln being shot by John Wilkes Booth (the main antagonist, voiced by Maurice LaMarche), often to the delight of bystanders.[7] Other historical figures who appear in the episodes include Jenny Lind, Mohandas Gandhi, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee and Frederick Douglass. Creator Reiss explained: "What makes me proud of 'Hard Drinkin' Lincoln' is that it's a totally undeserved attack. The comedy comes from the fact that this man did nothing to deserve this."[8]

Credits[edit]

  • Written & Created by: Mike Reiss[9][10][11]
  • Directed & Produced by: Xeth Feinberg[12]
  • Voices: Jim Ward, Jocelyn Blue, Maurice LaMarche, Kath Soucie, Kevin Michael Richardson, Tress MacNeille
  • Animation Director & Designer: Xeth Feinberg
  • Music by: Xeth Feinberg and Sam Elwitt
  • Theme Music by: Sam Elwitt
  • Executive Producer: Mike Reiss

Reception[edit]

Richard von Busack of MetroActive said that the series had witty "moments of humor" and praised the cartoons on Icebox.com, adding that he never heard the theme song of the series "without a surge of patriotism," adding that the animated series is "a reminder of the sacredness of the First Amendment."[13] Joshua Shenk of The American Prospect described the show as a "typical Lincoln image" and said that Lincoln, in the show, "is a blend of Homer Simpson and Kenny from South Park."[14] Academic Barry Schwartz described the show as one of the recent Lincoln spoofs which are "cut from the same cloth as ongoing museum controversies involving "transgressive" art."[15] Wired described the series as "improbable" and one of the company's entrances into a "crowded world of online animation entertainment sites"[16] and the Baltimore Sun said that critics and visitors have "raved over" the show.[17] Scott Bass of Streaming Media described the comedy of Mr. Wong and Hard Drinkin' Lincoln as "so edgy" that he could not "imagine seeing it on TV."[18]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Empty Cribs; An American in Israel; Net Tunes". CNN. August 10, 2000. Archived from the original on January 25, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  2. ^ Weinman, Jaime (February 1, 2012). "Can YouTube replace TV?". Macleans. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  3. ^ Hernandez, Eugene (November 29, 2000). "DAILY NEWS: Icebox.com and FOX, Blow Up and Redford; and IFC Goes North of the Border". IndieWire. Archived from the original on November 16, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  4. ^ Swanson, Tim (July 9, 2000). "Icebox". Variety. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  5. ^ Miller, Stephanie (2019). "Jim Ward". Stephanie Miller Show. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  6. ^ Schwartz, Barry (2008). Abraham Lincoln in the Post-Heroic Era: History and Memory in Late Twentieth-Century America. University of Chicago Press. p. 163. ISBN 9780226741901.
  7. ^ Brown, Thomas J (2011). Remixing the Civil War: Meditations on the Sesquicentennial. JHU Press. p. 9. ISBN 9781421403786.
  8. ^ Anthony, Ted (February 20, 2005). "Lincoln Belongs to the Ages -- and the Marketplace". LA Times.
  9. ^ Stike, Joe (July 16, 2006). "'Queer Duck': Coming Out on DVD". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  10. ^ Ball, David (March 30, 2000). "What Business Leaders Can Learn from The Simpsons". The Forecast. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  11. ^ Rich, Laura; Anderson, Lessley (March 30, 2000). "Forget Sundance -- Yahoo is the place to be". CNN. Archived from the original on April 17, 2008. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  12. ^ Robischon, Noah (March 30, 2000). "Cyber Digest". EW. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  13. ^ von Busack, Richard (August 30, 2000). "Emancipated Satire". MetroActive. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  14. ^ Shenk, Joshua (July 19, 2000). "The Myth of Lincoln, Reconstructed". The American Prospect. Archived from the original on October 23, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  15. ^ Schwartz, Barry (Winter 2003). "Lincoln at the Millennium". Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association. 24 (1): 1–31. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  16. ^ Wired Staff (July 19, 2000). "Cartoons Have Online Screen Tests". Wired. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  17. ^ Lu-Lien Tan, Cheryl (July 8, 2000). "'Wong' cartoon draws ire of Asian Americans". Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  18. ^ Bass, Scott (August 30, 2000). "Q&A With Steve Stanford of Icebox". Streaming Media. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 8, 2021.

External links[edit]