Monthly ArchiveAugust 2006



Animation Artifacts 21 Aug 2006 08:11 am

Calvin and the Colonel

– When I was younger it was an absolute thrill to see an animated series premiere in prime time. The very first one was The Flintstones. Hanna Barbera had succeeded with Huckleberry Hound and its spinoff shows (including Yogi Bear), and they made history with The Flintstones.

It didn’t take long for a second prime time show to premiere. Calvin and the Colonel was the darling of Charles Correll and Freeman F. Gosden who were the radio voices of Amos & Andy and had created the tv version of that show in early television. Once it was removed for racial profiling, they came up with an animated version of the same idea featuring cartoon characters.

I was as much taken by the list of artists who worked on the show as the show, itself. They were more WB & Disney people unlike the Hanna Barbera shows which initially seemed to use more of their MGM cohorts.

Look at these names in the credits: Chuck McKimson, Norm Gottfredson, Lee Mishkin, Phil Roman, John Sparey, Ben Washam, Tom McDonald, Volus Jones, Dave Weidman, Jim Davis, Bob Bemiller.
George Bruns scored the show – obviously while still working at Disney on 101 Dalmatians etc.
(Click on either image to enlarge.)

The show premiered on ABC, Oct 3, 1961 at 8:30 PM and was produced by TV Cartoons which became Creston Studios for the show. (See this page at Cartoon Modern for other animated spots by this company.)

Voices: Calvin Burnside (voiced by Correll) was a big, brown bear, amiable but not very bright. Colonel Montgomery J. Klaxon (Gosden) was a fox, who was clever and not very trustworthy. Klaxon’s wife, Maggie Belle (Virginia Gregg), and Maggie’s sister was Sister Sue (Beatrice Kay). Paul Frees played Oliver Wendell Clutch, a slippery lawyer. I was a Paul Frees junky as a kid, so this show was a must see in my home.

I was young enough for the show to have had an effect on me. I’ve bought some 16mm prints of the show to see it again (before anything was available on vhs) and even a couple of cels and drawings. All memorabilia more than anything.

By the way, Topcat was the third show to premiere in prime time. how innocent things were back then.

- Tom Sito has a nice reminiscence of Friz Freleng on his blog today to celebrate Fritz’ 100th birthday anniversary.

- This story in today’s NYPost: EMMYS ‘TOON UP NOSES AT ‘PARK’

In the showdown of animated comedies, “The Simpsons” won the Emmy this weekend for best cartoon show – beating one of the most controversial episodes ever of “South Park.”
Comedy Central nominated the much talked-about “South Park” epsiode “Trapped in a Closet,” which skewered Scientology and was pulled off the air under pressure from Tom Cruise.

“Well, I guess this is what happens when you don’t mock Scientology,” said “Simpsons” co-executive producer Al Jean said afterward.

- Tom & Jerry quit smoking This is the headline in a Guardian/UK story. Apparently, all of the scenes which include smoking in the cartoons are going to be excised.

Daily post 20 Aug 2006 08:07 am

The History Boys

On Friday night, I saw Alan Bennett‘s play, The History Boys. What a gem! The rare case when the awards went to the right show.

One might have expected the acting to be tired and working by rote. The entire cast had done the run in England, did it in Japan, filmed the movie, and now were deep into the Broadway run – 2 years later. I think LA is next. But no; they were absolutely incredible – every one of them. It was a truly great ensemble.

The two standouts were Richard Griffiths (you probably know him as Harry Potter‘s guardian) and Maggie Steed. She’s temporarily taken over the role for Frances de la Tour, but Ms. Steed could not have been better. She gave this performance everything. Mr. Griffiths gave a performance that can not be forgotten. What a brilliant actor! He’s been stuck in a lot of cartoonish character roles in film, but what an actor!
Richard Griffiths (photo by Joan Marcus)

He has two scenes in this play that break your heart – not just in sympathy for the character but also in empathy for what society is doing to our children in their poor education. He works on so many planes, it’s exciting.

And so does the author work on many planes. Richard Griffiths et al just interpreted.
Alan Bennett.

I have loved this man’s work for years. I’ve read all of his plays, his diaries and have seen all of his film work I was able to find. He is a brilliant, articulate, intelligent author who always has much to say about his characters and the human experience and condition.

Originally, a member of Beyond The Fringe with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller, he came to my attention with PBS’ airing of the Talking Heads plays: long monologues set to a one hour tv format. They were thoroughly engrossing and completely captivating. His The Madness of George III was as brilliant on stage as it was on screen. And now The History Boys. I’m not a writer, and I have no real words to describe the excellence I saw and felt. However, I do recognize genius, and this is it.

If only we could get Bennett to write something for animation. The medium certainly needs someone who can write instead of the immature scripts we have. Immature in all senses of the word.

Tickets to the show came as a birthday present (back in April) from my dear Heidi. The seats were incredible, sixth row on the aisle, and absolutely worth the wait.
The perfect production.

Animation Artifacts 19 Aug 2006 08:14 am

Windwagon Smith

– There’s a another good article by Floyd Norman on the Jim Hill Media site.

It’s a piece about Windwagon Smith, a reminiscence by Floyd about his work on the short. It includes several good stills and a couple of decent photos of animator, Art Stevens, with assistants, Craig Williams and Floyd, himself.

I’ve always had a soft spot in my memory for this film and have watched it quite a few times. It’s the heir to Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill. The songs and corniness of Pecos Bill and the interesting visuals of Paul Bunyan. It’s the graphics I enjoyed.

I remember going to the theater to see PT 109 when I was a kid. One short wase advertised with the feature: Symposium On Popular Song Imagine my confusion when the wrong short went on, Windwagon Smith. I was a fan of Ludwig Von Drake on tv and was curious to see how they did him for theaters, and I expected the eventual Oscar nominee. I was also a big fan of Bill Justice and Xavier Atencio, who were directing mixed-media and more individual, daring shorts at the studio. I sought out their work.

Here was Windwagon Smith. Eventually, the design of the film finally pulled me in. It was also so well crafted that I ended up loving it.

And, sure enough, Symposium On Popular Song came on after it. Two for the expectation of one! I held both dear in my memory even though I see the faults in both.

Both were included on the “Treasures” dvd recently released. Unfortunately, the versions are poorly handled. Scratches from the mediocre prints show up as well as not the best tracks. To get the commentary from the Sherman brothers for Symposium, you can’t just hit an alternate audio track; you have to go back to the menu, search for extras and start the film over again. Annoying and cumbersome, and the audio track doesn’t even offer enough information about the music to make it worthwhile. Too bad they couldn’t get Floyd Norman to speak about it. That would have been a “Treasure.”

I can’t quickly locate a couple of drawings I have from this film, so I’m posting a few frame grabs and will put up the drawings at another time.



- There’s an article in Sunday’s NYTimes by Charles Solomon about Full Metal Manga the anime quest film.

Animation &Animation Artifacts &Daily post 18 Aug 2006 08:32 am

Random Stops & Sidenotes

- I’ve been doing a little catch up on my site stops this week and have a couple of interesting ones to point out. You’ve probably all seen these since they’re posted on the bigger animation sites, but, in case you haven’t, take a look.

– Amid Amidi has posted a Flickr set of photos of artists who worked in animation in the 1950′s. This is a companion piece to his book, Cartoon Modern and gets me even more excited about reading this book. The photos are not your usual studio pictures. The one to the left, of Aurie Battaglia was just too interesting for me not to post. (It comes from the collection of John Canemaker.)

You can see some of Battaglia‘s children’s book work posted on Shane Glines’ Cartoon Retro. Follow the chatroom link about half way down for some beautiful art.

For more stills from his film, Meet the Inventor: Robert Fulton, go to Amid’s website, Cartoon Modern. (Boy does this guy have the goods.) I have a 16mm print of this short (undoubtedly magenta by now), and it still holds up – unlike so many of the shorts from the McBoing Boing series. The art is always brilliant, but the stories often drag. This film is not The Mysterious Moustache of Raoul Dufy, but it’s still sharp.

And, finally, there’s a strange note posted on i am provincetown by his niece.

- Tonight and tomorrow night in LA, the Hollywood Bowl will be presenting Fantasia live on stage. John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra recreate the film’s music with film clips on the Bowl’s big screens.

- There’s a nifty Ward Kimball animation drawing posted at Jenny Lerew‘s Blackwing Diaries. This is always a great site to visit (as if I had to tell you.)

- The Trozo gallery has built a website to feature the paintings of the Peruvian artist, Eduardo Valdivieso. Take a look at some excellent paintings. I came to this site via Drawn, an excellent site in its own right.

There’s an article on Arthur Q. Bryan (the voice of Elmer Fudd) on AWN. This is more on this actor since Michael Barrier’s article in Funnyworld, years ago.

- Animated-News is at it again. They’ve posted another interview by Christian Ziebarth with Eric Goldberg. It’s a kitchen sink kinda interview, but it’s absolutely engaging. Glad to hear what Eric’s been up to. It’d be nice to see more of this type of interview on the site. Kudos to them; it’s always an informative read.

- On Tuesday, ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive posted a number of early UPA model sheets. These are little gems that should be studied. This site is one of the great ones out there. Everytime I visit, I end up staying for dinner – the guest they can’t get rid of.

- Last but not least is an ad for Honda Accord that took $6 million and took three months to complete. I’m not sure Rube Goldberg had intended this when he created his devices, but it’s still an interesting ad to watch. (Thanks John Dewitte.)

Books 17 Aug 2006 07:16 am

More Books


- Having featured a book from 1940 these past few days, I think it’s time to bring things up to date. There are a couple of books about to be released, and I’d like to make mention of them.

Animated News posts the complete press information for Tony White’s new book, Animation from Pencils to Pixels.

Tony White, of course, was the brilliant animator who rose in Dick Williams’ Soho studio (animating the Pink Panther credits), winning the BAFTA award for his brilliant short, Hokusai.

He also wrote the invaluable animation production book, The Animator’s Workbook. (This is one book I don’t think any potential animator should be without.)

After the brilliant first book, I’m looking forward to his second book. It obviously takes the 2D animator into the digital age – as has Tony White, himself.

– Everyone knows about the release of Amid Amidi‘s book, Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in 1950s Animation .

I’ve already posted several times about it, but that gives you an indication of how much I’m anticipating it. The book is a special event since it’s the first to really highlight the more eccentrically designed animation of the 50′s and early 60′s. This is a point in the era of animation that has been sorely bypassed by most animation historians.

Hopefully this book will help fill the gap. If it’s anything like Amid’s companion site, Cartoon Modern, it’ll be a gem.

– Finally, I’d like to highlight a slightly older book that’s very much in print, but rarely do you hear anyone promote it. Timing for Animation is a book written by Harold Whitaker. Harold was the principal animator at the Halas & Batchelorstudio. He led animation on Animal Farm and Ruddigore. His style in those films was quite distinctive, and there’s no doubt he was a quiet, unheralded master.

The book is brilliant in that it gives quite a few animation tips in simple, clear language, easily understood. I used it as a primer for my students for the short time I taught animation. I advise you all to at least look at it; you’ll end up buying it if you want to know about animation mechanics.

Animation Artifacts &Books 16 Aug 2006 07:24 am

Turney 4 – Final

– Here are the remaining stills from the book by Harold Turney, “Filmguide’s Handbook to Cartoon Production”. These remaining stills show the technical parts in completing the film: camera operators, sound effects people, musicians and editors.

There are a few remaining stills in the book, but they’re predominantly shots of model sheets. All of them are available elsewhere (as are the models posted below.)

(As always, click on any image to enlarge.)

I doubt many will be able to identify any of these people, but if you know someone, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. Unfortunately, with few exceptions, not too many people know who the non-animation personnel were.

In the above left we see Disney, director, Wilfred Jackson and composer, Frank Churchill. The FX man in the upper right picture is Jim MacDonald, who voiced Mickey Mouse after Disney finally gave up the role in 1946.

Animation Artifacts &Books 15 Aug 2006 08:10 am

Turney 3

The following is another group of photos from my copy of Harold Turney’s book “Filmguide’s Handbook to Cartoon Production” which was made up the last two postings on this site. The remainder of the photos shows some model sheets and audio effx and technical people at work. I will probably post those tomorrow. Here’s to more people to identify.
(Click on any image to enlarge.)


The bottom right photo shows pencil test camera operators at work. Nice to see a female filming, though a subsequent photo in the book shows a woman at work on final animation photography.

Animation Artifacts &Books 14 Aug 2006 06:42 am

Turney 2

Here are a couple of provocative articles about animation:
- The Cartoon Conundrum. A NYPost article about the marketability (or not) of star voices in animated films. here

- A British article about the rise of “Adult” themed animated features. here

The Turney Book

- Continuing yesterday’s post, there are a number of photographs in Harold Turney’s “Filmguide’s Handbook to Cartoon Production. Many of the photographs are unique to this volume, and I wasn’t able to scan more of them yesterday.

It’s an odd little book, held together with two staples. However any publication on the animation process was a rarity in 1940. Aside from the Lutz book and Nat Falk’s book on Terrytoons, there’s little more.

The book includes this dedication: “Cartoon Production” is herewith dedicated to all teachers, club group leaders, and librarians as an enduring aid in answering the oft-repeated question, “How are cartoons made?” – H.T.

I don’t know where the book was sold, though I do know that many of the people in the studio were given a copy. It seems to have been part of a subscription offering. I find it a bit odd that you don’t see many copies of it around. This is the only copy I’ve ever seen.

I’ll post more of the photos tomorrow.

(Click on any of the images to enlarge.)

Just above, the photo on the upper left shows two animators. I believe the animator on the right is Norm Ferguson. I’m not sure who any of the others are though I would guess the director at the movieola in the photo on the lower right is Jack Cutting, director of The Ugly Duckling (the pictures behind them), who appears in yesterday’s post.

If anyone out there can identify any other of these artists, please leave a comment.

Animation Artifacts &Books 13 Aug 2006 08:43 am

Treasures

– This Harold Turney “Filmguide’s Handbook to Cartoon Production” is one of the things I treasure in my little collection.

It was smallish book published in 1940. Apparently, there was a whole series of these books about film production. It has about 65 pages of print on heavy newsprint paper followed by about 20 pages of B&W photos on semi-gloss paper. Many of the photos printed there don’t seem to have appeared in many other places. (Though I’ve found one or two lately on the internet.)

The pictures are almost wholly those of Pinocchio’s production.

I’m posting a few of the pages. There are several to do with animators. The only picture posted here shows Fred Moore at his desk (cigarette in hand). The model maker below him is pictured with a marionette behind her. That marionette was merchandised; I have one. These were pre-plastic days. It’s made of some wood pulp product, very interesting to me. There’s also an odd studio photo of Disney manipulating the same marionette.

(Click on any image to enlarge.)

Animation &Daily post 12 Aug 2006 08:10 am

Lunacy

– Currently playing at the Film Forum in New York is Jan Svankmajer’s most recent feature, Lunacy.
I loved this line in the NY Times review by Manohla Dargis: Mr. Svankmajer’s provocations skew toward the intellectual and the shivery rather than the pop and the visceral, and at his best, he doesn’t just get under your skin, but also deep in your head, too.

That’s enough to get me into the theater. The trailer is designed to keep me away. (The least the distributor, Zeitgeist Films, could do in promoting their own film is to spell Edgar Allan Poe correctly. There are two A’s in Allan.)

The Onion also had a review worth reading.

Thank heaven for the Film Forum. They consistently give us alternative films we couldn’t otherwise see. Kudos to Karen Cooper and all the rest involved in the theater and its programming.

There was a time in NYC when a number of theaters would show the more daring films and older movies with pristine prints. Those movie houses have all but disappeared except for the Film Forum which continues like a beacon just around the corner from my studio. It’s a haven for film lovers in New York.

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