Monthly ArchiveApril 2008



Animation Artifacts &Articles on Animation &Commentary &Disney &Fleischer &Photos 20 Apr 2008 08:28 am

Howard Frank & Ollie and Creating Betty

Howard Beckerman sent me this great photo and a short letter attached to it. I can’t help but post both:


___________________________________________(Click any image to enlarge.)
Hi Michael,
Someone suggested that I send you this photo of Ollie signing my review copy of Disney Animation The Illusion of Life. It was taken in 1982 at the publisher’s office. Frank and Ollie were there with their wives. I was doing an interview to accompany a review of the book.

I brought my camera and the book, which in it’s large cardboard box stuck jauntily out of my shoulder bag. After the interview I more or less removed my interviewer’s hat and donned my Frank & Ollie fan hat and asked if they would sign the book. A publicity guy, standing in earshot, responded immediately saying, “Oh, you need a book? I’ll get you one.” I looked around and saw a pile of books about 5 1/2 feet high. “I brought my own I said,” assuming my best George Washington and the cherry tree stance. Ever since, then, I’ve thought that if I had left mine at home I could have had a second copy of this now valuable first edition.

I had met Frank Thomas before, but he introduced me to Ollie Johnston at the initial presentation of their book at the library at Lincoln Center. Ollie’s first statement to me after saying hello was, “Do you want to see my train?” He then pulled a picture of his backyard, full-size railroad rig from his wallet like a doting grandparent with a child’s snapshot.

Howard

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- Mike Dobbs has a blog called Made of Pen & Ink. He was once the editor of Animato! and Animation Planet, two fanzines for animation fans.

This blog is designed for Mike to post chapters of a book he’s writing about the Fleischer brothers entitled: Made of Pen and Ink: The Fleischer Studio and Cartoons.
It’s been a long time between chapters, and he’s just posted the third on this blog. It’s about Betty Boop and her history at the studio. If you haven’t kept up with it, this is a chance to read some heavy duty writing about Max & Dave.
____________An illustration by Michael Paulus.

Mike also has an animation blog wherein he reviews animated films and dvds. This, too, is worth checking out. Animation Review.

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With all the nopstalgia in this post, I probably shouldn’t be adding a comment here, but it’s on my mind. I saw a few minutes of Johnny Bravo last night on cable tv. I never did warm up to this show, though I have to admit that watching it last night it looked a bit more golden.

Compared to all the monstrously poor animation seen in the Flash shows, Johnny Bravo, as limited as it was, seemed richer and fuller. When a head turned it didn’t just pop from one side to another, it turned. When an arm had to move up, it didn’t just pop, it animated.

Have we reached the point where I miss even limited animation?

Comic Art &Daily post &Frame Grabs 19 Apr 2008 09:08 am

London’s Popeye/NY’s Bakshi

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- Mike Lynch has a great post about Bobby London‘s short stint writing and drawing the Popeye comic strip. There was a controversy in the last weeks of Londond’s tenure in doing the strip. Mike Lynch posts these strips and makes you long to see more of London’s work. There is a collection of his strips, Mondo Popeye, from St. Martin’s Press; it’s out of print and a bit pricey on the market.

Take a look at Mike Lynch‘s post.

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- Tonight Ralph Bakshi will be at the Anthology Film Archives where two of his features will be screened. Heavy Traffic, which made it to many of the year’s top ten lists will show at 7pm and Coonskin,
which you can’t even find on NetFlix, will follow at 9pm.

Bakshi will be there to sign copies of his book, Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi.

7:00pm – Heavy Traffic
9:00pm – Coonskin

Tickets are $8, good for one or both features

Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. (corner of 2nd Ave.& 2nd St.)
NYC

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Here’s the NYTimes review from Heavy Traffic‘s opening. ________________________

______________________________________________(Click any image to enlarge.)

Here are some frame grabs from the “Hey, Maybelline” segment of Heavy Traffic by Mark Kausler. Sorry the quality stinks, but the dvd is a dreadful transfer.

Animation &Disney &Frame Grabs &walk cycle 18 Apr 2008 08:06 am

French “girl” and poodle

- Continuing with my exploration and breakdown of the walk cycles which appear at the start of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians, I have scene 21 “French girl walks French poodle” animated by Blaine Gibson. It employs the same BG as scene 14, the art student (posted Apr 3), but it extends, beyond what we’ve seen before, to include a telephone booth.


______________(Click any image to enlarge.)

This is a slightly faster walk than others, and I’ve been able to grab all of the drawings. It’s animated on “ones.”

1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

910

1112

1314

The “French girl” walks her French poodle on “ones.”

This walk is an absolute gem !

Once again, check out Hans Perk‘s excellent site A Film LA to get the drafts for this film to be able to identify who was behind what. Then go to see Mark Mayerson‘s arduously constructed and informative mosaics as well as his detailed commentary about the film and its animators.

Check out Floyd Norman‘s story about Blaine Gibson on Jim Hill Media.

Daily post 17 Apr 2008 08:18 am

Roy, Ollie, Tom

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- Mike Lynch has a valuable post which features a book of gags written by Roy Williams, the excellent Disney storyman who appeared on the original Mickey Mouse Club as “Roy.” The cartoons have a lot of style and feel a bit like VIP’s (Virgil Partch) cartoons of the same period and a bit like Ward Kimball’s cartoon sketches. The gags are definitely Roy’s.

__
___________front cover______________________________dedication

John Hubley once told me a story about Roy that’s probably been told a million times over. On Roy’s first day to present a storyboard to Walt, Harry Reeves, the supervisor, suggested that Roy might want to take something to resolve his nervousness. He recommended a quart of sauerkraut juice. (Do they bottle such a thing?) Roy ran to a store, bought some and swallowed the entire bottle, as prescribed. During the presentation, Roy suddenly had to excuse himself, and he raced out of the room, running down the hall to the Men’s room. Harry Reeves had expected such a thing and locked the bathroom on poor Roy. Disaster!

Now Harry had just bought himself a brand new white car with an all white interior. One day when he left work as he got in and sat behind the wheel, he noticed something on the back seat. It was a wash basin filled with water mixed with black ink. The black liquid filled the basin to the rim. Of course, it was easy for Roy to fill the tub, but it was hard to remove the liquid without destroying the white interior.

Jeff Pepper had a nice post about Roy and the Mickey Mouse Club on his site, 2719 Hyperion Avenue

There’s more on the Original Mickey Mouse Club site. (That’s where the caricature atop this post came from.).

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- I’ve treasured all the recent memorials for Ollie Johnston on the various blogs. A number of them stand out for me, and it’s been interesting to read them. They certainly
inform more about the man than the official obituaries in newspapers, such as the NYTimes, have done. For the most part the papers have relied on an impersonal obit from the Associated Press to cover them. Even Bob Thomas‘ obituary was printed iin the Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post, was enhanced with material from the AP. Variety‘s obit is their own, but feels like the AP piece. Charles Solomon‘s obit in the LA Times is certainly the exception in that it’s obviously informed and quite a bit more personal.

Cartoon Brew has been the key source for some fine writing. Brad Bird‘s comments on that site are exceptional, so too John Canemaker‘s.

Jenny Lerew‘s Blackwing Diaries was one of the first blogs to attend to Ollie’s passing, and she wrote some appropriate and fine comments.
A couple of other, personal posts, on their own sites, are excellent. I think particularly of Floyd Norman‘s, Michael Barrier‘s, and Pete Emslie‘s posts. Brian Sibley also wrote a nice piece, and Jaime Weidman offered an article about Johnston from 1956. Hans Perk‘s approach is to share some amazing photographs with us, and Didier Ghez offers some sound clips and other links.

Mark Mayerson took a very different tact on his site. His initial post was to give notice and direct us to other writings. Then, like the excellent historian he is, Mark took notice of the fact that Ollie was the last of the “Nine Old Men” than he discussed the fact that Disney tried to undercut the “individual” abilities of his animators by pegging them as one.

I’ve even had several people, obviously without their own blogs, write me to share their thoughts. Jonathan Annand‘s email was touching.

It’s so obvious that, for some reason, this master animator and his work touched many people who want to come together as a community to mourn his death and celebrate his life. It’s an occasion I certainly appreciate highly and share in enormously.

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- Tom Sito’s new series, As the Wrench Turns, the animated version of Tom and Ray Magliozzi’s NPR radio show, “Car Talk,” got a bit of attention from the NYTimes yesterday. Apppropriately, it was found in the Automobile section “Wheels” on line.

The show debuts Wednesday, July 9th at 8:00PM on your local PBS station. Finally, an animated tv show worth looking out for. It sounds like it may be animated.

______“Click and Clack” with Tom & Pat

__________Here’s PBS‘ press release.
__________The Car Talk site has a lot of stills you can click through.

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- Finally, Karl Cohen led me to this article in Millimeter‘s current issue.

It details information about the live action eyes in Madame Tutli Putli and how they were achieved. This is a must read for all those effects fans out there and for all those who love this short film.

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Animation Artifacts &Disney &Peet &Story & Storyboards 16 Apr 2008 07:46 am

101 Dalamatians – Seq 3 Pt 2

- With this post, I’m completing the remainder of the storyboard material loaned to me by John Canemaker. This takes us through the birth of the puppies and the reemergence of Cruella De Ville in her attempt to buy them. The introductions are done, and the story is about to turn to action.


______(Click any image to enlarge.)

Here’s a breakdown of the board, posted slightly larger and mor legible. This final board also featured (albeit in B&W) some cel setups from the film. They’re posted larger, as well.

1a

1b

2a

2b

3

4

5

6

7

Daily post 15 Apr 2008 08:31 am

Bakshi, Musicals and Beyond

- John Canemaker let me know last night about the death of Ollie Johnston, and it saddened me to hear the news. I met him a number of times in the 70′s and 80′s. I remember visiting the South Street Seaport and noticing that he and Frank Thomas were at a small gallery, there, signing books. It was a surprise to me, so I went in to say hello. The bigger surprise came when they remembered who I was and gave me a big greeting. Very few people were there, and we got to talk for a longer than usual amount of time. The moment stands out for me.

It’s been years since I’ve seen him, but I will remember him and cherish him through his animation. It’s nice to see him all over the blogs today.

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Ralph Bakshi will be making a number of personal appearances signing his book, Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi , for those interested. His schedule includes the following:

    Animazing Gallery – April 17, Thurs 6pm
    461 Broom St (Between Greene and Mercer)

    School of Visual Arts – April 18, Fri 3pm
    209 East 23rd Street
    (Bet. 2nd & 3rd Ave)
    3rd Floor Amphitheater

    Jacob K. Javits Conv Center – April 18 , Fri 6:30pm
    IGN Theater
    655 West 34th St

    Anthology Film Archives – Apr 19, Sat 7pm
    32 Second Avenue

Bakshi, of course, is a seminal figure in the history of modern feature film animation. His animated writing and directing credits include: American Pop,
Coonskin, J.R.R. Tolkien’s: The Lord of the Rings, Wizards, Fritz the
Cat, Spicy City, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, and many more.

He will be signing his new book UNFILTERED: THE COMPLETE RALPH BAKSHI.
The book will be available for purchase at a discount.

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- In case you’re wondering what direction Disney will be turning in their next big Broadway musical, perhaps there’s a good hint in what opened this past week on a Disney cruise ship out of Orlando.

Toy Story the Musical opened to a positive review in the Orlando Sentinal. You can watch a short video blurb here.

The musical features Randy Newman’s Oscar-nominated song, “You’ve Got a Friend,” which was heard in the film, as well as seven new songs penned by GrooveLily’s Valerie Vigoda and Brendan Milburn. Little Women’s Mindi Dickstein penned the book.

The production utilizes “larger-than-life props [that] help transform the 977-seat Walt Disney Theatre into a toy-sized world of fun and adventure. A rear projection screen aids the transformation between human-sized and toy-sized scenes and takes the show from the comfort of Andy’s room — to the frenzied world of Pizza Planet — to the frightening room of Andy’s neighbor, Sid.”

In a statement Anne Hamburger, executive vice president of Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment, said, “When we first thought of bringing ‘Toy Story’ to the stage, there was a great deal of excitement about the project. Everyone on our team could immediately see how the heart and comedy of these characters could come alive in a memorable way that is unique to musical theatre.”

Animation Artifacts &Disney &Peet &Story & Storyboards 14 Apr 2008 07:52 am

101 Dalamatians – Seq 3 Pt 1

- To continue with my presentation of the storyboard for 101 Dalmatians, I have two more photos of the Bill Peet boards loaned me by John Canemaker. As with other similar posts, I’ve broken them up so that I can post them as large as possible. Below is the photo of this board as is.

I’ve broken it down by line of drawings and split that into two.


(Click any image you’d like to enlarge.)

______________________________________To continue with the next board tomorrow.

Commentary &Photos 13 Apr 2008 07:55 am

Buildings In My Sightlines

Ugly
- A year ago I posted some photos of cranes working on buildings in the area not far from my apartment in Manhattan. The one pictured below to the left was there for half a year. The building it was raising is near completion, and I’ve pictured it below, to the right. It’s one of these monsters that goes up to a seeming infiinity and successfully blocks the view of the Empire State Building, a couple of blocks behind it.

___

Not Ugly
A small grouping of older buildings sits six blocks south of the monster above. These I find interesting and attractive. Starting to the right, (note that I’ve lightened the building farthest right to highlight the four in the center) there’s an interesting building which has, to its left, a smaller building. Then a smaller building, and a smaller one yet. I suspect it’d be interesing to have an apartment in one of these which sit across from the Flatiron building at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway. At one time, these buildings probably housed photographers’ studios – this had once been the neghborhood for that field.

Finally, I couldn’t resist pointing out these carolers who remain on the
ediface of the building above, farthest left.
They probably went up one christmas and have stayed there
singing ever on.

Below is another shot of the same buildings from 23rd Street.
The arrow points to the carolers.


Daily post 12 Apr 2008 12:06 pm

Floyd’s rant

- Go immediately to Floyd Norman‘s blog and read his Friday rant.

__________No kidding, Floyd, Barack Obama is our only hope now.

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- Congratulations to Bill Plympton and Nina Paley for getting their features in the Tribeca Film Festival.

Plympton’s Idiots and Angels and Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues will be playing in New York a number of times, and we have to make sure that the animation community supports these two films.
__________

The schedules for the two films are as follows:

    Bill Plympton’s Idiots and Angels

    Saturday, April 26, 5:30 pm, AMC 19th Street East
    Sunday, April 27, 9:30 pm, Village East Cinemas
    Wednesday, April 30, 11:00 pm, AMC Village VII
    Saturday, May 3, 8:00 pm, Village East Cinemas

    Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues

    Friday, April 25, 8:15 pm, AMC Village VII
    Sunday, April 27, 3:45 pm, AMC 19th Street East
    Monday, April 28, 10:45 pm, AMC Village VII
    Thursday, May 1, 1:45 pm, Village East Cinemas
    Friday, May 2, 3:00 pm, AMC 19th Street East

AMC Village VII______________AMC 19th Street East__________Village East Cinemas
66 Third Ave (11th St)______.__890 Broadway (19th St)________181 Second Ave (12th St)

Go here to buy tickets in advance.

These two films are also in competition at this year’s Annecy Animation Festival. Congratulations to both. Job well done!

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_
Daniel Thomas MacInnes is posting some of the great experimental animated shorts via YouTube and his site.

Stan Vanderbeek, Oskar Fishchinger, and plenty of John & James Whitney films (scroll down) appear on this excellent site which is devoted to Ghibli films. While there, if you have the time, take a look at some of the Ghibli rarities.

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Animation Artifacts &Books &Disney &Models &repeated posts 11 Apr 2008 08:07 am

Recap Friday – Celebrity Caricature

- Back in July 2006 I wrote about the art exhibit of celebrity caricature which came from the Library of Congress and was seen in the NY Public Library at 42nd Street. This show still stands out in my mind.

-I’m currently researching the art of Covarrubias. An exhibit at New York’s Public Library at 42nd Street in 1998 was one of the best I’ve ever seen. It was a program of “Celebrity Caricature” mostly from the 20′s & 30′s. Covarrubias, the developing Hirschfield, and a number of other brilliant artists were all represented well. In among the art was a small section on animated caricature. Drawings by Tee Hee and Joe Grant were on display with a couple of cel set-ups. There were also a couple of WB model sheets (without artist names.)

From the book of that exhibit I’m posting some of the animation art represented. Again no animators’ names are given. I remember well
_____(cel – Charlie McCarthy & W.C. Fields in________some beautiful caricatures by Joe
_____“Mother Goose Goes Hollywood”)_____________Grant who came to Disney’s studio to _____________________________________________work on this film.


_______________Joe E. Brown and Martha Raye from “Autograph Hound”


____(Click on any image to enlarge)


Garbo & Mickey – animation drawing for Mickey’s Gala Premiere


Greta Garbo model sheet for Warner Bros.

A small sampling of this show can be found on the National Portrait Gallery website. Non-animation caricatures are on view there, and the beautiful book/catalogue can be purchased there.
Credits for the above stills goes to:
1. “Mother Goose Goes Hollywood” from the collection of Jeff & Therese Lotman
2-5. “Autograph Hound” National Portrait Gallery, Wash.D.C.
6. “Mickey’s Gala Premiere” WDFeature Animation Research Library
7. The Steve Schneider Collection

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Larry T. on his blog, Random Semiconscious Musings, has a great post on Mother Goose Goes Hollywood wherein he identifies all of the caricatures with matching photographs. It’s great to see the likes of Ned Sparks (pictured), George Arliss and Joe Penner.

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