Daily post 20 Dec 2005 07:45 am
Strike Starts
An early morning note: The subway strike that started today in NYC makes me think about one of my favorite films, Redball Express by Steve Segal. This is a 3 minute short that was animated on film in 1976. Steve is an animator who left Virginia for California to work on various projects including animation on The Brave Little Toaster. He moved on to PIXAR where he worked on a number of films including Toy Story.
For some reason this early short of his has affected me with probably something that Norman McClaren’s drawn-on-film shorts brought to earlier audiences. It’s so alive and pleasant and well made; to me it seems to synthesize the very notion of animation. I bought a print from Steve way back when and still infrequently run it. I’ve never really thought of replacing it with a dvd version – if one exists; somehow it belongs on the 16mm film that I have. I thought of Steve and this film recently because he contacted me (via Karl Cohen). We hadn’t spoken (albeit through email) in over 20 years, and I was pleased to have heard from him. I guess the internet is the new Red Ball Express.
on 20 Dec 2005 at 5:01 pm 1.Mark Mayerson said …
Redball Express is also a favorite of mine, and maybe you and I saw it at an ASIFA meeting back in the ’70′s. If Steve’s reading this, he should jump in with any plans he has for DVD release of his work. There’s lots of other interesting Segal films that deserve to be seen again.
on 26 Mar 2006 at 4:41 am 2.Steve Segal said …
Thank you guys so much for your kind words, I am working on a DVD of all my films. I just started a new film and I want to include it, so you may have to wait a year or two for the complete collection.