Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

As promised yesterday, here are the covers and first pages of the book, Mr. Bug Goes To Town. There’s something I love about these illustrations. Not quite like a Golden Book, but it has that New York grit in the illustrations.

(Click on any still to enlarge.)

– For some reason, over the years I’ve had a fascination with the the Fleischer film, Hoppity Goes To Town.

I’d seen the movie when I was young, and I guess it’s stuck with me. I found it interesting that it was an original story for an animated feature. All of the Disney pieces (with the exception of Lady and The Tramp) were adaptations of books and tales.

I found it exciting that two great song writers, Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser, would be writing for an animated film. They wrote three songs for the film: We’re The Couple In The Castle, Katy-did Katy-didn’t and I’ll Dance At Your Wedding Honey Dear. Loesser wrote Boy Oh Boy! with Sammy Timberg.
(Click image to enlarge.)

As it turns out they didn’t get nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song. Gulliver’s Travels had been nominated for song (Faithful Forever) and scoring. It lost both to The Wizard of Oz. They did sell a lot of records and sheet music to Mr. Bug Goes To Town.

I have a children’s book with attractive illustrations inspired from the Fleischer film. Starting tomorrow I’ll post a couple of these pictures regularly until the book is completely posted.

- Jenny Lerew has a superb posting up today about Lady and The Tramp‘s story line. It’s well worth reading – with an excellent illustration from the storyboard. Go there –
Blackwing Diaries.

- I found it entertaining to see how many people commented on the Jeopardy question I posted two days ago.

Many people felt that the answer should have been Ub Iwerks, but let’s use logic. The general public doesn’t have a clue as to who Ub Iwerks was. Nor did Iwerks invent the Multiplane Camera for Disney. He developed it for himself, and Disney engineers built one simultaneously. (Sure, they probably stole the idea, but they didn’t make Snow White with Iwerks’ camera stand! Nor did the Disney studio ever give Iwerks credit for inventing it.)

I was curious to see how long it would take before someone posted the exact question that I couldn’t locate at the time I wrote my piece. “T” was the one who sent it in and wins a zoetrope as a prize. All he has to do is send me an address, and I’ll send him/her the unannounced reward.

- I want to give a bit more of a showcase for
William Kentridge‘s art work.

I guess I’ve always been one to wear my political heart on my sleeve and have enjoyed it when other artists do similarly. Ben Shahn and Käthe Kollwitz were always an inspiration to me. Kentridge talks about apartheid in his work and uses animation as a force. It’s urgent art.

I first came to his work at the New Musem show in 2001. I think it took a couple of hours to view everything there, and I went back several times.

.

To repeat yesterdays posting, he has a new show of work at the Marian Goodman Gallery at 24 West 57th Street, NYC 10019.

The NY Times reviewed this work as a movie though usually his work is found in the Art pages. Recently, Tall Horse, a theater troupe that Kentridge works with was also reviewed in the Times.

It’s encouraging to see his work given attention.
(Click on the stills to enlarge.)

.

- This week New York Magazine is featuring an article on William Kentridge. For those who don’t know, Kentridge is an artist who often uses animation as his medium of choice. Unlike most of us, his films don’t play in theaters but art galleries. His work is quite unique and expressive. You can read the article on line here, but the printed magazine features a number of good illustrations.

The article is timed to coincide with the gallery show in New York of Mr. Kentridge’s recent work. It’s at the (Click on the stills to enlarge.)Marian Goodman Gallery at 24 West 57th Street, NYC 10019.
You can view 10 of William Kentridge’s pieces on display at their site.

- I also would like to repeat mention of the show of art from The Corpse Bride. The gallery features puppets and art from the film until February 20. It’s definitely worth a visit. It’s at the Tribeca Cinemas Gallery at 13 Laight Street (at Canal Street) adjacent to the Tribeca Cinemas. Noon-8pm daily.

- Thanks to Cartoon Brew for notifying us about John Kricfalusi‘s new blog. His original Spumco website was worth the many visits, it’ll be fun to see what he does with a blog.

- A depressing note: While watching Jeopardy last night, I was dumbstruck by one question. (I can’t give the exact question, for you Jeopardy fanatics, but it’s close enough.)

“The visionary behind ‘Snow White & The 7 Dwarfs’ which used the multiplane camera for the first time.”

Here’s the shocking part. No one buzzed in! The three college students didn’t know that Walt Disney had done “Snow White” !?!

I’m sure it’s just me. I’m going crazy!

Last night I saw Cynthia Nixon in a play by David Lindsay-Abaire (author of the Robots script). Rabbit Hole is a sad but nicely crafted show about the death of a child and the effect it has on a family. (Given the two feet of snow we had to tramp through, we already felt as though we made our own warren to get to the theater. But we had tickets in advance and didn’t think snow was enough reason for giving them up.) The set echoed the theme of the evening; it linked and revolved into numerous rooms throughout the house on stage. John Lee Beatty’s work reminded me of Tony Walton’s graceful set for The Real Thing.

I’ve decided to post a couple of more designs for sets by Boris Aronson. It never hurts to look at some artistry.

(A photo of white birch trees inspired the motif for the sets of A Little Night Music

(A painted design for a set in Cabaret, alongside the actual set)

(Click pictures to enlarge)
(Another painted set for Cabaret.
This became the famous one that used the neon “Cabaret” sign.)

– Today NYC is in the process of being hit with a blizzard/snow storm. There’s a walkway into my studio that I have to shovel whenever it snows.
John Dilworth decided that I’d probably kill myself shoveling it too quickly, so he drew me on a napkin, and I thought I’d share it with you. (By the way, the last thing I drew – according to his picture – is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (in the snow). Don’t ask.

Obviously, I’m still alive!
Though it’s still snowing, and I do have more shoveling ahead of me.

– A children’s opera about the holocaust!

Maurice Sendak and Tony Kushner have written an operatic version of their children’s book, Brundibar. Sendak has long been devoted to opera and has had several successful collaborations in the past. Brundibar has been in development for a number of years and has performed in a number of cities. This NY Times review is of the most recent production done in New Haven at Yale.

- And on Broadway, Disney’s Tarzan swings perilously close to opening. It’ll star ex-American Idol finalist, Josh Strickland. The NY Post’s gossipy Broadway columnist, Michael Riedel, gave us his interesting comments on the show. If it can transfer in any way similarly to The Lion King, the show will be an enormous hit. The latter show had Julie Taymor leading the way to the theatrical version; Tarzan has British designer-turned-director, Bob Crowley, transferring the jungles to the stage. His sets are usually quite daring in their dynamic use of perspective and proportion. How this will affect his direction is something else again. This is what Tom Schumacher has been doing since leaving Disney Feature Animation.

- Last night I was invited to a screening of The Corpse Bride and a gallery opening, adjacent to the theater. The gallery featured a choice collection of puppets, storyboards and production art for the film. Tim Burton was in attendance, and producer, Allison Abbate, and animation supervisor, Anthony Scott, were also there to answer questions. It was a delightfully small gathering, so there was ample opportunity to meet the three and take in the remarkable artwork.

I was particularly caught by the set illustrations of Luc Desmarchelier. They had a particular style, all his own. The other designs by huy Vu and Simon Varela also were brilliant.
(An illustration by Tim Burton – click to enlarge. )

The puppets were larger than I’d thought which made me realize how large their master sets had to have been. Those on display were about 18″ tall. The delicate armatures were part of the feature of the skeleton puppets with intricate little screws holding their joints together. The coach with horse that carries Victor and his parents in the film’s opening was also on display.

They gave opening night guests a copy of the DVD, which seems to feature quite a few extras, and a copy of the book, handsomely illustrated with many paintings. I’m sorry that a number of the set drawings aren’t pictured in the book. But beggars can’t be choosers.

The film is extremely attractive, and its production design should have been rewarded with. at least, a nomination by the Motion Picture Academy. However, we now have this new category, Best Animated Feature, which relegates all animation into the proper box, and we’ll see how long it takes to get a nomination outside of that pigeonhole. Things haven’t changed much since 1941 when Walt Disney quit the MPAA for not nominating Fantasia. He felt he had been slighted and that animation would alwas be relegated as an afterthought.

(A storyboard panel by Chris Butler – reminiscent of Ub Iwerks.)

The gallery will feature these puppets and models and drawings until February 20. If you’re in New York during this period, I urge you to visit. It’s at the Tribeca Cinemas Gallery at 13 Laight Street (at Canal Street) adjacent to the Tribeca Cinemas. Noon-8pm daily.

– Congratulations to Lisa Crafts on the success of her animated short film, The Flooded Playground, which just completed its run at the Slamdance Flm Festival at Suede in Park City, Utah. The film is a stunningly attractive piece combining drawn, digital and pixillated animation with photo-montage and sheer filmaking virtuoso. Done by hand and finished in photoshop and after-effects the film has a unique look typical of Lisa’s art.

It presents a dark, surreal world where a child is forced on the journey through the complexities of childhood. There’s a short clip featured on Lisa’s site and a review at AWN.

- Congratulations also to Don Hahn for his promotion to the interim head of Disney Feature Animation. He will supervise things until the Disney/Pixar merger is finalized and John Lasseter will move into that role. Don has been a prime mover there for years producing many of the studio’s recent animated successes from Beauty and The Beast to The Lion King to Lorenzo The Cat. Don also has an interesting book out: Animation Magic 2001, and The Lion King : A Giant Leap

-The most outrageous bit of news yesterday was the trade of sportscaster, Al Michaels, from ABC/ESPN to NBC/Universal for a package of golf programming through 2014 and exchange of the copyright to Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit to Disney. This reverts the rights of the Disney-developed cartoon character stolen under his nose by Charles Mintz (along with a number of his animators) in 1928.

Al Michaels has this in proper perspective when he said, “I’m going to be a trivia answer some day.” It is interesting to see animation discussed on the sports pages of our newspapers!

- Curious George opened today to reviews like this ** star comment by the NY Daily News: “‘Curious George’ has long been a bedtime staple, but this animated film version may be the first time his story puts parents to sleep.” Or a more positive one from The NY Times: “A Cartoon Monkey With No Aspirations to Cultural Commentary”.
I guess it’s a children’s film, so it doesn’t have to entertain the adults.

The Motion Picture Academy will screen the Oscar nominated shorts, both animated and live-action, on Saturday, February 25th. They’ll screen all ten nominees twice – at noon and at 4:00 pm. Admission is $5.00 for the general publicand $3.00 for Academy members (although Academy members should see the films for free Thursday, Feb 23rd at 7:00 pm).

Location is at the Academy Theater at Lighthouse International, 111 East 59th Street (between Park and Lexington avenues). You can reserve tickets by calling (888) 778-7575.

Happy Birthday, Heidi!

- Here’s another storyboard drawing by John Hubley from the UPA film, “Fuddy Duddy Buddy.”

I wasn’t able to remember if this gag was actually in the film. The only copy I have of it is an old vhs tape and had to search for it. However, I was able to scan through it to find that it was cut.

It’s funny; I hadn’t seen the film in at least 15 years, but the two scenes I did remember were the character (Click on images to enlarge them.) of the hotel detective and the animation of
Magoo playing tennis with the walrus.
The detective is a good memorable character, but the only time we see him in the chair is with him, newspaper in hand, peering through cut slits. Magoo and he aren’t in the same scene.

I guess there was once the thought that Magoo and friend would thumb their noses at the detective. Not a bad idea to have lost the gag.

- Amid Amidi at Cartoon Modern has posted some actual stills from Man Alive!, the short featured in the Life Magazine article posted below. A chance to see a storyboard drawing at Blackwing Diaries, what the final film actually looks like at Cartoon Modern, and some publicity posted below. The film must have gotten a bit of attention in its day.

- And to think a cartoonist created so much chaos! The New York Times has a good article today about visual media and the uprise it has created in the past. They remind us of the stir Chris Ofili‘s painting, Holy Virgin Mary, made at NYC’s Brooklyn Museum. The lines to get to see it were longer than the protests Mayor Giuliani tried to stir up. I’d also once posted Daumier‘s Gargantua, a charicature of Louis XIV. It created protests loud enough to have Daumier jailed for months. Is it actually the charicature of Muhammad that’s created such protests?