Tonight at 6:30, the Society of Illustrators (128 East 63rd Street, between Park and Lexington Ave.) presents a special screening of Bill Plymptons’s colorized and voice-enhanced version of Winsor McCay’s The Flying House. Bill will be on hand afterward for a cocktail reception, as will the film’s voice actors Matthew Modine and Patricia Clarkson. Tickets are $10 (students), $15 (Society of Illustration members) and $20 (general public). Purchase them at the Society of Illustrators website.

Nothing says I love you more than Gabby shouting “All’s Well!” from a vintage Valentine Card from 1939. Today’s big ebay find are these nifty Paramount licensed greeting cards from Max Fleischer’s Gulliver’s Travels. Oh yeah, nothing professes true love more than a bound unconscious giant on the beach. I wish I could afford these… Click images and thumbnails below for larger view of these beautiful keepsakes of Valentines past.

(Thanks, Eric Calande)

This just in from Warner Bros. animator Tim Walker: The Los Angeles Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association, is hosting Living Artistically with Parkinson’s Disease, a champagne brunch art exhibit & silent auction on Sunday, February 12th, from 11am to 2pm.

This one-of-a-kind exhibit will feature works of art – painting, drawings, photography, sculpture, and music – created by celebrated artists who have Parkinson’s Disease. Artists include Jorge Lacost, James Tim Walker, Herb Rosenkrantz and many more. Gallery sales from the exhibit and silent auction/raffle will directly benefit the artist and the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association in it’s efforts to provide support and education locally.

Tim has gotten his colleagues at Warner Bros. to contribute to several incredible one-of-a-kind murals which will be auctioned off at the event. One, partially pictured above (and badly photographed with my iPhone), features funny animal (and people) drawings by Spike Brandt, Tony Cervone, Dan Haskett, Bob McKnight, Mark Christiansen and others. Another piece features adventure character drawings by Bruce Timm, Shane Glines, Glen Murakami and more.

The art exhibit opens February 8th and runs to the 14th. The auction is on Sunday at the James Gray Gallery, Bergamot Station Art Center, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building D4 in Santa Monica. Check with Parkinson LA for more information.

How much is a personal painting by Disney animation legend Ward Kimball worth? Watch the segment above. The painting, owned by animation artist Jim Clark, was featured tonight on an episode of Antiques Roadshow. The appraiser, Leila Dunbar, really knows her Disney history. It’s not mentioned in the program, but Ward originally gave the painting to his unit animator Julius Svendsen as a gift.

Not strictly animation, but Australian filmmaker Dave Jones directed a live show the end of last year that combined interactive animated projections with large-scale puppetry. Says Jones,

“The show was performed outdoors on the side of a grain silo and featured a 14-meter tall puppet. It took ten people to operate the puppet whilst animation was used to create an interactive backdrop for the piece as well as to project the puppet’s face. For the mouth we actually mounted a projector inside the puppets head and gaffer taped it to an ipod which we could control wirelessly from the ground 20 meters below.”

It’s pretty cool looking. Here’s a 5 minute edit of the show (performed Oct. 28th 2011 at the Nati Frinj Festival in tiny Natimuk, Australia). There is plenty of behind the scenes and making-of stuff on Jones’ blog.

To kick off a new year of animation programs at the Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theater in Hollywood, this Thursday (2/9) we will celebrate with our traditional Valentines Day program – aka Valentoons – an assortment of classic Hollywood cartoons based on the theme of love. From the sex-starved Pepe LePew to the appropriately named Woody Woodpecker (and yes, Herman and Katnip). This year our program features all 35mm Technicolor film prints, projected the way they are supposed to be seen on the big screen. Suitable for cartoon-lovers of all ages, for more information or advance tickets, please click the CineFamily website.

EXTRA BONUS: It’s my birthday on Thursday, so we’ll start the show (at 8pm) with one of my favorite “party” themed cartoons and a free slice of cake to everyone in attendence!

I’ve received a lot of personal messages reacting to last Friday’s post by Amid. I just want to remind everybody that posts by Amid reflect Amid’s point of view. Posts by myself reflect mine. Posts that reflect both of our views are tagged with the Brewmasters label. So, in short, always check the byline and direct your messages accordingly. Thanks.

Tex Avery tats spotted on line at Disney World. You know what? “I’m happy!”

(Thanks, Uncle Wayne)