In honor of the forthcoming dvd release of WIZARDS, Ralph sits for a short interview at fulvue drive-in.com

Don’t try to rip off Betty Boop.

Pixar artist Geefwee Boedoe is coming out with a children’s book called ARROWVILLE. I don’t know much more about the book, but Geefwee also has a lot of nice artwork printed in the ART OF MONSTERS INC. book. Here’s an INTERVIEW from a couple years back where he speaks about the origin of his unique name and about other work he’s done in animation.

“Tron” broke new ground for the art of computer generated-imagery when it was first released in 1982. Now Disney’s landmark film returns for special 10-Day, 70 MM engagement at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, May 6th through the 16th.An opening night panel discussion will be moderated by Academy Award nominated visual effects artist/filmmaker Harrison Ellenshaw, and will include such luminaries from the film as director Steven Lisberger, visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor (”The Lord of the Rings” trilogy), and production designer/futurist Syd Mead. Complete press release here.

Sounds like a fun event taking place in San Francisco this Friday evening, April 30. Here’s the press release:

Enjoy an evening of Art Deco film and animation at the Legion of Honor Museum with Nik Phelps and the Sprocket Ensemble. Join Nik and the Ensemble as they treat you to a tour de force of the Deco Age from a vintage 1928 Felix the Cat to two seldom seen Busby Berkeley masterpieces as part of Art Deco Fridays in honor of the “ART DECO: 1910-1939″ exhibition. Other cartoons include Tex Avery’s MISS GLORY and Chuck Jones’ THE ARISTO CAT.

Each piece will be introduced by eminent animation and film scholar Karl Cohen and the audience will be treated to vocals and voice overs by Scrumbly Koldewyn and Cindy Goldfield. The show is free with museum admission: $8/adult, $6/seniors, $5/teens, free/children under 12 years of age, free for museum members. For info call 415/682.2481. Event starts at 6 PM and the Legion Museum is at 100 34th Avenue in Lincoln Park (San Francisco).

Those of you longing for Columbia Pictures to release their library of UPA and Screen Gems cartoons on dvd - you’ll have to keep waiting.But, Columbia-Tristar Home Video will commit one Color Rhapsody cartoon to digital home video this summer when it releases a “special edition” of the B-movie spoof THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVERA on dvd June 22nd. The Ub Iwerks 1937 cartoon “Skeleton Frolic”, a color remake of Disney’s “The Skeleton Dance” (1929), was re-released theatrically with LOST SKELETON in its limited theatrical release this past winter. It will be included as bonus material on the dvd. The LOST SKELETON feature itself is hilarious, and highly recommended regardless - the addition of this bonus cartoon makes it a must-buy.

An inspiring WEBSITE offering a visual history of comics, from more than a thousand years ago through 1930. Lots of great scans of comics that can’t be found anywhere else on-line. Plus photos of cartoonists, a history of speech balloons and much more. A lot of my favorites are here - Lyonel Feininger, Milt Gross, Cliff Sterrett - as well as a lot of names that I’d like to see more of, such as Olaf Gulbransson, Herbert Crowley and Oscar Anderson. Enjoy the site and try not to think too much about how in less than a century we’ve passed from the sheer beauty and creativity of these comics to the visual insipidity of DRABBLE.

(Thanks to Jared Chapman’s blog for the link)

Asifa-Hollywood will be celebrating the release of the landmark Disney Treasures DVD On The Front Lines: The War Years with a special screening of rare 35mm prints at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.In addition to the films, arrangements are being made for a special panel of industry professionals to speak, to discuss the work and culture at Walt Disney that went into creating these animted films.The DVD collection, on sale May 18th, contains 32 short subjects (including Education For Death and Der Fuerher’s Face) and exclusive declassified material. In addition to these films, this DVD also includes the full-length feature “Victory Through Air Power” (1943).The special screening will take place Tuesday, May 11, 2004 at 8:00 P.M.
Alex Theatre
216 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CAGeneral Admission Tickets: $10
Members of ASIFA-Hollywood - $7.00
Members of the Alex Film Society - $7.00
Purchase tickets online or call the Alex Theatre box office at 818-243-ALEX (2539).
More Info: www.alextheatre.org or www.asifa-hollywood.org

June 1st is the release date for Winsor McCay: The Master Edition (Milestone Films) a dvd collection featuring brand-new digital transfers of every surviving film, a new piano score by composer Gabriel Thibaudeau, and John Canemaker’s wonderful documentary Remembering Winsor McCay (1976).This is obviously a must-have: the collection includes the stunning hand-colored Little Nemo (1911) mastered from the only known 35mm print in existence, and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) which was recently restored by the National Archives of Canada using four 35mm nitrate prints from the Cinémathèque’s collection.It also includes How A Mosquito Operates (1912), The Sinking Of The Lusitania (1918), the existing fragments of the lyrical The Centaurs (1918-21), Gertie On Tour (1918-21) and Flip’s Circus (1918-21). McCay’s final three works, all from his surreal “Dreams from a Rarebit Fiend” series are featured: Bug Vaudeville (1921), The Pet (1921) and The Flying House (1921). There is also an audio track commentary by John Canemaker and a still gallery from his amazing collection of McCay memorabilia. Order it from Amazon.com for $20.99

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