An interview with me has just been posted on TOONZONE.

Super PresidentThe 2005 San Diego Comic Con was overwhelming. Huge crowds, movie stars, people in costumes… and, oh yeah, a couple of booths selling old comics.The best time I had (and I had several, including moderating the Disney movie preview and interviewing J.J. Sedelmaier) was presenting my screening of THE WORST CARTOONS EVER. The crowd laughed long and hard. I was pretty proud of the selection this year and I was surprised how many people wanted to buy a copy. In fact I’m getting a lot of email today from people wanting to purchase a copy to show their friends (If you are interested in buying a dub of the show, write to me for details).

Filmmaker and former animator Dan Bessie sent in this reminiscence of his friend Bernard Gruver, after seeing Gruver’s name referenced here on the Brew:

Bernie was a good friend of mine from the time we worked together at Ray Patin Productions in Hollywood, until about five years later (this would be around the time he left Playhouse, to work for Melendez on the Peanuts shows). I was an assistant animator at Patin at the time, having begun as an apprentice at MGM, and leaving there when the studio closed its cartoon department in 1956 or 57. (Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera found all of us inbetweeners jobs at other studios.)Soft spoken, gentle, kind and helpful, Bernie was also a very funny guy and a great draftsman. Though we lost contact in later years, I was shocked to learn that he died at only 62 (never did learn the details, if you know, please tell me). He and his wife and children lived in the San Fernando Valley, where my family also lived, and we spent many enjoyable times together. Never spent too much time in the mainstream Hollywood cartoon industry myself after about 1970, as I went on to start my own company, producing mainly educational films, in both live and animation.

Dan Bessie began his career at MGM Animation Deptatment (at $36.45 a week), then went on to animate episodes of Saturday morning TV shows like The Marvel Superheroes, Linus the Lionhearted and Mr. Magoo. Bessie also co-wrote, directed and animated the award-winning Hey Culligan Man! soft water commercials for 15 years. Later, he parlayed that experience into writing and directing more than 120 of his own films, both live and animated; including educational films, features, and TV specials that have appeared on CBS, HBO, SHOWTIME, and the Disney Channel. His new book, REELING THROUGH HOLLYWOOD:How I Spent 40 Fabulous Years in Film and Never Made a Nickel will be published in the fall.

Ian Failes talks to animator Dave Spafford on vfxblog.

Not to be outdone by Fred Osmond’s BLOG, Katie Rice (aka Katie Nice), another alum of the REN & STIMPY: ADULT PARTY CARTOON Los Angeles crew, has just started her own blog. She calls it FUNNY CUTE because, she explains, “that’s my favorite thing about drawing girls - combining cuteness with sexiness or funniness or even stupidity.” And, as if you’re not already jealous of her intimidating drawing ability, just remember she’s only 23 years old.

Show’s over folks. Time to head home. Disney is officially saved, according to THIS LETTER that Roy Disney Jr. posted on SaveDisney.com. Disney is, in fact, so saved that SaveDisney.com will be shutting down on August 7. The results of the campaign, you ask? The studio will once again begin valuing creativity over the bottom-line, executives will stop interfering in the creative process, Eisner-lite Bob Iger will be replaced by creative visionary Steve Jobs, California Adventure is shutting down, and the animation department will stop producing cheapquels that dilute the Disney name. Wait…um…actually, none of that is happening. But at least one of the company’s largest stockholders is happy and after all, isn’t that all that really matters.

I don’t pretend to know the inner workings of this deal or what happened behind the scenes, but somehow my cynical side can’t shake the feeling that the end of this campaign had less to do with “saving Disney” and more to do with making Roy happy. (If you know the facts to be otherwise, I’d be happy to be corrected on this, but from an outside vantage point, it’s hard to assess the situation any other way.) Roy’s unwillingness to divulge details about the specific steps they are taking to turn the studio around doesn’t inspire any faith in the matter. Disney fans and supporters threw an incredible amount of support behind the SaveDisney campaign; don’t they at the very least deserve an explanation of what their efforts have achieved? Instead they get the lame corporate-speak “everything’s ok now…go back to your business” letter from Roy. Here’s to hoping that there are some truly significant changes happening, and that the studio will once again strive to become an organization driven by creativity and originality.

Fred Osmond (the charming fellow on the left) was the LA layout supervisor on REN & STIMPY: ADULT PARTY CARTOON, a difficult position because he not only had to take care of John K’s numerous layout changes, but he also had to put up with me and my many production requests on a daily basis. Now he’s storyboarding at Disney TV, and more importantly, he just started his own blog called CARTOONS & CARICATURES. If the first couple drawings posted are any indication, there’s going to be a ton of terrific drawing on his blog. I know I’ll be visiting frequently.

Stop motion fans take note. This Friday, July 15, in San Diego, there’ll be a panel about DISASTER! THE MOVIE, the first R-rated stop motion feature. It’s from 6-7pm in Room 3. Panelists include director Roy T. Wood, writers Paul Benson and Matt Sullivan, character fabricator Morgan Hay, and animators Matt Manning and Tennessee Reid Norton.