Dick Van Dyke. The star of Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bye Bye Birdie and Diagnosis Murder. He was “Chairman of TV LAND”, loaned his voice to the animated Curious George (2006) and Tubby The Tuba (1976) and was, of course, Rob Petrie of the classic The Dick Van Dyke Show.But in 1956, Van Dyke was a struggling actor making his way in New York. One of his early breaks was signing a contract with CBS, and the opportunity to host a CBS network prime time TV series. However, the program in question turned out to be a showcase for the network’s newly acquired animation library, with Van Dyke playing straightman to a collection of vintage Terrytoons.CBS CARTOON THEATRE was a summer replacement series, which debuted on Wednesday June 13, 1956 and lasted three months in primetime (it aired from 7:30 to 8pm). It was clearly aimed at kids. CBS has purchased the Terrytoons studio and cartoon library in 1955 and was in the midst of revamping the operation. CBS was also competing with ABC, who had a big gun - Walt Disney - winning the ratings on Wednesday nights . CBS CARTOON THEATRE was offering new cartoon entertainment directly opposite Disneyland reruns. But having an appealing host in an office setting (the same set-up as the Disney hour), didn’t fool anyone. These were lowball Terrytoons, not Disney mini masterpieces. Thankfully they had the personable Van Dyke - could you imagine Paul Terry himself hosting this cheap knock off?These clips are from the seventh broadcast, from July, 27th 1956, almost 50 years ago exactly. The show was never rerun, but thanks to the miracle of You Tube we are able to present excerpts from this rare show.I have no doubt Van Dyke’s conversing with Dinky Duck and Gandy Goose gave his dancing with Penguin waiters in Mary Poppins more depth.Below is the final segment - including end titles animated by Jim Tyer.For the record: CBS-Viacom still owns the Terrytoons today. And they could still run the 13 episodes of CBS CARTOON THEATRE on Nick-at-Nite or TV Land if they wanted to.

Did you know Warner Bros. animator Ken Harris has a website dedicated exclusively to his work? Me neither. The site is MasterAnimator.com and there’s an interesting variety of goodies there. It seems to have been put together by somebody who knew him towards the end of his career while he was working for Richard Williams in the 1970s. There’s a lot of stuff on there that’s probably not Harris’s best work, but look around and you’ll find some cool things like these walk cycles from THIEF AND THE COBBLER or this expressive Jones model sheet from MUCH ADO ABOUT NUTTING (1953).

A number of the winning films from this year’s Annecy animation festival can be seen on-line in their entirety. Here’s links to the ones I’ve found:

Special Distinction award: Run Wrake’s RABBIT

Annecy Cristal (the top short film prize): Regina Pessoa’s HISTOIRE TRAGIQUE AVEC FIN HEUREUSE (TRAGIC STORY WITH A HAPPY END)

Best graduation film: Matthew Walker’s ASTRONAUTS
(Note: download film to your desktop for best results).

Special Distinction (Graduation Film): Tony Comley’s ABIGAIL

A while back we reported on various art swipes from the Preston Blair animation book, found on things like lottery tickets, and in places like restaurants and high schools. Brew reader Devlin Thompson recently found this vintage example:

I was filing away a bunch of random old magazines, catalogs, and the like that had piled up in the last couple of years when I rediscovered this 1956 Dremel pattern book that, like so many others before and since, steals liberally from Mr. Blair’s animation book. Just one more thing to throw on the pile of Blair swipes, but I thought you might find it of interest.

Cynthia Petrovic has added a nifty flash animated intro (animated by Scotty Arsenault) to her fun Tangoland website. Petrovic is an animator who has gone into business for herself, licensing her cute designs and selling products based on her Red Tango characters. Petrovic’s website offers cool downloads, a well written blog, an intriging family photo gallery and an interactive drawing board. I didn’t know she was related to wrestler, football player and Hollywood bit player Sammy Stein (pictures of him with Charlie Chaplin, Abbott & Costello, and John Wayne are featured under her “Vintage Dreams” section). Her website is a lot of fun and well worth exploring.

Dave Fleischer left Miami based Fleischer Studios in 1942 and bolted to the west coast where he was offered the job of producer, replacing Frank Tashlin, at Columbia’s Screen Gems studio. Two years later, Fleischer would be out of that job. He went on to spend the rest of his professional life as an in-house trouble shooter at Universal Pictures. But briefly, between jobs in 1944, Fleischer surfaces in two obscure B-movies released by Republic Pictures.He first appears, on screen, in a gag cameo appearence in Trocadero (which was released April 24th, 1944). This dreary low-budget melodrama centered around the famed Hollywood night club. This being a Republic picture, the film stars Ralph Morgan along with future kiddie-show host Johnny Downs, and is stocked with several low-level celebrity cameos.This first clip (below) introduces Dave, who happens to be sitting alone at the club (a shabby set on the Republic Pictures lot), minding his own business. The clip begins with comic M.C. Eddie Bartell and band leader Eddie LeBaron introducing Dave. Band leader Bob Chester and Cliff Nazarro also appear in this segment.The next clip features double talk comedian Cliff Nazarro in conversation with Dave. Dave utters his only syllable of dialogue here. Nazarro was a well known radio personality and mimic who can be heard in several Warner Bros. cartoons, including BELIEVE IT OR ELSE (as Ripley), SLAP HAPPY PAPPY (as Eddie Cantor) and PORKY’S PREVIEW (as Al Jolson). It seems clear from this clip that Trocadero’s producers had hoped to get someone like Walt Disney, or Max Fleischer himself, thus the gag involving a “Koko the clown” like character - credited in the opening titles as “Snippy”!This final bit (below) is the last scene in the film! Dave gets to close the film with “Snippy” (unfortunately this TV print obliterates the original end title - but you get the idea).
After Trocadero Fleischer became an associate producer (and provided a brief animation segment) for another “B”, That’s My Baby! (released by Republic on 9/14/44). But that’s another story for another time.

In honor of the opening of SUPERMAN RETURNS today, we pay tribute with a rare clip of one of our favorite animated superheroes: a 1965 cereal commercial featuring Underdog (Wally Cox), Polly Purebred (Norma McMillian) and Simon Bar Sinister (Allen Swift).

Haven’t done this in a while so here’s a look at some artist blogs that I recommend…

Samuel Michlap has some mighty incredible paintings on his blog. The one at the top of this post was for the DreamWorks feature ROAD TO EL DORADO. Must I make a comment comparing this to the finished product?

Curtis Jobling: designer, book illustrator, novelist, series creator…and he still has time to blog. I’m not sure how he does it all, but among other things, he’s the designer of the hit British children’s series BOB THE BUILDER and the creator of FRANKENSTEIN’S CAT, soon to be the first 2D animated series produced by British puppetmakers Mackinnon & Saunders.

Spumco-Ottawa pals Chris Dainty and Jessica Borutski (of I LIKE PANDAS fame) are documenting the development of their new TV series concept, THE CONSTELLATIONS. Looks like a fun and appealing idea.

Conversations on Ghibli is pretty much what it says. If you’re a fan of Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki and Takahata, then chances are you’ll enjoy this blog.

Mark Kennedy is a storyboard artist at Disney, and his posts offer superb pointers on drawing, design, composition and boarding. And there’s also drawings by Bill Peet and Milt Kahl. I’m satisfied with that.

Canadian animation artist Nick Sung has been working on a personal project called ONE MAN BAND (not to be confused with the Pixar short of the same name). It’s not a film, but a portfolio book/leica reel that was produced in a very limited run of two copies. He explains the genesis of the project HERE and HERE. Nick’s art is beautifully drawn and designed, and the large number of posts over the past three months offer a valuable insight into his working process.