Long before Paramount Pictures was affiliated with Nickelodeon Movies… a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away… they had an animation studio. And before that, they contracted animated shorts and features from the Max Fleischer studio.Mr. Bug Goes To Town (1941) was the second feature film from Fleischer Studios, produced at their state-of-the-art animation facility in Miami Florida. It had the misfortune of not only being produced during a tumultuous rift between brothers Max (the producer) and Dave (the director), but during a period of heated battle between Max and Paramount Pictures. Paramount released the film during the first week of December 1941 and audiences stayed home in droves due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and our imminent entry into World War II.The film has been unjustly neglected for 65 years (so much so its latter day owners forgot to renew the copyright; the film is now in public domain and is widely available with inferior image quality). It was reissued as Hoppity Goes To Town and has become a cult favorite to a younger generation of animators and animation buffs. On New Year’s Day 2007, Mr. Bug Goes to Town will be presented at The Museum of Modern Art. If you live in, or are visiting New York City during the holidays, I urge you to GO!Here’s one reason why: The Museum has one of the only existing original Technicolor prints (with its Paramount logos and original titles intact). Most of the bad dubs on video (and the Internet) are so far from its original intended presentation, it’s pathetic. This print was shown at LACMA (L.A.’s equivalent of MoMA) several years ago and it absolutely blew my mind. The film was meant to be seen in a theater, and the vibrant colors of this print show it to be on par with anything Disney did during the same period. You’ve got two chances, Monday, January 1st at 11:00am and 2:00pm.The film also has a clever story, wonderful songs (by Frank Loesser, Hoagy Carmichael and Sammy Timberg) and great animation - and it’s a great way to start the new year.

One of the unlikeliest sources for quality animation writing nowadays is PRINT MAGAZINE. Their September/October issue had two smart pieces worth mentioning. The first was an article by John Canemaker about the OpenEnded Group, a NY-based trio of artists who are combining CGI, artificial intelligence, real-time graphics and installation art. It’s the type of experimental work one imagines Fischinger, Lye and McLaren would have been doing if they’d lived in the 21st century. The second piece is an informative profile of New York stop-motion director PES, whose latest spot I mentioned in yesterday’s TV commercial roundup. The PES article is posted on the PRINT website and it’s worth a read.

The first in a series of holiday gift-giving suggestions from your pals at Cartoon Brew.Editor Piera Patat of La Cineteca Del Friuli heard my plea and sent me a review copy of Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman’s Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series which was published in Italy last month.My high expectations for this long awaited tome were more than met. Merritt and Kaufman’s Silly Symphonies is a must-have reference for everyone, from Disney aficionados to aspiring animators, anyone interested in animation history. The Silly Symphonies were a significant stepping stone in the aesthetic progression of animated cartoons in general, and Disney’s artistic growth in particular.This book documents each and every film in the series with facts, commentary and detailed minutiea. Full credits, from studio drafts, crediting animators with their specific scenes along with working titles, complete voice credits, length (by footage), negative costs, TV premiere dates, musical credits and my favorite bit of trivia: what feature films each Silly opened with in its initial New York (usually at Radio City Music Hall) and Los Angeles (usually the Loews State or Grauman’s Chinese) theatrical engagements.The filmography takes up half the book, the other sections include a lengthy introduction detailing the history of the series, how it changed as Disney moved from one distributor to another, what influenced the stories the series told and how the Sillies were used to train Disney’s staff for eventual feature production. Appendicies detail Unfinished Symphonies, a discography, a bibliography of licensed childrens books based on the series and further information on offshoots like Hot Chocolate Soldiers (a Silly Symphony created for MGM’s 1934 feature Hollywood Party).It’s all here. Each film is illustratred with several rare images, however if I had one quibble with the book, it’s that I wish they had used more original art, production stills, pressbook and poster images over certain frame enlargements used here. It’s hard to complain though - the book is a necessity, a first class piece of research. Editor Patat informs me that Indiana University Press will be distributing the book in the U.S. (though it’s not listed on their website, nor on amazon, yet).While you’re waiting, I highly recommend pre-ordering Walt Disney Treasures - More Silly Symphonies which goes on sale December 19th. This second volume contains the rest of the Silly Symphonies series not already released on DVD - including several never before released on video in any format (Hell’s Bells and Cannibal Capers are two notorious titles rarely seen since their original theatrical release). The films have been completely restored and several cartoons have audio track commentary by the likes of Leonard Maltin, J.B. Kaufman, Daniel Goldmark, Ross Care, Dave Gerstein, Richard Sherman and me. The book and the DVD set make a killer combination of cartoon greatness. Highly Recommended!

Here’s a few recent animated TV spots that have caught my attention:

Orange “Kids” - “Spot 1” | “Spot 2”: These spots for European cell provider Orange take conventional children’s-style drawings and add dimensionality to them. Antoine Bardou-Jacquet of Partizan directed, with Buf responsible for the animation production.

Orange “Hide N Seek”: Another Orange spot, this one by New York director PES, who is seemingly incapable of producing anything but amazing work.

Honda Jazz “Tetris”: I thought this German commercial was brilliant until I saw this old SIMPSONS clip, which is way too close for comfort. It’s still an effective visually-driven concept; too bad ad agencies have to “borrow” their ideas from animated TV series.

Kymco Motorcycles: Beautiful spot by Spanish studio AÄB. This is the type of stylized art direction that I’d love to see in a CG feature some day; I’m not holding my breath though.

Nike “Snow” | “Wind” | “Rain”: A spare yet evocative winter ad campaign by Brazilian Nando Costa. Motionographer has a short interview with Costa about the production of these spots.

Just a subtle reminder that the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 4 goes on sale today at your favorite video retailer. Take the rest of the day off and watch cartoons.

The Esurance animated commercials - produced by Ghostbot and Wild Brain - look great, but are they good at selling car insurance? Ad critic Seth Stevenson doesn’t think so and he’s penned a lengthy complaint on SLATE about these commercials:

On the Esurance Web site, you can watch an ad that shows Erin battling robots in a Wild West shoot’em-up; another where she clashes with ninjas who are breaking into an art museum; and still others that I just don’t get at all. Yes, in each spot the dialogue makes salient points about the benefits of Esurance. But those confusing, busy plotlines drown out the message. While we’re hearing this: “At Esurance, if we can’t give you the best deal we’ll show you where you can - and help you buy the policy right away,” we’re seeing this: a robot, in a cowboy hat and duster, firing a machine gun at a woman with pink hair. Wha?

(Thanks, Weston)

This sentence in the Associated Press review of HAPPY FEET should raise a few eyebrows: “So the goodhearted Mumble is nonetheless a total outcast - though he should be the most popular guy on the iceberg with Savion Glover providing his tap moves behind the scenes through stop-motion animation.” I’ll start worrying when reviewers start labeling HAPPY FEET as 2D animation.

(Thanks, David Smedberg)

The theme this week on ReFrederator.com is animated shorts built around racial stereotypes. Our buddy Emru Townsend of fps magazine is providing the guest commentary for the cartoons, which he’s calling “Black Comedy”. Emru writes:

It’s nowhere near the kind of comprehensive look at the topic that I’d like, but hopefully it’ll provide a jumping-off point for discussion.

The cartoons available for download include the very first Looney Tunes - SINKIN’ IN THE BATHTUB, Ub Iwerks’ LITTLE BLACK SAMBO, Tex Avery’s ALL THIS AND RABBIT STEW, a Famous Studios Bouncing Ball cartoon JINGLE JANGLE JUNGLE and Van Beuren’s very odd Tom & Jerry-in-blackface PLANE DUMB (featuring the voices of forgotten vaudeville comedians Miller and Lyles). They don’t make ‘em like this anymore - and never will again. Take a look, then discuss the pros and cons on ReFrederator.