Six Point Harness, one of the up-and-coming Flash animation studios in Los Angeles, is hosting a FREE two-day seminar this weekend (May 19-20) for anybody interested in learning more about Flash. The class, which has also been held a number of times in the past, is open to both professionals working in the industry and students pursuing careers in animation. The presenters for the seminar include Chris Prynoski of Titmouse, producer Aaron Simpson (WB, JibJab), and animator Eric Pringle (Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends). Class size is limited to 16 individuals who will be selected by the instructors. More details about how to apply for the class be found at the 6PH website.

Toronto-area folks now have their own local alternative to Bud Plant and Stuart Ng’s. The Labyrinth is a brand new bookstore specializing in animation, illustration, artist sketchbooks, graphic novels and manga. The store, open seven days a week, is located at 386 Bloor Street West (2 blocks west of Spadina Subway station). The shop also has a small gallery space which owner Dan Merisanu tells me will be used for monthly artist shows starting in June. A website with basic details is over here and there’s also a blog which lists new books in stock.

This October, Chronicle Books will release To Infinity and Beyond: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios by Karen Paik and Leslie Iwerks. The hefty 320-page volume celebrates Pixar’s 20-plus year history from its early days under George Lucas to the recent merger with Disney. The book will include two 8-page gatefolds and over 400 color images. Cover price is $75. It’s a $51 pre-order at Amazon.

Also worth noting, the new Leslie Iwerks film documentary about the studio, The Pixar Story, will have a sneak preview at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival next month. The Annecy screening is on Friday, June 15.

Not to be overlooked in this year of great classic cartoon DVD releases (the Droopy collection goes on sale today) are these programs from our friends at Thunderbean Animation and Inkwell Images.

Steve Stanchfield from Thunderbean has been rescuing obscure cartoons for years and his previous compilations are text book examples of How-To restore and present this vintage material on DVD. His latest videos, The Little King and Cultoons, Part Two are vital additions to the collection.

The Little King is a collection of all ten uber-rare Van Beuren cartoons based on the classic comic strip by Otto Soglow. These films were produced in 1933-34 and, in addition to being animated by Jim Tyer, they are as surreal as anything the Fleischers were doing at the same time. As a bonus Steve includes the one Fleischer attempt to animate the Little King (co-starring Betty Boop) in 1936. And, Steve includes two rare Sentinel Louie cartoons from 1933 (this character was the “topper strip” on The Little King’s Sunday pages). If it can be imagined, these are even more off beat than the Little King.

Thunderbean’s second Cultoons collection is subtitled “Animated Education” as it contains 13 educational, industrial and commercial films from such diverse talents as Fleischer Studios, Terrytoons, Hugh Harman and UPA. These are the rarest of the rare and this set includes some informative - and hilarious - audio commentary by the likes of Mark Kausler, Milton Knight, Steve Worth, Mike Kazaleh and that little old winemaker… me.

We’ve plugged Ray Pointer’s program of rare uncut Alice Comedies before. But if you haven’t picked this up yet, now is the time. Ray has recently revised the collection (adding Alice Gets Stage Struck) and restored many cut scenes with rare footage only available here. These DVDs are highly recommended.

At the pace we’re going, by this time next week our site will likely be renamed Kimball Brew. But after seeing the incredible Ward Kimball interview with Tom Snyder below, I couldn’t resist digging into my collection and posting one more rare piece of Kimball video: his March 1954 appearance with Groucho Marx on You Bet Your Life. And don’t forget, Kimball’s got his own MySpace.

As an addendum to our posts on Ward Kimball (can we ever post enough about Kimball?), our pal Don Brockway (Psst, check out his webpage devoted to Disney voice actress Kathryn Beaumont) is posting on YouTube a rare 1978 broadcast of Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow Show, shot on location at Grizzly Flats!

Don writes:

Like many of your readers, I was saddened to hear that Grizzly Flats is no more. Something I’ve held onto, since the beginning of time, is a tape of this broadcast. I recorded it on ¾� video at the time, and it’s one of my favorite shows. When I took my old ¾� U-matic in to be serviced, my buddy behind the counter said, “Who gave you this, Fred Flintstone?� But he managed to get it working again, and I was able to salvage the program.

I’m posting the entire 45 minute show (editing out commercials) a piece at a time. It may take a couple of days. But I want to share this great show with everybody; it’s an excellent tribute to Ward and to Grizzly Flats.

We agree. Below are all seven videos of the program that Don has graciously posted onto YouTube.

In the photo above, the guy on the left is yours truly, Jerry Beck, blathering on about the fine points of American animation to the guy on the right: the father of anime, the Disney of Japan, Osamu Tezuka.

This fateful meeting took place in 1978, at a screening of Bander’s Book at the Japan Society in New York City. And obviously, it was one of the greatest days of my life.

Tezuka San had somehow obtained a copy of Mindrot, the fanzine, in which I wrote about my love of his comics and Astro Boy, and was as delighted to meet me as I was to meet him. He even invited me out to have sushi after the screening. I’ll never forget it. He was a great artist and a great human being.

The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco will be presenting an exhibit, Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga, June 2nd through September 9th, which is shaping up to be an absolute must-see event. The official website is loaded with essays, information, podcasts and even a blog worth reading.

And in case you don’t know who Tezuka is, here’s a 30 second refresher course:

According to this piece in today’s LA Times, Ward Kimball’s family is dismantling his backyard Grizzly Flats Railroad - one of the major inspirations for Disneyland. John Lasseter is personally taking some of the depot buildings… the rest of the material donated to museums, or destroyed.