John Dyson, the grandson of master animator Ken Harris (1898-1982) started a website last year to post artwork, photographs and ephemera Harris had saved. Dyson wrote in to report a new find:

When my grandmother died a few years back, I recieved a big box of “old stuff” of Ken’s. In this box was a bunch of old animation. He didn’t really keep much of the production cels or drawings, but there was almost 150 drawings in a big envelope labled “Schlesinger days - keep”. They all seem to be from the animators around that time that were just drawn for fun around the studio. Many of these drawings also seem to be around inside jokes, so we really don’t understand many of them.

The newly found Schlesinger era material is posted here. Clearly some of them are drawn by Chuck Jones. If anyone can help us identify artists (or the cartoonists being caricatured) you can contact Dyson directly through the website. It’s well worth browsing the whole site. I particularly like this 1941 Seein’ Stars clipping referencing Harris (without credit).

A few weeks ago, Mark Lynch of New England public radio station WICN ran two hours of interviews with animation authors on his radio show Inquiry: one hour with Neal Gabler for his book Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, half an hour with Tom Sito and his Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions From Bosko to Bart Simpson and half an hour for my Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation. The interviews can be listened to online through the end of of June. I have to admit, I was a bit tentative about doing such a long chat about the book, but the host Mark Lynch quickly put me at ease with his excellent interview style and solid understanding of the book’s material. Thanks to Mark for devoting such a big chunk of airtime to discussing cartoons.

I was speaking to June Foray today and was surprised to find out she isn’t in the cast of the currently-in-production CG Horton Hears A Who.

Foray, of course, was cast in the original 1970 Chuck Jones TV special playing Cindy Lou Who and Jane Kangaroo. IMDB lists Carol Burnett as voicing the role of Jane Kangaroo in the current production. Gosh, I know it’s way too late to change anyone’s mind at Blue Sky or Fox, but couldn’t Foray - a living legend and the only surviving member of the original cast - at least play a bit part in the new film?

In honor of the forthcoming big budget TRANSFORMERS movie, we hereby present this low tech fan tribute:

It’s official… It’s officially bad!

The latest trailer for the live action Underdog movie confirms that the film will be a dog (no pun intended). Ya’know, if Warner Bros. did a Krypto film like this, I wouldn’t be so bummed. But this isn’t Underdog - this is.

Last month, my pal Rusty Frank told me she was going to Prague to perform (she’s a tap dancer and expert on the history of tap) and she was wondering if I had any friends there. I told her to contact Gene Deitch and his lovely wife, Zdenka. She did so and apparently they are all “new best friends”. Rusty took a 35 second video on her cel phone - click here to see a quick tour of Gene’s home office.

I wish I could’ve been there with them, but this is the next best thing. I’m delighted that I was able to hook up two friends in such a faraway place.

Here’s Gene and Rusty last week.

And here’s a nice piece of art, by Ken O’Connor, on Gene’s wall.

So I’ve only got a few days to spend in Paris. To folks living there or those who have visited, what would you recommend I do? Any good animation-related sights to see? Comic stores to visit? Pâtisseries and boulangeries to indulge at? All good tips welcomed. And no, I won’t be doing this.

It’s turning out to be quite a year for aficionados of 20th century illustration. First there’s the upcoming Charley Harper volume (I saw the book in person last week and it is more amazing than I could ever describe). Now, there’s word of a new book being released in the US this month focusing entirely on Mexican illustrator Miguel Covarrubias, who was an influence on Al Hirschfeld and countless other caricaturists. The book—Miguel Covarrubias: 4 Visions—is a 224-page hardcover with over 300 color and b&w illustrations. According to the publisher, it is a “treasure trove of illustrative material covering every aspect of his work, from New York and Harlem through Bali and the South Seas to pre-Hispanic and twentieth-century Mexico.” The book is a steal on Amazon for under $30. Get a taste of Covarrubias’s work here.