There isn’t a whole lot of work on the site of London-based Brazilian illustrator and animator Fernando Leal but what is there shows a strong flair for design and concepts, and solid ability to translate those ideas into animation. I hope to see more from him in the future.

Isn’t it ironic that the big New York Anime Festival, occurring next weekend at the Javitz Center, begins on Pearl Harbor Day (12/7)?

It’s a huge show, but the highlight for old fogeys like me is the appearence of the original U.S. dub voices for Speed Racer, Trixie, Spritle and Chim Chim - Peter Fernandez and Corrine Orr. This is the inaugural festival and it’s shaping up to be the biggest anime event in North America. For more information, go to the festival website.

(Thanks, Derek Tague)

Below is an early-1940s article from a magazine called Your Charm, a young woman’s magazine alone the lines of Mademoiselle. Forgive the quality of the quick-and-dirty digital photo and the fact that the piece is incomplete. But I couldn’t resist documenting this sentence in the article: “By this same token you probably find more crabbing there than in any other business in town. It runs the gamut of from why is Fred the gardener planting all that alfalfa to what does Walt want to make that story for!” I guess some things in animation never change. This caption on the second page is also a classic: “Frequent sketching trips to the nearby zoos and the surrounding countryside are conducive to romance for young Disney artists.”

click for large view

Off Topic: This is the real trailer for a Don Johnson movie, Dead Bang (1989). I’ve had to live with this for 18 years. It’s time to share the pain:

Disney’s Enchanted is a blockbuster hit. The critics are raving and there is Oscar buzz swirling for its star, Amy Adams.

In addition to the film’s obvious tributes to Disney past, the film is loaded with hidden references that only the truly geeky - and readers of Cartoon Brew - would get. A whole list of the them (four pages) was post by Kansas City.com.

The film sends up Disney cliches, but does so with respect and class. What’s more, it’s reminding audiences of what Disney-style hand drawn animation looks like in movie theatre. I can only wonder, might the film’s accomplishments - along with success of The Simpsons Movie and the upcoming Persepolis - lead to an actual theatrical resurgence of traditional cartoon animation?

My old pal Ron Hall has started writing a blog in conjunction with a revival of Matinee at the Bijou.

Apparently new episodes of this classic movie showcase, which was one of the most popular programs on PBS in the 1980s, are back in production - with a new celebrity host, Debbie Reynolds. Ron Hall, who runs Festival Films and was the publisher of the pioneering animation fanzine Mindrot, is actively involved with providing classic movie material for the show. On his new blog, he’s posting about the classic shorts and cartoons - his latest post promotes an upcoming Bijou program which features a bunch of vintage Paramount Screen Songs. I’m not sure what the status of the show is, but they’ve been feeding their content to You Tube, and set up a fun informative website worth checking out.

Our friend Steve Schneider has brought his traveling exhibit of original Warner Bros. cartoon production art to Redding California. What’s Up Doc? The Art Of Warner Bros. Cartoons is currently on display through January 6th at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park, in the Turtle Bay Museum. Those of you spending the holidays in northern California should certainly check it out. It’s open everyday except Tuesday.

Lev Polyakov sent this Thanksgiving greeting below.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

You remember our June 2006 post about animator Joe Busam’s painting his child’s nursery in the style of a 1930s cartoon.

Now Brew reader Joey Ellis, inspired by Busam’s mural, has decided to do one of his own. He chose Mickey’s Mechanical Man (1933) as his inspiration. Click here to see photos of the room work in progress (or a flickr slide show). Perhaps this will inspire others… Porky in Wackyland, anyone?

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