(click for full-sized chart)

Designer Allister Roberts recently created a chart documenting the use of jazz in animated shorts between 1929 and 1945. He has generously allowed me to share his work with Brew readers. In addition to being informative, it’s a lovely piece of information graphics. Roberts tells me, “By all means this is not a complete list, as I purposely glazed over some lesser works, but barring time and money I would love the opportunity to completely flesh this out to cover entire eras.” Personally, I’d love to see him extend it out to cover the late-’40s and 1950s, when musicians like Oscar Peterson, Shorty Rogers and Ella Fitzgerald worked with animators like Norman McLaren, Bill Hurtz, Ernie Pintoff and John Hubley.

The above graphic will be reprinted in a forthcoming book by Robert Del Tredici, and a ten-foot printout of it is currently on display at the Mel Oppenheimer Centre in Montreal.

Former Disney 2D animators James Baker (Mulan, Tarzan, etc) and Joe Haidar (Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas) have directed a new combination live action/animation independent short film, Animated American. I don’t know much about it, but I was handed a postcard announcing a screening of it at the Rialto Theatre in South Pasadena on Thursday night. Click on image above to see the full poster for the film. Voice actors Jason Marsden (Batman) and Bill Farmer (Goofy) star. It sounds intriguing. Hopefully James and Joe will write in and give us more information.

One of the highlights of the forthcoming Popeye Vol. 2 DVD is the remastered print of the 1939 two-reel special, Aladdin And His Wonderful Lamp. The image above is from the very rare set of still photos released by Paramount for promotional purposes. A set of three are currently being auctioned off on ebay. These stills are actually black and white images of production cels and backgrounds, repositioned, “colorized” with inks using primary colors. Click on image at left to see the same set up, in full color, from the actual restored film.

Back in February I posted the rare opening title, previously lost, to this Technicolor Popeye cartoon. That image was snapped with my funky cel phone off a TV screen. Below are the actual frames (of the three cards that make up the titles) for your calligraphic pleasure. The DVD set goes on sale June 17th.

Today’s The Argyle Sweater, Scott Hilburn’s new panel cartoon, recently launched in 130 newspapers by Universal Press.

Apparently the Clinton’s are watching the Looney Tunes Golden Collection on their flat screen in this Mike Luckovich editorial cartoon from Thursday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Whoa! I got quite a shock as I entered the lobby of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills tonight. I attended this evening’s incredible Marc Davis Lecture, but the Academy had a surprise for us attendees - the Ink and Paint exhibit, scheduled to open next Friday (with a reception next Thursday night), was up on the walls today!

It’s an amazing exhibit - a must-see if you live/work or are visiting L.A. in the next four months. Of particular interest: the lost Horton Hatches The Egg (1942) original title cel set up (image removed by request). There are dozens of pieces from Disney, UPA, Warner Bros. and even DePatie Freleng. But my favorite material was on loan from the fabled Bob Clampett archive. Here’s a partial list of the Clampett goodies on display:

1. HORTON HATCHES THE EGG (1942) ­ Cel Set-up and model sheet
2. Clampett’s Employee Card 1940
3. WHAT’S COOKIN’, DOC? (1944) story sketch - Bugs
4. WHAT’S COOKIN’, DOC? (1944) cel set-up of Bugs at table in Coconut Grove
5. THE GREAT PIGGY BANK ROBBERY (1946) ­ Two (2) pages of story meeting notes!
6. ROVER’S RIVAL (1937) ­ a page of Mel Blanc’s recording script!
7. BIRDY AND THE BEAST (1944) Storyboard panels
8. BOOK REVUE (1946) an original Daffy Duck model sheet

The exhibit opens to the public next Friday, May 16th. Do not miss this! And it’s FREE!

Interesting year at the box office. Horton Hears A Who was a huge box office success. Kung Fu Panda and Wall•E are going to be gigantic hits.

Fox (Space Chimps), Warners (Clone Wars) and MGM (Igor) will join in with several “B-pictures” later this year. They look intriguing from their newly released trailers, but you be the judge: Igor has possibilities. Space Chimps features the ubiquitous voice work of Patrick Warburton.

Whaddya think?

I’ve linked to Vince Collins’s animation before, but I hadn’t run across this hallucinogenic 1982 piece of animation he made called Malice in Wonderland. Quite appropriately, it was pointed out to me by Christy Karacas, who’s currently working on a trippy animated series of his own, Superjail. It’s probably NSFW but don’t let that stop you. Creator Collins also has a MySpace with an entertaining account of his animation career thus far and links to more of his work.