The next several Saturday nights at the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles will feature a rare festival of vintage stop motion animation films. Tonight (11/15) at 7:30pm is Stop Motion Rareties featuring Starevich, Bowers’ and Svankmajer amongst much odd and unusual. Next week (11/22) at 7:30pm an entire show of George Pal Puppetoons; and on November 29th at 6pm, a fully restored 35mm print of Lou Bunin’s Alice In Wonderland (1949).

And that’s not the only animation event at the Silent Theatre this month. Spend An Evening with Don Hertzfeldt on Sunday November 30th at 7pm.

Twenty-two years later, Luxo Jr. is no longer a kid, and he’s developed other interests that are a bit more mature than beach balls. The short is by Mark Grundy.

(via Kottke)

Tina Price of the Creative Talent Network went to Cal Arts on Tuesday and gave Corny Cole a check on behalf of the animation community. Cole, a veteran animator and educator, lost his home and possessions in a fire last month. CTN’s online fundraiser raised $12,168 thanks to the donations of his many colleagues, fans and students (and quite a few Cartoon Brew readers). Photos of Corny receiving the funds are posted here.

Our sincere best wishes to Corny Cole!

This weekend, Picturebox, the publisher of the John K book I’m working on, is having a massive book and magazine sale at their place. I’ve browsed through the selection and there’s plenty of quality and rare stuff that’ll interest anybody into cartoons and illustration. It takes place on Saturday and Sunday, November 15 and 16, from 12-5pm. Available at affordable prices are hundreds of volumes about graphic design, illustration, fine art, graphic novels, imported manga, vintage children’s books, silkscreened books, prints, and tons of design and art magazines. Credit cards will be accepted. Picturebox is located at 121 3rd St. (corner of Bond) in Brooklyn. Take the F or G train to Carroll St., exit at Smith and 2nd place, and walk down 3rd St. to Bond.

Here’s a real rarity.

When Ralph Bakshi worked at Paramount in 1967, he produced several theatrical shorts and proposed a dozen more. One of his assignments was to create a pilot based on the classic radio show The Bickersons using the track of a 1940s radio broadcast starring Don Ameche and Frances Langford. Paul Rapp, son of Bickersons creator Philip Rapp, found this previously lost footage and has posted it on You Tube. Note the first half is in pose reel, the second half is finished in (now faded) color:

(Thanks, Jeffrey Gray)

Pixar’s Burn-E is the short that’s attached to the Wall-E DVD coming out next week. It’s directed by Angus MacLane.

(via Kottke)

Along with tomorrow night’s debut of Warner Bros. Animation’s latest take on Batman, Batman: the Brave and the Bold, (Cartoon Network, 7:30pm 8pm Eastern) will be a new Warner Animation logo. Hoping to recapture its classic studio roots, the new logo features a retro Bugs Bunny (circa 1941-42) sort-of a cross between the one in Avery’s All This And Rabbit Stew and a Clampett model (seen in The Wacky Wabbit). Take a look, below:

Disney’s Roadside Romeo has opened in India and it’s a huge hit. Let me repeat that: It’s a HUGE HIT. According to a Disney exec, “in its first four days it exceeded the entire Indian gross of The Incredibles.”

This means only one thing. The population of India is clearly not ready yet for animated films. It’s understandable, I mean didn’t they just introduce automobiles into the country last year or something. So here’s my proposal: All animation should be immediately removed from the nation of India. I’ve written a letter outlining the plan.

Dear People of India,

As of tomorrow, anything animated—whether CG, stop-motion, Flash or drawn—will be taken off of your airwaves and out of your theaters. Additionally, any DVDs containing animation can be dumped in useless neighboring countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh. Furthermore, a moratorium will be placed on any animation currently being produced in India. Send your animators home. Trust me, nobody wants to see this crap anyways. As part of your cartoon re-education, all children’s toys based on cartoon characters must be traded in within 72 hours for books about Renaissance painting and storytelling how-tos by Robert McKee. As a goodwill gesture, we will also ship you Richard Williams who will conduct his popular Masterclass in India’s 200 largest cities.

We’ll try the plan for two years. Don’t worry, good ideas like this take time. When the fine people of India feel they’re good and ready to respect the animation art form, I will personally send over a print of One Froggy Evening. If you enjoy that more than you did Roadside Romeo, we’ll send you Dumbo the following month. If you still enjoy Roadside Romeo, we’ll take more drastic measures like defrosting Walt and sending him over to help you see the light. Either way you’ll finally be able to see that your enthusiasm for Roadside Romeo was one huge terrible fucking mistake. Don’t feel too bad, even animation-savvy countries make mistakes sometimes.

Do we have a deal India? Let me know when you have a moment. We’ll go to In-n-Out afterwards to celebrate.

Sincerely,

Cartoon Brew