The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills has scheduled yet another program of particular interest to Cartoon Brew readers. Joe Dante is hosting George Pal: Discovering the Fantastic, a centennial celebration of the pioneer stop motion animator and fantasy film producer. The program will include the screening of two newly restored Puppetoons, Rhythm In The Ranks (1941) and John Henry and The Inky Poo (1946). Dante will moderate a panel of Pal collaborators, including actors Barbara Eden, Russ Tamblyn, Alan Young, puppetoon animator Bob Baker and special effects producer Jim Danforth. The evening concludes with a screening of Pal’s 1953 sci-fi classic The War Of The Worlds.

Tickets are $5.00 ($3. for students). Doors open at 6:30pm. For more information click here.

If I were in San Francisco this Friday, I’d attend this. The Harvey Comics Art Show, which began June 28th at the Cartoon Art Museum, will host an opening reception on Friday, August 1, from 7-9pm. Lots of original artwork (including pages by Kremer, Post, Muffatti, Taras and others) tracing the history of the comics company are on display and Harvey scholars Mark Arnold and Dave Holt will be on hand Friday to answer questions.

I hope to make it out there in October to sign copies of the Baby Huey book. Details to come. The Harvey art will be on display in San Francisco through November 30th. A New York show is in the planning stage.

A few weeks ago it was announced that Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 6 (on sale October 21st) would be the last Golden Collection. It is true, this will be the last – but let me be very clear: Warner Bros. will continue to release new Looney Tunes on DVD on an annual basis for the foreseeable future. There will be more classic cartoon restoration and collectible DVD sets to come (and No “double dipping” is planned). More about that later.

For now, we have an incredible collection of material to savor in Volume 6. Details about the main content of 60 classic Looney Tunes is listed here. Bonus materials will include:

Disc One: Looney Tunes All Stars

Commentaries
Hare Trigger Commentary by Greg Ford
Birth of a Notion Commentary by Mark Kausler
My Favorite Duck Commentary by Jerry Beck

Music Only Tracks
Raw! Raw! Rooster
Jumpin’ Jupiter
Rabbit Rampage
Boyhood Daze

The Looney Tunes Television Specials
Bugs Bunny in King Arthur’s Court [1978 WBTV special]
Daffy Duck’s Easter Eggcitement [1980 WBTV special]

Bonus Cartoons
Sniffles Takes a Trip [1940 WB cartoon]
Hippety Hopper [1949 WB cartoon]
Rabbit Rampage [1955 WB cartoon]
Boyhood Daze [1957 WB cartoon]

Disc Two: Patriotic Pals
Commentaries
Herr Meets Herr Commentary by Greg Ford
Russian Rhapsody Commentary by Mark Kausler
The Draft Horse Commentary by Greg Ford
Fifth Column Mouse Commentary by Jerry Beck

Music Only Track
Yankee Dood It

Friz Freleng at MGM
Poultry Pirates [1938 MGM cartoon]
A Day at the Beach [1938 MGM cartoon]
The Captain’s Christmas [1938 MGM cartoon]
Seal Skinners [1939 MGM cartoon]
Mama’s New Hat [1939 MGM cartoon]

Bonus Cartoons
The Fighting 69 1/2th [1941 WB cartoon]
Hop and Go [1943 WB cartoon]
Confusions of a Nutsy Spy [1943 WB cartoon]

Disc Three: Bosko, Buddy and Merrie Melodies

Commentaries
Shuffle Off to Buffalo Commentary by Historian Jerry Beck
A Cartoonist’s Nightmare Commentary by Historian Jerry Beck

The World of Leon Schlesinger
Introduction by Martha Sigall and Jerry Beck
Crying for the Carolines [1930 WB short]
Haunted Gold Title Sequence
Schlesinger Productions Christmas Party with Optional Commentary by Martha Sigall and Jerry Beck

Bonus Cartoons
I Love a Parade [1932 WB cartoon]
I Like Mountain Music [1933 WB cartoon]
Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence [1933 WB cartoon]
How Do I Know It’s Sunday [1934 WB cartoon]

Disc Four: Most Requested Assorted Nuts (One-Shots)

Commentaries
Fresh Airedale Commentary by historian Greg Ford
The Hole Idea Commentary by animator Mark Kausler

Alternate Audio Programs
The Hole Idea Music Only Track
Martian Through Georgia Music Only Track
Punch Trunk Music and Effects Track
Wild Wild World Music Only Track

Bonus Documentary
Mel Blanc: The Man of a Thousand Voices (70 mins.)

Bonus Cartoons
Sleepy Time Possum [1951 WB Cartoon]
Punch Trunk [1953 WB Cartoon]
Wild Wild World [1960 WB Cartoon]
Bartholomew versus the Wheel [1964 WB Cartoon]

I urge you to buy the set the day it comes out (or Pre Order the set on Amazon.com). Your purchase of this collection will help keep the cartoons coming, and will strengthen the message to Warner Bros. that the public wish to continue to buying Looney Tunes on DVD.

These mysterious Looney Tunes promotional buttons were handed out, one per day, at the DC Comics booth during the San Diego Comic Con. I say “mysterious” because (a) they were handed out at an obscure corner of the booth by (b) people who weren’t sure they had them (I had to request one each day) and (c) no one seemed to know what exactly these buttons were promoting. DC certainly has no new plans for expanding its Looney Tunes comic book – so why were these produced? The images chosen for these buttons were certainly an odd lot. Number 1 and 5 are nice shots of Bugs and the Road Runner. But number 2 and 3 show characters in peril and button 4 is an indecipherable image of the Tazmanian Devil in mid-spin. As I said, a mystery – but I was happy to snag them.

The Comic Con was, as it has been for the last several years, an overwhelming, overbearing sensory overload. The original convention (i.e. mainly Mark Evanier’s panels, the Harvey and Inkpot awards , the masquerade and the parties) is still there – buried under the Hollywood machine which has moved in and pretty much taken over. Personally, I had a relatively good time, despite almost losing my voice (due to talking) on Friday.

One reason I lost my voice was due to the two book signings and three on-camera intereviews I did during the show. You can see one of these here on MSN (better yet, try here). I was promoting my WORST CARTOONS EVER presentation which is now available for sale as legal DVD (If you are interested in a limited DVD of the actual cartoons I showed at the 2008 Comic Con show write to me at jbeck6540-at-aol.com). I’ll be posting about some more of the stuff I found as I unpack and unwind over the next few days.

To this day, Walt Peregoy’s color styling in 101 Dalmatians remains a fine example of how color can be used creatively in animation while serving more than a merely decorative function. On his blog Colorful Animation Expressions, artist Oswald Iten is exploring the use of color as a storytelling device in that film. So far he has written two thoughtful and in-depth posts about the topic with more to come—Color in 101 Dalmatians: An Introduction and Color in 101 Dalmatians: 1. Home Sweet Home.

This weekend at Comic-Con, Pixar previewed footage from their next film, Up, directed by Pete Docter. They’ve also just released the first teaser trailer for the film:

FirstShowing.net offers this description of the plot:

Our hero is the 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Edward Asner), a short and square little man who walks with a cane. When he was young he met a girl and fell in love with her. Her dream was always to explore Paradise Falls in Venezuela, but unfortunately life got in the way and it never came true. Now Carl is an old widower and he sets off on his own to head down to South America to live out that dream before his life ends. Most of the movie takes place in the wonderfully envisioned mountains of Venezuela, where Carl eventually lands after his house sails south…Along the way, Carl meets numerous other characters and creatures. One of them that Docter showed us was a young, chubby 9-year-old boy named Russell. He’s collected all the merit badges (for the Wilderness Club) except one – assisting the elderly. So he stows away in Carl’s house and floats with him down to Venezuela as well.

Footage from the film was premiered in San Diego alongside clips from Disney’s Bolt. While Bolt went over well, Up made “fanboys run for the exits,” according to this report on the Spout blog. Some people enjoyed it however. Entertainment Weekly says that there was no contest between which of the two films looked better: “Bolt proved suitably entertaining…then immediately lackluster, once director Pete Docter (Monsters Inc.) came out and debuted a few scenes from Pixar’s Up.”

Personally, all I can say is that I’m excited. In fact, I’m looking more forward to this film than any Pixar effort since The Incredibles. As much as the risk-taking and experimentation in Wall-E were commendable, the film taxed my patience with what I found to be unrelatable and largely uninvolving metallic leads. Up, on the other hand, is already in the plus column by having introduced a main character with a compelling and human story that I want to learn more about. My interest is piqued.

UPDATE: Harry McCracken gives in-depth and interesting perspectives of the Comic-Con footage he saw from Bolt and Up.

Animation artist Tony Benedict (no relation to Ed) has a personal website that offers a mishmash of photos, gag drawings and ephemera from his early animation career at Disney, UPA and Hanna-Barbera. Worth a quick look.

(Thanks, Jason Groh)

This just in: ASIFA-Hollywood announced its 2008 Winsor McCay Lifetime Achievement Award recipients during their Comic-Con party last night at the Gaslight Marriott in San Diego. This year’s Winsor McCay recipients are: Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park. The award recipients will claim their trophies at the 36th Annual Annie Awards, Friday, January 30, 2009, at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.