Let’s try this again.

If you were turned away from the Milt Kahl event last month, the Academy wants to invite you to an encore presentation. The screening, on video tape, will be held on Tuesday, June 30, at 7:30pm at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater (1313 Vine Street at Fountain, in Hollywood). Free parking is available behind the building if you enter off Homewood. The event, of course, is free but reservations are required for the obvious reasons.

This invitation is extended specifically to those who did not get in to the initial presentation, however you may bring along as many friends as you care to invite. The videotape will feature the original event in its entirety, though it has been edited to provide the best coverage from two cameras. Andreas Deja and Alice Davis are planning to be there for the encore screening so the evening should have a nice personal atmosphere of its own. All attendees will receive the poster and program from the original event.

Reservations may be placed by emailing guest names to rhaberkamp-at-oscars.org or calling 310-247-2688 and leaving names and a return phone number. Any questions, comments or concerns may be addressed to the same above.

(Pictured above from the Kahl tribute 4/27/09, Left to Right: Andreas Deja, Brad Bird, John Musker and Ron Clements)

This photo comes from davedoo’s Flickr page. The accompanying caption:

Saturday, May 2, 2009: A lovely day as Pepperdine University graduates the class of 2009. I had only one acquaintance that was graduating but childhood friend John Lasseter, who I grew up with at the Whittier Church of Christ, received an honorary doctorate for his work in computer animation as Chief Creative Officer of Pixar Animation and Walt Disney Imagineering. Congrats John!

While researching a book that I’m currently working on, I discovered a four-page ad published in the March 4, 1940 edition of The Hollywood Reporter. The ad, taken out by the Disney studio, congratulates the crew who worked on Pinocchio. These type of ads are nothing special nowadays but this particular one is fascinating to see in the context of Disney history.

One of the commonly heard lines about why the Disney strike happened is that Walt never credited his artists publicly and wanted everybody to believe that he made his films alone. This ad proves that that statement is patently false. In fact, this ad appeared over a year before the strike happened. It credits the lead animators, voice artists, background and layout crews, storymen, musician, designers, fx animators, and even the live-action models. The first page of the ad is above, the following three pages are after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

About a year ago, Milton Knight sent us a link to a excerpt from a rare series of Egyptian cartoons created in the 1930s by the pioneering Frenkel Brothers. Knight has just found a complete “Mish-Mish” cartoon on You Tube, from a broadcast on Serge Bromberg’s Cartoon Factory a few years ago. In the interests of animation history, I think it’s worth a look.

Of this film, Knight notes “the pirating of the Van Beuren Tom & Jerry’s Wot a Night and In the Bag, both soundtracks and animation.” I’ll note (or warn you of) the ethnic and racial stereotypes — and the crude animation, which I find entertaining; strangely hypnotic and bizarre, in a good way.

If you want more Frenkel Brothers goodness, here’s a 40-second clip compiled from several other of their films.

I was rummaging through my files last night and found this old beat-up Mickey Mouse Bubble Gum card from the early 1930s. I don’t know if anyone has posted this set (96 cards) on the internet, but I’d sure like to see the rest of them. Could this be the first time Walt Disney himself was pictured in licensed merchandise?

Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues—now a film that everybody can (and should) watch—continues to make an impact in surprising and unexpected ways. Last week, the above Reuters photo by Krishnendu Halder appeared online with the following caption: “Members of laughter clubs attend a session during ‘World Laughter Day’ celebrations in Hyderabad, India.” The celebration in India included a huge sculpture of the mythical figure Ravana based on Nina’s design from the film.

Consider for a second the amazing nature of this photo’s contents. Nina Paley made Sita Sings the Blues in her apartment—all by her lone self, on a shoestring budget, using a desktop computer. One short year after its debut, with absolutely no promotional budget, no theatrical distribution and little mainstream media coverage, the film has traveled around the globe and fans are creating sculptures based on her work.

Nina has made it possible for everybody to see her film by placing her film into Creative Commons and allowing it to be shared without copyright restrictions. Conventional thinking leads us to believe that this type of distribution is impossible and that global visibility is only possible through millions of dollars worth of marketing and advertising. Paley, however, has entrusted the distribution to her audience and (surprise, surprise) people are watching her film and building a community around it. The success of her experiment proves that independent artists with limited means can indeed compete on a world-wide playing field, not by trying to mimic strategies of entertainment conglomerates, but by taking advantage of ideas like Creative Commons licensing and employing comprehensive online distribution strategies.

I’ve kept my eye on an intriguing Russian animated film Alice’s Birthday, which I’d mentioned here several times last year. Looks like it’s finally coming to the US, on the festival circuit, under the title Alisa’s Birthday. A special English trailer has been created, dubbed by a British girl, but rest assured the film will be shown in Russian with English subtitles. The first US showings are at the Seattle International Film Festival next month: Sunday June 7th at 11am at the Kirkland Performance Center and two other showings at the Pacific Place Cinema. For more information go to the SIFF website.

(Thanks, Liam)

The animation above aired on the 1962 ABC special “Stan Freberg Presents The Chun King Chow Mein Hour: Salute to the Chinese New Year.” It’s been rarely seen since then. It was directed by Roger Ramjet creator Fred Crippen, designed by Saul Bass, and the song is taken from Stan Freberg’s comedy album “Stan Freberg Presents The United States Of America.” Another important name involved with this piece was Bass Office designer Art Goodman, who Crippen remembers working with closely and who contributed significantly to the overall look of the piece.