Cartoon Brew

Scrappy Freebie

For months now, Scrappyland, my site for Scrappy appreciation, has been in preview mode. Folks sometimes ask me if I've forgotten or abandoned it.

Nope--I've been busy working on it, and it will eventually launch in all its full-blown glory. Soon, I hope. It's my magnum opus, so it would be a shame if it stayed on my hard drive forever.

To prove I'm still toiling away, here's a download (in PDF form) for Cartoon Brew readers: An eight-page 1936 publicity booklet for the Scrappy Puppet Theater, a Farina premium that Columbia promoted like it was the Second Coming. It includes promotion ideas such as organzing Scrappy window-decorating contests for local grocers, Scrappy poetry ("I'm a boy named Scrappy/Farina keeps me happy"), and a letter from our hero himself.

Enjoy. Or be mystified. Or maybe both--that's par for the course when it comes to Scrappy-related matters. (Yes, that's Scrappy waltzing with an anthropomorphic box of Farina on the cover...) And stay tuned for news on Scrappyland's grand opening.

NY DISPATCH #3

I'm back from NY. The last week of the trip was unbelievably nuts, including a final stretch of 36 hours without sleep. Upon arrival in LA, I was so jetlagged that I somehow managed to lock myself out of my apartment within minutes of getting home, and then had to call a locksmith to bust open my lock. The ultimate purpose of this trip, sleep-deprivation and all, was to gather research and artwork for my forthcoming book on Fifties animation design and in that respect the trip was a resounding success. There's going to be some jaw-droppingly gorgeous animation art in this book and I can't wait to share it with everybody. Mark your calenders folks - Spring 2006, Chronicle Books.

The NYC trip as a whole was an immensely enjoyable experience. The city has a vibe unlike anything I've experienced in LA and I was also quite impressed by the city's thriving indie animation scene, which has enjoyed a major resurgence in the past few years. Here's some of the highlights from my last few days in NYC: Breakfast with Mike Sporn and John Dilworth, two guys with an amazing knowledge of film that far surpasses mine. Coffee with Emily Hubley, daughter of John and Faith Hubley, not to mention a talented filmmaker in her own right (a retrospective of her work screens at Ocularis tomorrow evening). Breakfast with Ryan Sias, who did the boards and designs for the animated segment in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE and also boarded on the upcoming Blue Sky feature ROBOTS. Check out his comics at RyanSias.com. Also, got some cool CDs and vinyl from Ryan's brother who runs the up-and-coming record label Music Related. Met Eric Costello, creator of the indispensable Warner Bros. Cartoon Companion and had another fine meal with current Brew guest blogger Harry McCracken, who just happened to be visiting NY on business.

Visited with Pat Smith and friends (Olivia Ward and Tony Curanaj). Pat showed me his just completed film HANDSHAKE, an impressively animated dialogue-less short which recently won at the Northampton Film Festival. Also saw a terrific screening of NY indie animation at The Tank, which featured the premiere of Signe Baumane's latest film, the laugh-out loud funny THE DENTIST. Met Jeremiah Dickey, PES and Sarah Phelps, among others. Huge props to Mike Sporn, John Canemaker and Mark Newgarden, as well as Carol and Ray Favata, Vincent Cafarelli and Candy Kugel. The last week would have been impossible without all of your kind help. I'll definitely be back in NYC sooner than later. And now back to regular updates...

BUTTONS & PINS

One of my little hobbies beyond (but related to) animated cartoons is collecting buttons of cartoon characters. Specifically, I like promotional buttons relating to animated features, TV shows and classic cartoon shorts. One of these days when I have some free time I'll post a gallery of some of my favorites.

In the meantime Mark Lansdown has posted a nifty website of his collection of vintage comic strip and cartoon character buttons which is quite nice. In the mix are several great animated items, including pinbacks of Felix, Popeye, Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop. A great collection.

CONTEST #1

Here's how it works - Each day I have two prizes. I will ask one simple question. The first two people with correct answers (or what I think is the correct answer) to hit my email-box win. The first place winner gets to choose his or her prize from the two.

Today's prizes are: THE LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION V.2 and THE TOM & JERRY SPOTLIGHT COLLECTION. Today's question is:

Tom is called "Jasper" in his first cartoon (PUSS GETS THE BOOT), what is Sylvester named in his first appearence with Tweety (in TWEETIE PIE)?

The Contest is now OVER. Thad Komorowski (1st place) and Rob Buttery have won! Man, you guys were fast! The correct answer was: Thomas

CONTEST TIME!

Oh boy! I've got some give-away material... so it's time again to hold a few contests!

Starting tomorrow (Saturday) for the next several days, I'll be posting a trivia question here at (roughly) 9am Pacific Time. The first two winning answers I recieve each day will win a prize. The prizes will include THE TOM & JERRY SPOTLIGHT COLLECTION, LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION Volume 2, WACKY RACES dvd set, HARVIE CRUMPET dvd (2003 Oscar Winner) and my new book, ANIMATION ART.

So check in with the Brew each morning, and test your cartoon knowledge - and hopefully win a prize!

DICK HUEMER MURAL

Richard P. Huemer, son of Scrappy animator Dick Huemer, has an urgent request:

A bit of Disney history is about to crumble under the wrecking-ball. Back in 1935, my father Dick Huemer built a house in North Hollywood and decorated the nursery walls with Disney characters. You may know Dick as the co-story director of Fantasia and the co-author of Dumbo, as well as the author of TV shows and Academy Award-winning shorts, but throughout most of the 1930s he worked at Disney's as an animator.

After my mother died in 1999, my brother and I sold the old house. It has recently been re-sold, and is to be demolished to make way for new construction.

I thought that Disney's might be interested in acquiring and preserving these murals. One wall shows Mickey with a fishing pole on a background of stars; he has caught a long-billed Donald Duck with his hook. The other wall (photo enclosed) shows 2 of the Three Orphan Kittens sliding down the face of the quarter moon. (I regret the color shift due to my computer printer.) The mural was painted by Dick and his assistant, and appears to be on some sort of thin fabric glued to the wall.

The house is at 12012 Hesby Street, North Hollywood, CA 91607. I do not know who owns it now. I received this sad information from Helen Catledge, who can be contacted at 818-763-7890.

I found out the name of the owner of the demolition company; he is David Harai, and his phone number is 818-612-6629. He has been very nice to the various people who've called, in that he doesn't want any money for the murals, but he says that if they aren't taken off the walls tomorrow (Nov.19), he will finish tearing down the house, which he commenced doing this morning. One of the neighbors made contact with an art restorer who is supposed go out to the Hesby Street house tomorrow and cut the canvas from the walls, but I have not spoken to the restorer yet and am awaiting his return call.

Can anybody help Mr. Huemer to save this rare piece of art?

MR. LAWRENCE

There are two great events happening this Saturday in Los Angeles. Both are opposite each other at 3pm and I'm somewhat involved with each one.

The first is the one I will be hosting for Asifa-Hollywood at the AFI. "A Quiet Afternoon With Mr. Lawrence" will showcase the work of local animator Doug Lawrence (aka Mr. Lawrence).

Lawrence is a director, writer, creator, layout artist, puppeteer, live action independent filmmaker, comedian and actor. I first met Doug when he was a layout artist on the original Ren & Stimpy in 1991. He has since gone on to be one of the principal creatives on ROCKO'S MODERN LIFE (and voiced the nerdy Filbert character). He's since directed THE TWISTED TALES OF FELIX THE CAT and wrote for numerous other cartoon shows - spending the last several years on SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS as a director and writer (and the voice of evil Plankton).

Lawrence has also created live action series, made award winning independent live action comedy shorts and performed in comedy clubs around Los Angeles. On Saturday at the AFI, we will screen Doug's hilarious Film Roman pilot HAIR BALLS, and several other rareties from his animation career, as well as his latest live action short, VOICEOVER. Doug will also discuss his career in Hollywood and tell you how it really works.

Meanwhile, over at GOLDEN APPLE, an IRON GIANT reunion and DVD signing event will be taking place. I assisted Bill Leibowitz in contacting artists to attend this event - and tried my best to get Bill to change the date & time - but he was insistent on doing it this Saturday and putting my name on the flyer, despite my telling him I had other plans that day. Unfortunetly Bill passed away a few weeks ago - and the show must go on. We expect a huge crowd of animators and fans. I will be showing up around 5:30pm or so.

I report... you decide. But I hope you'll join us at 3pm Saturday at one of these events.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF PIXAR

I just read this piece in Hollywood Reporter. It is typical of Hollywood's constant astonishment with Pixar and the success of THE INCREDIBLES.

Let's be clear about this: any Hollywood executive, trade reporter or Wall Street speculator who is still surprised by Pixar's success, or THE INCREDIBLES box office performance, should not even be in this business. Those people are "idiots".

Pixar is IT. The perfect Hollywood studio, able to create commercially satisfying projects without sacrificing the art. And how do they do it? By supporting talent, taking chances, using common sense and respecting history.

I no longer ask, "How long will Pixar's winning streak last?". The Pixar team is solid - and as long as they stick together (and they will) they will continue to push the envelope and make great films.

The Pixar group is not unlike the teams behind the classic Warner Bros. cartoons (1940-1955) or Stan Lee's silver age Marvel Comics, or even the Beatles. The right folks in the right place at the right time. People often ask, 'why can't anyone recreate the classic Warner Bros. cartoons?'. Those cartoons were Chuck Jones, Mel Blanc, Carl Stalling, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Treg Brown, etc. There was a magic in those people's combined efforts that is stronger than any of their independent or subsequent work. The same holds true with the 60's Lee-Kirby-Ditko-Steranko-Colan-Bullpen Marvel comics and the John, Paul, George and Ringo music of that same era. You can imitate it, but you can't duplicate it by following a simple formula.

I don't know what Pixar's plans are after their Disney deal is finished. Disney is still the best studio for supporting, distributing, and publicizing animated films. Rumors are flying that they will end up with a sweet deal (ala George Lucas) at Fox or Sony or Warner Bros. I'm sure Pixar will do the right thing - but what I'd like them to do is to hire away the top distribution and marketing people at Disney and form their own distribution company (as Disney did in the 1950s).

I'd like to see Pixar expand their filmmaking into other areas, including 2D traditional animation and even live action films. They have the potential to be a major studio... Wait-a-minute! What am I saying? They ARE a major studio.

We're in the golden age of Pixar. The animated film may be going through a transition period - with computers and all - but from this pundit's perch the medium's future is looking pretty... incredible.

MIGHTY MOUSE IN TOYLAND

One of our loyal readers (who wishes to remain anonymous) sent us this classic cartoon treat:

I just found this 78 after a decades-long search. Thought you'd enjoy hearing it.

It's on Peter Pan Records, and the credited narrator is Somer Alberg. The label carries an undated copyright to "Terry Toons, Inc.". Brief segments of this record appear on many kiddie albums and 45s, most with the references to Mighty Mouse still there, very mysterious when taken out of context. Hence my decades-long search for the complete version.

Here then is Mighty Mouse In Toyland (download MP3 format)

Pictoplasma Review

Here's an in-depth REPORT by Michael Fuchs about the 1st Pictoplasma Conference On Contemporary Character Design & Art which took place in Berlin a couple week ago. Also, there's a bunch of photos from the conference HERE and Harald Siepermann's review of the event was previously posted on the Brew.

NYU JOB OPENING

John Canemaker tells us of a search for a 3-D Computer Animation Teacher at NEW YORK UNIVERSITY Tisch School of the Arts Kanbar Institute of Film & Television:

The Department of Undergraduate Film & Television seeks to fill a full-time faculty position in 3D computer animation for the 2005/2006 academic year. Position is available at the junior or senior level - tenure track or on a one-year visiting basis for a senior faculty applicant or for a professional in the industry.

Qualifications: 3-D computer animator with solid professional experience, preferably in features, television and/or commercial production; an in-depth knowledge of MAYA is a must and a working knowledge of a range of 2-D and 3-D computer animation software and applications as well as solid teaching experience at the university level. Applicants must know the animation process from storyboard to post-production in traditional and computer animation and multimedia.

Duties include teaching five undergraduate-level courses per year, student advisement, and participation in departmental and school-wide committees. On-going professional work while teaching is encouraged and expected.

Salary to be negotiated & excellent benefits package. Please send letter stating your qualifications, curriculum vitae, and list of 3 references by December 15, 2004 to:

Undergraduate Film & Television Search Committee, Attn: Wendy Kaplan, Administrative Director, Kanbar Institute of Film & Television, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, 721 Broadway, Room 1102, New York, NY 10003 (fax 212/995-4062, wendy.kaplan@nyu.edu)
Finalists will be asked to submit creative portfolio. NYU encourages applications from women and minorities.

THE POLAR EXPRESS

Mo-Crap

This isn't so much a review than it is a rant.

I saw THE POLAR EXPRESS today, and my immediate take is: It's awful. The INCREDIBLES is so much better a film in every way, I can't wait to see it a third time. It's like a new song that get's stuck in your head and you just have to hear it again.

Not so THE POLAR EXPRESS. It never grabbed me. I waited. I gave it chance. But I just couldn't get past those fake looking "people": the kids, the conductor, the elves.

It's funny, all the artificial enviroments - props, the train - all of that looked photo real. All of the things that were real (the mo-cap actors) looked fake.

As I was watching the film, I kept thinking about how this could have worked for me - and I came up with two solutions. The first, I would've placed real actors in a CG world (ala SKY CAPTAIN). It might've been a truly breathtaking adventure that way. My other idea would have been to have the opening five minutes and closing five minutes shot on real sets with real actors, in live action. The real boy goes to sleep at the begining and wakes up at the end. The film is his dream - they say so several times in the film, as is. The CG/mo-cap would've worked for me as a visualization of a dream.

Some people won't have a problem with this film. People in my audience, when it was over, were talking about how much they loved it. I may be in the minority here - but I thought the whole thing was a waste of major talent. Tom Hanks is a great actor, Zemeckis has made many films I really admire, Sony Imageworks can do amazing work - but this is an experiment gone terribly wrong. Don't waste your time.

An Expensive Lesson in Animation

I can't think of anything sweeter than watching Zemeckis and Hanks fall flat on their faces with the absolutely pathetic opening of POLAR EXPRESS. The film, which cost well north of $250 million to produce and market, couldn't muster better than a $23.5 million weekend, a financial performance almost as decrepit as the film's visuals. Hopefully now that they've been taught, Bobby and Tommy will crawl back onto their live-action sets and halt this make-believe fantasy that they're animation producers. Leave animation to the people who have actually bothered to learn the craft and who have dedicated their lives to the art form - artists like Brad Bird, whose INCREDIBLES managed to pull in another $51 million in its second weekend. Just for laughs, here's an encore presentation of Zemeckis' delusional appraisal of his animation skills: "I think when you see [POLAR EXPRESS], you'll realize it's absolutely nothing like an animated movie. You'll see such subtlety in the performance of these characters that you would have to have the genius-of-all-genius animators. In my opinion, there's no animation in the world that could have created it."

Evian's Waterboy

Harald Siepermann points out an interesting European commercial recently created for Evian called "Waterboy." The simple, yet effective, spot was designed and directed by the Paris-based design team Soandsau (Sophie Deiss and Jean-Christophe Saurel) and can be viewed HERE.

DAYTON ALLEN (1919-2004)

The man who talked for "the talking magpies" has passed away.

Comedian and comic actor Dayton Allen has died. He was a mainstay at the Terrytoons studio who, in addition to Heckle & Jeckle, voiced Astronut, James Hound, Lariat Sam and my favorite of his, Deputy Dawg. He also voiced Professor Weirdo, Fearless Fly and Flukey Luke on The Milton The Monster Show for Hal Seegar. Mark Evanier has a fuller obit on his site.