Cartoon Brew

TASHLIN / OSCAR CARTOONS

Frank Tashlin was great.

His live action films were hilarious - but, as we know, his print cartoons and animated films were even funnier. If you haven't yet, please read Mike Barrier's 1971 interview with Tash and Ethan de Seife's biographical profile. One of Tashlin's last live action films, THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT (1966), will be released on DVD in April with several behind-the-sceenes bonus pieces - including the oft-requested Chuck Jones MGM Oscar winning cartoon THE DOT AND THE LINE (1965).

Another DVD of note (unrelated to Tashlin or Jones): Barnes & Noble is selling an exclusive DVD, Academy Award-Winning Classic Cartoons, a new collection boasting 7 Oscar winners for Best Short Subject Cartoon. Included are: Rudolf Ising’s "The Milky Way" (1941); Joseph Barbera and William Hanna's "Quiet Please!" ('46); Barbera and Hanna's "The Cat Concerto" ('47); Friz Freleng's "Tweety Pie" ('48); Barbera and Hanna's "Johann Mouse" ('53); Freleng's "Birds Anonymous"('58); and Freleng's "Knighty Knight Bugs" ('59). This collection will only be sold through Barnes and Noble bookstores, or available for free with the purchase of two Warner Home Video Academy award winning features.

No one wants to direct Toy Story 3

According to this FOX NEWS story, Disney is having a hard time getting its post-Pixar Toy Story sequel together.

That's the word in Hollywood's animation world, where the third installment of the incredibly successful Pixar series has no director, writer or, possibly, stars. "Every single animator of note has turned down the director's job. They don't want to cross Pixar. They've become the only deal in town."

While I doubt Disney will halt it's plans or have trouble finding a production crew, the fate of our favorite Pixar characters solely in Disney hands gives us reason to pause. Just seeing Buzz, Woody and Jessie on ice is scary enough, especially when we consider the possible fate of Mr. Incredible and Frozone.

A PICTURE OF DAVE BARRY

I got an email from Brew reader Linda Drury today asking if I had a photo of Dave Barry - the comedian and cartoon voice actor who passed away on August 16th, 2001. Barry briefly voiced Bluto (for Famous Studios), Elmer Fudd (for Warner Bros. in Pre-Hysterical Hare), was a regular in Columbia Screen Gems cartoons and the Speaking Of Animals series. He's best remembered for his Bogart vocal imitation in the Bugs Bunny cartoons Slick Hare(1947) and 8-Ball Bunny (1950). I had never seen a good photo of Barry myself, so I did a little research and found these two images (above) from the 1962 Academy Players Directory (an annual performer reference put out by the Academy of Motion Pictue Arts and Sciences). I thought it was worth posting here for future reference.

For more information about this Dave Barry, go to Mark Evanier's POVonline.com

WANTED: Website Designer

I'm helping a certain animation legend (and I don't use that term loosely) set up his own website. If you're wondering who, here's a big hint: there was a retrospective of his work at last year's Ottawa Animation Festival. He's currently looking for somebody to design the website. There will be monetary compensation. Preferably, it'll be a designer in the LA area who can collaborate with him in person. If you're interested, please submit samples to me at amid [at] animationblast [dot] com and I'll forward the materials to him.

Just an Observation

You know you're too immersed in the animation world when you drive by streets named Cannon Road and Zamora Way, and the two things that immediately pop to mind are Bobe Cannon and Rudy Zamora. Boy, do I need a break from cartoons.

ELECTRIC TIKI STRIKES AGAIN

Tracy Mark Lee at Electric Tiki is doing it right - once again!

He's gotten me excited about these classic cartoon maquettes - Get a look at the rough sculpt of this sexy Betty Boop maquette. As Bert Lahr (and various cartoon wolves) used to say: "Gnong, Gnong!"

And here's a sneak peek at the Famous Studios Popeye maquette. Note the base, designed to look like the Paramount star opening.

Both these statues will be ready to purchase later this year. They've got at least one sale from me.

OSCAR NOMINEES

Here's the raw list:

Best animated feature film of the year

The Incredibles
Shark Tale
Shrek 2

Best animated short film

Birthday Boy (An Australian Film, TV and Radio School Production) Sejong Park and Andrew Gregory
Gopher Broke (A Blur Studio Production) Jeff Fowler and Tim Miller
Guard Dog Bill Plympton
Lorenzo (Walt Disney Pictures) Mike Gabriel and Baker Bloodworth
Ryan (A Copper Heart Entertainment & National Film Board of Canada Production) Chris Landreth

Also in these catagories: Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song): "Accidentally In Love" from Shrek 2 and "Believe" from The Polar Express

Achievement in sound editing: The Incredibles Michael Silvers and Randy Thom; The Polar Express Randy Thom and Dennis Leonard.

Achievement in sound mixing: The Incredibles Randy Thom, Gary A. Rizzo and Doc Kane; The Polar Express Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis Sands and William B. Kaplan

Original screenplay: The Incredibles Written by Brad Bird.

Congratulations to the nominees!

A Fiesta in S, M, L and XL

Animation director/designer dynamo Jorge Gutierrez has released a new line of T-shirts which are guaranteed to make you the envy of all your Chicano friends. There are three designs, all most festive - Calavera Serenata, Muertito Skull and DJ Muerto. I just received my own shirt in the mail (a black Calavera Serenata) and am looking forward to wearing it around town. They're $20 a pop and include free shipping at Muertito.com.

SPONGEBOB VS. BUGS BUNNY

In response to the conservative charges about Spongebob Squarepants promoting homosexuality, John Martz at Robot Johnny.com presents a gallery of beautiful frame grabs (off the Looney Tunes Golden Collection dvds) that illustrate the questionable status of Bugs Bunny's sexual preferences.

(via Boing Boing)

BAKSHI'S BLOG

A few Brew readers wrote in today to tell me of Ralph Bakshi's announced plans to start a graphic novel sequel to WIZARDS. Interesting... but the bigger news is the fact that Ralph has added a blog to his established website.

It's always worth a visit to www.ralphbakshi.com Recent updates include video of a cut scene from his LORD OF THE RINGS, and it's a place to view rare personal photographs, and buy Bakshi animation cels -- and it's the only place I know selling an official COONSKIN T-Shirt!

CEREAL FIGURES FROM JAPAN

These little plastic Japanese statues are GRRR-REAT! Megahouse is making a whole series of these collectible Kellogg's cereal character statues - including long-forgotten favorites like Sugar Pops Pete (in center, above) - in their original, most appealing designs. First Oswald the Rabbit, now this. I'm glad someone, somewhere is preserving - and celebrating - our classic cartoon hertitage!

(via Scrubbles.net)

JERRY BECK ON SCREEN SAVERS

Friday January 21st 2005. Jerry Beck and host Sarah Lane on the set of G4's THE SCREEN SAVERS. Photo by Coury Turczyn.

THE SIMPSONS DO CARL BARKS

Highly recommended is the latest issue of SIMPSONS COMICS (#102, now on sale) featuring a tribute/spoof of Western Publishing Carl Barks classic Donald Duck/Uncle Scrooge adventures. Mr. Burns, in a the Scrooge-like role, enlists Homer (as a pants-less Donald-like companion) for his annual summer treasure hunt. Bart, Lisa and Maggie (in the nephew roles) join in as they sail to the Island of Donrosa where they scale Mount Van Horn, seeking the floating key of "Strobl" ("where the ancient tribes of Taliaferro placed it years ago!"), through Gottfredson trench, to ultimately find the "Barks Billions". All of those italicized names are, of course, references to popular Disney comic book artists. The Bongo Comics line is consistantly good (the Radioactive Man issues are my particular favorites). This story, from Ian Boothby and editor Bill Morrison, deserves our special notice.

Puppets are animation, according to the NY TIMES

As you may recall, in last month's NY TIMES, film reviewer A.O. Scott erroneously wrote that Henry Selick's stop motion animation in THE LIFE AQUATIC was computer-animated. Apparently, the writers at the NY TIMES not only can't tell the difference between stop motion and CGI, they also don't know what animation is. Joel Schlosberg wrote us this morning about their latest error (reg. req'd):

In today's New York Times, in the "Week in Review" section, there's an article commenting on the "SpongeBob is gay" nonsense, pointing out (and rightly so) that there's a long history of controversy over cartoon characters' antics, and that the medium of animation is subversive and boundary-pushing. So far, so good. But the list of cartoon characters that have been objected to in the past includes, along with the likes of Bugs Bunny and Betty Boop, Bert and Ernie and the Teletubbies' Tinky-Winky. So now filming a person in a suit is considered "animation"? It's just indicative of the unbelievable degree of carelessness affecting much reporting on animation.