Cartoon Brew

Oskar Fischinger Article

Worth a read: in the latest issue of TATE ETC., the magazine of UK's Tate museums, there is a nice appreciation of the experimental animated films of Oskar Fischinger.
(Thanks, Karl Cohen)

Korgoth of Barbaria

I don't like to use the term "genius" a lot, but if there's anybody working in the current industry scene who can be classified as such, it'd be Aaron Springer. His new Cartoon Network series, KORGOTH OF BARBARIA, premieres as a regular "Adult Swim" show in September, but a special preview episode is airing multiple times on CN this weekend (check their schedule for times).

There's a lot of talent involved with the show besides Springer. Genndy Tartakovsky is a producer on the series and has been doing timing. Bill Wray is painting backgrounds. He's posted a number of terrific bgs on his blog. And Justin Thompson is designing background layouts.

Below is the preview commercial currently airing for the show. KORGOTH has the potential for greatness, and it's one show I'll definitely be keeping an eye on.

THE ULTIMATE DISNEY COLLECTIBLE

Here's a one-of-a-kind item currently listed on ebay you might like. Scuptor Pete Carsillo is offering a life sized wax figure of Walt Disney. This is for the collector who has absolutely everything. Move over, Lumiere! Now it's Uncle Walt in wax! Here are some of the details described in the ebay listing:

Hair and eye color authenticated by people that knew Walt!
Real human hair inserted stand by strand!
Glass eyes!
Teeth are matched to Walt circa 1961!
The texture and skin tone is perfect and his fingernails look absolutely real!

(Thanks, Mike)

NORMAN... IDENTIFIED!

We figured it out. Thanks to some slick detective work by Brew reader Brian Nelson, we have identified the mystery photo of "Norm". It's Norman Z. McLeod, famed Hollywood director of the 1930s and 40s (Horsefeathers, Monkey Business, It's A Gift, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, etc.). McLeod got his start illustrating silent movie intertitles with his stick figure cartoons. This article explains how McLeod directed his feature films (in this case Topper) using stick figures to illustrate the action. Case closed!

FLEET STREET SCANDAL

I don't usually plug non animation artists here on Brew, but the work of Kevin Dart and Chris Turnham really appeal to me. They have just teamed up to sell their cool artwork on a new website, Fleet Street Scandal, where you can buy prints of their latest work.

Amid in Annecy

Just a quick note to let European folks know that I'll be at the Annecy Animation Festival next week from June 5-10th. If you want to get in touch with me while I'm there, I can be reached at amid (at) animationblast (dot) com. Also, stay tuned to the Brew for coverage from the festival.

NORM?

"To Sally, from one of her men - Norm"

Norm who? Any ideas? Norm McCabe? Collector Gordon Reid found this still (click on it for larger image) and sent it to Leonard Maltin for identification. I took the liberty of posting it here, mainly because I love the cartoon he's drawing (and his Mohair sweater - but I digress). If anyone knows who this is, we'd appreciate hearing from you.

Deitch's Terrible Comic Strip Back in Print

This September, Fantagraphics is reprinting animation director Gene Deitch's rarely seen mid-Fifties syndicated comic strip TERR'BLE THOMPSON. Here's a bit more about the book from its press release:

In 1955, Gene Deitch embarked on a daily comic strip for King Features Syndicate that he hoped would become his life’s work. One of the most unusual strips of the decade, Terr’ble Thompson was about a very odd little boy who had his “Werld Hedd Quarters” in a tree house and was regarded far and wide as “the bravest, fiercest, most-best hero of all-time.” Less than a year into the strip, Deitch received an offer he couldn’t refuse: to become head supervisor for Paul Terry’s Terrytoons Studios, and Terr’ble Thompson was abandoned. Terr’ble Thompson collects the entirety of Deitch’s short-lived inspiration for Tom Terrific, and a new generation will discover what could have been one of the great comic strips of all-time had it continued. The strip is drawn in a simple, modernist style that served as an antidote to the ubiquitous Disney look that had spread into all facets of popular culture. Terr’ble Thompson was a visual and verbal feast of fun that blended time and space, with Terr’ble going on adventures with great historic figures like Columbus, George Washington, and Davy Crockett. This collection features annotations for the entire run of the strip by Deitch himself, as well as introductory essays by Deitch, his son Kim, and historian Dan Nadel (The Ganzfeld). The book collects both the dailies and Sundays, with many of the latter newly recolored by Deitch (who was always unhappy with the inferior color processing of 1950s newspaper technology) for this book.

(via The Beat)

CANEMAKER GETS AROUND

Our favorite Oscar winning animation historian John Canemaker has quite a busy schedule this summer. John will appear at the Zagreb Animafest in Croatia on June 13 to accept the "Award for Special Achievement in the Theory of Animation." He is the third animation historian to be chosen for the distinguished award, after Giannalberto Bendazzi and Donald Crafton.

Next, his Academy Award-winning film THE MOON AND THE SON airs on Cinemax on Sun. June 18 at 8 P.M.

Then Canemaker travels to Brazil in July for the Anima Mundi Festival in Rio and Sao Paulo to screen his films and lecture on Winsor McCay and Mary Blair.

On August 26, he lectures on Winsor McCay at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, CA.;
and then is a guest of the 33rd Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, for which he designed this year's poster.

We highly recommend you catch John at one of his public appearences, whenever, where ever you can!

JANET KLEIN PLUG

Regular Brew readers already know that once a month (the first Thursday of each month) Jerry Beck shows vintage 16mm musical shorts and cartoons at the Steve Allen Theatre in Hollywood, as the opening act of for the live performance of Janet Klein and her Parlor Boys. Tomorrow night, Thursday June 1st, is our next show and if you are interested in attending, you might order your tickets in advance - the shows are now selling out on a regular basis. The show starts at 8pm, at 4773 Hollywood Blvd.

C'MON GET HAPPY!

Don't barf!

A groovy new blog called Mondo Daddykin is posting the bubblegum soundtracks to 1960-70s series like Partridge Family 2200 A.D. and The Beagles. No, there was never an official release of Hanna-Barbera Partridge Family soundtrack tunes (by Hoyt Curtin no less), but that hasn't stopped Daddykin from compiling one himself.

SGT. DAVE MONAHAN

In honor of Memorial Day, we are happy to once again highlight this link to Sue Larkin's tribute blog to her dad, Warner Bros. storyman Dave Monahan. Monahan, a valued member of the Leon Schlesinger story department, recieved story credit on such classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies as KATNIP KOLLEGE, THUGS WITH DIRTY MUGS, WABBIT TWOUBLE and ALL THIS AND RABBITS STEW.

Sue's blog is a personal memorial to her dad, updated on occasion with personal photographs and cherished memories. Did you know Dave began his show business career in the original OUR GANG comedies? After his years writing cartoons, he went on to become a top commercial and industrial film director (Chuck Jones later hired him to direct the live action scenes in THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH). Sue has just posted a brief audio clip of Dave discussing how he got hired at Termite Terrace (Bugs Hardaway asked him, "What's funny about a chicken"? That was his entire interview!) - and a hilarious anecdote about his first meeting with Cal Howard.

ALEX TOTH (1928-2006)

Comic book artist and legend Alex Toth passed away on Saturday, May 27th, at age 78. Toth contributed significantly to animation—particularly to the look and feel of TV adventure cartoons at Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s and 70s, with his character designs for Space Ghost, Jonny Quest, The Herculoids, and Superfriends. His work for other studios, especially on Space Angel and Hot Wheels was particularly good—too good for the budgets those shows were produced under. He was outspoken and dedicated. He died at his drawing table. The San Diego Comic Con has plans to host a memorial for him.

TEN TURNING POINTS

I was asked to write an article for today's Variety on the top ten "turning points" in animation history. The idea was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of animation by putting a spotlight on the ten films that got us to where we are today. Whittling down a list to ten pivotal films was certainly a challenge, and I admit it's debatable - but I stand by my choices. Check out the article, and let me know if you think I made the right picks—or post your opinions—on this forum.

LASSETER "DEFINITELY DOING HAND-DRAWN"

The last thing you need to read right now is another interview with John Lasseter. However this one, published today in Australia's The Age, has a couple of great closing quotes:

"I don't believe that an animation studio should be an executive-driven studio," he says. "Our goal is really to help bring that studio around to be a director-driven studio like Pixar and help it become about the quality. Quality is about the most important thing to us."

Considering the dominance of computer- generated animation, including the Shrek movies from DreamWorks and the Ice Age movies from 20th Century Fox, it's surprising to learn there's still a place for conventional 2-D movies. "We'll still definitely be doing some hand-drawn animated films at Disney, without question," Lasseter says.