Cartoon Brew

Baxton Benefit Auction

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and ICE AGE art director Brian McEntee writes to let me know of a good cause that's bringing the animation community together. Martha Baxton, the longtime secretary of the CalArts Character Animation program, has been going through difficult times following a stroke that her husband Larry suffered. Former students are rallying together and holding a benefit auction next month to raise funds for her husband's hospital bills. Martha is fondly remembered by CalArts grads, who call her the "backbone" and "heart and soul" of the animation program, and describe her as "the den mother" to the animation students.

The auction website has details about how to contribute artwork for the event. Here's a bit more about the auction from the website:

There really are people in this world who give & give, never asking for anything in return. Martha Baxton is one of those people, and she has helped countless character animators start their careers. Martha did not give us art instructions, but what she gave us all was maybe more important: love, support and friendship. For countless students, there is simply no way we could have made it through CalArts without her.

Now, after doing so much for us, our friend needs help. Through our auction we hope to raise funds to help her pay off her husband's mounting hospital bills. Be prepared to dig into your wallets to give what you can. It's payback time for Larry & Martha!

(Auction poster above by Elizabeth Ito and Pen Ward)

MADE OF PEN AND INK

Michael Dobbs has had a lifelong obsession with the Fleischer Studios. And his efforts to write a book—and the subsequent book he has written—are now being blogged via his new site Made Of Pen & Ink.

(Thanks, Michael Sporn)

ADOLF - DER BONKER

Animated cartoons with a point of view on current world wars and the political scene are relatively scarce compared to the days of World War 2. Luckily, Adolf Hitler is still a villain we can all agree on. German cartoonist Walter Moers has taken on Adolf Hitler in comics, and now has a music video adapting his Adolf, Der Bonker which has been posted on the internet. It's fun, and the tune is catchy. Here's an English translation of the lyrics.

(Thanks, Peter Krause)

Criticizing Animation Criticism

Inspired by Mick LaSalle's MONSTER HOUSE review, Nick Tam has posted some excellent thoughts on today's state of animation criticism. There are solid ideas throughout the piece, but I thought the following section stood out in particular:

I think that's the problem with animation. It's a technology story. The critics who mishandle it think about it as an experimental bastard-child offspring for kids, a testbed for ever-improving methods marching and heiling towards some indeterminate horizon of progress. The Hollywood execs play into their hands, and the end result is the flooding of the CG market that we've seen all year.

You'll often hear the same films referred to over and over as being the landmark advances of the form. You'll read that Steamboat Willie gave as sound as we know it, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was animation's induction into feature-length territory, and Toy Story did the same for the digital age and shifted the mode of thought from drawing to sculpting. Framing the history of animation as a series of technological advances is really easy to do.

But it's also a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. While these films were undoubtedly seminal in method, that's not why we remember them. We remember them for the echoes of a wishing well and a toy in a spacesuit falling with style. That such masterworks of storytelling were also technical pioneers is a happy coincidence.

Best Comment Yet on BARNYARD

Oscar-nominated animation director Michael Sporn has a thought about all the negative reviews that the Nickelodeon feature BARNYARD is receiving:

Too bad. When you have a live-action auteur like Steve Oedekerk come in to write and direct an "animated feature," surely you're on the right track. Why should the director know anything about the craft?

My sentiments exactly.

Paul Scheurich at Comic-Con

Speaking of prints, the image above is a vintage lithograph that I picked up in San Diego (click on it for a larger version). The company that I purchased it from, Century Guild, had tons of these German lithos that were based on larger poster designs. It's hard to believe that in the 1910s and 1920s, you could walk down a street in Germany and see illustrated posters like this plastered around town. The artwork is by Paul Scheurich (1883-1945), who apparently was one of the leading poster artists in Germany. I was surprised by how stylized it was for the time that it was done. Everything about it is just works: the guy's funky posture and odd proportions, the bold colored shape that makes up his body without any use of line, the meaty hands with great line details, and the incredible design of his face (dig those dot eyes and wild nose shape). I have no idea what the poster is actually selling—maybe a German-speaking Brew reader can let us know—but I think the ad is great from a visual standpoint. Below are a few more Scheurich posters that I found online. Man, what I wouldn't give to see an animated feature that looked this cool.

UPDATE — Brew reader Holger Pfläging offers a translation of the poster. He says: "The poster is advertising a company wich posts announcements and ads in the subways and elevated railways of I don't know which German city. The upper card says: "Hollerbaum & Schmidt—Posters" the lower says: "Postings on elevated railway and subway—U. Thiemt & Co." Thanks Holger!

UPDATE #2 — Florian Satzinger writes: "Thank you for this great post. Scheurich's art reminded me of the Austrian artist Josef Danilotwatz (1877-1945). The atmosphere of Danilowatz' "caricature paintings" and the feathery brush strokes are stunning. Last year we posted some of Danilowatz' illustrations out of the book "Motor in der Karikatur - Ein lustiges Kinderbuch für Erwachsene", ROB Verlag Vienna (1925), on our site HERE.

UPDATE #3 — Benjamin Leng and Patrick Walter both wrote to tell me the hilarious translation of the last Scheurich poster at the bottom of the post. It says, "Let's go to the Butchery-Exhibition at the Zoo! There will be free sausage, beautiful bulls and fine piglets."

UPDATE #4 — JJ Sedelmaier writes, "Regarding German poster design, check out the work of Ludwig Hohlwein. He's the top! He influenced scads of his contemporaries and modern graphic designers as well, even the likes of Seymour Chwast. His breakdown of color and dramatic art direction is awesome! The 'drawback' is that much of the work towards the end of his career supported a politically incorrect cause (Hello, Adolf. . .)"

—click on image above for larger version—

Fleet Street Scandal

The boys at Fleet Street Scandal—Kevin Dart and Chris Turnham—have posted a comprehensive set of photos from the Comic-Con with lots of animation folks that you'll surely recognize. If Frank Espinosa's comic ROCKETO was the hit of the 2005 Comic-Con among the animation set, I'd say Kevin and Chris were the hit of the '06 Con. It seems everybody I ran into in San Diego had bought one of their illustration prints, and with good reason: both of these guys are super-talented with sophisticated graphic sensibilities combining good draftsmanship, color and design. I believe they do CG in the game industry, but they should be working in animation, and preferably producing their own independent animated shorts. Their prints can be purchased online at Fleet Street Scandal.

LE ROI ET L'OISEAU

Studio Ghibli has released Paul Grimault's classic French feature LE ROI ET L'OISEAU onto dvd in Japan. The production story of this film is almost as convoluted and legendary as Richard Williams's THIEF AND THE COBBLER. Grimault started the film in the late-1940s, and didn't finish a version that he was satisfied with until 1979. Over the years, different cuts of the film have been released under titles like LA BERGERE ET LE RAMONEUR and THE CURIOUS ADVENTURES OF MR. WONDERBIRD. One of those earlier versions was an influence on Ghibli directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata when it opened in Japan in 1955. Now, as a way of saying thank you for the childhood inspiration, they're introducing Grimault's animation to a new generation of Japanese filmgoers.

Studio Ghibli is not only releasing LE ROI ET L'OISEAU onto dvd, but also giving it a limited theatrical run at the Cinema Angelica in Shibuya, Tokyo. It'll run through September 22. In conjunction with the dvd release, there's also a Paul Grimault exhibition at the L'Institut Franco-Japonais de Tokyo which runs through August 31. Ghibli has a website about the film HERE (in Japanese). Be sure to check out the film's incredible TRAILER.

(via Anime News Service, thanks Terry)

Canada's Mick LaSalle

Mick LaSalle is quickly becoming a household name; in the past week, his awful MONSTER HOUSE has been picked up all over the blogosphere including Boing Boing, Cinematical and SFist. Toronto-based writer Jason Anderson, apparently jealous of LaSalle's infamy, decided to write his own article showing a profound lack of understanding about the animation art. Yesterday, he had an article published on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) website that explains to the world how MONSTER HOUSE and ANT BULLY are revolutionizing animated filmmaking. His classic line is that MONSTER HOUSE offers audiences a "taste of the future technologies that will someday make Pixar’s classics seem as quaint as Dumbo."

Here are some of the choice cuts from Anderson's piece:

"While Pixar set the standard, recent films like Warner Brothers’ The Ant Bully and Sony Pictures’ Monster House are pushing big-league Hollywood animation into promising new territory."

"Though Cars has been a box-office leader this summer — second only to Disney’s live-action phenomenon Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest — Over the Hedge, The Ant Bully and Monster House strike a far better balance between form and content, tweaking the Pixar formula and moving beyond its limitations."

"[MONSTER HOUSE] does, however, have the best-rendered cast of CGI Homo sapiens to date..."

"At the screening I attended, the children in my row frequently seemed to be on the edge of tears. Sure, they might require psychotherapy in later life, but they’re getting a taste of the future technologies that will someday make Pixar’s classics seem as quaint as Dumbo."

(Thanks, Peter Fries)

RANKIN BASS BLOG

Rankin-Bass historian Rick Goldschmidt has now started a companion blog to his already massive Enchanted World Of Rankin Bass website. Considering that Rick eats, drinks and breathes Rankin-Bass on a daily basis (when he's not performing his own music, that is), this will be the place for updates, new finds, and R/B news on a regular basis.

ANIMANIACS/PINKY AND THE BRAIN TRIVIA CONTEST

Are you a PINKY or a BRAIN?

We had a contest this morning and the first ten readers who answered any one of the questions below won a DVD prize.

The questions (and answers) were:

1. What Warner Animation employee's caricature was the inspiration for the look of The Brain?
Answer: Tom Minton

2. What is Brain's country music name?
Answer: Bubba-bo-bob-Brain

3. What famous film comedy is "King Yakko" loosely based on?
Answer: Duck Soup

THE CONTEST IS NOW OVER! No more entries accepted.

The first two winning BRAINS were Tyler Sticka and D. Brown (who got the new PINKY AND THE BRAIN dvd Collection). The next two winning BRAINS were Scott Underwood and Robert Palmer who will get the ANIMANIACS collection). And the next six PINKYS were Jared Norby, Eric Emin Wood, Ellen Yu, Ralph Bingham, Alicia Wishart, and Michael Nusair - and they are getting my home made WORST CARTOONS EVER collection (2006 edition). PINKY AND THE BRAIN and ANIMANIACS are available from Warner Home Video at fine video stores near you. THE WORST CARTOONS EVER (2006) can be purchased here.

(Thank you Earl Kress for providing the questions)

CARTOONS AND JANET KLEIN

Thursday night, August 3rd, in a small theatre in Hollywood I will be projecting several celluloid 16mm cartoons as the "opening act" of a live-action, in-person, performance by Janet Klein And Her Parlor Boys. Long time readers of this blog know by now that I do this the first Thursday of every month at the Steve Allen Theatre (4773 Hollywood Blvd. two blocks west of Vermont), in the lovely Los Feliz area. Cartoons to be screened this month include Love Krazy (a bouncy Krazy Kat cartoon), You Took The Words Right Out Of My Heart (a Max Fleischer Screen Song), and Voodoo In Harlem (a jazzy Walter Lantz musical cartune). The show starts at 8pm. Please check Janet's website (under "Showtime") for even more details and nifty vintage artwork. See you there!

ANIMANIACS DVD CONTEST!

Narf! Tomorrow morning (Tuesday) we will give away a few copies of the brand new ANIMANIACS and PINKY AND THE BRAIN dvds to several lucky Cartoon Brew readers.

These two dvd collections were released last week and Warner Home Video is graciously supplying us with a few copies to give away as prizes. Are you a PINKY or a BRAIN? We will hold a quick cartoon trivia contest tomorrow (at 9am Pacific Time) and the first two BRAINS will get the PINKY AND THE BRAIN set. The next two BRAINS will get an ANIMANIACS collection. And the next six PINKY'S will get my home made WORST CARTOONS EVER collection (2006 edition). So get a good night's sleep and see you here at 9am.

"Those are the facts!"

Humans as Pixels

Animator Pete Levin writes:

I saw this bank commercial while in Turkey and fell in love with it. While it's technically live action, it feels to me like the planning for it would be very similar to animation.

Check it out below:

A Letter to Mick LaSalle

Pixar story artist Jeff Pidgeon wrote a letter to SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE movie reviewer Mick LaSalle, in which he completely dismantled LaSalle's inept review of MONSTER HOUSE and exposed his utter cluelessness about the animation art form. Jeff has posted the excellent letter on his blog HERE. He also posted LaSalle's brush-off response, which was:

Thank you for a thoughtful message. I appreciate it. (Don't agree with it, any of it, but I appreciate being accurately quoted and not being cursed at.)

Earlier posts about Mick LaSalle: 1, 2, 3, 4

Non-Surprise of the Week

So, ANT BULLY tanked. The Warner Bros.-distributed, Tom Hanks-produced film collected a meager $8.1 million (estimate) from 3,050 theaters, or as Box Office Mojo puts it, "the weakest start ever for a high profile computer-animated feature." I'd predicted this film would flop back in June and I think most everybody else in the industry had similar feelings about ANT BULLY's prospects for success. WB, however, had been expecting a stronger opening for the film. Warners distribution exec Jeff Goldstein commented yesterday about the film, "It's much less than what we had wanted. The marketplace is crowded. The kids have been bombarded."

COMIC CON RECAP #3: A COMIC BOOK REVIEW

I'm still going over the booty I obtained at the San Diego Comic Con last weekend. One thing I didn't devote enough time to at the Comic Con was actually buying comics. I picked up a scant few. My favorite purchase was a well worn copy of BLUE RIBBON COMICS #1 (St. John, 1949). The cover logo actually reads TERRYTOONS PRESENTS HECKLE AND JECKLE, and I believe it's the first solo comic book for the talking magpies.

This particular book contains four stories - two drawn by background painter Art Bartsch and two by director Connie Rasinski. Rasinski's Terrytoon comic book art is wonderful. His drawings have a handsome, controlled zaniness (as opposed to the raw unrestrained work of the great Jim Tyer) that point to what the screen Terrytoons could have been like if they had the money and time to make them better. The two stories by Bartsch are adaptations of animated cartoons. The first one, "Mind Over Matter" (panels pictured above), is an adaption of the 1949 meta-cartoon THE POWER OF THOUGHT, in which Heckle & Jeckle develop mental telepathy upon the realization that they are cartoon characters. The other Bartsch story, "Sour Grapes", rips off Tashlin's Columbia cartoon THE FOX AND THE GRAPES (1942) with H&J in the Crow role, versus Terrytoon bit-player Slyvester the Fox.

The only comic books I'm actively collecting these days are ones with comic art by animation artists. This includes a wide array of titles ranging from DC's FOX & CROW and FUNNY STUFF titles (with art by Otto Feuer, Jim Davis, Bob Wickersham, etc.), to Harvey's Paramount comics (drawn by Dave Tendlar, Steve Muffatti, Bill Hudson, Marty Taras, etc.). As much as I like watching the animators art on a frame by frame basis, the strong poses in each comic panel of these 40s and 50s comic books are a pleasure to look at - and incredibly entertaining.

KING LEONARDO ON BLACK FAMILY CHANNEL

Classic cartoons (and by that I mean the wide swath of animation history from 1906 to its dying days in the 1970s) are practically extinct on current broadcast and cable television program schedules. That's why news of an animated character's revival, or the spotting of a vintage cartoon short, is now considered a big deal to some of us (at least to me). Over on the Animation History Forum, a reader named "Troop" accidentally found a new outlet for an old favorite:

On Saturday morning, I was looking for something to watch and happened upon the Black Family Channel ...part of my digital cable package. I was delighted to see KING LEONARDO AND FRIENDS playing there at 9:30 a.m. I came in on the middle of one of the segments featuring "The Hunter" and stayed thru the final King Leonardo and Odie cartoon. It was great seeing this again after "many years". The print wasn't the greatest, but watchable... and it was great hearing Jackson Beck again. I noticed Chuck McCann listed in the voice talents as well.

Following this was something called BFC FUN FARM which featured short farm and animal segments with two youngsters introducing old PD WB cartoons. During the half-hour yesterday, typical PD prints aired of Porky's Cafe, Farm Frolics and Yankee Doodle Daffy. Some of the channels's promos aired clips of "Tennesee Tuxedo" and "Underdog" but I couldn't find them listed in their web schedule...just "King Leonardo" everyday of the week at 9:30 am with "BFC Fun Farm" at 10 a.m. The BFC web schedule holds this schedule until this coming Saturday, August 5th when "Leonardo" and "Fun Farm" move forward to 9 and 9:30 a.m. and "Bullwinkle and Friends" is added to the schedule at 10 a.m.

Well that's good news. As the saying goes, old cartoons never die - they just end up on the Fun Farm on the Black Family Channel.