Author Archives: Jerry Beck

Walt and El Grupo events

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There are bi-coastal events tied in to Ted Thomas’s must-see documentary Walt and El Grupo that Brew readers may want to attend.

In New York, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art will present a special advance screening of the film, along with a Q&A with writer/director Ted Thomas and producer Kuniko Okubo, moderated by John Canemaker. The screening will be Thursday, August 27th, 7:30 PM at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, BAM Cinema 4, (30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY). Admission is free for Members of MoCCA. To rsvp, call (212) 254-3511, Tuesday through Sunday between 12-5 PM. Seating is limited.

In L.A., The Egyptian Theatre will be hosting a panel, moderated by Geoff Boucher of the LA Times, with panelists including writer/director Ted Thomas, producer Kuniko Okubo, composer James Stemple and director of photography Shana Hagan, who will discuss Disney’s South American tour. The evening will include a rare theatrical showing of Saludos Amigos in 35mm. This event will take place on Tuesday September 8th, 7:30pm at the Egyptian on Hollywood Blvd. It is FREE for Asifa Hollywood members and members of the American Cinematheque. Check the Egyptian’s website for more details later this month.

UPDATE: We just found out these are fairly private events, with only seats available for members. Cartoon Brew is giving away 5 pairs of seats at the NY event to the first 5 people who request them at fumi-at-theprkitchen.com.

We will give away 20 seats for the L.A. American Cinematheque/Asifa event at the Egyptian, sometime next week. Stay tuned to Cartoon Brew for further details.

Cartoon Network loses gamble

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The LA Times has a huge front page story in it’s Business section today, reporting on Cartoon Network’s recent programming gamble on live action. From the article:

The new shows haven’t reversed the slide. In July, the network had the fewest viewers in that target age range since May 2000 and its least-watched month overall since June 1998.

There is internal tension as well, with many veteran animators either quitting or being handed their walking papers. There are even whispers inside the channel’s Burbank animation studios that the network might drop “Cartoon” from its name.

If the ratings on CN were bad before, they are worse now. As an example of some of the actual numbers, courtesy of Nielsen Media Research Data, here are final K6-11 Ratings for Saturday, August, 8, 2009, Cable Networks only (Live + Same Day Data):

NICKELODEON – 4.1/25 Avg. (7a-1p)
Jimmy Neutron 1.4/20; Jimmy Neutron 1.9/21; Fairly OddParents 2.8/24; Fairly OddParents 3.5/24; SpongeBob SquarePants 5.0/29; SpongeBob SquarePants 5.6/29; Penguins of Madagascar 4.3/21; Back at the Barnyard 4.5/21; Mighty B! 4.1/20; SpongeBob SquarePants 5.2/25; SpongeBob SquarePants 5.3/28; SpongeBob SquarePants 5.6/30

DISNEY CHANNEL – 2.1/13 Avg. (7a-1p)
My Friends Tigger & Pooh 1.3/19; Little Einsteins 1.3/15; Special Agent Oso 1.6/14; Handy Manny 1.8/13; Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 1.9/12; Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 1.7/9; Imagination Movers 1.8/9; Handy Manny 2.0/9; Phineas and Ferb 3.1/15; Phineas and Ferb 3.5/17; Cow Belles (100 minutes) 2.5/13

CARTOON NETWORK – 1.4/8 Avg. (7a-1p)
George of the Jungle 0.9/10; Chaotic 1.0/8; Secret Saturdays 1.3/9; Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl Galactic Battle 1.3/8; Star Wars: Clone Wars 1.3/7; Ben 10: Alien Force 1.7/8; Batman: Brave & The Bold 2.0/9; Bakugan 1.9/9; Thumb Wrestling Federation 1.2/6; Teen Titans 1.4/7; Teen Titans 1.6/9

To our friends at Cartoon Network, we want you to succeed. We know we’re not in your demographic, but I and hundreds of thousands of others like me actually care about what you’re doing. We love cartoons and we want them back.

To paraphrase 14-year-old Ashley Rosario, quoted in the LA Times article, we’re open to new things as long as they’re not crummy. Stop looking at market research and viewer surveys – you clearly don’t understand them. Or us.

What might work at AMC or SYFY or USA and TBS won’t work here. Cartoon Network is a niche channel and you must give the viewers what you promise. I don’t want mustard coming from my ketchup bottle. As long as you are content to follow your competitors, and to recycle worn out ideas, you won’t succeed. You must lead with new ideas, new concepts, new animation.

You are programming Cartoon Network as a run-of-the-mill cable kids channel, instead of using the incredible opportunity you have to lead and bond with the animation community – where there is a wealth of talented creators and an abundance of original ideas just waiting to happen.

I strongly believe in the potential of Cartoon Network – otherwise I wouldn’t post so much about it. I am heartened by the recent announcement of the two new animated shows and the ongoing production of Pen Ward’s Adventure Time. So until the day you drop the “Cartoon” from your channel’s name and dive completely into obscurity, I’ll be keeping tabs on you. And our readers will let you know what they think.

If you’ve ordered Darrell’s Magoo book…

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If you’ve ordered Darrell Van Citters wonderful Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol book and never received your copy – please read the following. Paypal recently experienced a pretty severe glitch in payments and for those who got caught in the snafu, Darrell has a message for you:

Apparently, Paypal dropped a number of orders after the posting on Cartoon Brew. If you have been expecting a copy of the book but none has shown up, you most likely received a Paypal transaction ID of “0″. That indicates that I never received the order and you were never charged for it. The site still takes Paypal as its primary payment service but we have also added Google Checkout as a backup, should you have trouble. I have no way of knowing who did or didn’t order the book so I am offering free domestic shipping for a limited time to anyone who might have had a problem ordering the author signed book or to those who couldn’t make it to Comic Con. To take advantage of this, click on this link.

Virginia Davis 1918-2009

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Virginia Davis of Walt Disney’s Alice Comedies passed away this morning. She was 90 years old and had been in failing health this past year.

In 1923, Davis was picked by Walt Disney in Kansas City to star in his proposed series of live action and animation shorts. Davis followed the Disney Studio to Hollywood to star in over a dozen Alice Comedies. She was Disney’s first movie star.

Later in her career, Davis appeared in Three On a Match (1932), with Joan Blondell, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, as well as The Harvey Girls (1946). Virginia was in the scene with Judy Garland and Ray Bolger where they introduced the Academy-Award winning song “On the Achison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.”

Above, in tribute, is a particularly fun Alice from 1924, Alice and the Dog Catcher (pardon the foreign titles, and some politically incorrect humor).

(Thanks, Steve Waller)

Mark Marek’s WB logo

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Alternative cartoonist and animator Mark Marek has been quite successful drawing comics, doing illustrations, animating and directing animation for some time now. His terrific new website shows off his past and present animated works, including an attempt (not in his usual primitive style, above) designing a moody, atmospheric Warner Bros. Animation logo for the company’s superhero shows.

Myron Waldman’s Eve

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Eve by Myron Waldman

Here’s a rare treat for Fleischer Studio fans – or anyone interested in clever, cartoon story-telling: the latest issue of The Comics Journal #299 (August 2009) features a complete reprint of Myron Waldman’s 1943 “graphic novel”, Eve.

Click on thumbnails below to see a few larger images of the cover, title page and an interior gag (the title graphic and interior page here are from my own battered copy of the original publication). This long-out-of-print classic tells the story of a big city working girl who seeks her true love while on vacation in Miami, Florida. It’s cute, funny and surprisingly heartfelt. The drawings are great and the book makes you wish Waldman had continued doing more stories like these, as opposed to the simplistic Casper animated cartoons he’d become synonymous with.

The Comic Journal has posted the entire novel online for subscriber’s only. The hard-copy magazine, which features an introduction by cartoonist Mark Newgarden, is on sale now. This is highly recommended!

Popeye sings Looney Tunes theme

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Speaking of Popeye (as we were here)… his voice croons one of the greatest cartoon theme songs of all time. No, not “I’m Popeye The Sailor Man” by Sammy Lerner – I’m talking about his cover of the Looney Tunes theme, The Merry Go Round Broke Down.

CLICK HERE for a download of the track, sung by the original voice of Popeye, Billy Costello.

(via Don Brockway, art above by Chogrin – and thanks to Alex Rannie)

Girls Drawing Girls at Meltdown

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Okay guys, the animation-geek social event of the summer is here. On Saturday night, Meltdown Comics in Hollywood is hosting a really cool art show to celebrate the just-published 2010 pin-up calendar created by Girls Drawin’ Girls.

The Girls are a collective of over 30 female animation artists, who include animator Anne Walker, Simpsons director Nancy Kruse and designer Anand Duncan – among many others.

The opening night party is this Saturday, August 15th, 7pm-11pm at Meltdown Comics, 7522 Sunset Blvd. The gals promise an awesome show “with tons of fantastic artists, fantastic ladies, and fantastic good times”. For more information, visit the Girlsdrawingirls.com website.

The Bugs Bunny Story

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My friend Martha Sigall is one of the last living survivors of Termite Terrace (aka the Leon Schlesinger “Looney Tunes” Studio). She’s just posted a You Tube video in response to the number one question she gets asked all the time: Who Created Bugs Bunny? Here’s her response:

And she ought to know, she was there — as a member of the ink and paint crew. For more of Martha and her recollections, I suggest you pick up her wonderful book, Living Life Inside The Lines.