Author Archives: Jerry Beck

Betty Boop Lottery Tix

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Looks like Betty Boop has returned to her pre-Code roots… gambling!

Dave Filipi (Film Curator of Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio) found these Lottery Tickets (above) while visiting his family in Minnesota over Christmas (Alas, no winners).

An iconic symbol during the Great Depression of the 1930s, Betty’s been used for Lottery promotions before in various states (New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin for example). Contestants for the current holiday themed contests in Minnesota must scratch off Pudgy to see if they win. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Popeye goes PD?

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According to this article in today’s London Times, Popeye the Sailor will lose its copyright protection in Europe on January 1. Supposedly anyone, starting Thursday could use E.C. Segar’s earliest drawings to create T-Shirts, posters, or whatever.

In the United States the character is protected until 2024, as U.S. law protects a work for 95 years after its initial copyright.

R.I.P. WB Cartoon Mural

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Here’s a sure sign of the apocalypse — or at least the end of a local cartoon landmark. Warner Bros. has quietly removed its huge Looney Tunes/Hanna-Barbera/Warner Animation mural (above) during Christmas week. Bugs Bunny and company have adorned the Burbank studio at Olive and Pass Avenues for over 15 years.

I was driving past the studio yesterday when I noticed (and snapped the photo below) the mural was gone. To give them benefit of the doubt, perhaps they are going to replace it with an even better graphic of Bugs Bunny and crew. I hope so… but who wants to bet that Harry Potter or the live action Dark Knight will soon be guiding us toward the Cahuenga Pass.

How to Draw “Fleischer”

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Comic art collector Eric Sack is an old friend who has perhaps the finest collection of original underground comix art in the United States – and he has recently post most of it online.

Of specific interest to Cartoon Brew readers is Sack’s original art to what I consider a Holy Grail item: a mid-30s illustrated book by two ace Fleischer Studio animators, Tom Johnson and Bern E. Wolf (aka Bernie Wolf): CARTOONS: How To Draw ‘Em and Make ‘em Move. The art is chockfull of examples of how to make funny drawings, Fleischer style. Was this thing ever published?

But that’s NOT all! Sack has accumulated all kinds of stuff on the periphery of 30s animation. Check out the material listed erroneously under Terrytoons, featuring pinback button art for super-obscure characters like Van Beuren’s Waffles and Al, and Boyd La Vero’s Marty Monk! Also click on this background from Lantz and art created by my buddy Leslie Cabarga. Great stuff all – Thanks, Eric!

Huck, Yogi and Magilla Gorilla at Disneyland

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Reader Keith Bryant made this unusual observation while watching the Disney Treasures DVD Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic:

There’s an old episode of The Wonderful World of Color, “Disneyland Around the Seasons” (1966), where they show the Disneyland Christmas parade. If you look closely at Santa Claus’ float you’ll see dozens of generic toys and NONE of them seem to be licenced Disney character toys (although, a large teddy bear is wearing a t-shirt that says “Winnie the Pooh but the bear doesn’t look at all like him). However, if you look even closer, you can see a fairly large plush Magilla Gorilla. Imagine that, a Disneyland parade (circa 1966) and a Hanna-Barbera toy is on the float! Could you imagine that happening today?!? Howze that for Disney Christmas trivia?

Not bad! I spotted what looks like a Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear doll as well (see blow-up below). I agree, Santa would never get away with that today.

Hanna Barbera Flickr

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Here’s a delightful Christmas gift to all our readers whose stockings went bare…

Kerry Cisneroz and Dom Giansante are lifelong H-B fanatics and have created a pool on flickr all to do with Hanna Barbera. The mission is to show as much of their collections as possible, highlight obscure characters, showcase art they have done and ask that contributors do the same. It’s a treasure trove of great pics and thanks to contributors, they’ve unearthed a lot of great paraphenalia. Dig in and enjoy!

Fleischer Superman on DVD

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Warner Bros. is finally releasing the classic Paramount Superman cartoons (1941-43) on a stand alone DVD set. These are the nine Max Fleischer sci-fi adventures and eight Famous Studios World War II flavored action epics as you’ve never seen them before. The two-disc collection will go on sale April 7th and will retail for $26.99 (and be available much cheaper on Amazon, at Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart).

Warner Bros. and DC Comics own the master negatives to these cartoons and the new restorations here are truly breathtaking. Warner Home Video previously released these only as bonus material on several Christopher Reeve Superman DVDs, but are releasing this special set due to popular demand. Throw away your Dollar Store dupes. This is the ultimate collection of these cartoons.

(Thanks Dave Lambert at TVshowsondvd.com)

New Years Looney Tunes marathon

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Looney Tunes make a return appearance to television on New Years Day when Cartoon Network is scheduled to broadcast an all-day 14-hour marathon of classic Warner Bros. cartoons.

95 shorts, spanning four decades, begin on New Years Day (January 1st) at 6am with Freleng’s The Wabbit Who Came To Supper (pictured above). The final hour at 7pm highlights Chuck Jones masterpieces like One Froggy Evening, Duck Amuck, Duck Dodgers and What’s Opera Doc?. Jon Cooke posted the exact schedule on the Termite Terrace Trading Post forum.

But note, this is a one-time-only stunt. Perhaps overwhelming ratings will convince the network to return these treasures to the regular line-up. Whatever happens, this sounds like the perfect way to start 2009.

Hornswiggle

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Well, imagine my surprise when I sat down to watch Saturday’s installment of Random Cartoons (10:30am/1:30pm on Nicktoons Network) and up popped my own cartoon Hornswiggle. Had I known it was going to run this weekend, I would have let you all know.

I was very disappointed I couldn’t give Brew readers advance notice. The good news is that someone posted the broadcast on YouTube – not quite the way I wanted you to see it, but it’ll have to do. Enjoy!