Some of the most influential and popular TV commercials of the 1950s were the Bert and Harry Piels Beer spots created by UPA (and later on animated by Terrytoons). Much of their popularity was due to the great dialogue tracks provided by Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding (aka Bob and Ray) and the appealing animation directed by Gene Deitch. If you’ve been wondering where you could see these, Asifa-Hollywood has just posted a whole slew of the early ones on their Animation Archive blog. Go there now!
Worthy of noting in this week before the U.S. elections, Gemstone’s Uncle Scrooge #381 (on sale this week, cover pictured below left) features a story (Breakfast of Champions by Bruno Concina and Lara Molinari) about Scrooge trying to promote his name brand marmalade by getting celebrity endorsements on the cheap. Along with thinly disguised actors and sports stars, the celebs include spoofs of our presidential candidates as well (including Governor Palin).
While I’m at it, I might as well plug Gemstone’s entire line of Disney comic books. The current editors, writers and artists really know the classic characters, and their love of Disney lore comes through on every page. In addition to the terrific new material, they aren’t stingy on reprinting classic work by Carl Barks, Floyd Gottfredson and Paul Murry. Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #696 (pictured below right) doubles as a special issue for Mickey Mouse’s 80th anniversary. Along with rare Gottfredson and Romano Scarpa Mickey comics material, they’ve got a new birthday story by Byron Erickson and Cesar Ferioli. Not to mention what I think is the first-ever modern publication of a 1929 Iwerks ad drawing from PLANE CRAZY’s sound re-release (see portion in center thumbnail below)!
One week after giving his blog a nice plug, Jason Anders interviewed me on his Fulle Circle Productions website. Even if you’ve already read everything about me posted online, I’m sure I say something new in Jason’s interview.
Toy designer Mike Mozart of JeepersMedia has posted a series of You Tube videos examining the current crop of of cartoon related toys and products. He’s a bit obnoxious, but his observations are sometimes quite funny. Take this one about Talkin’ Bobbin’ Mickey:
And don’t miss his review of the Dora The Explorer Aqua Pet.
(Thanks, Matthew Hunter)
Attention New Yorkers! This Saturday, November 1st, master film collector Serge Bromberg returns to the Big Apple, and will present rare prints of animated shorts that he has discovered and restored, accompanying them with anecdotes and piano music, in a program created especially for the French Institute Alliance Francaise. Bromberg, the Annecy Animation Festival creative director and archivist behind Lobster Films, is one of the great champions of classic animation, silent films and world cinema. I highly recommend attending this screening to meet and greet Serge in person.
Some program highlights will include:
• Fantasmagorie, Emile Cohl, which first screened in France 100 years ago.
• Cartoon Factory (Koko the Clown) by Dave and Max Fleischer, 1924.
• The Sinking of the Lusitania, Winsor McCay, 1918.
• Egged On, Charley Bowers and H.L. Muller, 1926.
• Tulips Shall Grow, A George Pal Puppetoon, 1942.
• and more!
This special screening will be held at Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street, New York, NY at 7pm. Admission: $10 ($7 for Students with ID). For more information please go to the French Institute Alliance Francaise (fiaf) website.
Fred Seibert has posted 30 (of 39) of the title cards for his new series of Random Cartoons. The show, starting December 6th on Nicktoons Network, contains new shorts by Bill Plympton, Doug TenNapel, Pen Ward, John Dilworth, Pat Ventura among others – including my very own Hornswiggle cartoon. Check out the title card gallery here.
In case you were wondering “Whatever happened to Klasky-Csupo?” — Here’s your answer:
This trailer says Immigrants (L.A. Dolce Vita) opens next week, but I think that’s the Hungarian release date. The film still has no U.S. distributor that I’m aware of, but it will screen at the American Film Market in Santa Monica on November 5th and 6th.
(Thanks, Lev Polyakov)
As many of you know, every month (on the fourth Tuesday evening) I co-produce a comedy/cartoon show, Cartoon Dump, at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood. If you are in the area, this month will be a great one to drop in on. It’s our annual Halloween show and our “treat” is special comedy guest is Patton Oswalt (see Update below). The “trick” is a bunch of really horrible cartoons like Mighty Mr. Titan, Super President and an appearence by a certain friendly ghost.
UPDATE: Due to a changed shooting schedule, Patton Oswalt will not be in tonight’s Cartoon Dump show. Patton sends his regrets and promises to return in a future Cartoon Dump show. Filling in for Patton tonight will be a comedian so awesome that he can only be described right now as “Special Surprise Guest!
Join us this Tuesday, October 28th, at 8pm. The Steve Allen Theater is located at 4773 Hollywood Blvd (two blocks west of Vermont Ave.). You can buy advanced tickets here!
The 2008 AFI Fest starts on Friday (Oct. 31st) and runs through November 9th at several venues (but mainly at the Arclight Hollywood) in Los Angeles. There are several animation events of interest – all of them highly recommended.
On November 4th and 5th, there is a screening of Adults Only Cartoon Shorts which includes Mike Roush’s The Hidden Life of the Burrowing Owl (pictured above), Clemens Kolger’s CuteCuteCute and various episodes of Signe Baumane’s Teat Beat of Sex.
Bill Plympton will be here in person November 5th and 6th showing his latest feature Idiots and Angels; there will a retrospective showing of Yellow Submarine at the Cinerama Dome (on November 5th), and premiere screenings of Waltz With Bashir (on Nov. 1st and 7th).
I’m also intrigued by the documentary Imaginadores which explores the history of Argentinean comic books with new animation of some of the country’s classic comic characters. Check the trailer here. It’s being screened on November 5th and 6th.
This almost escaped our notice… but not quite! Disney has quietly opened Roadside Romeo today (we posted the trailer back in May). It’s “Absolutely ‘howl’arious!” says the India Times in a four-star review.
Should you wish to see this flick, it’s playing at the NAZ 8 Cinemas in Artesia, with English subtitles. The theatre is located at 6440 E. South Street, in Lakewood, CA. It’s playing all week at 5:00 6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 and 11:00pm.
Move over Wall•E – Roadside Romeo is now qualifed for for an Oscar nomination!
It’s hard to avoid political humor during campaign season – especially in these last days of the presidential race. Animator and caricaturist Andrew Arnold has been doing some very funny – and very unique – stuff on his HeadAState.com website. In the interest of fairness, here’s his latest animated political cartoon that highlights Senator McCain:
Target Women is a recurring segment on infoMania, a weekly television show on Al Gore’s Current TV cable channel. In each episode, Sarah Haskins takes a look at the ridiculous ways the media reaches out to women.
Since May, Jason Anders has been interviewing some the best artists working in animation on his Fulle Circle Productions blog. Bookmark this one. He’s just posted a chat with Bob Camp, and Bob was nice enough to recall the crazy days (circa 1989-90) when he shared an office space with me, John K. and Carl Macek. Imagine that! (Strange, but true – Lynne Naylor and Jim Smith were also crammed in there with us). Check out the interview here. And check out Camp’s own blog, loaded with his amazing artwork.
There’s suddenly a flurry of last minute 2008 theatrical releases of animated features. Check out these two I’ve just added to the checklist:
Fear(s) of the Dark, which we mentioned here back in February ’06 and October ’07 is finally receiving an art house release through IFC Films. It’ll play for one week at the Nuart Theatre in West L.A. begining October 31st.
Freestyle Releasing has announced a Dec. 12 release date for its computer-animated fantasy movie Delgo. We first mentioned this film back in December ’07. A new trailer has been posted online.
Could we possibly hit the magic number needed (15) in order to nominate five animated films for Academy Award consideration?
The Girls have announced that Michelle Valigura’s solo show, Creation Mutation will open at M Modern Gallery in Palm Springs this Saturday, October 25th. In addition to her one of a kind sculptures Michelle will offer for sale a limited edition metal figure. You can see the proto now on Vinyl Pulse.
