Author Archives: Jerry Beck

Sleeping Beauty at the Academy

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A newly restored, digitally remastered version of Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959) will be presented on Friday, July 18, at 7:30 pm at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Following the screening, a team from Walt Disney Animation Studios including Dave Bossert, creative director of special projects; animator Andreas Deja; Theo Gluck, director of library restoration and preservation; and Terry Porter, sound department chief and head rerecording mixer will participate in a panel discussion hosted by Leonard Maltin.

According to the Academy press release:

This new digital restoration of “Sleeping Beauty” comes from 4K scans of the camera original successive exposure Technirama negative. The 7.1 audio remix was created from the Disney Studio’s 35mm mag elements, including the original 3-track stereo music masters, which were recorded in Berlin in 1958.

Tickets are $5 for the general public and may be purchased online at www.oscars.org, in person at the Academy box office or by mail. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills.

The Pughs

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Ryan, Jeremy, Alex and Tim – The Muks of Mukpuddy Animation in New Zealand – have taken a break from their day to day animation work to work produce this:

According to the creators:

It’s an idea we’ve had for sometime now and has always been something we’ve discussed while doing other jobs. Finally, we put everything aside and put all our effort into making a short. It was created in 3 weeks by the four of us here at Mukpuddy.

Our Flash animated 3 minute pilot is called It’s the Pughs and is the story of a man so desperate for a son that after the birth of his daughter, decides to bring up the poo that follows as “his boy”. The idea is based on our observations of the “typical” New Zealand bloke. The dad who wants nothing more that his boy to be the Rugby player he always wanted to be. As kiwi as this is, it seems to us this is a fairly universal trait.

As disgusting as the idea of raising a poo as a child is, we’ve tried to focus on the relationship between Rudy (the dad) and Peter (his poo son). As much as we embrace that the show will be a lot of gross poo jokes, we like to use the phrase “heartwarming toilet humour”.

Clearly, poop characters (Mr. Hankey, Stinky, Doodie.com, etc.) are here to stay – whether we like it or not. The Muks also have a bunch of production sketches posted on their blog.

Bakshi party photos

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Steve Worth posts many worthwhile things on the Asifa Hollywood Animation Archive website, including Mary Blair paintings and Ren & Stimpy storyboards just in the past week. But when he posts a picture of me and Ralph Bakshi, that really gets my attention. Actually, he didn’t post this photo above, yet, he just sent it to me (that’s me on the right of Ralph, with Mighty Mouse producer Tom Klein on the left) – but he did post a bunch of others from the Ralph book party at Meltdown on Saturday night. Bakshi veterans Conrad Vernon, Tom McGrath, Kent Butterworth, John K., Eddie Fitzgerald, Steve Gordon, Tom Minton and Dave Spafford are pictured. The event was a blast, and others who attended (but not captured in a photo) included animators Milt Gray, Mike Kazaleh, George Maestri, Amanda Visell and Michelle Valigura. Go here and enjoy!

VooDooDog Shorts

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I’ve mentioned the amazing work of London’s VooDooDog studio before. Between commercial assignments, the company supports and encourages its animators to create short films. Among the showreels and illustrations on their elaborate website are several of these works: Paul Donnellon’s Figment (above center), a violent battle between man versus toon; Scribble (pictured above left), a burst of pure energy with stick figures; and Maki Yashikuras’ The Girl Who Did Things She Didn’t Like First (aboove right), a charming fable.

Worst Cartoons Ever at Comic Con ’08

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Mark your calendars, clear the date… the all-new, craptacular 2008 edition of The Worst Cartoons Ever! – my annual report on the worst animated films in history – will take place on Friday night, July 25th at 9:30pm.

It will take place in Room CDEF in the San Diego Convention Center, as part of the packed-to-the-gills, almost-sold-out San Diego Comic Con. (Preceeding my program is a can’t-miss MST3K cast renuion at 7:15pm).

Felix the Cat studio photo

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Just spotted on ebay: a vintage publicity photo showing the producer of the Felix The Cat cartoons, Pat Sullivan, and his wife Marjorie, in Sullivan’s office with an avalanche of Felix drawings. They are apparently judging a “Draw Felix” contest, but of greater interest to me is the rare one-sheet poster (Gym Gems, 1926) tacked to the wall, the Felix doll in the corner, and the many framed, autographed photos of stars of the day. Nice find!

Pre-Code wrap-up

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Mark Kausler blogged about the Pre-Code Cartoon show I presented at the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles last Tuesday. It was a smash hit and many people had to be turned away. The theatre has about 160 seats (not 100 as Mark notes) and, by popular demand, a second show was hastily arranged two hours after the first one. I guess running cartoons at the Silent Movie Theatre will be regular thing from now on. Thanks to everyone who attended (or tried to attend). Mark, who loaned me several film prints for the show, also has some photos from the evening, and a list of what we ran, on his blog.

Animation Show Vol. 3 CONTEST #2

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The fourth edition of The Animation Show opens tomorrow in Los Angeles (The Nuart), Boston (Kendall Square), Washington DC (E Street Cinema) and San Diego (Ken Cinema). But today we have two copies of The Animation Show Vol. 3 to give away.

The first two people who submit the correct answer via the comments link below will win the prize. CONTEST CLOSED! We have our winners!

What were the names of the two live action feature films directed by Mike Judge?

Don’t miss The Animation Show 4 coming soon to a theatre near you.

Kung Fu Panda credit sequence

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The awesome 2-D end credit sequence from Kung Fu Panda has been posted by Shine Studios in high quality Quicktime. Shine produced this section in collaboration with James Baxter Animation.

“Michael Riley, Shine’s creative director, composed images of traditional Chinese landscapes, calligraphy and 2D character animation set in a 3D landscape all choreographed to the classic Carl Douglas song “Kung Fu Fighting”; remixed by Cee-Lo Green, accompanied by Jack Black. Riley’s concept included reprising the film’s main characters in original cell animations by finding them hidden in a gigantic Chinese calligraphy character.

(Thanks, David Netherly)

Animation Show Vol. 3 CONTEST!

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Rabbit by Run Wrake, City Paradise by Gaelle Denis, Everything Will Be Okay by Don Hertzfeldt, Guide Dog and Shuteye Hotel by Bill Plympton, Game Over by Pes, Learn Self Defense by Chris Harding, ten other amazing shorts and a brand new intro by Beavis and Butt-head. The Animation Show Vol. 3 has just been released by Paramount Home Video, and it’s a must-have.

We have three copies to give away today. The first three people who submit the correct answer via the comments link below will win the prize. CONTEST CLOSED! We have our winners!

Joanna Quinn’s Dreams and Desires is part of Vol. 3. What toliet tissue product did Ms. Quinn do TV commercials for?

And don’t miss The Animation Show 4 coming soon to a theatre near you.