Best known for his voice of Fred Flintstone (replacing Alan Reed after his death), character actor Henry Corden has passed away at age 85.Outside of his Flintstone work, my favorite role of his was his recurring stint as Mr. Babbitt, the gruff landlord of THE MONKEES.He shall be missed.
Howard Green informs us of the passing of Ollie Johnston’s beloved wife, Marie, Friday morning at her home in La Canada surrounded by family.She was 87 years old. She and Ollie had been married for 62 years.
He really really likes it! Link
Animator Oscar Grillo sends us a new drawing everyday. This was the one he sent today.
I’m moved! Now it’s a month of unpacking boxes and reorganizing my storage space. But my long national nightmare is over. Back to blogging!First, I must note that my buddy Martha Sigall is continuing her national book tour – or at least the west coast leg – by appearing at the Chuck Jones Gallery in San Diego this Saturday.If you love the classic Warner Bros. cartoons you will really enjoy Martha’s book, LIVING LIFE INSIDE THE LINES, written from her point of view as an inker & painter at the Looney Tunes studio (and her subsequent stints at MGM, Bob Clampett, Bill Melendez, etc.). She will be signing books May 21st at 2pm at the gallery at 2501 San Diego Ave. in Old Town. Check the Chuck Jones website for more information.
Please forgive the infrequent posts… I’m almost moved in – but it’ll take all week to unpack the boxes.A note to my personal friends reading the blog: My phone number, the one I’ve had for over ten years, is history. It’s been disconnected, and my new number won’t be connected until next Friday. As I do not have a cell phone, I will be a bit hard to reach this week. I’m working on a solution and should have a temporary phone number on Monday. Till then best way to reach me is by email. Tonight I move my computer to my new home and tomorrow morning Comcast is set to come over and hook me up… I hope!Wish me luck!
Margaret Loesch will speak on June 18, 2005, at 12 noon at The Smoke House restaurant when Women In Animation Los Angeles hosts a lunch in her honor.
Margaret has known nearly every one in the business and has so many tales to tell! She was five years at Hanna Barbera, and six at Marvel Productions. She has worked at Fox Kids Network, Jim Henson Television Group, Crown Media United States, the U. S. cable channel Odyssey, and launched the Hallmark Channel. She is currently the CCEO of The Hatchery LLC, a family entertainment company she launched in 2003 and serves on the Board of Trustees of Sesame Workshop, producers of Sesame Street.The Smoke House restaurant is located at 4420 Lakeside Dr., Burbank (across from Warner Bros.) Cost of the lunch is $20 per person, with a No Host Bar. Seating is limited. You may prepay (recommended) by sending a check to:WIA/Loesch lunch, PO Box 251, Topanga, CA 90290
I am moving from my apartment this week and into a new one. Thus my posts through next week will be even less frequent than usual.As anyone who’s ever had to pack up their life and move it to a new location knows – it’s hell! And in an effort to share the pain – I direct you to Albert Walker’s website The Agony Booth where he has just posted several lengthy (and humorous) reviews of Ruby Spears awful 1983 Saturday morning series Mt. T.Now you know how I feel about moving.
The official obituary of Joe Grant from the Walt Disney Company.
Most people who appreciate animation also enjoy the ancient art of hand lettering and vintage advertising graphics. Thus, I bring your attention to the website of Charles Bruss and his obsession with Wisconsin Drive In Theatres. In particular I point out his page devoted to old newspaper ads advertising Drive-In movie attractions. It’s great to see Baby Huey, Katnip and Donald Duck used as illustrations in the 1950s clippings – one ad actually mentions a cartoon by name, “Chew Chew Baby” (1958), a particularly notorious Paramount Noveltoon.This ad pictured above, from 1944, boasts six shorts (instead of a second feature, I guess) including The Three Stooges, a Pete Smith specialty, a L’il Abner and Screwball Squirrel! Now, that’s entertainment!
A true legend. From early Mickey Mouse cartoons to Beauty & The Beast through Lorenzo.Links: The Animation Podcast / Animation Nation / AWN (1999 interview) / AWN (2004 interview) /
Rick Goldschmidt has posted a set of rare stop-mo animation spots on his Rankin Bass website. We especially like the short 2-D FROSTY THE SNOWMAN pencil test footage (from the 1969 TV special).(Thanks to Mike Milo for pointing this out)
Don’t miss this – the May/June issue of PRINT (“America’s Graphic Design Magazine”) contains John Canemaker’s in-depth, profusely illustrated article “Farm Subsidy” about the 1954 Halas & Batchelor feature cartoon ANIMAL FARM and how it came to be funded by the CIA.Also, Canemaker reports that he will be in France next month: his new 28-min. animated film THE MOON AND THE SON: AN IMAGINED CONVERSATION has been accepted for competition at the Annecy International Animation Festival, June 6-12.Good luck, John!
If you are in Hollywood on Thursday night – and are looking for things to do – I highly recommend you spend an evening with Janet Klein And Her Parlor Boys. I’ll be there with my “opening act”: several 1930s musical shorts and cartoons in 16mm, preceeding a wonderful evening of live 1920s/early 1930s jazz, rag-time, blues and novelty songs. The fun starts at 8pm Thursday night May 5th at the Steve Allen Theatre in the Los Feliz area, 4773 Hollywood Blvd., (West of Vermont, across from Barnsdall Park). We do this the first Thursday of every month. Please check Janet’s website (under “Showtime”) for more details.
I’m happy to report our Saturday afternoon screening of rare Scrappy cartoons was a success – but I’d rather let co-host Harry McCracken and Asifa’s Larry Loc (scroll down) tell you about it with their own pictures and comments on their respective blogs.If you missed this once-in-a lifetime event, Asifa-Hollywood is hosting a fuller tribute to Dick Huemer with rare cartoons and special guests on June 9th at the Glendale Central Library. Ray Pointer is organizing this and it looks to be a very special evening.
