Author Archives: Jerry Beck

Walter Lantz in 1948

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Posting random classic photos has become the raison d’être of Facebook, but I just couldn’t resist sharing this vintage 1948 photo of pioneering animation producer Walter Lantz and his characters. There is so much goodness here – that zany painting of Woody Woodpecker, those cool off-model Woody stuffed dolls – not to mention Lantz himself holding an Oswald Rabbit plushie, and that scary Andy Panda doll giving him the evil eye.

This publicity still was released in August 1948 by the “World Wide Photo” news service. This was a period when Lantz had broken with Universal and his studio was about to close (temporarily). The caption on the back reads:

ANIMATED CARTOON MAKING

In his office in Hollywood, animated cartoon motion picture producer Walter Lantz sits with dolls inspired by some of his cartoon stars. He holds Woody Woodpecker and Oswald Rabbit. Alongside of him are Andy Panda and another Woody Woodpecker. The last named is also shown in the painting hanging on the wall. Lantz, a graduate of the Arts Students League in New York City, began in the animated cartoon field in 1916.

(Thank you, Jim Engel)

“Casting The Birds” by Uli Meyer

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Animator/director Uli Meyer’sCasting The Birds is not a new film, but a beautiful limited edition print Meyer’s been selling online. It’s a hand-made seven color screen print featuring a different requested drawing in the top right hand corner – making each one unique. Meyer has started a blog to display each of his one-of-a-kind birds (a few samples below). He still has 20 left (from a limited run of 50)… make that 19, I’ve decided to get one myself.

Seth MacFarlane’s “Ted” trailer

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Seth MacFarlane’s first full-length feature is a hilariously raunchy mix of live action and CG animation. Mark Wahlberg stars as John Bennett, “a grown man who must deal with the cherished teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish…and has refused to leave his side ever since”. Universal will release Ted on July 13th. The following is an R-rated (for language) redband trailer – you’ve been warned:

Cool “Gigantor” posters by Laurent Durieux

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Dark Hall Mansion, who produces those cool Peanuts Specials limited edition posters by Tom Whelan, are at it again. This time they’ve commissioned Belgium artist Laurent Durieux to create a set of retro posters for 60s anime robot super star Gigantor. Only 75 copies of Gigantor: The Lab and Gigantor: Tokyo Night (below) were produced. If interested, you better check the site before they sell out. Tetsujin 28-go never looked so good!

Sheridan College Student Films 2012

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Canada’s Sheridan College is well known for the quality of their animation program and the work of their students (alumni include Dean Dublois, Michel Gagné and Danny Antonucci). Here’s a sneak peek/montage of this year’s graduate films – 63 of them in 2 minutes – which will screen publicly on Industry Day, Thursday April 26th. Beautiful looking stuff – can’t wait to see the full finished films.

“Dinotasia”

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Opening in London on May 4th is Dinotasia, a new feature film containing a series of vignettes about dinosaurs, narrated by filmmaker Werner Herzog. The animation for this film was originally created for the Discovery Channel series Dinosaur Revolution, which aired in the U.S. last fall. Erik Nelson, best known for his work with director Werner Herzog on his documentary features, co-directed the film with David Krentz, lead character designer for Disney’s Dinosaur, and has contributed to Fantasia 2000, Treasure Planet, Valiant and The Ant Bully. It should open in the U.S. later this year.

“Garbage Pail Kids” The Hardcover Book

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As a longtime non-sports card collector, I was delighted when the original series of Garbage Pail Kids stickers came out in 1985. I recall that the characters, a parody of those god-awful Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, were a hilarious spoof in the vein of Mad Magazine. The gags even got funnier in the 2nd and 3rd series before I moved on. I haven’t looked at those stickers in years and my memory of the property has been tainted by the horrible 1987 CBS animated series – so awful it didn’t air for years (it was pulled at the last moment from the CBS Saturday morning line-up, allowing Bakshi’s Mighty Mouse to move into the coveted post Pee-Wee Herman time slot). I’ve embed a sample episode below for your viewing displeasure.

On April 1st, Abrams ComicArts will release a hardcover book featuring full page images of every card in the first 5 series (1985-86) of the popular Topps bubble gum stickers. At first, I didn’t think much about the idea of such a book, but after reading Art Spiegelman’s introduction, and John Pound’s afterword, then leafing through the pages I came to realize these hilarious pieces haven’t lost any of their subversive edge. Alternative (or Underground) cartoonists Spiegelman, Pound, Jay Lynch, Tom Bunk and Mark Newgarden were the brains behind these beauties. The art is way better than I remembered and I had a ball checking these out anew – they actually work great in the book format. It’s lavishly produced, with the book jacket looking like the original wrapper, and an actual set of Garbage Pail Kids stickers included inside. This tome goes on the shelf next to my Mad paperbacks, Kurtzman’s Hey Look and Crumb’s Fritz The Cat. Maybe the new animated movie in development by Michael Eisner and Pes doesn’t seem like such a bad idea after all. Check out what all the fuss is about (Amazon is selling it for $11.27 – a steal!). Highly recommended!

FRIDAY in L.A: UPA at LACMA

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To celebrate the publication of Adam Abraham’s essential new UPA history, When Magoo Flew and the just-released TCM/Sony DVD set, UPA: The Jolly Frolics Collection, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will be presenting a mega-celebration of the UPA animation studio this Friday, March 30th beginning at 7:30pm.

I will be introducing two programs of animated films – the first at 7:30pm which will feature ten newly restored 35mm prints of UPA classics including Rooty Toot Toot, Magoo’s Express, and Fudget’s Budget. Adam Abraham will sign copies of his newly released book at 8:45pm and at 9:15pm a second program of 35mm Hollywood cartoons that were influenced by UPA will screen. This second screening will include Disney’s Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom, Terrytoons’ Flebus (both of these in CinemaScope), Tex Avery’s SHHH-H-H-H and Gene Deitch’s Topsy TV (also in ‘Scope). Several UPA veterans will attend the show – and we hope you will too. Click here for information and tickets.

CONTEST: Courtesy of LACMA, I have two gift-pack prizes for two lucky Cartoon Brew readers in the Los Angeles area. The first two people to answer the UPA trivia question below will win a pair of tickets to Friday’s event and a copy of Adam Abraham’s book When Magoo Flew (both prizes will be waiting for you at the museum’s box office). Do not enter the contest if you cannot attend the event in Los Angeles. The Contest is now CLOSED:

Who was the voice of Mr. Magoo?

We have our winners!

Music Video Round-Up (#8)

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DoYaThing by Gorillaz, Andre 3000, and James Murphy

Released a few weeks ago but still a worth post on Cartoon Brew, this new music video is tied into marketing a Gorillaz Converse sneaker line. Directed by Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett, this fast-paced making of video shows you how it was done.

Illy Godzilla (El Rey Tritón) by The Dragulas

This animated music video, a combination of cut-out animation and stop-motion photography by Rodrigo Hernández and Cecilia Beavan, is for Mexican pop-glam band The Dragulas. The song is a tribute to Illy Keller, one of the pioneers of punk and glam music in Mexico, who died in 2010.

Animal by The Gorgeous Colors

And finally Bruno Palma, an artist at Dublin-based Boulder Media, created this beautifully stylish clip: