A fire broke out this morning on the Universal Studios backlot. Current live TV news reports are saying that, in addition to the destruction of the New York street and King Kong ride, the film vaults are threatened.

Let’s pray this isn’t true. In addition to Universal’s own library of classic films (and Walter Lantz cartoons) the studio holds the master elements to Paramount’s pre-1950 feature films.

This video from 1980 is not what you think. It’s a game of volleyball played between the Disney execs and animation artists of the time, including Chris Buck, Tim Burton, Mike Gabriel and Darrell van Citters. Video was shot by animator Randy Cartwright and the play-by-play is by John Musker, whose contempt for Disney management of the time is barely restrained. This line by Musker had me chuckling: “Ron Miller tries to save it and the ball bounces off his head. The rest is self explanatory.” It’s a delightful piece of cartoon history.

(via Blackwing Diaries)

That’s what I love about Cartoon Brew, I learn something new everyday!

I never knew anything about string holders. The Bosko and Honey pieces I posted yesterday turned out to be string holders from the collection of Eric from Warnerart. Says Eric:

I actually have two sets of these and I’m looking to sell one. I understand they are the only sets in existence. String holders themselves are not unusual collectibles. There’s quite a large market for them. Hakes has several vintage character based string holders currently on auction. As we know, Bokso collectibles are extremely rare (Honey maybe even more so) so seeing Bosko and Honey depicted in 3D plaster relief was a stunner! They apparently date to the 30’s and were acquired from an elderly couple who collected string holders.

Check out other cartoon character string holders on this Hakes auction page.

We’ve seen merchandising related to Bosko before. But here’s a pair of items featuring the first Looney Tunes star and his girlfriend, Honey, recently unearthed by our friends at Heritage Auction Galleries, that has us scratching our heads. Dave Tosh writes:

A client has found this pair of 9” x 6.5” plaster or chalk string holders in the shape of Bosko and Honey. On one edge of Bosko’s face, the words “Vitaphone Copr.” is embossed; on the other edge, it says Bosko. I’ve never seen anything like them, but I figured if anyone knew about these, it had to be you. Any thoughts on value?

Sorry, Dave. I’ve never seen anything like these before. I almost wonder if they weren’t merchandising, but perhaps theatre publicity to promote the early Looney Tunes? Perhaps one of our readers know something? If so, let us know - or call David directly at 1-800-872-6467, ext. 1232.

This one is worth pointing out not because it's a great piece of work but because it's an interesting experiment and also serves as a reminder that animation as an art form is now well over one hundred years old. In honor of the 100th anniversary of one of the earliest examples of a fully-animated film, Fantasmagorie, a new CG remake has been produced called Fantasmagorie 2008. The film is the brainchild of Rastko Ciric, a professor at the University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia. The film also incorporates the footage from Émile Cohl’s original 1908 film. The film can be viewed in its entirety at Fantasmagorie2008.com

The film had its premiere in Paris last month during a retrospective of the films of Emile Cohl. Upcoming screenings include the Nitrate Film Festival in Belgrade and the Hiroshima International Animation Festival. A stereoscopic 3D version also exists.

(Thanks, Karl Cohen)

The cartoons posted below are two semi-rare TV pilots. They are not particularly good and I direct you to them only for historical purposes. They will probably be appreciated exclusively by die-hard students of television animation and cartoon history.

These are the last Terrytoons. Produced in 1968, CBS ordered up several Saturday morning pilots from its in-house animation shop. But producer Bill Weiss had disbanded the New Rochelle studio and had to farm production out to west coast director Fred Calvert, who in turn hired several Hanna Barbera animators (including Jerry Hathcock and Iwao Takamoto!) to produce these.

Neither of these films went to series and it’s easy to see why. The Ruby Eye of The Monkey God is a half-hearted Arabian nights/Kipling inspired adventure cartoon. Hard to believe, but this was later released theatrically by 20th Century-Fox - and eventually circulated to television in the Terrytoons TV package syndicated in the late 1970s.

The more obscure Sally Sargent (below), is a Nancy Drew knock off updated to the swingin’ sixties. It isn’t even listed on IMDB or in any reference on Terrytoons I can find. This was the final new production that Bill Weiss produced. It’s better than the other film by virtue of it’s groovy sixties theme song and Gary Owens voice on the track. This one was eventually also thrown into the Mighty Mouse/Deputy Dawg syndication package. Be warned: it’s a full ten minutes long.

Ron Stark of S/R Laboratories in Westlake Village, California, sent me his latest animation auction catalog and it’s loaded with goodies. There are some amazing Disney, Warner Brothers, UPA, and Hanna-Barbera cels, drawings and backgrounds, but I was especially excited by several Private Snafu (above) and Seaman Hook originals. Most of the catalog is a collection of jaw-dropping Disney cels and backgrounds (like the Donald Duck title card below).

The event takes place Monday, May 26 and 27th, 2008 and it is not an internet auction - it’s a telephone auction, and Ron personally speaks to all bidders. You can preview all 255 lots online starting Monday, May 19th at S/R’s WebCenter. If you need assistance or have questions the telephone number is 818-991-9955.

I’m fascinated by the continually emerging stories of women who worked in creative positions at Disney during its Golden Age. Women didn’t have it easy at the studio, but through sheer determination and dedication, a surprisingly large number of them managed to find their way into artistic positions, including Retta Scott, Bee Selck and Retta Davidson.

Didier Ghez just posted a May 1941 Glamour article that has photos of other creative women at the studio such as Ethel Kulsar, Mildred Rossi, Gyo Fujikawa and Sylvia Moberly-Holland.

Semi-related is this reprint of a Parents’ Magazine article from January 1949 in which Walt Disney describes everything that he’s learned about girls and women. The article is prefaced with new comments from Walt’s daughter Diane Disney Miller.

A book about the achievements (and struggles) of women artists at Disney would have been amazing, but sadly we’ve missed the boat on that one. Nearly everybody who should have been interviewed for such a book is now deceased. Through the Internet, however, we can begin to put together pieces of the puzzle and gain a better understanding of their role in creating the classic Disney films.

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