"The Snow Queen" trailer
"Arrietty" Will Be Ghibli's Biggest US Release Yet
How Much is a Ward Kimball Painting Worth?
Ricky Garduno, RIP
by Adam Abraham. As far as I know, the book and the DVDs weren’t planned together, but the stars are aligned, and one of the most important yet neglected animation studios of all time is ripe for rediscovery in 2012.
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TAG FOR “Classic”Cartoon Brew's home for up-to-the-minute, unedited announcements and press releases direct from industry sources.
December 17, 2011 7:30 am
This was another in the series of Bugs Bunny Christmas cards commercially released in the 1940s – this particular one sent by WB cartoon producer Edward Selzer to musical director Carl Stalling. The front is above, click to see the interior image (below) at a larger, readable size:
(Courtesy the collection of Tim Walker) 2 Comments » posted in Classic, Merry Christmas 
December 7, 2011 7:00 am
Tis the season… to post another batch of 60s era in-house Walter Lantz Productions studio Christmas Cards – from the grateful staff to their beloved bosses, Walter and Gracie Lantz. We posted several of these from 1964-1971 back in May, courtesy of animation art collector Martin Almeyra. Martin was kind enough to provide a few more (click thumbnails below to enlarge) from 1965, 1967 and 1968. Look close and you can see the signatures of Lantz mainstays Paul Smith, Cal Howard, Les Kline, Sid Marcus, Al Coe and others. Click the image above for the card from 1963, when Art Davis was there between gigs at Warner Bros. and DePatie-Freleng.
5 Comments » posted in Classic, Walter Lantz
December 1, 2011 12:05 am
If only the new mo-cap Tintin movie had half the charm of this film, the first Tintin animated feature – a stop-mo adaptation of the The Crab With Golden Claws. Animated by Claude Misonne in 1947 with puppets, the film (embed below, in French no subtitles) closely follows the original story by Hergé. (Thanks Johane Matte via Cartoon Brew’s Facebook page) 10 Comments » posted in Classic, Old Brew, Claude Misonne, Tintin
November 24, 2011 12:05 am
I just received Profiles In History’s latest auction catalog: Icons of Animation and its pretty incredible. Above are a few of the offerings that caused me to do a Tex Avery double take: a rare cel from one of The Flintstones sponsor bumper for Winston cigarettes; pencil animation from MGM’s Bosko and The Pirates (1937); and a cache of production photos from the Kinex stop motion studio – the one above from The Cannibal Isle (1927). Priceless stuff! The Icons of Animation auction takes place on Saturday December 17th at The Paley Center in Beverly Hills. Van Eaton Galleries will be displaying the material in advance preview, December 9th through 16th (10am to 6pm each day). Their are literally hundreds of Disney items ranging from cels from The Band Concert (1935) to Mary Blair originals from Alice in Wonderland (1951). Lots of stuff for every taste, from Gulliver’s Travels cels to Leon Schlesinger Bugs Bunny comic strips… check out the entire catalog online here. Click thumbnails below to enlarge images – L to R: a pan cel from Tezuka’s Astro Boy; The Icons of Animation catalog with the earliest surviving color Mickey Mouse Cel on the cover (note the green trunks!); and an incredibly rare cel set up from Iwerks’ Balloonland (1934):
18 Comments » posted in Classic, Events, Bosko, The Flintstones
November 22, 2011 7:38 am
If you are planning to buy the two sets of UPA cartoons that Jerry posted about, you would do well to also pick up the forthcoming history of the UPA studio, When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA I’ve already read Adam’s book and I’m happy to report that he gets it absolutely right. The research is impeccable, the writing solid, the story fascinating. Though the book includes over 70 illustrations, it’s more narrative history than coffeetable art book, but that’s hardly an issue anymore thanks to the two companion DVD sets that contain UPA’s entire theatrical short output. The 324-page When Magoo Flew will be released by Wesleyan University Press next March. Place your pre-order on Amazon for a mere $20. 14 Comments » posted in Books, Classic, Shorts, Adam Abraham, UPA
November 18, 2011 10:16 am
To heck with the Chuck Jones and Tex Avery blogs, and forget about all the Disney sites… Here’s what I wanted and now I got my wish: The Seymour Kneitel blog. Seymour who? Kneitel was head animator at the Fleischer Studios during its hey day and became a director and partner in Paramount’s Famous Studios after the Fleischer brother’s ouster. His being Max’s son-in-law didn’t hurt. Kneitel was responsible for bringing Casper The Friendly Ghost, Little Audrey, Herman and Katip and Baby Huey to the screen – in addition to stewarding Popeye and Little Lulu cartoons to the Technicolor screen. The site is now online with its first posts including rare images, behind the scenes info, including a page from Seymour’s original Famous Studios contract with Paramount. Ginny Mahoney, Seymour’s daughter, is moderating the site. Bookmark it. 9 Comments » posted in Classic, Seymour Kneitel
November 11, 2011 12:05 am
Okay, I’m stumped. I get mail like this all the time and I try to be helpful. But this one just sounds so strange, I want to know what it is myself. It all started a few days ago when I got this email from animator Christy Karacas (Superjail):
I requested more information. Was it a short or a feature? Anime or Saturday morning cartoon? Christy responded:
Yes, please!
If this rings a bell with you… please let us know in the comments below! UPDATE: Our readers identified the mystery film. Find out what it is and link to it, in our comments section.
57 Comments » posted in Classic, Christy Karacas
November 8, 2011 5:30 pm
Now, I’ve seen everything. Film bootleggers have enjoyed distributing worn copies this Paramount Christmas cartoon for years, as the film fell into the public domain back in the 1970s. Apparently one enterprising entrepreneur decided to “colorize” the already in-color cartoon (original version above) and distribute it as if it were new. The characters were redrawn (or traced) badly, removing all their original appeal and charm. The colors were brightened and “airbrushed”; some shots are slightly restaged, with the whole film lightly re-edited – and all the racial stereotypes left intact! This copy (below), uploaded to You Tube, has a French track, though most of the songs are left in English. Who did this and when? Anyone got the story on this “restoration”? Santa’s Surprise (1947) is notable as the first “Little Audrey” cartoon; the character would replace Little Lulu at Paramount and would go on to become a popular Harvey comic book. Oh, and whoever did this didn’t stop here. There’s a clip from another Paramount PD cartoon, Bill Tytla’s Hector’s Hectic Life (1948), on You Tube. (Thanks, Luke Virgin) |
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