Here is a rarely seen film by Kenneth Anger (best known for the book Hollywood Babylon and his landmark avant-garde film, Scorpio Rising), using vintage Mickey collectibles set to an eclectic score of tunes from such artists as The Boswell Sisters, The Proclaimers and Ian Whitcomb. We first posted about this film in January 2005; Anne D. Bernstein reported here on its premiere screening at the Museum of Modern Art the same month .

(Thanks, Patrick McCart)

Disney’s reuse of past animation is nothing new. But seeing these sequences in motion, one scene followed by its subsequent reuse, is fascinating. Animator Michael J. Ruocco, on his For The Birds blog, has started compiling a series of videos comparing the original animation from Disney features with the later films in which the same animation is reused. He’s just posted Disney’s Gettin’ Lazy Episode #3 showing that Bambi’s Mom didn’t die - she lived on to appear in The Sword In the Stone, The Jungle Book, The Rescuers and Beauty and the Beast. My favorite is Episode #2 (embedded below) comparing a chase scene from Mr. Toad with one in The Jungle Book:

Also check his Episode #1 (which compares a bit from Fantasia with Make Mine Music and The Black Cauldron), and note that Ruocco’s planning many more of these.

Earlier today, Disney and Pixar announced their theatrical line-up through 2012. This is the lengthy press release with story details and release info. Your thoughts?

Pixar’s line-up is as follows:

June 27, 2008
Wall-E directed by Andrew Stanton

May 29, 2009
Up directed by Pete Docter

June 18, 2010
Toy Story 3 directed by Lee Unkrich

Summer 2011
Newt directed by Gary Rydstrom

Winter 2011
The Bear and the Bow directed by Brenda Chapman

Summer 2012
Cars 2 directed by Brad Lewis

Meanwhile, on the Disney side, there is:

November 26, 2008
Bolt directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard

Christmas 2009
The Princess and the Frog directed by John Musker and Ron Clements (Note: this marks the return of hand-drawn animation to Disney)

Christmas 2010
Rapunzel directed by Glen Keane and Dean Wellins

2012
King of the Elves directed by Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker

It’s interesting to note that all of the Pixar films have one individual with top billing as director, while the Disney features are structured to have two directors per film. That certainly can’t be coincidence. As Disney regains its footing, hopefully they’ll discover individuals within the organization whose personal vision is strong enough to carry a film by itself.

Also, it was apparently important enough to merit being put into this announcement that Disney has four direct-to-dvd features starring Tinkerbell and friends: Tinker Bell (Oct. 28, 2008), Tinker Bell: North of Neverland (2009), Tinker Bell: A Midsummer Storm (2010) and Tinker Bell: A Winter Story (2011).

How much is it worth to you to visit Pixar? What if we threw in tickets to the world premiere of Wall*E, a tour of Disney Studios Studios in Burbank, lunch in the executive dining room and personal meetings with Disney and Pixar animators? Maybe $15 Grand?

If so, Sam’s Club has a deal for you! For $14,700. you and three members of your family can do all this (and more), lodging and transportation included. To be fair, this isn’t as money-grubbing as it sounds - a portion of the proceeds from every purchase of the Once-in-a-Lifetime Package Disney/Pixar Animation Lover’s Dream Vacation Behind The Scenes Access Pass is being donated to support juvenile diabetes research.

Tickets are available for purchase on Wednesday April 9th. If any of our readers decide to buy this, please send us a full report!

Note: Jack Orin Spilberg (pictured above) did not pay $14,700. to visit Pixar. He has a friend in the development department.

(Thanks, Joe S.)

Michael Sporn has been scanning some beautiful photos and artwork from Bob Thomas’s classic long out-of-print 1958 book about Disney called The Art of Animation. So far he’s done two posts about the book (first post, second post). Even better, and especially if you read Spanish, Michael points out that Ernesto Pfluger has scanned and posted the entire Spanish-language version of the book on his blog. Even if you can’t understand the text, the imagery is a delight. I think I speak for a lot of classic animation fans when I say that I’d like to see this book reprinted.

Also, I love this comment by cartoonist Eddie Fitzgerald about the photos in Thomas’s book: “The artists look so hardcore, so professional! I love the serious faces of the four artists looking at the cel, the one with Al Dempster on the extreme left. I even like the picture of the ink and painters. Everybody looks like they’re soooo good at what they do!” Eddie is so right. The artists in these photos defy the stereotype of animators as goofballs. These guys were professionals in the truest sense of the word, and the films they created reflect their dedication to the art and craft.

Starting this Saturday the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles (at Fairfax and Wilshire) will be hosting an Art of Cars Exhibition. It’s a great way to see some of the original watercolor paintings, pastel drawings, three-dimensional pieces, and pencil and marker sketches created in the process of developing the 2006 Pixar animated feature. Admission price is $10 for adults, $3 for children and the Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday and holiday Mondays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibit runs through November 2nd.

The NY Times reports that Disney is having returned to them over 250 pieces of original classic artwork, most of it from Sleeping Beauty. These pieces had been lost for decades until four years ago, when they were found in a janitorial closet in Japan’s Chiba University. The fascinating story of their discovery is documented in the Times piece.

After restoration work, the pieces began touring Japanese museums in 2006. The artwork was also printed in this awesome exhibition catalog. Hopefully with the artwork now coming back into Disney’s hands, they’ll take the initiative of publishing an English-language version of the catalog, or better yet, combine it with the Sleeping Beauty artwork already in their archives to create the ultimate “Art of Sleeping Beauty” volume. Now there’s a book I’d love to have on my bookshelf!

Animation historian Jim Korkis had a series of three small strokes last week. The strokes were in a portion of the brain that control balance and equilibrium, so he’s a bit unsteady, but he has no paralysis or speech impediment, and did not have a heart attack (as many stroke victims do after their initial incident). I understand he’s doing pretty well, all things considered.

Jim is one of the most renown and respected animation historians in our field, and certainly one of the most knowledgeable Disney scholars I know. He’s also a great friend. Get well soon, Jim!

What’s wrong with the following sentence in this Andreas Deja interview: “I got to know, not only Marc Davis, but Frank Thomas, Artie Johnson, Ward Kimball, all these great animators, and just ask them all these questions about how they did certain things, what their trials and errors were, the ups and downs.”

Then again, the same article also doesn’t spell Rodin properly so it’s probably asking them too much to do the most basic research about animation history.

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