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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.
January 10, 2012 4:12 am
This Thursday, January 12, Trigg Ison Fine Art (9009 Beverly Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048) will host the opening reception for “American Optimism: Celebrating the LA Art Scene 1935 – 1980.” The show will feature an eclectic mix of artwork by at least a dozen regional artists, including numerous works by Disney and UPA background painter Bob McIntosh, who passed away in 2010. In addition, there will be some newly discovered paintings by another fine artist with a strong animation connection—Oskar Fischinger. There’ll also be some pieces by Jirayr Zorthian, a SoCal painter who didn’t work in animation, but whose work had a strong cartoon aesthetic. Zorthian was friendly with some animators, particularly Ward Kimball. The opening is from 6-9PM, and an RSVP is required by emailing info (at) triggison (dot) com. No Comments » posted in Animators, Classic, Bob McIntosh, Jirayr Zorthian, Oskar Fischinger, Trigg Ison 
January 9, 2012 9:28 am
Since posting our 2012 animation book preview, I’ve updated the list with additional titles, and one of those books deserves its own post. It’s being released this winter in honor of the 75th anniversary of Disney’s first feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The title of the book is The Fairest One of All: The Making of Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and the author is the esteemed J. B. Kaufman, whose earlier books South of the Border With Disney and Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney (with Russell Merritt) are highly valued for their original research and thoroughness. In Kaufman’s able hands, this book has easily moved to the top of the heap as one of my most-anticipated animation books of 2012. The book will be published by the Walt Disney Family Foundation Press, and it will be accompanied by an exhibition of Snow White artwork at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, currently scheduled to open in November. 18 Comments » posted in Books, Classic, Disney, J. B. Kaufman, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney Family Museum
January 9, 2012 4:21 am
A long-lost version of The Hobbit by animation legend Gene Deitch has resurfaced online in the past few days. Why did Gene produce this 12-minute “animatic” version instead of the feature-length version he’d originally planned with Jiří Trnka? Why did he have just one month to produce it? Why has nobody ever seen it? The crazy circumstances that led to the production are revealed in this piece that Gene wrote on his website. In short, the film was a financial ploy by Deitch’s producer William L. Snyder to earn himself a nice chunk of change. Deitch writes:
The rest of the story can be read on Gene’s website. And just for the record, the delightful illustrations in the film were created by Czech illustrator Adolf Born. (Thanks, Stephen Persing, via Cartoon Brew’s Facebook page) 31 Comments » posted in Classic, Gene Deitch, Hobbit, William Snyder
December 29, 2011 12:00 pm
Yesterday the Library of Congress announced its latest inductees to the National Film Registry, which included work by these notables in (or related to) animation: Walt Disney’s Bambi (1942), Ed Catmull’s A Computer Animated Hand (1972) and George Pal’s live action War Of The Worlds (1953). Great choices, well deserved! But where is the love for the groundbreaking Van Beuren cartoons of the 1930s? When will the Library of Congress recognize the greatness of Cubby Bear, Waffles the Cat and Molly Moo Cow? Vincent Gargiulo created this faux commercial from 1986 for the 50th anniversary VHS edition of Van Beuren’s Molly Moo-Cow & The Butterflies. Gargiulo says “only 4 copies were sold”. (For high quality DVD copies of Van Bueren cartoons, visit Thunderbean Animation) 32 Comments » posted in Classic, Molly Moo-Cow, Van Beuren
December 24, 2011 12:05 am
And if you don’t know who these characters are, I refer you to this CBTV post. (Courtesy the collection of Tim Walker) 2 Comments » posted in Classic, Bob Clampett, Merry Christmas
December 22, 2011 11:30 pm
Get ready for a treat! Virgina Mahoney has started building a virtual Fleischer History Museum online at the Fleischer Studios website. The first exhibit is now open and its dedicated to “Christmas at Fleischer Studios”. Ginny writes: “Since Christmas was a special holiday for them… a good time to show off their drawing skills, get together, be crazy, and party! This was a nutty group and this exhibit shows it. To visit the exhibit go to our website – Fleischerstudios.com – Click on the word ‘Museum’ near the top of the page (under Fleischer Studios) This will take you to our museum site– where you can click to enter our first exhibit ‘Christmas’. This is a ‘preview,’ an early look at our first exhibit. We plan to have an Official Museum Opening sometime in January.” Ginny has posted 86 Fleischer staff Christmas cards, from the likes of Max and Dave Fleischer, Dick Huemer, Shamus Culhane, Al Eugster, Ted Sears, Dave Tendlar and dozens of others. In addition, she’s uploaded rare footage from the 1935 Fleischer Studio Christmas party, and the entire contents (24 pages) of the 1939, 40 and 41 Flipper Club menus and program books. These rare items contain articles by Pinto Colvig, Tedd Pierce and Dan Gordon, and rare artwork by Grim Natwick, Dave Tendlar, Gordon Sheehan and lots of lettering my the mysterious Fleischer/Famous calligrapher (the cover for the 1939 edition – thumbnail below right – gives a credit “Cover design by Arthur Greenbaum”. Is that the mysterious Fleischer lettering genius?). All-in-all, this is a must-see; An early Christmas present from the Fleischer family to all of us who appreciate the artists behind the great Paramount cartoons.
6 Comments » posted in Classic, Max Fleischer, Merry Christmas
December 19, 2011 12:00 pm
Steve Milman was a checker at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio in the 1930s and 40s. (Courtesy the collection of Tim Walker) 2 Comments » posted in Classic, Merry Christmas
December 18, 2011 3:00 am
Another nice one from the Selzer family: making his characters work over the holidays, to clean the studio (at 1351 N. Van Ness, still on the Warner Sunset lot in this pre-1955 card) so the artists will have a clean office when they return in the New Year. (Courtesy the collection of Tim Walker) |
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