Monthly Archives: May 2009

Worst. Disney Poster. Ever.

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I guess this is slightly O.T. as the film referenced here is a live action short.

I was at a horror movie convention in Burbank yesterday (Monsterpalooza ’09) and found this piece (above) in a box of cheap lobby cards. I couldn’t take my eyes off it, nor could I couldn’t stop laughing at it. This has to be the worst Disney poster/ad art/promotional painting I’ve ever seen! It looks like a Bruce McCall-National Lampoon spoof – but it’s the real thing. It’s so stupid looking, so God-awful, even the logo/typeface is so boring; I can’t believe they thought this would be an effective come-on to a film, even a short. I bought it for $2.

Is this the worst poster Walt Disney’s name was associated with? I don’t mean worst film… I mean, of all the films Walt produced in his lifetime, was this the lamest movie poster to bear (no pun intended) his name? If not, do you have a better candidate?

UPDATE: Kevin Kidney posted a follow up on his blog, with a full image of the original painting used in this poster.

Vintage Cartoon Ice Cream Packages

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Remember that rare Leon Schlesinger merchandising manual we posted about a year ago? Here’s how one Looney Tunes licensee used it. Dan Goodsell recently posted these rare ice cream packages (click thumbnails below to view enlarged image of each) on flickr. Dig the blue hairy Daffy Duck, the early still-evolving Elmer and note the fact they chose to use the obscure Fluffnums (from Tashlin’s Porky’s Romance) and “Patrick” Parrot (from Avery’s I Wanna Be a Sailor) as representative Looney Tunes.

Frankly, I learn almost as much about old cartoons from their merchandising as I do from watching the cartoons themselves. Thanks to Dan Goodsell for continuing his archeology in this area of research. Check Dan’s blog regularly for new finds – and updates on Mr. Toast.

(Thanks, Billie Towser)

TOMORROW IN LA: UP Lecture at Gallery Nucleus

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Up Art by Ronnie del Carmen
I swear, Pixar isn’t paying us to post all these news items about their film products, but frankly, it’d be kind of nice if they did. Tomorrow afternoon between 2-5pm, Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra will be hosting a lecture with Ronnie del Carmen, who was story supervisor and lead story artist on UP. In addition to discussing his work on the film, del Carmen will be signing copies of The Art of UP as well as the tie-in storybook that he illustrated called My Name is Dug, and a new personal book, There You Are. Admission is FREE. More details on the Gallery Nucleus website.

Craigslist Animation Ad of the Week

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In this economy, any work is better than none, but as I pointed out last week, there are some offers you may want to think twice about. Here’s a good one that popped up on Craigslist:

Animator needed for tv pilot episode!

Seeking Animator to create 15 second animation to illustrate a point for a personal development TV pilot episode. Pay is low, however if show is picked up there is chance for future work, and credits off course…

I am an awesome person to work with, young/ hip /entrepreneur!

Pay: $250
Send email with links or samples of work.
Thanks! Email borchevitz@gmail.com
Exposure and joy guaranteed.

I did a little research on the email address, and it turns out the person commissioning this is a masseuse, which gives potentially new meaning to her guarantee of exposure and joy.

(Thanks, Patrick Tuorto)

I’m Just a Jitterbug (1939)

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I always love an excuse to post an obscure Walter Lantz cartoon from the 1930s featuring swing music, rotoscoped dancers and un-P.C. stereotypes, set against the backdrop of an animation studio. The excuse this time is a Lantz in-house memo (below left – click thumbnail to enlarge) that collector Eric Calande just sent me. Lantz asks the staff (“Dear Gang”) to contribute gags to this cartoon, with prizes ranging from $2 to $10 for the best ideas. Note that the memo is dated September 26th 1938 and the cartoon was released January 23rd 1939. From board to screen in four months!? Perhaps the rush to cash in on “a fad” necessitated a production crunch. Also note the set up to this premise pre-dates Friz Freleng’s Looney Tune You Ought To Be In Pictures by a year.

Though the Jitterbug character never reappeared, the concept of this cartoon was the basis for several other swing music cartoons, and the forerunner of the Swing Symphonies series Lantz initiated in 1941. Despite the title card, this was not an Oswald Rabbit cartoon – it was actually one of Lantz’s miscellaneous Cartune series (it was released to TV in the 1950s in the Oswald television package). Frame grabs from the original titles are posted below (click thumbnails to enlarge)

Dreamworks Animation: 2010 through 2012

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Dreamworks Animation announced its release slate today. Here’s what’s coming up:

• How to Train Your Dragon will be released on March 26, 2010. Written and directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois about a teenager who fights dragons as a way of life.

• Shrek Forever After will be released on May 21, 2010. Directed by Mike Mitchell.

• Oobermind (formerly titled Master Mind) will open on Nov. 5, 2010. Directed by Tom McGrath and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Tina Fey; It’s about a super villain (Oobermind) who falls into despair after defeating his foe, the super hero Metro Man.

• Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom will be come out June 3, 2011. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Panda will feature the return of the original voice cast including Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman.

• The Guardians, based on forthcoming books by William Joyce, will be released on Nov. 4, 2011. The world’s five unlikeliest heroes – Jack Frost, North (aka Santa), Bunnymund (the Easter Bunny), Tooth (the Tooth Fairy), and Sandy (the Sandman) band together to stop an ancient spirit called Pitch (the Boogeyman) from plunging the world into eternal darkness. Sounds intriguing.

• Puss In Boots will be released on March 30, 2012. Antonio Banderas is back as Puss, who tackles an evil Humpty Dumpty and a street-savvy Kitty who have stolen the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.

• Another Madagascar sequel will be released on May 25, 2012.

• On Nov. 2, 2012, the company plans to release one of three projects currently in pre-production: The Croods directed by Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco, about a caveman; Truckers about a society of tiny beings living in a department store; or an untitled Super Secret Ghost Project, about … ghosts.

More details on these releases is posted at the San Francisco Business Times.