I’m happy to report our Saturday afternoon screening of rare Scrappy cartoons was a success - but I’d rather let co-host Harry McCracken and Asifa’s Larry Loc (scroll down) tell you about it with their own pictures and comments on their respective blogs.If you missed this once-in-a lifetime event, Asifa-Hollywood is hosting a fuller tribute to Dick Huemer with rare cartoons and special guests on June 9th at the Glendale Central Library. Ray Pointer is organizing this and it looks to be a very special evening.

Robert “Bobe” Cannon (1909-1964) is somebody we don’t talk about nearly often enough on Cartoon Brew. I write about Cannon in greater depth in my upcoming book on 50s animation design, but here’s something I noticed about his work the other day. The image on the left is from a scene that Bobe Cannon animated in Tex Avery’s LITTLE RURAL RIDING HOOD (1949). The image on right is a layout drawing by Cannon from the first Columbia theatrical he directed at UPA, THE MINER’S DAUGHTER (1950). So much is made of Cannon’s dislike for Avery-style humor, but this is an interesting visual example that shows even while working with Avery’s characters and gags, he found opportunities to pursue his own unique graphic style of drawing and movement. On a sidenote, it’s worth mentioning that Italian animation historian Giannalberto Bendazzi has been working on an in-depth biography of Bobe Cannon. I don’t think there’s any release date set for his book, but it promises to shed a lot of light on the life and career of this great animator-director.

A couple brief notes:

> Leonard Maltin recommends my book THE ART OF ROBOTS on his WEBSITE. He writes: “The end result on screen is overwhelming at times; I’m glad to have a book that allows me to admire the artwork one image at a time.” His recommendation is about two-thirds of the page down. Thanks, Leonard!

> The surest way to get a link on Cartoon Brew? Create a post on your blog titled “All Hail Amid Amidi” and draw a caricature of me surrounded by beaver clouds and other monstrous creations.

The surest way to scare the hell out of me? Create a post on your blog titled “All Hail Amid Amidi” and draw a caricature of me surrounded by beaver clouds and other monstrous creations.

So, guess what Lev Polyakov (a talented and quite young animator out of NY) did?

Veteran feature animator Raul Garcia (ALADDIN, THE LION KING, POCAHONTAS and many others) has finished his personal short film, THE TELL-TALE HEART, an adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s classic short story. It’s a film that Raul had wanted to make for many years, but the impetus to finally produce it came when he stumbled across a late-1940s recording of Bela Lugosi reading Poe’s story. “It was from around 1947, when Lugosi was doing a one man show, touring the US and looking to expand his career into television,” explains Garcia. “As far as I know, it is the only copy still in existence.”

Of course, the animation world has already seen one other version of THE TELL-TALE HEART, the now-classic 1953 UPA short directed by Ted Parmelee. Raul is not only familiar with the earlier film, but he was telling me at Annecy last year that that was one of the films which inspired him to get into animation and which opened his eyes to the incredible potential of the animated art form. Garcia’s vision for the Poe tale shares little in common though with Paul Julian’s painterly approach in the UPA short. The stark black-and-white styling in Raul’s film takes its inspiration from the work of Argentinean illustrator Alberto Breccia. He says the film is also an “homage to all the artists who influenced me when I was growing up — Lugosi, Breccia, Hitchcock…the world of Milton Canniff and the horror magazines CREEPY and EERIE — in a sense they’re all there, represented in the film.”

The film made a smashing debut last month at the 12th International Festival of Young Filmmakers in Granada, Spain where it won top honors for Best Spanish Short Film and Best Director. It’ll continue to play at other festivals in the coming months. A website about the film will arrive shortly at TheTellTaleHeart-TheShort.com.

Check out Dave Wasson’s reel at the Acme Filmworks website. There’s a lot of good stuff on it, but best of all, the final item on the reel is his short film MAX AND HIS SPECIAL PROBLEM. He produced the 1998 short for Nick’s OH YEAH! CARTOONS and it’s quite unlike anything else produced for that series. I hadn’t seen the film in a few years and was pleasantly surprised to see how well it holds up — it’s worth watching even at thumbnail size. Everything about this short works: a simple well-executed set-up, beautiful drawing and layout, funny gags made even funnier by superb timing (Bob Jaques timed on it) and elegant background styling (courtesy of THE INCREDIBLES’ Lou Romano). To find out more about the film, read this REVIEW written by fellow Brewer Jerry Beck back in ‘98.

Serbian designer/animator Sinisa Sumina has created a really cool 30-second self-promotional piece that combines retro-imagery with a digital collage aesthetic. It’s called SOME KIND OF UFO BLAH BLAH and can be downloaded at the Tween blog. If you’re using a Mac and can’t view the video, try downloading the MPlayer. (Thanks, Aleksandar)

Bronwen Barry writes on Animation Nation:

I have to post this sad note on the passing of my dear,dear friend (and, at one time, bowling league teammate) Eddie Friedman. He had a lovely long life, wonderful career, adoring family. Your many friends miss you so much already,Ed.
Much love, Bronnie

Animator, director and long-time Guild supporter ED FRIEDMAN passed away on April 29 at the age of ninety-two. He had suffered a stroke about a year ago, and he had again been hospitalized earlier this month. From 1933 until 1989 he worked for Iwerks, Mintz/Screen Gems, John Sutherland, Disney, UPA, Format, Bagle Productions, Ed Graham and Filmation. He was active in the Screen Cartoonists Guild and he had served on Local 839’s Executive Board for almost thirty years. He received the Golden Award in 1984.

Services will be this Monday, May 2, at 2 pm, at Mount Sinai Memorial Park, 5950 Forest Lawn Drive in Los Angeles (east of Barham, next to Forest Lawn Cemetery); phone (800) 600-0076 or (323) 469-6000. Information and directions HERE.

Here’s a photo of Friedman (kneeling, far right) at the bowling alley on the night Kennedy was elected president. Fred Crippen is kneeling far left and Paul Shively is in the middle. Not sure who the people standing are.

As Amid is mired in deadline hell (see below) and I’m in the midst of a move (for the next three weeks), updating Cartoon Brew may be a bit spotty for the time being. Luckily with friends like Mark Mayerson and readers like Craig Harris, we will always have things to post.Mark sent me this link which is a very long, detailed account by Phil Vischer of the various problems that eventually killed Big Idea (The Veggie Tales company). Very interesting from a business and production standpoint.And Craig Harris has started a production blog for his promising 2-D short FRANKENBULB.