Jaime Weinman has just posted a rare — and significant — piece of cartoon research: an interview with Tex Avery, from 1933, published in the Dallas Morning News.

It’s a pretty good article in which Avery explains the inner workings of the Walter Lantz studio (where Tex was working at the time). My favorite quote (and there are many) involves his thoughts on what it takes to be an animator. Says Tex:

“The secret in animating is first to have an everlasting sense of humour, next to be able to see the commonplace in a funny way and most important of all, to be able to sketch your idea so that the other person will think it’s funny.”

The image above is from Five And Dime (1933) a picture Tex worked on around the time of the interview. It will be included in the forthcoming Woody Woodpecker and Friends Vol. 2.

Imagine curling up in your comfy recliner chair, snug in your smoking jacket, slippers and monocle, pipe in your mouth and brandy snifter at your side, perusing your personal leather bound copy of The Hanna Barbera Treasury.

Yes, The Easton Press has just published a limited edition leather-bound edition of my H-B book for royal sum of $147. (payable in three monthly installments of $49.00). I don’t have one myself – I didn’t even know they were publishing such an edition – but I’d certainly recommend it for the cartoon fan who has everything – and I do mean everything! Place your order here.

Here’s one for you night owls: Once again I’ll be discussing classic cartoons with Morgan White Jr. on Boston’s oldest and biggest radio station WBZ 1030AM Friday night (or early Saturday morning, depending on where you are). Tune in or listen live on the Internet, tomorrow night (3/28) at 11pm Pacific (3/29, 2am Eastern). Live phone calls will be taken, and questions will be answered. Join us!

Tied in to the release of the new book about his life, BlackBook magazine offers a no-holds-barred interview with Ralph Bakshi. I’m not a fan of the man, but I respect what he’s done for the art form. In a few sentences below, he explains quite well what separates him from the average joe who works in this industry:

“I never for a minute thought, Ralph, you’re broke, and you can’t compete with Disney. Go out and do a commercial film. Go out and do Mary Poppins 2, Bugs Bunny 3—you could make fortunes. But, not caring about money or merchandising allowed me to extend the medium. I mean, I did Heavy Traffic, and that’s not at all a commercial picture: a Jewish mother trying to chop the Italian father’s balls off and a kid who never got laid. So, what I’m saying is, success isn’t why I work. Money isn’t why I work.

“People throw away their lives today on that shit. I know guys in L.A. who have hundreds of millions of fucking dollars, and I think, when are you going to stop this shit? I mean, what are you doing here? Jeffrey Katzenberg still gets up at five in the morning to run this shit at DreamWorks, and gets 300 fucking million dollars for Shrek 5. What is that? He’s a billionaire, and he directs Shrek 5 and 6 and 7, like he’s trying to prove something.”

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.

A nice introduction to the history of French animated commercials by Mark Webster. There’s an exhibit about animated French advertising in Paris right now, but it closes on April 6 so get there quick if you want to see it.

This’ll be the first of several previews and unabashed plugs I’ll be doing in advance of the April 15th release of Woody Woodpecker and Friends Vol. 2.

Above is one of the menus, and at left (click to enlarge) is the back cover of the DVD package. Universal has also just refreshed the Woody Woodpecker.com website with info on Volume 2 including new clips, a photo gallery, complete cartoon and bonus listing and more. Check it out!

Our rules for how to submit news items for Cartoon Brew consideration are quite clear, but that doesn’t stop PR folks, who have clearly never read the website, from constantly sending us wildly inappropriate items to post on the Brew. We get dozens of these emails every week. For the most part, I junk them without even opening them, but this one from CBS was so bad that I couldn’t resist sharing with readers. I’ll spare readers the pain of linking to their awful Flash animation, though it’s online if you wish to torture yourself.

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:38:03 -0700 [05:38:03 PM PDT]
From: “Walworth, Cori” cori.walworth@tvc.cbs.com
Subject: “Danny Bonaduce Life Coach”

Just wanted to run a fun idea by you, the Danny Bonaduce Life Coach show has a new mobile episode running tomorrow, it’s starring Pam Anderson.

On this episode, called “Pam Anderson: Mammiforous Matrimony”, Danny and his sidekick Catchphrase are summoned to save Pam from a failing career and failing marriages by becoming match makers. Will Danny’s skills save her from another divorce?

If interested I can send you the episode for you to review and post on your site. Be one of the firsts…

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.
Cori Walworth
CBS Media Relations
323-575-2119