Creators of Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing Boing, United Productions of America (UPA) was the most significant animation studio of the 1950s. Ushering in a whole new way of making cartoons, combining modern art with slapstick comedy, UPA challenged the way Disney made toons and dominated the Academy Awards during that decade. There’s no doubt of their inspiration on international and independent animators for decades to come.

Charles Solomon (who did a great job hosting the Mary Blair tribute last night at the Academy) recorded an audio editorial championing UPA that will run on L.A.’s public radio station KPCC (89.3 FM), Off Ramp, Saturday at noon and Sunday at 7pm. Solomon points out that a current local art show cooperative – Pacific Standard Time, which celebrates southern California’s contributions to pop culture – omits the UPA studio’s significant influence on art and animation. KPCC has just posted his piece online, in advance of its broadcast: Download or listen to stream here.

Meanwhile, I will be doing my part by mounting a tribute to UPA at my next Animation Tuesday screening, on Tuesday November 1st at 8pm. I will be introducing rare 35mm prints of the studio’s undeniable classics on the big screen — including their acclaimed adaptation Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart, Oscar winner When Magoo Flew (in wide screen CinemaScope), and rarely shown The Jaywalker, Willie The Kid and Fudget’s Budget and more — along with a selection of rare commercials, industrial films and TV films not seen in public for over 50 years. More info and tickets: click here.

This two-minute Chevrolet spot is a pretty epic bit of advertising, but you may be even more surprised to learn who made it. It’s this guy:

The artist responsible for this:

Around 1960, Eyvind Earle, the production designer of the Disney classic Sleeping Beauty, formed his own company Eyvind Earle Productions. The first spot he produced was this Chevrolet piece, which he made in two weeks. According to his autobiography Horizon Bound on a Bicycle, he was paid $16,000, which in today’s dollars would be around $122,000. That’s not bad for a one-man cut-out production, most of which was animated under camera.

(Eyvind Earle photo via Daveland)

Let’s give it up for Google! October 21 marks the 100th anniversary of animation legend Mary Blair’s birth, and Google honored her with the Google Doodle above. And credit to the Google artist who drew it, Mike Dutton.

Just for the record, Disney’s own website has done nothing (as far as I can tell) to commemorate Mary Blair’s birth, though when I went there, I was treated to a pop-up congratulating me on being selected to take a Disney Online survey.

AWESOME+modest, the small Brooklyn-based animation studio who did all the animation for Waiting For Superman, the new U2 doc From the Sky Down, and the animated music video for The Mountain Goats posted here a few months ago. Their latest music video is for the very talented Dan Wholey. Amateur Rocketry is probably NSFW:

Director: AWESOME+modest

Animators:
Sean Donnelly
Vanessa Appleby
Jane Samborski
Abbey Luck

Take a look at WindMills, a beautifully stylish graduation film from France’s Georges Méliès school, directed by Guillaume Bergère, Guillaume Coudert, Maria Glinyanova, Bruno Guerra and Charlotte Jammet.

Synopsis: It is a dead, lightless world, where a little girl, despite her father’s renunciation and despair facing the death of his wife, maintains their dream of building a machine powered by magic winds to fly and reach the sun.

Talk about your “adult swim”: this anime-inspired music video for DyE, directed by French animator Jérémie Périn, is clearly Not Safe For Work (NSFW). A group of teens break into the local pool for an innocent nighttime swim, or so they think…

CREDITS
Directed by Jérémie Périn
Written by Laurent Sarfati & Jérémie Périn
Artistic Direction by Mikael Robert
Produced by Excuse My French / PH & Tigersushi
Executive Producer : Constance Guillou
Production Coordinator : Perrine Schwartz

(Thanks, Mike Gettel via the Cartoon Brew Facebook page)

I have never seen a bad piece of merchandise from Bob Clampett’s Beany & Cecil. All of it looks incredibly appealing to me. These pieces (above and thumbnails below – click to enlarge) are currently available via the latest auction at Hakes. The current bids are a bit rich for my blood, but at least we can live vicariously through the photos.

(Thanks, Billie Towser)

On Monday October 24th Cartoon Brewmaster Jerry Beck will once again be hosting Cartoon Dump, his monthly live comedy and worst cartoons showcase, in Hollywood. Join him, Frank Conniff (MST3K), Erica Doering and special guest comedian Andy Kindler for their our annual Halloween special. There’s nothing spookier than Mighty Mr. Titan… except maybe Moodsy, the Clinically Depressed Owl, Compost Brite, and Dumpster Diver Dan.

Join them Monday (10/24) at 8 PM, for an evening of hilarious comedy, demented songs, and really, really crappy cartoons. It’s again at the Steve Allen Theater, 4773 Hollywood Blvd. (two blocks west of Vermont). Map here, see you there!