Cartoon Brew

A HECKLE & JECKLE CHRISTMAS

Just came back from the comic book shop, where I found this new item: a Heckle & Jeckle Christmas Tree Ornament Set!

Dark Horse Comics produced this set, which was sculpted by Yoe Studios. Along with their Mighty Mouse ornament, you can have quite a lovely Terrytoon Christmas Tree! And the perfect gift, under that tree? Why this Harvey/Famous Studios Casper statue, of course!

SMOKING POPEYE

Speaking of ebay, here's a toy you'll never see marketed again: Smoking Popeye!

This item recently sold on ebay for $2,551. The box says "See his pipe light up as he smokes!". This was a battery operated tin toy from Marx, that had Popeye waving his right hand, turning his head, raising his lighted pipe with his left hand, and smoke coming out of his mouth! Well, blow me down!

Popeye toys are great because the licensees found him so hard to draw, and many of them feature wonderfully grotesque versions of the character. This toy is also interesting because Popeye is wearing his Famous Studios' white uniform!

EYE CANDY

This maybe the coolest thing I've ever found on ebay (and didn't win).

A key cel & drawing from the original, rarely seen opening titles from Paramount's Noveltoon cartoons - Wow! Click on each image to see a larger version.

VINTAGE CARTOON TRAILERS

Film collector Jim Tucker sent me these cool frame grabs from vinatge intermission trailers that used to run in theatres in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

Have a good weekend!

Hey Hey Hey .... It's Crap!

Marvel at the mind-numbing unfunniness of the latest cartoon-turned-live bomb FAT ALBERT. The most telling example of what passes for humor in this film is when a character asks Dumb Donald why he wears a knit-cap over his head, and the character proceeds to offer an explanation. How about this for an explanation: IT'S A FUCKING CARTOON! Give it a break, Hollywood. Stop turning cartoons into shitty live-action movies and then creating logical reasons for why the cartoon characters don't look right in live-action. Audiences stopped laughing at this type of lameness sometime in the mid-'90s when John Goodman humiliated himself as Fred Flintstone. Dumb Donald wears a damn knit cap over his head because he's a cartoon character, and I'm not forking over ten bucks to have some ex-SIMPSONS writer tell me otherwise. I can't wait for the live-action ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS where some two-bit screenwriter is bound to make a crack about whether Alvin wears pants under his long shirt. Perhaps FAT ALBERT's only saving grace will be its animated segments (under the able supervision of Bert Klein) which I hear are looking quite good. Too bad the animation crew couldn't work on a project deserving of their time, effort and talent.

Tom Neely Show Opening Tonight

Tom Neely, director/animator of BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A JOB?, has an art show opening tonight at the Harmony Gallery (5911-1/2 Franklin, Hollywood, CA 90028; next to Counterpoint Records & Books). The reception is from 7-10 pm. He'll be exhibiting thirty watercolor paintings. The show also features new acrylic-collage works by Scot Nobles. For more details, go HERE.

Bird In London

Will you be in London on October 27? Want to hear Brad Bird speak and then see a sneak preview screening of THE INCREDIBLES? Then don't miss the London Film Festival.

Political Cartoon Season

Last night, THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO premiered the new Jibjab short GOOD TO BE IN DC, which is a sequel of sorts to their Webcartoon hit from a few months back called THIS LAND. This new cartoon has many funny moments, but it doesn't quite achieve the charm of THIS LAND. The JibJab brothers, Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, concede as much on their blog: "Our next animation will not be another THIS LAND. We could spend the rest of our lives trying to make another THIS LAND and it’d never happen. That’s okay. We’ve accepted that on some deep metaphysical level." View both cartoons at JibJab.com.

The only positive legacy of Bush's presidency may be that he inspired the production of a lot of terrific animation. A new short that is well worth recommending is WHAT BARRY SAYS, a stunning Constructivist-styled commentary on US foreign policy and the "Project for the New American Century." The short, which can be downloaded HERE, was directed by British designer Simon Robson. (link via BoingBoing.net)

BBC Radio: Toonhounds and Teabags

"Toonhounds and Teabags" - it sounds dirty, but it's the name of a BBC Radio report about the history of British animation. IMDB's Jon Reeves sent me the link for the 30 minute broadcast which went out today and will available online for a week.

Fifty years ago, Halas and Batchelor released Animal Farm, Britain's first full length feature film. To celebrate this anniversary, BBC's Phill Jupitus interviews animators Bob Godfrey, Aardman's Peter Lord and Oliver Postgate. Find Toonhounds and Teabags under "T" on this page and click to hear it via streaming RealPlayer.

THE DAWS BUTLER BOOK

DAWS BUTLER: CHARACTERS ACTOR, the official biography of the voice of Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound, by Joe Bevilacqua and Ben Ohmart will be released on Daws 89th birthday, November 16th from Bear Mountain Media.

Daws Butler was of course the voice of an astounding number of the cartoon characters, including Quick Draw McGraw, Baba Looey, Snagglepuss, Augie Doggy, Mr. Jinks, Peter Potamus, Elroy Jetson, Cap'n Crunch and hundreds of others. He worked with nearly every major animation director, including Messrs. Hanna-Barbera, Jay Ward, Walter Lantz, Chuck Jones, and Tex Avery. He worked puppets for Bob Clampett (Beany and Cecil).

The book features personal reminisces by Daws’s colleagues, including Joe Barbera, Bill Hanna, Doug Young (Doggy Daddy), Don Messick (Boo Boo, Ranger Smith), June Foray (Rocky the Flying Squirrel) and Stan Freberg, as well as Daws’s friends and family. Best of all, the biography includes the words of Daws Butler himself telling his own story, through never-before-published interviews, letters and personal phone conversations. Nancy Cartwright wrote the book's foreword.

Need I say more? You can order it now through www.dawsbutler.com

11 FILMS BY DAN McLAUGHLIN

11 Films by Dan McLaughlin is a new DVD compilation featuring eleven short films by filmmaker Dan McLaughlin, head of the world-renowned UCLA Animation Workshop.

Dan is an old friend, former ASIFA-Hollywood board member and is a huge influence on animation and animators in Southern California. Dan has been making personal films, mostly experimental, for over forty years, and is a winner of the Winsor McCay Award for outstanding contribution to animation.

This collection features two of my all-time favorite independent films: CLAUDE (1963) a UPA-ish cartoon about clever boy and his clueless parents, and RED/GREEN (1985) an experimental piece featuring the world's longest dissolve from a red screen to a green screen. Dan's filmmaking skills, imagination and wide variety of techniques make this dvd a pleasure to watch. The DVD also includes 48 minutes of commentary. You can order the disc through Pyramid Films.

ANOTHER NAIL IN THE 2-D COFFIN

Talk about "below the radar". Has anyone heard of this upcoming 2-D feature film? Does anyone care?

THE EASTER EGG ESCAPADE is supposedly scheduled for release next Easter, but it's having it's west coast premiere on Sunday, October 17th at 5:00 p.m., at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood. Actress/author/comedian/singer Sandra Bernhard ("King of Comedy) will attend the screening at the 8th Annual Hollywood Film Festival. Bernhard voices one of the main characters and will help Director John Michael Williams introduce the movie.

According to the press release:

"Guests will be greeted by the film’s seven-foot mascot, Good Gracious Grasshopper. A 30-minute Q&A with Bernhard and Williams immediately follows the screening. The film tells the tale of Egg Town; an idyllic village where neighboring chickens and rabbits live together in harmony. However, beyond the borders of this humble burg lurk the mysterious and thieving Take-Its, who constantly conspire to steal anything they can from the quiet and industrious town -- including its optimistic spirit.

The film features a host of heart-warming characters such as Good Gracious Grasshopper, Terrible Timothy Take-It, Big Boring Benedict Bunny, Claralyne Cluck and Horrible Harriet Hare. The impressive celebrity voice cast features Bernhard, Brooke Shields, Joe Pantoliano, James Woods, Nancy Kerrigan and Eli Wallach.

After a limited run late this year, the film is set to go into general release in April 2005, just in time for the spring and Easter Holiday season."

Nancy Kerrigan? The skater?

You've been warned! Click here to see the film's trailer.

Ottawa Fest Photos

Animator Joe Gilland has posted a fine PHOTO ALBUM from this year's Ottawa Animation Festival, including a section about NFB animator Ryan Larkin and another that elucidates the fine art of pumpkin carving. Only in Ottawa, only in Ottawa...

Book Plugs

BREW pal, New York cartoonist/animator Mark Newgarden, has written a new book which I'm very much looking forward to picking up when it's released later this month - CHEAP LAFFS: THE ART OF THE NOVELTY ITEM. PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY says that in the book, Newgarden "turns his attention to the 'once thriving, if marginal, industry devoted to the creation of a modest product of questionable quality, taste, originality and necessity for fleeting high-impact diversion' - in other words, the novelty item—in this suitably quirky and expertly designed catalogue." The Funny Dribble Glass, Trick Smashed Finger, Beatnik Beard, hand buzzer and fake dog poop are all finally given their due in CHEAP LAFFS. The book is designed by PictureBox, a snazzy design firm run by Dan Nadel and Peter Buchanan-Smith. I've been lobbying Chronicle to let these guys design my next book, though it remains to be seen whether this will actually happen.

I've said this before but one of my favorite book illustrators today is Lane Smith. He always graciously sends me a copy of his new books and they are, without fail, aesthetic delights. In his latest effort, SCIENCE VERSE, he teams up with frequent writing partner Jon Scieszka, to create a book that painlessly introduces kids to the poetic stylings of Poe, Carroll, Longfellow and others. The highlight for me is obviously Lane's exquisite illustrations which combine an uninhibited fine art sensibility with playfully wry humor. This begs the question, Do children who enthusiastically watch cartoons like FAIRLY ODDPARENTS deserve such beautiful artwork? Frequent exposure to Lane's work will perhaps instill some sense of visual taste into today's youngsters.

Funky-Tasting Ice Cream

Tuesday, July 19, 2004
_________________________

The day is a blur of work, my efforts obscured from memory by a fog of exhaustion. All for the best; the LazyTown Secrecy Oaths I've taken would preclude me from disclosing any details even if I could remember them. After work I grab a bite with Steve Blevins, the lead storyboard artist and a fellow ex-pat.

Steve and I enjoy a typically delicious Icelandic meal served by an obliging blond goddess. Later, as we walk down the street, we see a sign for a local brand of ice cream called "emmessis." This is noteworthy because, in English, "emesis" means "vomit." My nurse wife finds this very amusing, but nevertheless the ice cream is delicious.

Ken Pontac
Barfing up ice cream,
Iceland

ORIGINAL TITLES

Long time readers of my Cartoon Research website know that I'm absolutely fanatic over original titles. In fact I have a whole section of my website devoted to it.

When I discovered how much better my favorite classic cartoons played in their original form, before being butched by TV syndicators (and in many cases, the studios themselves), it was a revelation. Thus I began a campaign to locate and restore the original openings and closes - and raise people's consciousness about it. Some of the results of this work were seen on Cartoon Network's late POPEYE SHOW and on dvds like SOMEWHERE IN DREAMLAND.

Fellow film collector Jim Tucker just came into some films, saved for over 60 years, that were part of a World War II film collection. In this collection was a 1942 Terrytoon with it's original titles intact. It struck me immediately that I'd never seen the black & white titles to Terrytoons produced during this era - all the prints I've ever seen have replaced TV titles.

Thanks to Jim, I've added these frame grabs to my Terrytoon Original Titles page - and this gives me a good excuse to remind you I have several of these pages, here, where you can see what we've been missing all these years.

Hertzfeldt Chat Tonight

Indie filmmaker Don Hertzfeldt will participate in his only live chat of 2004 this evening at 6pm (Pacific time). He'll talk about his ambitious new independent short as well as the second edition of THE ANIMATION SHOW. Participate at Bitterfilms.com.
(thanks to kitty-b for the tip)

Incredible Art

Just noticed that THE ART OF THE INCREDIBLES, which could be alternately titled "The Genius of Teddy Newton," is now shipping at Amazon. I saw an advance copy a few months back and can definitely recommend this as a must-have book. Man, November 5 can't come soon enough.

Classic Disney Artists In Their Own Words

I'm excited about WALT'S PEOPLE - TALKING DISNEY WITH THE ARTISTS WHO KNEW HIM, a new book project being edited by Didier Ghez. Each book will collect rare unpublished interviews with Disney animation artists. With most of the Golden Age Mouse employees now gone, these raw interviews should offer a wealth of new, previously unavailable, information to students of Disney animation and allow everybody to hear these artists in their own voices. From the press release:

Contributors to the series include noted Disney historians Robin Allan, Paul F. Anderson, Michael Barrier, J.B. Kaufman, Jim Korkis, Mike Lyons, John Province, Thorkil Rasmussen, Arn Saba and Klaus Strzyz. These key Disney experts, by accepting to contribute to the project, are giving readers access to the source materials they used for their works. Many of these materials are being published for the first time in their entirety. We are also uncovering new or quasi-unknown material virtually every day: a forgotten interview with Woolie Reitherman, lost tapes of talks with Paul Murry, rare conversations with Al Hubbard, Floyd Gottfredson and many others that will be released in the upcoming volumes of the series. Each book will have as broad a focus as possible, discussing Disney animation, Disney theme parks and Disney comic-book history with interviews of the best artists in each of those fields, be they from the early '20s or from the early 21st century.

The first volume is being released in early November. This initial offering will include interviews with Rudy Ising, Dave Hand, Bill Tytla, Ken Anderson, Jack Hannah, John Hench, Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Harper Goff and Joyce Carlson. The book will be available on Xlibris, Amazon and other on-line retailers. This is an independently published book so hopefully Disney aficionados will get behind this project so we'll see subsequent volumes in the series.

Birds and Clem

Monday, July 19, 2004
_________________________

I was enjoying a pleasant morning walk around the pond, minding my own business, when some noisy, nasty bird tried to shit on me. It hovered over my head, shrieking, while it sprayed out a stream of excreta. I jumped out of the way, and was struck by only the tiny spot shown below on my shoulder. In no way do I blame the fine people of Iceland for the inhospitable attitude of their wildlife.

After rinsing my shirt off I go to the office, where I acquaint the lovely Script Supervisor, Thora Clausen, with my hideous hillbilly alter ego Clem. Clem appears when I put a pair of dentures in my mouth that disfigure my face and shut off my brain I'm sure he'll cause an international incident while I'm in Iceland.

I can hardly wait.

Ken Pontac,
Breathing through my mouth,
Iceland

TWO GOOD TRAILERS

Check out these Quicktime trailers for Blue Sky's ROBOTS and Nickelodeon's THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE.

DANGERFIELD (1921-2004)

One of my favorite comedians Rodney Dangerfield passed away today.

I am a big fan of his work in several comedies, particularly THE PROJECTIONIST (1971) in which he played an unscrupulous movie theatre manager who would turn down the air conditioning and put extra salt in the popcorn just to sell a few more ice cold Cokes.

Of course, the reason we mention him here is his starring role as ROVER DANGERFIELD (1991), a nice little animated feature from Hyperion Studios. It was originally planned to be an R-rated cartoon with lots of Las Vegas humor, but the producers and studio got cold feet and it became another bland G-rated family film. Of course, Rodney was one of its producers, it's screenwriter and he co-wrote several songs in it. It's worth a look, especially if your a fan of Rodney's. The film, and Rodney, had my respect.

Donald Duck Is An Asshole

In his latest article for AWN, The Animation Pimp explores the assholeishness of Donald Duck and arrives at the tragic, all too human, core of the Disney duck's personality.

Groening Wants Simpsons To Run Until 2009

SIMPSONS creator Matt Groening talks to THE SUN about his new goal: "I'd love to get to 365 episodes, so there's one for every day of the year with no repeats."

And Groening once more from a much longer piece in the GUARDIAN: "Everyone on the show this year seems really re-energised and we're starting to throw out ideas for the movie and I think that will either kill the show or completely re-invigorate it."
(Reg req'd for Guardian, see here for fake logins)
(links via TVTattle.com)

The Blue Lagoon

Sunday, July 18, 2004
_________________________

I take a (sixty dollar!) cab ride to the Blue Lagoon, Iceland's largest geothermal spa. If I'd remembered to bring my camera I would share with you the MIND NUMBING WRONGNESS of the fat old man with the tiniest Speedo I've ever seen. I swear to Christ, he must have stolen it from a midget child. The horror! The horror!

I return home and discover there is certain music that triggers a deep emotional response relating to my total isolation from my wife and home. Songs to be avoided at this time are: "I Am Yours" by Derek and the Dominoes, "Shore Leave" by Tom Waits, and pretty much anything by Simon & Garfunkel. Yesterday I bought a CD that Oddur suggested, by an Icelandic band called sigur rós. The slow dreamy melodies match the magic of this place, and if their lyrics deal with separation or sadness I can't understand them. It's my new lullaby. Oh, and the voices of the invisible women have gone away since my diagnosis. I kind of miss them, the gabby slags.

Nighty night,
Ken Pontac,
All crusty from that stinking lagoon,
Iceland

ROAST AN ANIMATOR

On November 9th at 7pm, at New York comedy club Carolines On Broadway, Bill Plympton will be "roasted" by some of New York's best known comics and actors. This is the first time I'm aware of an animator being the subject of a comedy roast. Bill plans to draw caricatures of his "roasters" so it will be a two-way street... more information is forthcoming on Plymptoons.com

ASIFA EAST ON-LINE

Asifa-East is finally getting serious about it's internet presence. Animator Xeth Feinberg (MishMash Media) is the new webmaster of the oraganization's website and he plans semi frequent updates on all the local New York area animation events.

If you are in New York City, Asifa East is a group you should belong to.

Harry Inside Pixar

BREW pal and PC WORLD editor-in-chief, Harry McCracken, visited Pixar over the weekend, as part of the Cartoon Art Museum's benefit night. He has an in-depth report on the proceedings as well as some insightful thoughts, such as the following: "...it's clear that [INCREDIBLES is] going in a somewhat different, less Lasseteresque direction than Pixar's previous films. Rather than Brad Bird making a Pixar film, it looks like Pixar is making a Brad Bird film--which is a smart move for everyone involved." Also revealing are FINDING NEMO co-director Andrew Stanton's comments about Pixar vs. DreamWorks: "[Stanton] also said that Pixar's basic philosophies about filmmaking were different from Dreamworks', and said that the Pixar crew had problems with 'the man who runs that studio' (maybe Jeffrey Katzenberg, although he didn't mention him by name)." Read Harry's report HERE.

Animated in Montreal

A couple cool cartoon finds to report from my recent sidetrip to Montreal. The first was my discovery of cartoonist La Palme. In one of Montreal's many excellent used bookstores, I stumbled across a book from 1950 called LA PALME: THE FIRST 20 YEARS OF THE CANADIAN CARICATURIST. According to the bookseller, Robert La Palme is fairly well known in Canada (granted, as well as any cartoonist can be known) and this book is the only significant catalogue of his early work. In addition to being packed with caricatures, which are executed in a highly stylized Covarrubias/Garretto vein, the book also has examples of his painting, graphic design work, and political cartoons (the book says he drew over 2500 of them for the Montreal paper LA CANADA between 1943 and 1950). The political cartoons are also quite stylized, but here he employs a beautiful wavy bold brush line rather than the geometric abstractions of his caricatures. The book was published in a numbered edition of 5000 and I highly recommend searching it out to anybody interested in cartoons and caricature. There is an online obit about La Palme which says that he continued political cartooning until 1963 and that he was also the artistic director of Expo '67: Montreal World's Fair.

I also had a chance to visit the Cinémathèque québécoise which is a stellar organization devoted to film and animation. I'd heard of the organization before, but only had a vague idea of what they actually did. The organization was founded in 1963 by a group of filmmakers and film enthusiasts with the goal of documenting, conserving and promoting cinema in all its many forms. They have monthly screenings on a broad range of cartoon subjects, with shows this month dedicated to animators Paul Grimault and Raimund Krumme. They also house a wonderful research facility where I managed to put in a couple hours of work that resulted in the discovery of some important documents needed for my latest BOOK. If this place existed in LA, I would assuredly be spending a good deal of time there.

Another thing that must surely be recommended about the Cinémathèque is their current exhibition on French-Canadian animation pioneer Raoul Barré, who is credited with the creation of animation pegs as well as starting the first animation studio in New York City, among many other achievements. It is a first-rate exhibition that deserves a visit from anybody in the Montreal area. It's rare to see animation treated with art gallery-type respect, but this exhibition sets a perfect example of how to elegantly present the works of an animator. A broad range of Barré's life and work is on display, including a Felix drawing by Otto Messmer on an envelope, family photos, sketchbook drawings by Barré, sequences of animation drawings, letters, and other personal effects. Barré was a classically trained painter and while most of his paintings are lost, there are examples of his fine art work also on display.

The exhibition was organized by the Cinémathèque's animation curator Marco de Blois and runs through October 24. In conjunction with the exhibition, they've also released a DVD of Barré's early animated series "Animated Grouch Chasers" and "Fables" from 1915-1916. Show information can be found HERE. Download the PDF brochure for a nice write-up on Barré's work in English.

SHARK TALE GROSS

Holy Mackerel!
SHARK TALE has an estimated weekend box office gross of $49,000,000.!