Cartoon Brew

RICHARD FLEISCHER'S NEW BOOK

Coming in June will be the publication of Richard Fleischer's new book, OUT OF THE INKWELL, Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution (University Press of Kentucky, $27.50).

This is the story of Max Fleischer from the p.o.v. of Max's son. It follows the highs and lows of Fleischer Studio and attempts to explain how the family lost control of their studio to Paramount Pictures. It contains much biographical information on both Max and Richard, and extensively follows Max's life in the years following World War II. How he regained control over Betty Boop and Koko, and his involvement with those later the Hal Seegar Out Of The Inkwell TV cartoons, are of particular interest.

I saw an early draft of the book last year and can tell you its a great read - and it may start a few new controversies. I'm looking forward to the finished version. Amazon.com has it for $18.15 - and it's a hardcover! Needless to say, this will be one of the year's most important animation books.

CRAZY RABBIT

Here's a great time-waster: Crazy Rabbit

It's a Small world after all

I got a good chuckle out of this one: the "New Iraqi Flag" courtesy of Iranian graphic designer Reza Alavi, awarded first prize at the 8th Tehran International Poster Biennial. (via Design Observer)

WB Animation: Failing One TV SEries at a time

Seemingly Warner Bros. TV Animation is engaged in some sort of competition with itself to see what's the crassest, most incompetent piece of animation they can produce. Well, they've come up with another strong contender - KRYPTO THE SUPERDOG - which premieres on Cartoon Network next month. Bonus points to the executive who greenlit the show's hideous theme song. (Thanks, Daikun)

MORE PATCHES

As a follow-up to my previous post, Brew reader Dave Oney found this website picturing hundreds of World War Two Armed Forces insignia and patches for sale.

LOONEY TUNES INSIGNIA

Isn't this a beauty?

We know that the major cartoon studios designed insignia for the troops during World War 2, but outside of Disney, how many surviving pieces have you seen from Lantz and Schlesinger's studios?

Brew reader Michael Brown sent this in:

I am seeking assistance with an identification of a World War II Army Air Force unit insignia that was designed by Leon Schlesinger. I would appreciate any assistance that you can provide.

Has anyone done the research on these? How many were there? For what units?

ROCK & RULE ON DVD

I don't know about you - but this is big news to me. Stephen Biro of Unearthed Films has announced the release of Nelvana's cult classic animated feature Rock & Rule.

The film will be released two ways - one, a 1 disc Special Edition, and the other, a 2 disc Collectors Set - both on June 7th 2005. Specs are below:

Rock and Rule Special Edition
New fully restored High Definition Anamorphic transfer in 1:85:1
An enhanced 5.1 Dolby track and cleaned up 2.0 Dolby track
The Making of Rock and Rule Featurette
Commentary with Director Clive Smith.
Intensive sketch gallery
Deluxe animated menu's
Restoration comparisons
Liner Notes

Rock and Rule 2 Disc Collectors Set - Disc 1
New fully restored High Definition Anamorphic transfer in 1:85:1
An enhanced 5.1 Dolby track and cleaned up 2.0 Dolby track
The Making of Rock and Rule Featurette
Commentary with Director Clive Smith.
Intensive sketch gallery
Deluxe animated menu's
Restoration comparisons

Disc 2
CBC; Original version of Rock and Rule
The Devil and Daniel Mouse
The Making of The Devil and Daniel Mouse Featurette
PDF File of the script
Massive sketch gallery
Alternate Title Sequence
15 Minute workprint ending of Drats
Collectors Booklet

FATKAT ANIMATION

These guys draw funny and animate good...

FATKAT ANIMATION headquartered in New Brunswick, Canada, of all places!

Now they have a blog, so we can keep up with their day to day activities.

MORE SOCAL DATES

Jot these dates down in your calendar book.

The Art of Dr. Suess - a touring exhibit is now showing in Orange County, at the Sarah Bain Gallery in Brea, through March 13.

Ralph Bakshi, in person hosting a film retrospective at the American Cinematheque April 29th through May 1st. More details to come.

Animation Movie Posters - an exhibit of over 150 classic Hollywood cartoon one sheet posters on display at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences starting May 13th. More details to come.

GENNDY A GO-GO

Cartoon Network, Lucasfilm, and ASIFA-Hollywood are teaming up March 18 – 19, 2005 to present ANIMATION A-GO-GO! TWO NIGHTS WITH GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. This two-night mini-tribute will feature everything from student films to sneak peeks at future projects, as well as a hearty helping of classic cartoons by some of Genndy’s animation heroes. Animation writer Jon M. Gibson will discuss these works with Genndy in an extended discussion each night.

Friday, March 18 – 7:30 PM
Genndy Tartakovsky Tribute – Program #1
Encompassing many of his early, short works—including rarely seen, unreleased ditties from his days at Cal Arts, like "Changes," the basis for "Dexter’s Laboratory"—this first night chronicles Tartakovsky’s evolution as a filmmaker. Then, samplings of the first season of "Star Wars: Clone Wars"—as well as the ground-breaking two-part "Samurai Jack" episode, "Birth of Evil"—will be washed down by a few of Tartakovsky’s favorite classic cartoons from legends like Tex Avery (shown in 35mm glory). A few surprises are promised - some never-before-aired.

Saturday, March 19 – 5:00 PM
Genndy Tartakovsky Tribute – Program #2
The World Premiere of the entire second season of "Star Wars: Clone Wars," which Tartakovsky will have completed mere days before its debut. Also interstitials he created for Cartoon Network based on vintage Hanna Barbara characters, as well as more inspirational offerings from the masters of animation. Genndy Tartakovsky will appear for an extended discussion after the program, moderated by animation writer Jon M. Gibson.

Saturday, March 19 – 8:00PM
Genndy Tartakovsky Tribute – Program #3
CONAN THE BARBARIAN, 1982, Universal, 129 min. John Milius' epic was a huge inspiration on Genndy's career, especially in the more recent "Samurai Jack" years. He cites the first 20 minutes of the Schwarzenegger-starrer as "flawless filmmaking". The feature will be followed by hand-picked "Samurai Jack" episodes that Tartakovsky feels were influenced most heavily by sword & socerey epic.

SUPERFRIENDS - DUBBED VERSION

This is sorta funny. SUPERFRIENDS footage redubbed with dialogue from Mike Judge's Office Space. Idiotwork.com

BRUNETTI'S JPEG COLLECTION

Alternative cartoonist Ivan Brunetti has posted his collection of oddball cartoon memorabilia which includes a few nice pieces of vintage bootleg foreign merchandise - with bizzarre off-model drawings and unusual character match ups, combining characters from competing studios in ways that would never happen on officially licensed merchandise.

Brunetti's website, in addition to being a fine portfolio of his work, offers an incredible selection of female movie star portraits, vintage photography, cats and Drew Barrymore (don't ask). It's well worth a browse. Start here.

UPDATE: Deja in Der Spiegel

German-speaking Brew readers will be pleased to know that the Andreas Deja interview I mentioned yesterday can be found online at the DER SPIEGEL website. (Thanks, Fischkopf)

TIM BURTON'S GARAGE SALE

Friday, March 11, Saturday, March 12 and Sunday, March 13, 2005
207 North Aspan Avenue Azusa, CA 91702
9:00am - 4:00pm
(Absolutely No Early Previews or Early Sales)

Previously owned items by director Tim Burton and his actress wife former girlfriend Lisa Marie. Designer furniture (Herman Miller, Noguchi, Knoll, Ashland & Hill), clothing (Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, YSL), lamps, ceramic kiln, fine crystal, make-up, electronics, Tiffany & Co. Sterling Silver, movie memorabilia, props from movie sets and tons more. This sale will be held in a warehouse in Azusa, CA, a 45 minute drive from Studio City.

(thanks to Anne D. Bernstein for the tip)

JANET KLEIN TIME

Yessir, it's that time again - the monthly plug for my cartoon/short musical 16mm film show, as opening act for the fabulous Janet Klein And Her Parlor Boys. It's a fine night of time travel - back to the late 1920s/early 1930s with obscure and forgotten old time jazz, rag-time, blues and novelty songs. The fun starts at 8pm Thursday night March 3rd at the Steve Allen Theatre in the Los Feliz area, 4773 Hollywood Blvd., (West of Vermont, across from Barnsdall Park). We do this the first Thursday of every month. Please check Janet's website (under "Showtime") for more details.

Deja in Der Spiegel

There's an interview with Andreas Deja in this week's edition of the German magazine DER SPIEGEL. The 4-page piece is included in the magazine's cultural supplement and is mostly BAMBI-related, owing to the BAMBI direct-to-video sequel that Deja has been involved in for the past year. Deja speaks of his respect for the original film ("The classic Bambi is so well done, it gives me goosepimples.") and discusses the subtle changes that they had to make to Bambi's character in the new direct-to-video version. "We had to change him, in order to keep him the same," says Deja. The changes, intended to make Bambi more accessible for today's kids, included creating new expressions for the character and having him speak more than the classic Bambi. Deja also mentions that there's a hint in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? that Judge Doom killed Bambi's mother. (Thanks, Harald)

THE WINKLER OSWALDS

In early 1928, when Walt Disney lost Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and most of his staff to producer Charles Mintz, he retaliated, with the help of his one lone, loyal employee Ub Iwerks, by creating Mickey Mouse.

But what a difference 12 months can make. Roughly a year later, in mid-1929, Universal had moved Oswald into the hands of producer Walter Lantz, Charles Mintz was booted out (though he continued on in Hollywood, producing sound Krazy Kat cartoons for Columbia), and Disney got the last laugh - his new mouse had become a national sensation.

The mysterious 26 Oswald cartoons released between August 1928 and August 1929 have gone largely undocumented (for example, they are not listed in OF MICE & MAGIC, nor WALT IN WONDERLAND) - They weren't Disney, nor Lantz productions. They are essentially lost Winkler productions. Lost, that is, until now.

I'm very proud to announce the latest Cartoon Research special project: Of Rocks and Socks: The Winkler Oswalds (1928-1929) by David Gerstein and Pietro Shakarian. This new database contains reviews, credits, frame grabs, original title art, posters and good solid cartoon research.

The Winkler Oswalds are some of the hardest cartoons to see and, though these pages are still a work-in-progress, here is a chance to examine a missing piece of cartoon history. As Gerstein says, "A lot of people still erroneously seem to believe nothing came between the Disney Oswalds and the Lantz series. Ah, well... time to set 'em straight."

GRIZZLY GOLFER

Tee Bosustow is tweaking his UPA website again. It's worth dropping by for the temporary animated main page featuring original Art Babbit animation drawings from GRIZZLY GOLFER (1951).

Wanted: More pencil test footage like this from classic cartoons!

James Baxter is in business

This is exciting - a new animation studio specializing in hand-drawn animation started by one of the top animators of recent times. Back in December, I mentioned that DreamWorks/Disney animator James Baxter (Belle, Quasimodo, Rafiki, Spirit) was breaking free and starting up his own company. The studio, James Baxter Animation, is now open for business in Pasadena. Reports from people who attended the studio's opening party have been posted at Seward Street and Animation Nation. Good luck, James.

Loonatics has nothing on Jedi Mickey

Link HERE.

CARTOON RECORD RARETIES

A friend of mine, record collector & music historian Michael Kieffer, sent me some scans of some animation related rareties in his archive - and I thought they were interesting enough to share. I've posted a new Cartoon Research page devoted to obscure record labels and sleeves. I'm not sure how far I'll go with this, but here's a look at some actual Cinephone and Vitaphone discs that were used in the original exhibition of our favorite cartoons of the early 30s, as well as several estoteric Disney record labels.

Click on over to the Cartoon Research Record Page and have a look. Further contributions encouraged.

Song Cut From the Oscars

This story appeared in several papers today - but since subscription is required, we'll post it complete below:

Cut From the Oscars: Cartoon Characters' Sins
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER

ABC executives have forced Robin Williams to drop a comic song from the Oscars show that might well have proved one of the most political and racy numbers of the broadcast, despite the fact that the network and the show's host, Chris Rock, have been promoting the night as anything but tame.

Mr. Williams, the presenter of the Academy Award for best animated feature, decided last week that his one minute on stage would be a prime time to lampoon the conservative critic James C. Dobson, whose group Focus on the Family last month criticized the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants for appearing in a video about tolerance that the group called "pro-homosexual."

For a bit of material, Mr. Williams predictably turned to Marc Shaiman, the composer, whose oeuvre includes Oscar-night medleys for Billy Crystal and songs for shows like "Hairspray" and movies like "South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut".

Overnight, Mr. Shaiman and his partner, Scott Wittman,dashed off a mock exposé of the dark underbelly of cartoonland for Mr. Williams to deliver, over a gospel-music groove, as if he were a full-throated preacher inveighing against other newly-discovered sinners in the nation's midst:

"Pinocchio's had his nose done! Sleeping Beauty is
popping pills!/ The Three Little Pigs ain't kosher! Betty Boop works Beverly Hills!"

The producer of the Oscars telecast, Gil Cates, urged Mr. Shaiman to make the bit "less political," Mr. Shaiman said, so he quickly removed any reference to Mr. Dobson's protests - and turned Mr. Williams into a fabulous, lisping character dishing up the latest juicy gossip:

"Fred Flintstone is dyslexic, Jessica Rabbit is really a man, Olive Oyl is really anorexic, and Casper is in the Ku Klux Klan!" Officials from ABC's broadcast standards and practices office were not pleased. On Thursday, they detailed their objections. Some lines were opposed for "sexual tone," as the ABC officials, Susan Futterman and Olivia Cohen Cutler, put it to Mr. Williams, Mr. Shaiman and Mr. Cates. These lines included "Chip 'n Dale are both strippers," "Bugs Bunny's a sexaholic," and "Josie and the Pussycats dance on laps."

In the end, however, the sexual references would have been allowed, a network spokesman said. But they held the line on material that they believed might be seen as glorifying drug use or offending Native Americans or disabled people.

Among other lines, they included "The Road Runner's hooked on speed" and "Pocahontas is addicted to craps."

On Friday, faced with rewriting or killing as many as 11 lines out of a 36-line piece, Mr. Shaiman said, he and Mr. Wittman refused, and Mr. Williams had to look for new material.

Mr. Williams, interviewed at the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, said he was disappointed. "For a while you get mad, then you get over it," he said. "They're afraid of saying Olive Oyl is anorexic. It tells you about the state of humor. It's strange to think: how afraid are you?" He added: "We thought that they got the irony of it. I guess not."

Posted by at 11:15 AM

Th-Th-at's Not All Folks!

The Los Angeles Times posted an editorial today with their opinion about Warner Bros. plans to update the Looney Tunes: Th-Th-at's Not All Folks!

Must-Read Brad Bird Interview

Mike Barrier has posted the full text of his interview with Brad Bird on his website MichaelBarrier.com and it's a highly recommended read. Bird deserves much respect, not only for being an excellent filmmaker, but also for being one of the few industry heavyweights who's not afraid to speak his mind. One topic he discusses is the Oscar's flawed category for best animated feature, which is an award that I've had reservations about since its inception in 2001. Though well intentioned, it essentially ensures that great animated films like THE INCREDIBLES will never have the opportunity to compete with their live-action counterparts for the Best Picture Oscar. The argument carries a lot more weight coming from a filmmaker like Bird, who could have very easily pocketed a Best Picture nomination this year. Here's what Bird says:

Bird: I think some voters who may truthfully believe that an animated film is one of the five best of the year may feel like if they nominate you for best animated film they're off the hook. I certainly don't want to be complaining—the film has been very well received, and to be nominated for four Oscars is wonderful. But you don't have to look very deep to see that people treat animation differently. We went through the same thing on The Simpsons with the Emmy award for best comedy...But for a filmmaker who works in animation, when you work so hard to realize a moment, draw the audience in, and tell a story as well as you possibly can in a medium that's very difficult to master—you feel like it's the thirties and you're in the Negro Leagues, or something. You may play some of the best ball, but you're never going to get to the World Series.

Bird also addresses another one of my pet peeves - the co-director system that most studios employ in the production of animated features nowadays. I made brief note of this issue in a January 8 post, but Bird's comments are even more pointed:

"...In many cases a studio will put two or three people together as co-directors who may not even like each other or respect each other's work. It's used as a way to diffuse power rather than coalesce a vision."

Powerful words, spoken candidly.
Much props to Bird.
Read the full interview HERE.