You didn’t think I’d stop blogging, did you? Welcome to a new version of my old website.
I established an entity called Cartoon Research Co. almost 20 years ago, and I believe I launched this website in late 1999. I was doing an early version of blogging, before blogs were invented.
In 2004, I stopped regular “blogging” here and went off to co-found and co-write Cartoon Brew. All along I held onto my Cartoon Research site – continuing to update the Animated Features pages (and turned them into a book, The Animated Movie Guide, in 2005), maintaining the original titles archives and adding David Gerstein’s wonderful research on RKO-Van Beuren cartoons and Universal’s “Winkler” Oswald Rabbit films.
Almost nine years later, I’m back full time – and I’m here to stay.
What to expect? In the beginning , I plan to pick up where I left off. I’ll write about my favorite people, the studios, the characters – anything I like from animations past, present or future. I’ve revamped the site to bring it up to date, but left all of my old features (many of which I will expand, rewrite or append in the weeks and months to come). Like Disneyland, this site will never be finished and will continue to grow.
And I also asked some friends to come over and hang out. Jim Korkis, Keith Scott, Thad Komorowski (and others) have graciously allowed me to cross-post some great pieces of research of their own. Animation archivist Steve Stanchfield will be allowing me to debut some incredibly rare animated films. And I’ll have a few more surprises up my sleeve in the weeks to come.
In the meantime, I hope you’ll check into CARTOON RESEARCH on a daily basis. It’ll be fun here, I promise.
Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and Blu-ray compilations and has lent his expertise to dozens of bonus documentaries and audio commentaries on such. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts in Valencia, UCLA in Westwood and Woodbury University in Burbank – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [
Bookmarked! 🙂
The new site looks awesome. Very different from the classic HTML pages of the old site. Looking forward to the great stuff to come!
Oh, this was bookmarked the day Jerry left Cartoon Brew.
Looks great, Jerry. This is gonna be enjoyable.
Best of luck.
If possible could please add an RSS feed for this?
Thanks..
I’m really enjoying this site and I like the plug to one of your’s friend’s H-B shows. That show was so funny.
Needn’t ask us twice, Jerry. Bookmark’d and following all the way.
Yes, please add RSS. I don’t use bookmarks anymore 🙁
This site looks great, and I don’t want to miss anything!
I would also appreciate an RSS (or ATOM) option.
Working on getting an RSS feed. This is still one of the bugs I need to work out. I appreciate your patience.
Hi Jerry:
Looking good..Just want you to know you are welcome to use/share any animated Cartoon related material from the Cleveland Classic Media Facebook Page of the blog (once I write to it again that is).
I never heard of that page. Can you give out the link? Thanks.
Click my name-Will take you to the blog..Type “Cleveland Classic Media” in a Facebook search and it should bring you to that Facebook Page..
Jerry:
Just a thought: would it be possible to configure the blog to show the number of comments posts have received right on the home page? I like to check up on the blog and read new comments that have been left for posts and being able to see the number of comments a post has received right on the home page would be helpful.
A box on the home page that shows the latest comments left for any post on the blog might also be an idea.
Of course, maybe the RSS feed would serve those purposes; I don’t know. I haven’t had the need/desire to use them to check up on sites, since I’m happy with doing it the old fashioned way by visiting the site directly.
Thanks.
Showing the number of comments on the posts on the home page – and the RSS feed – are two things I’ve been planning to do – but am having trouble making them happen. Bear with me, I’m working on it. Hopefully both issues can be resolved in the next week or so. (The RSS feed gets top priority).
Cheers for that.
One more suggestion (it just occurred to me), what about “like” buttons (and maybe even “dislike” buttons) for comments on blog posts? This is a useful feature of Cartoon Brew, allowing one to agree (or, since C.B. switched to the Disqus comment software in the recent past, to disagree, though only if one is registered with Disqus) with a comment without replying to it. This is not a necessary feature and it’s fine with me if you don’t desire to have it on your blog, but I figured I’d toss the idea out there.
My two cents: I didn’t like the Disqus system over on Cartoon Brew. Just the hassle of one more site to register with… no thanks. I stopped leaving comments after they made the switch. I liked how the old Brew (and now Cartoon Research) keep it simple.
I always reserve Sundays for my Cartoon Research visits. Rather than filling a Sat. morning void(which I currently fill with a visit to Ivan Ulz'(aka Treasure Ivan) webcasts of old kiddie records,Cartoon Research folows after browsing through the Sunday comics online.Always newsy,knowledgeable and well written,I’ve always felt welcome whenever Jerry. Beck has something to say.Only wish I lived out west for a visit at one of the shows.
To all: The RSS feed is now operational. Click the icon at the upper right to access it. Thanks for your patience.
yay! it’s like cartoon brew without the hate
Will you update the Original titles again?
I will someday if I ever have a few minutes to do so.
Awesome Jerry!!
I had some old Beta tapes of mine put in VHS format and just discovered the following WB’s with original titles: “Weasel Stop”, “Easy Peckin’s”, “A Peck Of Trouble”, “Gone Batty”, “Upswept Hare” (I have heard this one is available). Does anyone konw if these are rare? I’m thrilled!