Emmy in post-op
Last week at this time was really rough here, with Emmy, our sick kitty taking most of my attention. Happily, she is doing much better after a second surgery to clean out the infection that happened in the first surgery. She is super happy to be home, and we’re grateful that she’s doing well. Since I mentioned her last week I thought I’d give an update.
I’ve been working at getting through some of the last stages of the Cubby Bear Blu-ray. All the films are cleaned up at this point, and the assembly and all the little last minute fixes for each (a frame here or there, contrast fixes, fixing line up of top and bottom of each shot, sound issues) are taking the most time. Often when the projects are at this stage I reconsider one thing or another, or try to make a specific thing look better.
I’m working on the final technical stages of Tommy Stathes’ Cartoon Roots/ Bray Studios set. It’s a great collection, and the master will be off to replication within the week.
I had hoped that I’d be able to do a post this week on the nitrate Flip The Frogs that were coming this week, but they’re now not arriving until 1 Thursday (maybe as you read this) so the half-written article covering these original title sequences and the nitrate films already here will be waiting until next week. The timing is fine in that Cubby Bear will be off to replication by that point (it’s that close) and all the ‘Thunderbean Thursday’ 2016 discs and a few other special projects will be gone as well, so that leaves more time to go through the negatives, prints and fine grains. The Abbott and Costello project is basically finished as well now, but needs all the technical stuff done, from making the final digital files for the blu-ray to having everything assembled with the menus.
Over the coming month or so, I’ll be looking at the master materials on the Comi-Color cartoons and making the usual notes. I’m looking forward to seeing what is there and the condition, and excited to see what we can put together from the camera negatives. The biggest debate honestly is what project to commit the time to first; there’s just so many that are demanding attention, including co-productions and so forth. The nitrate really interests me most in that some things are deteriorating fast, even in the best storage conditions, so it makes sense to do what can be done now. Happily, the vault’s conditions do slow it down to a crawl, but hearing recently that one of the Comi-Colors was going fast makes me want to be in action on that particular project. There’s quite a few things on the burner besides these, and I’m very much looking forward to being able to share them here.
The Lou Bunin Alice set is moving forward very slowly, but making progress. We’ll be working with MoMA on restoration of the 35mm mater materials there, and the rest of the films on the collection are all cleaned up and ready to join Alice.
As it stands, here are the current titles that I can talk about that are officially happening, and ‘possible’ schedule- pending interruption by the ones I can’t talk about yet.
(all Blu-ray):
Cubby Bear: July 18th 2016
Abbott and Costello Rarities August 15 2016
Christmas Flickers (replicated) December 2016
Lou Bunin Classics featuring “Alice in Wonderland” December 2016
Stop Motion set -January 2017
Flip the Frog– likely February 2017
Comi-Color Cartoons April 2017
Rainbow Parades May 2017
and…
Mr. Bug Goes to Town (from the master neg!!) June 2017
As always, thanks to all that help contribute to these projects in so many different ways; these are labors of love, and I’m happy to be involved!
Have a good week everyone!
Steve Stanchfield is an animator, educator and film archivist. He runs Thunderbean Animation, an animation studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has compiled over a dozen archival animation DVD collections devoted to such subjects at Private Snafu, The Little King and the infamous Cubby Bear. Steve is also a professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
Yay for coming attractions!
Triple yay for Mr. Bug!
And best wishes to the kitty.
Great news on all fronts!!! I am so very much looking forward to all of these projects. And I’m glad to see that your kitty is doing better. 🙂
My god Steve! I was JUST commenting on how cool this Comi color and Rainbow Parads are and how much I LOVE the posters they made for them too. This is some fine stuff and I cannot imagine what would blow all this out for concentration becuase this list is already amazing. You must have some amazing stuff in the cooker that is UN disclosable right now.
Glad to her your kitty is feeling better. I know you’ll do a great job on Flip, the ComiColors, and Mr. Bug!
Here’s to the man who is doing what the major studios claim they can’t! You *ARE* Hollywood, Mr. Stanchfield and the major studios should be ashamed of themselves! I am so psyched for the FLIP THE FROG, I’m chomping at the bitt! And I am so glad that little Emmy is doing so much better. How old is she now? Having three cats myself, I do worry about them constantly–that I’m giving them the right food, that they get enough water for the hot weather, and, thankfully, they’ve not shown signs of illness. They’re indoor cats, so it is always a worry as to how to “help them” work off excess energy that they would otherwise work off climbing around the neighborhood. I live so close to the highway that it is not a good idea to let cats roam free, no matter how resilient we think they are. Anyway, good luck on all these projects. I do, though, wish that “MR. BUG GOES TO TOWN” was going to be a Blu-ray DVD combo, like “GULLIVER’S TRAVELS” is. Eitehr way, I know the restoration will be truly amazing, and I’ll hear that score better than I’d ever heard it before. You should come to “STU’S SHOW” with Jerry Beck sometime for a really lively panel on favorite classic cartoons–and I promise you, on my end, it won’t be just talk like “Oh, you should bring that to DVD” or “you should cross-license this or that or blah blah blah…” no matter how much I’d love to say it! All classic cartoons should be brought to physical media! There, I said it, now for the classic cartoon talk! Good luck on everything!
I wonder if it is possible to find out more on Fleischer Studios’ setback (stereo-scopic) 1930′s technology on Cartoon Research?
I sure would be grateful as I remember sitting up everytime it flashed on the screen.
Woo Hoo!! I can’t wait till Mr Bug Comes to Town (aka Hoppity Comes to Town) gets reissued with its original title!
Will the Flip, ComiColor and Mr. Bug sets be Bluray/DVD combo sets! I don’t have a Bluray player.
Mr Bug……… for real? Oh my god, I’m fainting.
Fantastic news. Mr. Bug, in all its glory, will finally be here in the finest shape imaginable. The film has grown so much in reputation the last few years. It’s a much better animated film than Gulliver (which has its charms), but Mr. Bug coincided with the Fleischer’s last hurrah, the Superman series. Flip the Frog, Com-Color and Rainbow Parades? Fantastic.
What might be in the Abbott & Costello Rarities? A tryout for a studio cartoon series from their heyday? Short subjects or studio promos that never were re-released? I could guess they might have made a Soundie or two, but Google can’t find one for me.
You got the greenlight finally for Mr. Bug? Hot dog! I just wonder how you got the funding to transfer Mr. Bug if Paramount’s in-house transfers cost a fortune? Did they agree you can transfer it somewhere else? Also, you have got to top the Japanese Studio Ghilbli set, the NTA/Republic VHS and laserdisc, and finally MoMA’s print shown on TCM in 2012.
Are you going to use chemicals, the Telecine’s color corrector, and/or Final Cut Pro to fix the muddy colors?
You can do it, Steve! I’m counting on you!
Hope for more Fleischer sets to come!
What’s the source material for Mr. Bug? Are the 3 strip Technicolor elements available?
The ComiColor cartoon Balloonland is also known as The Pin Cushion Man.
You’re right! I have the 8mm version of this cartoon and they are in black & white instead of color, and also 100% silent, it was from Castle Films.
Comi-Colors! yeah baby!
Great job, Steve. Most excited for Mr. Bug and Flip. Did you check to see if any other flips had that extra music playing before Flip plays the piano, BTW?
Mr. Bug from the nitrate? I’ll definitely be preordering that.
Cubby Bear? Check.
Flip the Frog? Double Check.
Mr. Bug? Triple Check!
Can hardly wait!
This all sounds great! Hoppity has me jumping up for joy!
I hope you will explain the process you’ll have to go through trying to make a blu-ray from a negative.
I enjoy the silent Fleischer Koko the Clown shorts immensely. I’m hoping you can do a giant set of these films sooner rather than later. Please?
Hi Dan! Good to see ya here! I’ve got the bulk of the silent Fleischer material here, so you never know, perhaps there might be some Cartoons On Film Blu releases of those some day–perhaps with Steve and Thunderbean’s help, of course 🙂
YES, a complete set of Out Of The Inkwell/Inkwell Imps would be most appreciated! Please please please!
On behalf of thousands of others, I would like to give a big Thank You to Steve Stanchfield for making a release of “Mr. Bug Goes To Town” happen. It’s a shame that Paramount is unaware of the gems they have sitting in the vaults. The same can be said for Sony and Turner.
This is a simply amazing lineup. It’s like seeing all our collectors’ dreams come true. I never thought I’d see releases like these, and tremendously look forward to obtaining every single one! And that includes Abbott and Costello! I anxiously await all preorders.
Mr. Bug?!?!? Flip? Comi-Colors and Rainbow Parades? I feel faint.
I can’t believe Mr. Bug is going to be a reality on Blu-Ray! I can’t wait to see how wonderful it’s going to look. It will be a nice compliment to the Gulliver’s Travels set!
Did I miss the preorder for the Abbott and Costello set? Because that is something I would like to have too (as well as…basically everything else on that list!).
Hi Steve, Happy to know that your kitty Emmy is doing well.
Always anxious every week about what’s new on Thunderbean Thurdays and WOW!!! today’s post amazed me, specially to hear that Mr Bugs will come out from its obscurity as another super combo set with Original Credits. GREAT!
I’m very grateful for all these sets you’ve done.
Looking forward to BUYING ALL OF THESE! Mr Bug Goes to Town is going to awesome to see on Blu Ray.
THANKS!
He Dood It !! The Master Negative of Mr Bug Coming to Blu Ray !! This Is Really Something Special To Look Forward To 😀
Thankyou Steve !!
Thanks, Steve.
Looking forward to all of these and the special discs from your Cartoon Cornered offer.
I’m very intrigued by the Abbott and Costello offering!!!!!!!
So will that Christmas Flickers set be the same as that Yuletide Flickers DVD/Blu-Ray-R set from last year ?
I was wondering the same thing.
I sure hope it is!!!
I’m still trying to figure out the source for the Mr. Bug project; the original was shot in three strip Technicolor, so are the three strip elements available and in usable condition, or is the source from a later generation (say a clean print) and not the original three strip negatives?
Was just reading the Mr. BUG Wikipedia entry and it says that the film once went by the alternate title “Boob Gets Bugged”!! Is that true? Does anyone know when and or where it went by that title?
What is the status of Hoppity?