Out of sheer necessity, I’m obligated to post about some of the places I plan to visit in the next few weeks. The necessity is because I might forget them if I don’t post them here – that’s how busy I am.
Some of these are programs I’m involved with by producing, others I’m just going as a guest, and a few are things I want to plug again because they are cool. All but one are events in Southern California. If you are in the area I encourage to you come and join me.
Here’s what I’m up to:
• Wednesday March 20th – Stu’s Show. This will be my first appearance on my internet radio home base, Stu’s Show, since I revived this Cartoon Research blog and since the controversial decisions to omit several cartoons from the forthcoming Tom & Jerry blu-ray collection. I’ll be discussing this – and much more – including classic cartoon news you haven’t heard yet, on Wednesday at 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific live (and free) at Stu’s Show.com. The whole program will be available for download (for a fee) after the free live broadcast. Listen to it here, send questions for me to Stu via email. Tune in for two hours of toon-talk.
• Saturday March 23rd – Summit on Anime. This one is an invitation-only event, limited to 200 people, in Denver Colorado. I am one of a group of speakers who’ve been asked to discuss why anime is popular in the United States. This Anime Summit is being put on by The Japanese Consulate. There are ways to get in if you are clever and check the website, otherwise my speech will be post on You Tube afterward.
• Sunday March 31st – WonderCon – I’ll be moderating a discussion at WonderCon in Anaheim on Sunday at 11:30am. Topic: Saturday Morning Cartoons… what else? Specifically the series being put out by Warner Archives. Clips will be shown. Fun will be had…
• Thursday April 4th – Roger Rabbit at the Academy. I posted about this on Cartoon Research a few weeks ago. I heard it’s now sold out.
• Saturday April 6th – The HB Show . This is free, open to the public, and gonna be a blast. Fifty artists, Hanna Barbera art and Dave Nimitz’s incredible Hanna Barbera vintage toy collection (not to mention free food). It’s at the Van Eaton Galleries at 6pm till 10pm… This could be the biggest animation party of the year (or at least in early April)… Be there!
• Saturday April 13th – Saturday Matinee at the Cinefamily – I’m resuming my monthly cartoon club at the Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax. I’ll be screening animation once a month, on Saturdays at 4pm. Future dates and themes to be announced… but for now, the first one is Funny Paper Follies, a collection animated shorts relating to comic books and comic strips. Rare 16mm, 35mm (and yeah a few digital copies) will be shown. Incredible stuff on the big screen…
• Saturday April 13th and Sunday April 14th – The CTN Animation Road Trip. The folks who put on the CTN Animation Expo will be having an outdoor event this particular weekend and I’ll be there. It’s part of the Burbank Arts Festival and their will be numerous animation booths from 10am to 5pm both days (more info n this event to come). More Info Here or check their facebook page.
I’ve got much more planned in days and months ahead (including co-hosting a program of Bugs Bunny cartoons at the TCM Festival in late April). I’ll fill you in about all that in a few weeks. Hope to see you at one of these events!
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 [
Oh, you know I’ll be listening to the “STU’S SHOW” broadcast, and I hope the news about the upcoming TOM & JERRY GOLDEN COLLECTION set is better than you make it sound here. There are whispers (and, trust me, they aren’t mine) that better news is coming, and I await your classic cartoon news, especially if it is adding to our DVD collection…but just talkin’ classic cartoons is fun, too. Don’t ever feel like you’re on the hot seat!
I’m so glad you’re back, jerry! You are — hands down — my favorite cartoon writer/blogger/link-maven in the universe!
I stop by here at least once a day, usually late in the day when the links are all posted. This is the new Brew.