It’s safe to say this has been the busiest time of the year so far here, but it’s all of my own making so I really have no right to complain! I’m happy to see so many things on the cusp of getting finished, but also very aware of how long everyone has been waiting for so many things. The scan sessions have been especially fun though, with so many ‘final’ scans for things, especially the special sets. There will defiantly be less of those in the future (if at all!) but I’m happy about the ones we’ve done and the ones in progress.
I’m working on getting the final tweaks on Grotesqueries done, and getting ready to show the final version to the Blue Mouse Studio folks, Chris Buchman and Rex Schneider.
This past week I reviewed a lot of the material from older sets, and requested films from a few archives and collectors. Lots of the pre-orders going out of the country finally got sent as well – and more tomorrow. The little part-time staff here has been great in helping to catch things up as I’ve been recovering from an especially nasty flu, and I’m grateful for all the help. We’re trying to get all the finished ‘special’ sets as soon as possible. The Snappy Video Party Disc is finally all dubbed and starting to get packed for the pre-orders only.
We’re also announcing the pre-order for Van Beuren’s Tom and Jerry Blu-ray (the last of the year). It’s a set we’ve really been scanning films for years on, but having access to more in 35mm nitrate prints made the choice for us. People ask us about these films every week, and it’s only increased since we retired the DVD version. The announcement is here on Blu-ray.com, available for one week only. Thanks to all who have helped support these projects!
I know it’s after Halloween, and this really *isn’t* a Halloween cartoon anyway, but it seemed like an appropriate one to show anyway. A Boy and His Dog (1936, Columbia/ Mintz studio) is one of my all time favorites of the Color Rhapsodies series. It’s both beautiful and incredibly cheesy at times, with a cringeworthy little boy (especially his moralizing ‘cute’ poses at the end of the film). Here’s a scan of the short in HD, from a pretty nice 35mm IB Technicolor print.
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.
The link to the blu-ray forum wasn’t working for me.
Let’s see if this helps…
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=15699750&postcount=2488
…and the voice of the little boy in the cartoon is similar to Honey’s voice in the MGM Bosko cartoons.
I like the premise to this one, though, and even the score sounds so close to something that Scott Bradley would have written for any of the HAPPY HARMONIES. Did he have anything to do with this?…incidentally, I don’t see any link to where to pre-order the VAN BUREN TOM AND JERRY set. I still enjoy the standard DVD, but would love to hear these in blu-ray clarity! Please correct the article so that the link can be easily gotten to from this article…
Oh, and I keep asking this, but where can we pre-order this SNAPPY PARTY DISK collection? I’d love to get myself a copy.
Craig, Kevin and everyone – the link has been fixed. Order away!
Some of the scenes with the little boy being sent to bed, as well as drifting off to sleep look like the work of the great Emery Hawkins, judging from the ‘delay timing’ that Mark Kausler has mentioned before. We’re used to some of his lunacy from the Lantz and Warner Bros. cartoons, but remember, sometimes it isn’t how the character is DRAWN, it’s how they MOVE that some of these guys can be identifiable.
YES! Van Bueren Tom and Jerry on Blu-Ray! I preordered this at like, 6:00 AM after searching bluray.com for a while when the link wasn’t working. I can’t wait to see this come out!
Just Pre Ordered….Looking forward to it.