Celebrating Sterling Holloway for a Happy Pooh Year
In which we note that Sterling Holloway would be 115 this Saturday and look at a Grammy-nominated grab-bag of eclectic music, strange casting and a few Mouseketeers.
Jules Feiffer’s Storyboards for Gene Deitch’s “Munro”
To ring in the new year: Gene Deitch’s Oscar winner short subject, Munro – written and boarded by Jules Feiffer. Here are those original boards.
Brad Bird’s “The Spirit” That Never Was
Things might have been different if Brad Bird had gotten to direct his first intended animated feature film, one based on Will Eisner’s newspaper comic strip.
Thunderbean New Year’s Resolutions
I have a few big Thunderbean New Years’ resolutions for the coming year 2020 – and I’m going to announce them here!
Countdown to 2020: More Tick-Tock Talk
We continue our survey of clocks as central figures in animation history, and of Father Time’s periodic visits to keep things in sync.
Big Changes For Merrie Melodies 1934-35
During the 1934-35 season, Warner found a new way of introducing their movies. They began throwing their shield at the audience out of a bank of clouds.
Gene Deitch on NUDNIK (Part 2)
The original Paramount release was for just 12 Nudnik films, which had the bad luck of coming out just at the time when U.S. movie theaters stopped showing cartoon shorts.
In His Own Words: Herb Sorrell and the 1941 Disney Strike
One of the most colorful and controversial figures of the legendary Disney Strike of 1941 was Herb Sorrell. For your enlightenment, here is a first hand account of the Disney strike while it was happening.
“The Dog Ate My Homework” Rambles— and “The Snowman” (1931/33)
I was especially excited to have a chance to scan the preservation negs that the Library of Congress had made for the Ted Eshbaugh short.
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 [Click Here]
