The Exposure Sheet #1 & #2
For some of you this is a ‘double-dip’, a reprint – but I’m going to post all 40 issues of Warner Bros. Cartoons 1939-1940 in-house newsletter – two issues each week.
It’s ‘Melody Time’ for the Kiddies
Both “The Legend of Johnny Appleseed” and “Little Toot” had songs attached to them. The reaction of Tin Pan Alley was interesting–and, perhaps, notable.
L’il Eightball in “A Haunting We Will Go” (1939)
“A Haunting We Will Go” is the third and final cartoon starring Lil’ Eightball. It is different from the other two cartoons on a surface level.
Animation Anecdotes #379
In 1989, President and Chief executive of Hanna-Barbera Productions David Kirschner announced live action feature films of Jonny Quest and The Jetsons, none of which got made.
Pulling Your Heart Strings: Famous Studios “Suddenly it’s Spring” (1944)
This particular short is one of the most ambitious of the Famous Studios cartoons in layout and overall design.
Rory Raccoon in “Numbskull & Crossbones”
For some reason the Rory Raccoon episodes were not included very often in the syndicated Linus the Lionhearted programs.
The Disney “Alice” That Never Was… Except on Records
While Walt Disney dropped the idea of an animated Alice in Wonderland with a live-action Ginger Rogers, their stars did cross through an unusual Decca record album.
A “Rhapsody Of Steel” on Labor Day
What better day to showcase Rhapsody Of Steel, the animated Technicolor masterpiece sponsored by U.S. Steel and produced by John Sutherland Productions.
Bumbling The “Boogie”
Another piece used in Melody Time that the Disney people did not “own” was Bumble Boogie. In fact, most people already knew of it as the Rimsky-Korsakov composition “Flight of the Bumblebee”.
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]
