Walt Disney’s “Snow White at Radio City” on Records
The first full-length Disney feature brought to life on the New York stage—a show that helped save Radio City Music Hall–was preserved the last music LP with the Buena Vista label.
Cartoon Actors In Live-Action Spots: Automotive Edition
I am always delighted when I stumble upon a live-action car commercial featuring one of my favorite cartoon voice actors on camera. Commercials like these…
“Time” For Some Disney “Melody”
Joyce Kilmer had written a short poem around 1913. Nine years later, it was set to music by Oscar Rasbach. “Trees” was already a well-known standard by the time Melody Time was being planned.
A Forgotten Disney Short: “Back To Neverland” (1989)
Perhaps the most popular part of the tour at the now extinct Magic of Disney Animation pavilion at Disney Hollywood Studios was the short film entitled “Back to Neverland”.
Animation Anecdotes #377
Anecdotes today include quotes about the Pee-Wee’s Playhouse segment featuring clay animation of a little blonde girl named Penny, who had pennies for her eyes.
Van Beuren Studios “Panicky Pup” (1933)
I feel like this cartoon is easy to define as “Budget Fleischer”, and there are elements that are very similar to Fleischer shorts like Swing You Sinners.
Disney’s Silly Symphony “King Neptune” (1932)
Here is another underwater-themed Silly Symphony—this time in early three-strip Technicolor! And as a bonus: I want you to help me pick the cartoon for my next post!
Dr. Seuss & UPA’s “Gerald McBoing-Boing” on Records
He may have been an Oscar-winning animated UPA character on the big screen and the star of two TV series, but the Dr. Seuss character was a children’s record first.
Norm McCabe’s “Honesty Is The Best Policy” (1946)
A golden age cartoon that none of you have ever seen before, featuring some of the top talents of the era, from an ill-fated studio formed in the wake of the post-war era.
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]
