40th Anniversary Spotlight: Rankin-Bass “Nestor, the Long Eared Christmas Donkey”
With “Nestor” celebrating its 40th anniversary this Season, its the perfect time to shine a spotlight on this little Christmas star.
Christmas Animation Anecdotes 2017
Our annual round-up of obscure anecdotes relating to (mostly) obscure Christmas TV Specials. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!
Scrappy in “The Match Kid” (1933)
Long before the Columbia Screen Gems studio produced their lavish “Little Match Girl”, they made an earlier black & white version with their star character – Scrappy.
Tom & Jerry in “Solid Serenade” (1946)
“Is you is or is you ain’t my baby?” Here’s the true cult classic of all Tom and Jerry cartoons in this week’s animator breakdown!
Behind the Scenes with Disney’s “Princess Christmas Album”
Master lyricist Marty Panzer recalls the making of Disney’s Princess Christmas Album with composer (and Mickey Mouse Club/My Three Sons star Don Grady).
Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award – 1980
Neither Chuck Jones, Oscar Grillo, Marv Newland, Bob Godfrey or young Gabor Csupo could get their films nominated in 1980. Here’s what they submitted.
Sing Me A Cartoon 23: “Snow White” on Black Shellac
The idea of the “original soundtrack album” had not occurred to anybody until Disney tried it with Snow White – and it proved to be a hit all over the world!
From All of Us to All of You
For cartoon fans of “a certain age” (like myself), one of our Christmas traditions was an annual viewing of this very special episode of the Disney’s Sunday night program.
Animation Anecdotes #342
Don Bluth recalls, “Many people were saying, ‘Don’t touch animation. It’s a dinosaur that doesn’t work anymore’. But American Tail went on to gross over $150 million and suddenly, it looked viable again”.
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]
