Celebrating Howard Beckerman
Howard Beckerman is an animator, a historian and a professor. For over 40 years, he has been contributing expertise and joy to the art of animation at The School of…
The Actual TV Voices? “April Fool!”
It was the cruelest of “April Fool” tricks for cartoon-loving baby boomers: when you got a phonograph record featuring favorite characters, only to hear impostors doing the voices or singing…
“Johnny The Giant Killer” (1950)
Steve Stanchfield’s recent post about obscure animated features had me thinking about one of my favorite guilty pleasures – Johnny The Giant Killer. However, there is little to like about…
Tezuka’s Adult Features: “Cleopatra” (1970)
A year later, Mushi Productions’ second Animerama theatrical feature, Cleopatra, was released in Japan. Unlike A Thousand and One Nights, Cleopatra was a critical and commercial bomb. What went wrong?…
Six Spots in Search of a Theme
Here are a bunch of commercials that I thought were cool and/or noteworthy. These are overstocks that we couldn’t fit into any of our regular posts. Because of this we…
Animation Anecdotes #159
Lessons from Milt Kahl. Animator and director Brad Bird was mentored by Disney Legend Milt Kahl “For me, it was like an actor getting to work with Olivier or Spencer…
Ten Animated Features That Fell Through The Cracks
There are many Animated features that get lost to the ravages of time. This is especially true of the films that were created by smaller studios, or films from another…
DUCKS AND TAXES: The Story of “The New Spirit”
It has been said that the only two things that are certain in life are death and taxes. So, this month, as some of us struggle with taxes, we can…
The Day “Alice” Fell Through Her TV: The 1966 HB Special
48 years ago this Sunday, ABC broadcast Alice in Wonderland, or What’s a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This? It was one of Hanna-Barbera’s best specials…
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 Cal Arts in Valencia – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [Click Here]
