Animation Anecdotes #289
“No one will be exactly like Walt,” says Ward Kimball. “He came along with the right mind, at the right time, and he had the talent at just the right point in history. You can’t duplicate it.”
In His Own Words: Roy Edward Disney
Walt’s nephew fought an uphill battle to restore and revive animation at Disney Studios. It might not be here today without his vital support. Here is a brief excerpt of an interview I did with Roy in 2004.
Moonlighting Animators In Comics: Gil Turner
In the early ‘40s, while he was animating for Warner Bros., Gil Turner was one of the first artists recruited by Jim Davis to freelance in funny animal comic books.
Hanna-Barbera’s “Heidi’s Song” (1982) on Records
H-B’s last attempt at a Disney-style animated musical resulted in three soundtrack albums reflecting the film’s vocal and musical artistry as well as its sticky sweetness.
Disney’s “Hollywood Party” Sequences
A quasi-Silly Symphony, Hot Chocolate Soldiers – produced in 1934 as an insert for the MGM feature Hollywood Party – is a little gem that qualifies as a “hidden” Disney classic.
Forgotten Anime #43: “Dallos” (1983)
Dallos is arguably not forgotten. It will never be forgotten for one major reason: it was an early directorial work by Mamoru Oshii, the director later famous for Ghost in the Shell (1995).
Milt Schaffer Made Safer? 1942
One day at the Lantz studio, prior to moving to a new building, Milt Schaffer and Bugs Hardaway put the storyboards for a new cartoon into a metal safe and the rest was history.
Animation Anecdotes #288
“The ‘Tracy’ cartoons portray Joe Jitsu and Go Go Gomez as good, clean cops who don’t take bribes and consistently bring criminals to justice. C’mon, guys, these are only old cartoons. Sit back and enjoy them.”
“Christmas Flickers” pre-order – and “The Sunshine Makers” in HD!
Since the election news has been a pretty exhausting for many this week, I thought a little bit of Sunshine couldn’t possibly be a bad thing.
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]
