Time for another round-up of reviews for books and videos (strangely, most of them Disney-related this time around). But before we get into that I want to plug a couple of personal appearances I’ll be making this month – some local to Southern California, and a couple back east.
A groovy peep at the first album by the world’s most successful animated pop band, from a Saturday Morning series that almost half the U.S. watched every week – The Archies!
The 1955-56 season. This would be the final one for Famous Studios as we know it. The pre-1950 films were sold to UM&M; The Popeye cartoons were transferred to AAP. Change was in the wind.
Manuel García Ferré (1929-2013) was roughly the Argentine Walt Disney. His main characters appeared in their own TV series and theatrical features; his supporting characters appeared in everything.
I have always been an admirer of the work of John Foster (1887-1959), the pioneer animator who directed at Van Beuren and later at Terrytoons. His family saved some of his personal drawings and they have allowed us to share them in this special post.
Most people believe that Warners’ overbearing Foghorn Leghorn character was inspired by Kenny Delmar’s Southern politician Senator Claghorn on the Fred Allen radio show. This is not the case! Read on…
One of the last things to do on the Private Snafu Blu-Ray project is to add in several new bonus features. David Gerstein has unearthed some incredibly cool finds – and here’s a sneak peek.
Time for some boogie-woogie jungle rhythm! Shamus Culhane directs his crew – including Emery Hawkins, Les Kline, Paul Smith, Pat Matthews and Don Williams – in a jive-jumping’ Walter Lantz “Swing Symphony”.
Can a non-soundtrack album stand up against the actual soundtrack? This week we look at two Aristocats albums that take both approaches and succeed on their own terms.
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]
