Disney’s “Pluto’s Judgement Day” (1935)
Today, a little variety for this week, with our first Disney breakdown! Just for the record, for some readers that have been wondering, I have no access to any drafts…
Spin Special: The Sherman Brothers & The Sherman Father
In the wake of Father’s Day, let’s celebrate some more with two animation-related record albums offering music from two generations of Sherman talents. THE CHIPMUNKS SING WITH CHILDREN Liberty Records…
Famous Studios 1946-47
More Noveltoons! The 1946-47 season brought about eight Noveltoons which broke down into three “Screen Songs”, one (still lost) “Snuffy Smith” cartoon, a “Herman & Henry”, a “Blackie”, and two…
Streamline Pictures – Part 10
Reviews, reviews, reviews. We got reviews for our product. Each one spreading the word about anime to an even wider, ever-growing audience. Regardless of the reviewer’s taste, these reviews (positive…
In His Own Words: Frank Thomas on the “Sleeping Beauty” Fairies
On the Disney animated feature Sleeping Beauty (1959), animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston were assigned to the three good fairies: Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. The fairies’ names subtly indicated…
Animation Anecdotes #217
Recreating Gertie. Last year (2014) marked the 100th anniversary of Winsor McCay’s still wonderful animated short Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). A pantheon of legendary names that represent early animation including…
Jerry Fairbanks’ “The Inside Story of Modern Gasoline” (1948)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This week Steve Stanchfield takes a break from his weekly column to visit Los Angeles to dig through a few new archives. Filling in is our resident expert…
Terrytoons’ “Salt Water Taffy” (1930)
Today, we meet Salty McGuire, the gob! You’ll always find him on the job… Truthfully, I’ve exhausted most of my knowledge on the historical background of Terrytoons, having written about…
Hanna-Barbera’s “Squiddly Diddly” On and Off the Record
The only appearance of the clumsy cartoon cephalopod from The Atom Ant / Secret Squirrel Show is on the cover of this peppy album of original ‘60s surf tunes. Hanna-Barbera…
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]
