The Secret History of “Little Audrey”
Readers of this site are familiar with Paramount’s (and later Harvey Comics) Little Audrey – a character created to replace Little Lulu in a series of animated theatrical cartoons beginning…
Rankin/Bass “Rudolph” on Records
In the wake of the 50th anniversary of the landmark stop-motion animated TV musical, here is a look at the holiday soundtrack that’ll go down in history. Rankin/Bass Present RUDOLPH,…
Fleischer Promo Art #28
Interestingly, Paramount Sales News has been getting a bit behind on the latest Fleischer cartoons by not just months but years. Lost and Foundry was arguably one of the bigger…
More Christmasy Cartoonz
Has it been a whole year since my last posts on Christmas animation? Around Christmas 2013, I devoted six columns to Christmas-themed cartoons. American theatrical shorts, American TV Specials, direct-to-DVD…
Sweets for the Sweet
Advertising is mainly about trying to sell you things that you don’t necessarily need. The sweet snacks and goodies that wreck your teeth, make you put on pounds, and break…
Animation Anecdotes #190
Birth of Coal Black. Animation legend Bob Clampett had gone to see a Duke Ellington revue in Los Angeles called “Jump for Joy”. After the show, Bob went backstage and…
Scrappy Had It Right: “Holiday Land”(1934)
First, some quick notes: • The TCM broadcast of ‘Van Beuren Cartoons‘ with be run on December 7th Sunday night 12/7 at midnight(EST)/9pm (PST). Tune in and see beautiful copies…
“Cartoon Carnival: The Documentary”
Cartoon Researchers, this year has simply been a fantastic one when it comes to special projects that have been realized in our circles. I really do think the wonderful Turner…
Remembering Walt During His Birthday Week
With Walt Disney’s birthday on Friday Dec. 5th, let’s celebrate this week with an album that paid tribute to both the past (Walt’s career) and the future (Walt’s hope –…
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]
