“Cartoon Show” Memories
We’re all tired at Thunderbean as we get all the Van Beuren Classics orders out the door, late but happily on their way. As I’ve been cleaning up archives and…
Tex Avery’s “Blitz Wolf” (1942)
Today this week, it’s time for Tex Avery, a man whose credit is synonymous with divine magnificence. This is the only draft from Tex’s career I know of at the…
A Spin Special: Stan Freberg Records
The late Stan Freberg’s performance as Disney’s “Mickey Mouse” and his work for George Pal are celebrated today in this special “Animation Spin” tribute – to a man who’s unique…
Paramount Sales News #46: Popeye and Superman for the Duration
January-March 1943 Paramount planned on bringing Famous Studios back to New York almost from the word go. All in all, the experiment down south was largely considered a failure. Paramount’s…
Foreign Animated Westerns
Last week I did a survey of US-made Western genre animation. This week I take a look at the rest of the world: foreign-made animated Western features and TV series….
The Projector from “The Three Caballeros” (1945)
For nearly four decades, I have written articles about Disney and animation for magazines, books and websites. Sometimes the character or film has been written about so many times that…
Animation Anecdotes #207
Snagglepuss Is Straight. One of the things guaranteed to irritate animation producer Joe Barbera was when some of the younger staff at the studio would tease him in later years…
“Smokey and His Friends”
Here’s a curio I found while looking through animated films at the National Archives: Smokey and his Friends. This strange largely live action short features a fully animated Smokey giving…
“The Fresh Vegetable Mystery” (1939)
We’re heading over to Miami at Max Fleischer’s animation studio. Today’s entry is a 1939 Color Classic, populated by humanoid produce! (This draft is extracted from Leslie Carbaga’s The Fleischer…
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 USC in Los Angeles, CalArts in Santa Clarita, and UCLA in Westwood – teaching animation history. More about Jerry Beck [Click Here]
