Animation Anecdotes #213
Brad Bird’s Perspective. “I think all movies are an illusion, whether they are live action or animation,” said animation director Brad Bird in 2007. “And I think the best special…
Hugh Harman’s “Winky the Watchman” – and How to Do a Great Commentary Track
I really wish Hugh Harman had made a feature film instead of the educational films his studio produced over the years. The production values in their mid-40s productions are quite…
MGM’s “The Lonesome Mouse” (1943)
This week’s breakdown features Hanna and Barbera’s famous cat-and-mouse duo! The cat-and-mouse rivalry in Bill Hanna-Joe Barbera’s directorial debut, Puss Gets the Boot, was initially met with contempt by producer…
A Spin Special: A “Jonny Quest” Tribute To John Stephenson
The recently passed John Stephenson was a ubiquitous presence on and especially off screen, but nowhere was his impact stronger than at Hanna-Barbera, where one of his most front-and-center roles…
Paramount Sales News #51
September-December 1944 The penultimate post. Famous Studios has started to find its identity—sometimes for the better, but mostly for worse. By the time these saw print, Terry-Toon veterans Johnny Gent,…
Streamline Pictures – Part 5
For Streamline Pictures, it was all slowly going downhill from 1997 on. The contract with Orion kept us from acquiring any new anime product or renewing our expiring licenses. Without…
Walt Disney’s “Tuberculosis” (1944)
One of my favorite experiences in writing a book on the Disney Good Neighbor films of the 1940s (published in 2009 as South of the Border with Disney) was compiling…
Animation Anecdotes #212
The Felix the Cat Sign. The Felix the Cat animated character was borrowed as an icon by L.A. automobile dealer Winslow Felix who opened Felix Chevrolet in 1921. Winslow Felix…
Top Five Worst Of The Worst Cartoons
All cartoons can’t be classics… but the good has to come with the bad – that’s one of the great rules of life. With animation, it’s pretty easy to dismiss…
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]
