TRANSFILM – The Biggest Little Studio
Transfilm originated as a way of supporting the war effort and went on to become the east coast’s most profitable commercial studio.
Disney Animation in IMAX
How the Disney Company experimented with re-presenting some of their animated features on a mammoth theater screens – using one of the most technologically advanced theater systems in the world.
UPA’s “Trees and Jamaica Daddy” (1957)
The UPA Ham and Hattie shorts are unique in theatrical cartoon history since they are composed of two seemingly unrelated musical shorts.
Flights of Fancy (Part 8): The Shadow Looms
After rushing to the screen a hasty salute to the Army in 1940, it was time for equal-time for the Navy and Air Corps in 1941.
Max and Dave: Betty Boop 1933-34 – Betty Meets Her Match
As the 1933-34 season began, Betty Boop seemed to be holding her popularity. However, she was about to meet a character that would knock her for a row of spinach cans.
Mickey Mouse: Movies into Comics #1: “The Picnic”
The direct pairing of a cartoon short and a comic-strip continuity happened very rarely with Mickey Mouse. Here’s an example.
Disney’s “The Prince and the Pauper” (1990)
The animated version takes some major liberties with the famous tale in order to accommodate the Disney animated characters.
Walter Lantz “Red Riding Hoodlum” (1957)
IB Tech makes pretty good cartoons great and not-so-great cartoons much more tolerable and sometimes even good.
Flights of Fancy (Part 7): The Calm Before the Storm
With audiences turning more attention to newsreels to keep track of the goings on across the globe, animated parodies of newsreels also developed as likely places to find items on aviation.
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]
