F.D.R., the Depression – and a few New Deal Cartoons
When enough times goes by, history can seem more like mythology, with the artifacts left behind being the only things left to ‘prove’ things really happened. Time takes with it…
Tag Archives: Walter Lantz
A Paul J. Smith Scrapbook
Who was “Paul J. Smith” (1906-1980)? He was a pioneering animator who started with Walt Disney on the Alice Comedies, then joined Harman-Ising on the Bosko Looney Tunes and Merrie…
Red Riding Hucksters
Ever since the writers in the cartoon business discovered deadlines, fairy tales have been a surefire way to fill up screen time. That goes for commercials too. One of the…
New DVD Release: “A Conversation with Walter and Gracie Lantz”
I promised I’d talk a little bit about this title a few weeks ago- and It’s finally back from replication as of today! It’s one that has been near and…
Some Sneak Previews – and News on New Sets!
As the snow vanishes (and reappears here!). My ‘real’ job is as a professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, and as classes wind down each year I…
Animation Anecdotes #154
Story Behind Mickey and the Seal. “Walt had seen ‘Mickey and the Seal’ storyboards and in his own way raved about it, saying: ‘That is like the old-time shorts; who…
Animation Anecdotes #153
Bedroom Story. According to legend, while Walter Lantz was on his honeymoon at a cabin at Sherwood Lake in California, his marital bliss was interrupted repeatedly by an annoying woodpecker….
Snap, Crackle, and Peck: Woody Woodpecker for Kellogg’s
No doubt about it. Cereal giant Kellogg’s was heavily into television advertising. They sponsored an unwholesome number of programs, and that included many cartoon shows. In the fall of 1957,…
“Wild And Woody” (1948)
Long before Pixar and and Toy Story, another “Sheriff Woody” roamed the wild west. And when he did, he was accompanied by master animators Freddy Moore, Ed Love and Pat…
Animation Anecdotes #145
Charlie Chaplin and Walter Lantz. Actor Charlie Chaplin was an influence on Walt Disney but also on Walter Lantz. Lantz told an interviewer: “What I used to do was project…
