Once again we dip into the chatty in-house newsletters at Leon Schlesinger Productions. This week its the end of April, early May in 1940…
“Sniffles Takes a Trip” was released May 11th, 1940
Apparently there was a fire at the Warner lot earlier in the month. There’s mention of this – and a notice from Mr. Schlesinger that the animation studio wasn’t going to move. Hopeful no nitrate celluloid was destroyed…
The classic live action/animation short “You Ought To Be In Pictures” was released May 18th
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 [
Interesting comment on the bottom of page 4, giving a very snarky negative review of the Dick Tracy comic strip!
We don’t often find out what the Warner’s cartoon staff didn’t like in the then current cartoon media.
I don’t know what Zack Haig was doing at Warners, but a squib in the L.A. Times in 1938 says he was a painter. He worked for the Kansas City Star (as an illustrator, I guess), went to New York to paint then came west to work briefly for a motion picture company (the Times doesn’t say which one).
Coincidentally, in 1944 he illustrated a children’s book about a boastful fly. The book was named “Quimby.”
“Apparently there was a fire at the Warner lot earlier in the month. Hopeful no nitrate celluloid was destroyed…”
Jeez, Jerry, what a way to clickbait readers! For a split second when I saw this text on the main page, I thought you meant a fire at the Warner lot in the present day…
Page 5 shows a drawing labelled “Katy”. I believe that’s ink and painter Katy Vallejo. I have gag drawing of her. She worked at the Disney studios too.