Click to enlarge
Here we go again. Another treasure from the archives of The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839: part one of the video of the Second Annual Golden Awards Banquet. Visually, it’s better quality than the other Golden Awards videos we’ve presented, being sourced as it is from a 3/4” tape.
Unfortunately, no video interviews were done in conjunction with the event, so we’re just left with the video of the banquet itself. Today, we’re just presenting the preliminaries, leaving the roll call of the honorees for next week.
The first part largely focuses on the comedy routine of Dick Wilson, the Master of Ceremonies, who was also a prolific character actor; however, he is still best known for playing Mr. Whipple in Charmin toilet paper commercials, starting in 1965. Wilson’s jokes contain a few references that might be lost to today’s audiences, and some are perhaps a bit politically incorrect.
The other entertainment shown is part of comedy magician Nick Lewin’s act, where ace animator Mark Kausler shows up. Murray Ross and his Orchestra are seen in the background, but we do not really see or hear them.
Oh, yes, there are also remarks by Local 839’s Business Representative Bud Hester and President, Karan Storr.
Here are some of the studio group shots that were published in the Golden Award Banquet program in this year. Click each to enlarge:
Next week: The roll call of the honorees.
Harvey Deneroff is an independent film and animation historian based in Los Angeles specializing in labor history. The founder and past president of the Society for Animation Studies, he was also the first editor of Animation Magazine and AWN.com. Harvey also blogs at deneroff.com/blog.
What films did this New York Army Unit produced and are any on Youtube.
Nick Nichols, didn’t he work on the ’80s cartoon (Cyber) C.O.P.S as Bowser and Buttons McBoomBoom?
Any information on Ed Solomon?
There will be brief bios of all the honorees, including Solomon, in next week’s post.
If I was there, I probably walked out. Cartoonists are entertaining enough without comedians, magicians and union speeches. Only in recent years has the Guild wised up on how to throw a proper event.