On the Thunderbean front:
This week has been so busy that I just can’t seem to get back to finishing anything, but working hard to do that just the same. Happily other folks are helping me, so things are moving along at least as well as possible.
In new production news, the last soundtracks for the Flips are getting scanned this week, leaving one more shipment of nitrate to come here on the series. Two Rainbow Parades are among that shipment as well, and I’m really looking forward to seeing this material when it shows up. We’ll be scanning it in 5k, and I’ll breathe a giant sigh of relief when they’re all ‘in the can’.
The Noveltoons set is almost finished now, with me chipping’ aways at Teacher’s Pest and Stupidtitious Cat when I have a chance, and that’s usually at 10:30 or later at night or before 9 in the morning. These two and The Old Shell Game are the only ones left, but Old Shell ain’t here yet. It’s the last of the elements needed.
Other cool things have been going on at Thunderbean, including the slow reconstruction of a almost forgotten series that we’ve been trying to find forever. I won’t talk about it any more here though, since the last time I talked and showed something in early progress it was literally snatched away by an enterprising producer. I’ve learned my lesson there and will keep some of the the really rare things under wraps under they’re ready to be revealed.
And.. onto this week challange:
Curating a show for friends or for a public exhibition is really fun. I especially love seeing things I’d never seen before, but can’t deny there’s certain favorite films that I almost always like visiting again.
I get spoiled in this area almost weekly, just a little, but running some of the work in progress Thunderbean stuff in the auditorium at CCS, the art school I teach at. Running films on a big screen is my way of testing out what the films are looking like; you can see everything, and it’s not so forgiving, so if I missed something it’s there, very, very big.
Of course I watch them at home too, but there’s something really magical about seeing them giant in a dark room. I like turning off *all* the lights when showing things (including the floor runners). I started this practice when we started doing Blu-rays. Pieces of Gulliver’s Travels were the first things. The school had just purchased a really nice projector, so I didn’t mind testing it out this way. Earlier tonight it was lit up with some of those Noveltoons that have been getting finished.
As an old film guy (but a relative piker comparatively) I still would prefer to run prints. just these past few weeks, some really cool stuff showed up in another country in 35mm that will be great for one of the blu-ray sets in progress, but the prints are nitrate! I managed to get two of the four, and hope we end up getting access to the other two.
I thought it would be fun to see what *you* would curate for one of your own ‘dream shows’. Feel free to include shorts that are missing or hard to access. This is the cartoon fans equivalent to Fantasy Football I think…
Here is how geeky I personally am and willing to admit: this is what one of my own ‘dream shows’; would be, including the type of print. It’s obvious that I like impossible to see things from this list. Remember, it’s just a fantasy!
1) Flying Fists (Iwerks, 31)-wishing it would be in color from the currently lost color material!
2) Education for Death (Disney, 1943) from a Nitrate/ Technicolor print
3) Goofy Goat Antics (1930) in color. I don’t care what kind of color.
4) Bonzo in ‘Dog Gone’ (with original score)
5) The Flop House (1931, Scrappy) restoration from original camera neg
6) Reel of theatrical commercials by Cartoon Films, Ltd. (35mm Technicolor)
7) The Fantasia Ave Maria outtake (1940) (with the lens set to the wrong focal length by accident showing everyone working around the giant setup).
8) The White Guard (1947) rare 16mm print lent by a Turtle.
9) The infamous dirty Popeye and Betty Boop short made after hours at Fleischers in Florida. It is rumored this was made to show at Jack Mercer and Margie Hines wedding. The mention of this film once caused Dave Fletcher to stand up and sock the interviewer. It has to be out there somewhere, or not.
10) The missing 12 minutes of The Land Before Time (1988) cut from the film for being too violent.
Ok, enough of my own fantasies! What are YOUR picks for a ‘Dream Show’?
Have a great week everyone!
Steve Stanchfield is an animator, educator and film archivist. He runs Thunderbean Animation, an animation studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has compiled over a dozen archival animation DVD collections devoted to such subjects at Private Snafu, The Little King and the infamous Cubby Bear. Steve is also a professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
Ooh, baby, I read this morning’s post and had to chime in, here!
Here are just some of what I’d gladly show, if I could find these in very, very private collections:
YANKEE DOODLE MOUSE, the TOM AND JERRY short with its ration stamp bit once again intact;
NORTHWEST HOUNDED POLICE, the classic DROOPY cartoon with its wartime reference on the wanted poster intact;
LI’L OL’ BOSKO AND THE PIRATES, the first of the last three HAPPY HARMONIES cartoons, fully restored;
HECKLING HARE, the BUGS BUNNY cartoon from a private, 35 mm print with original ending fully intact;
a complete half-hour or two of MATTY MATTEL’S FUNDAY FUNNIES FEATURING BEANY AND CECIL, bumpers and all;
FLOWERS FOR MADAM, the MERRIE MELODIES title with original openings, credits and closing (would there be a “THAT’S ALL, FOLKS” tag to this one?);
CIRCUS DAZE, perhaps the speediest of the HAPPY HARMONIES from MGM, as well as the busiest (ya didn’t think I’d leave that one out, did ya?);
SODA SQUIRTS, the very musical FLIP THE FROG cartoon;
LI’L OL’ BOSKO AND THE CANNIBALS, the second of the final three HAPPY HARMONIES, fully restored enough so we can hear all the words to the “Gramma’s Cookies” song (are they singing “I like ham on whole wheat toast/black-eyed peas and chicken roast, etc”.?);
BABY BOTTLENECK with “don’t touch that dial” gag intact;
WHAT’S BUZZIN’, BUZZARD, the Tex Avery MGM cartoon, fully restored with better soundtrack than we have on laserdisk (I never understood why the soundtrack is so dull, but it’s passable until that desired COMPLETE TEX AVERY set comes along);
THE EARLY BIRD DOOD IT, one of the earliest MGM cartoons directed by Tex Avery, complete this time with its original opening credits and score for same;
THE GOOD EGG, a Chuck Jones-directed Warner Brothers cartoon with original titles (I keep insisting that it has to exist, somewhere, because its soundtrack appeared on the first of two CD’s around the scores of Carl W. Stalling);
THE STORY OF MENSTRUATION, the Walt Disney cartoon–it really is a tame film, folks, not quite the shock that everyone who hasn’t seen it is expecting;
ALONG FLIRTATION WALK, the Warner Brothers cartoon, completely restored and finally revealing whether or not the final section of the cartoon is edited or not;
THE SNEEZING WEASEL, the Tex Avery-directed Warners cartoon, with restored titles;
FLIP GOES THE WEASEL, the Chuck Jones-directed remake of sorts, also with original titles intact.
And, believe me, that’s just the beginning! I’d also like to see many, many SCRAPPY cartoons on my long list, along with full restorations on Q. T. HUSH. These are the kinds of curiosities that we all hoped for going back to the summertime Thalia Theater shows.
I know this comes off as a “what would you like to see on home video” type of list, but hey, such theatrical shows got people wanting these kinds of cartoons for their own collections, right?
“The missing 12 minutes of The Land Before Time (1988) cut from the film for being too violent.”
It’s pretty strange that this footage has never been included as a special feature on one of the many home video editions of the film.
Since the film has always been marketed as a family title ( and never to collectors ) it’s not really so unusual.
It did occur to me that might be an explanation, but it’s a little sad that one edition aimed more towards collectors hasn’t happened yet. Maybe Steven Spielberg (if he stll has any say) isn’t interested in those 12 minutes being released either, considering he was the one who demanded them cut.
My animation fantasy involves having enough time & resources to see the stuff that’s already out there.
(Am experiencing 0ld messgae board flash-backs involving turtles & producers…)
My “dream animation showing” would consist of the following theatrical shorts:
• Several Tom and Jerry entries, with the original title sequences restored, including:
– The Midnight Snack (1941)
– Fraidy Cat (1942)
– Puss N’ Toots (1942)
– The Zoot Cat (1944)
– Mouse Trouble (1944)
– Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse (1947)
– Little Quacker (1950)
– Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl (1950)
– Casanova Cat (1951)
• A compilation of early Chuck Jones-directed Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts that still have yet to see an official DVD or Blu-ray release–specifically: Joe Glow, the Firefly (1941)
• The twenty Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck entries that were cropped to anamorphic widescreen on the first wave of Looney Tunes Super Stars DVD sets, in their un-cropped form.
• Andy Panda’s Victory Garden (1942)
• Several Noveltoons that weren’t included on Thunderbean’s Noveltoons DVD set:
– No Mutton fer Nuttin’ (1943)
– The Henpecked Rooster (1944)
– A Mutt in a Rut (1949)
• All of the Fleischer Color Classics, restored from the original negatives
• Hop, Skip, and a Chump (1942)
• All of Tex Avery’s MGM cartoons, restored from the best surviving elements.
“All of Tex Avery’s MGM cartoons, restored from the best surviving elements.”
That would make one heck of a showing! 😀 People usually need to take a break after three or four Avery cartoons in a row.
As an adendum to my previous post, Steve, I noticed that you mentioned “STUPID-STITIOUS CAT”; a friend and I were discussing this cartoon recently, and he wondered who did the voice of the title character, a Jack Benny impression. I throw this question out to Keith Scott in case he’s reading–some think the voice belongs to Sid Raymond, but I just don’t hear Raymond, unless he is more versatile than I’m giving him credit for. I really don’t know how many voices in East Coast cartoons are his, and I know he’s worked at Paul Terry’s studio as well as Famous, doing voices for HECKLE AND JECKLE cartoons. If either you or Keith Scott know who the Jack Benny impression belongs to, please shoot me a reply. Otherwise, I’m enjoying everyone’s list of cartoons they would show if they were asked to curate the ultimate cartoon festival!
Some great titles in previous comments!
I’d like to also see Disney’s, “The Black Cauldron” with all the Cauldron Born footage that Jeffrey Katzenbrrg hacked out restored. They’ve never included that footage as a bonus feature on BD/DVD either.
There are some features I haven’t seen, but would like to:
— The King and the Sweep (the completed Mr. Wonderbird)
— HB’s Rock Odyssey
— Trnka’s Midsummer Night’s Dream
— Richard Williams’s version of Cobbler and the Thief
— At least some of the Asterix animations that didn’t make it to the USA
Some I have seen, but would like to see with an audience:
— Hoppity Goes to Town
— Alakazam the Great (really)
— Great Mouse Detective
Pure nostalgia:
— The Snow Queen (a good print)
— The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
— Pre “Sick and Twisted” animation festivals
I definitely want to see remastered versions of Hanna Barbera’s Rock Odyssey, Hoppity Goes To Town and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
This is another topic, but similar; I think it’d be interesting to do an article around the animated films that didn’t get made and what would be everyone’s top films they wish would’ve actually happened. This would be my ultimate fantasy film showing, consisting of the ones that, in a better world, would have been made in the first place…
A Princess of Mars (1935) by Bob Clampett (either a series of shorts or one feature length film)
Chanticleer and Reynard (1945) by the Walt Disney Studio
The Thief and the Cobbler (1964 – 1995) Richard Williams’ original plan for the film
The Spirit (early 1980s) by Brad Bird
“All of Tex Avery’s MGM cartoons, restored from the best surviving elements.
That would make one heck of a showing! 😀 People often need to take a break after three or four Avery cartoons in a row.
I would like to screen 60s Peanuts specials with ads, opening/closing sponsor tags, integrated commercials, and thank yous from Schulz.
I also would like to screen an uncensored 1940 Fantasound print of Fantasia, complete with working equipment and Sunflower
I would like to screen various original titled prints of Color Classics and Fleischer/Famous Screen Songs
And finally, to open that woman’s at the WB Family Division’s eyes, a screening (with her in the audience) of the two missing T&J cartoons and Censored 11, with Milton knight and the controversial choice of Swedish model Emma Hallberg because she was accused of “Blackfishing” and therefore bullied for it.
Writers note: Emma and Milton will introduce the cartoons and explain how these cartoonscpossibly don’t bother them.
All Dogs Go To Heaven with the complete Hell sequence intact.
I’d include restored versions of two early Fleischers: “Swing You Sinners” and “The Herring Murder Case,” both of which I’ve only seen in beat-up 16mm prints.
Just because I’m a fan of the Katzenjammer Kids and Captain and the Kids comic strips, I’d like a screening showcasing all the surviving Katzenjammer Kids/Shenanigan Kids cartoons from the silent era, as well as a good-quality copy of the first MGM Captain and the Kids cartoon, “Cleaning House” (pretty much the only one in that series where a large portion of the action is centered on the kids’ shenanigans). Animated adverts (like this Pepto Bismol commercial based on The Captain and the Kids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgpQKXrwxvc) could also be used as fillers between the animated shorts.
I’d just do themed screening such as “A Salute to Goofy” which would include “How to Play Football” complete with its’ original opening.
I’d like to show some of the colour Merrie Melodies, fully restored in glorious Cinecolor or Technicolor, and perhaps some similarly-restored Swing Symphonies to balance them out.