{"id":42357,"date":"2018-07-13T00:01:29","date_gmt":"2018-07-13T07:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=42357"},"modified":"2018-07-11T17:44:51","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T00:44:51","slug":"animation-anecdotes-371","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/animation-anecdotes-371\/","title":{"rendered":"Animation Anecdotes #371"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Hare Jordan.<\/strong>  In the January 28th, 1992 <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em>, the Nike \u201cHare Jordan\u201d Super Bowl commercial was profiled.  The commercial cost nearly one million dollars, excluding Michael Jordan\u2019s salary or about four times the cost of a typical commercial.  The campaign was created by Jim Riswold, co-creative director of the Wieden and Kennedy agency.  Riswold said he had been a Bugs Bunny fan since he was a kid.  \u201cI don\u2019t even consider Bugs an animated character,\u201d he said. \u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, he exists.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>Warners went to great lengths to protect Bugs\u2019 image.  One scene the agency wanted in the ad was to have Bugs Bunny handing out sticks of dynamite disguised as hot dogs but Warners rejected it.  The live action was rehearsed with cutouts in place of the animated figures which were added in later \u201cwith over 3,000 separate illustrations hand drawn by about 25 artists\u201d.  <\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2feix1APAqs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p>\n<hr style=\"color: #000000; background-color: #000000; height: 2px; border: none;\" \/>\n<p><strong>As Well Known As Mickey Mouse.<\/strong>  In <em>L.A. Life<\/em> December 15th, 1991, \u201cAccording to a report from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, \u2018Old Joe\u2019 (the cartoon camel representing Camel cigarettes) is as recognizable to six year olds as Mickey Mouse.  Since the \u2018Old Joe\u2019 campaign began in 1988, the proportion of smokers under 18 who smoke Camels has risen from less than one percent to 32.8 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_42362\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42362\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/mickey-mouse-smokers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"532\" class=\"size-full wp-image-42362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/mickey-mouse-smokers.jpg 600w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/mickey-mouse-smokers-300x266.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/mickey-mouse-smokers-150x133.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-42362\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This Mickey Mouse cigarette case from the 1930s has nothing to do with the above &#8211; but its certainly a rare collectible.<\/p><\/div>\n<hr style=\"color: #000000; background-color: #000000; height: 2px; border: none;\" \/>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Selick-Peach.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"108\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-42365\" \/><strong>Stop Motion Vampires<\/strong>.  From <em>Newsday <\/em>April 16, 1996, animator and producer Henry Selick talking about his film <em>James and The Giant Peach<\/em> (1996) said. \u201c(Being a stop motion animator) is not the easiest thing you could do with your life.  It\u2019s probably about as hard as brain surgery and it\u2019s only creating fantasies but we get a kick out of it. I\u2019ve often thought of a <em>Twilight Zone<\/em> episode where somebody\u2019s working on a Pillsbury Doughboy that\u2019s been around for thirty years always looking perfect while the animator grows old.  They can be a little like vampires.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr style=\"color: #000000; background-color: #000000; height: 2px; border: none;\" \/>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Littlefoot-Petrie-land.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"83\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-41661\" \/><strong>Death of Littlefoot\u2019s Mother<\/strong>. <em>Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine<\/em> #6 (Winter 1989) featured an interview with animator and producer John Pomeroy about <em>The Land Before Time<\/em> (1988):  \u201cA lot of research went into the mother dying sequence. We considering eliminating the whole sequence but that produces a lot more problems when you\u2019re trying to show a small boy going through his rites of passage to manhood.  You must eliminate the parent in that cycle.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cPsychologists were approached and shown the film.  They gave their professional opinions of how the sequence could best be depicted.  On their advice, we ended up adding another sequence with the Rooter character.  He is a mole-like reptile that Littlefoot falls into company with just after his mother\u2019s death.  That sequence softens the blow, showing that death is a reality that Littlefoot and the audience, have to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr style=\"color: #000000; background-color: #000000; height: 2px; border: none;\" \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/thief-cobbler.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"240\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-25841\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/thief-cobbler.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/thief-cobbler-300x144.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/thief-cobbler-150x72.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>\n<p>\n<p><strong>Not His Life\u2019s Work.<\/strong>  In 1989, animator and producer Richard Williams talked to U.K. reporter Mary Riddel about his work on his still in production animated feature <em>The Thief and the Cobbler<\/em> which at the time had roughly thirteen minutes of completed animation and he \u201creckoned\u201d that it would take another three years to complete:  \u201cI\u2019m pleased with it.  I love it.  And I wanted to make one really good thing in my life.  I didn\u2019t set out with the idea of it being a life\u2019s work.  Always we\u2019d start work and then have to stop when we ran out of money.  So it was back to the dog food adverts or a <em>Pink Panther<\/em> film.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I\u2019d never started it, I would have been rich.  But I wouldn\u2019t have had the motivation to make the money in the first place.  You see, all I do is work.  I draw all day and at night I play the cornet in a Dixieland jazz band.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr style=\"color: #000000; background-color: #000000; height: 2px; border: none;\" \/>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/cruella-125.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"125\" height=\"115\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-42367\" \/><strong>Live Action Remakes<\/strong>.  In <em>The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> for November 6, 1996, Stephen Herek who directed the live action version of Disney\u2019s <em>101 Dalmatians<\/em> (1996) said, \u201cIt actually was Joe Roth\u2019s (Walt Disney Studios chairman) idea to take some of the classic versions of the animated hits they have and make them into live action movies.  I know he wants to make the live-action department here at Disney as strong as the animation department.  I think he felt people love these movies so much, why not make them into live-action.  I\u2019ve known Joe since <em>The Three Musketeers<\/em> (1993).  He approached me and asked if I would helm the ship.  We talked about it at length because, quite honestly, after (directing) <em>Mr. Holland\u2019s Opus<\/em> (1995) a movie like <em>101 Dalmatians<\/em> was not in my plans.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr style=\"color: #000000; background-color: #000000; height: 2px; border: none;\" \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Capitol-critters-TV-Guide.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"438\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Capitol-critters-TV-Guide.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Capitol-critters-TV-Guide-300x263.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Capitol-critters-TV-Guide-150x131.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Capitol-critters-TV-Guide-100x87.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>\n<p>\n<p><strong>This Week&#8217;s Capitol Critters Anecdote<\/strong>.  In the January 1992 <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em>,  it was reported that producer Steve Bochco (co-creator of <em>Hill Street Blues<\/em> and <em>L.A. Law<\/em>) had originally come up with a concept called \u201cAristocritters\u201d about mice and cats in the White House witnessing the behind-the-scene machinations of government.  It developed into the Hanna-Barbera prime time series Capitol Critters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that Steven had an edgier show in mind in the beginning, a much harder edge, until we realized it was impossible to do topical humor because the product comes out fourteen or fifteen months after the script is written,\u201d said co-producer Nat Mauldin.  \u201cAnimation is such a time-consuming, labor-intensive process that it is impossible to come out cutting edge.\u201d<\/p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/cel_capital_critters_rat1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"490\" height=\"318\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-42371\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/cel_capital_critters_rat1.jpg 490w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/cel_capital_critters_rat1-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/cel_capital_critters_rat1-150x97.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px\" \/>\n<p>\n<p>In one early episode, the rat Jamnet is in the Oval Office stealing presidential mints when he picks up the President\u2019s red phone and says, \u201cYo, Gorby, I pushed the wrong button by mistake.  So I\u2019d stay inside if I was you.  OK,  pal?\u201d  When his friend Max urges him to leave, Jamnet says, \u201cWait, I wanna razz him about that red thing on his head.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the Soviet Union dissolved in the time it took to animate the episode, so new lines had to be dubbed that say, \u201cBoris, hang tough.  I\u2019m sending over a couple of pizzas.  If they aren\u2019t there in 30 minutes you got \u2018em free.\u201d  Then Jamnet says to Max, \u201cI\u2019ll betcha he waits up for \u2018em, too!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have no idea of hard it is to go back in and loop new lines,\u201d said Mauldin. \u201cWe have to avoid making last minute changes at all costs, because it costs a lot of money to do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I got the series pilot back from being animated overseas, I was really upset.  For instance, there was a scene with a tour bus and the only thing that was animated on the tour bus was the tires, using two frames cycled back and forth and I said, \u2018What the hell is this?!\u2019  I got a lot of those shots when they sent me the pilot.  I wanted to make sure that these guys understood that this was not a show for Saturday morning.  This was a prime-time show.  I don\u2019t think they understood the concept of prime time at first.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAccording to a report from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, \u2018Old Joe\u2019 (the camel representing Camel cigarettes) is as recognizable to six year olds as Mickey Mouse.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":42363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[46,2174,88],"class_list":["post-42357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation-anecdotes","tag-bugs-bunny","tag-capitol-critters","tag-mickey-mouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42357"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42373,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42357\/revisions\/42373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}