{"id":50613,"date":"2019-01-11T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T08:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=50613"},"modified":"2019-01-10T12:42:01","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T20:42:01","slug":"animation-anecdotes-397","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/animation-anecdotes-397\/","title":{"rendered":"Animation Anecdotes #397"},"content":{"rendered":"<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Garbagde-pail-kids-model-sheets.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"563\" height=\"196\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-50618\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Garbagde-pail-kids-model-sheets.jpg 563w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Garbagde-pail-kids-model-sheets-300x104.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Garbagde-pail-kids-model-sheets-150x52.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 563px) 100vw, 563px\" \/>\n<p>\n<p><strong>Garbage Pail Kids<\/strong>.  Based on the popular Topps cards, <em>Garbage Pail Kids<\/em> the animated television series (a parody of <em>Cabbage Patch Kids<\/em>) meant to premiere on a Saturday morning in September 1987 was abruptly cancelled less than 24 hours earlier on Friday. The exact reasons for the 11th hour cancellation were never discussed although it was assumed that protests from several groups that the series ridiculed the handicapped, glorified violence, and was primarily just a commercial for the cards as well as sponsors and affiliates (also pressured by the same groups) pulling out support was the reason.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/front.jpg\" rel=\"prettyphoto[50613]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/front-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-50619\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/front-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/front-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>CBS stated at the time that \u201cCBS is well aware of a variety of pressure groups that contacted the network to voice their concern.  CBS has never reacted to pressure from groups in programming decisions.  Basically, it was an internal decision.  We had all the best intentions of being able to translate the cards into a program but it didn\u2019t work.  The fit just wasn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While CBS claimed \u201cno full shows were completed at the time\u201d, the thirteen episode series was completed and shown in Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Trinidad, Tobago, United Kingdom, Iceland, Israel, Italy and the Philippines among other countries and was released on home video in 2006. <\/p>\n<p>Director Bob Hatchcock said, \u201cWe could not use the really gross stuff. The show got pulled anyway. The protest was about the cards and they never saw a frame of film. If they had seen the show without prior knowledge of the cards there would have never been a problem. We were so close to being finished that it made more sense to get them in the can for possible future use.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Cr3VmA-kSKo\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p>\n<hr style=\"color: #000000; background-color: #000000; height: 2px; border: none;\" \/>\n<p><strong>Another Forgotten Animator<\/strong>.  In 1924, artist Bert Green sued showman Flo Ziegfeld for non-payment.  Green had done portraits of some of the Ziegfeld girls upon Ziegfeld\u2019s request and the famous producer felt they weren\u2019t good enough to receive payment.  The court agreed.  <\/p>\n<p>Green had been an animator working with Hy Mayer in 1912, Hearst (1916-1918), Path (1919), Moser Studios in the 1920s and MGM sometime in the late 1930s and early 1940s.   He also did advertising work in the 1920s which is where Ziegfeld probably saw his work and offered him the job.  Green also did a newspaper strip called <em>Kids<\/em> in 1928 and comic book work starting in 1946 for Novelty probably through Leon Jason\u2019s shop who used Famous Studios as well as other New York animators to do comic book stories.<\/p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bertgreen-article-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"333\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-50622\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bertgreen-article-1.png 400w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bertgreen-article-1-300x250.png 300w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bertgreen-article-1-150x125.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/>\n<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\/04\/potato-head-tiny.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"84\" height=\"100\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-40424\" \/><strong>Mr. Potato Head<\/strong>.  In a press interview at the premiere of <em>Toy Story<\/em> (1995) with reporter Mal Vincent of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot newspaper, comedian Don Rickles who voiced Mr. Potato Head in the film said, \u201cI was very surprised.  I thought this would be very Mickey Mouse.  I did it just for the money.  I thought I\u2019d just hear my voice coming out of this doll, but look, this thing looks like no other movie.  I thought when they called me it would be like Popeye and Olive Oyl or something.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey wanted the character of Don Rickles so they asked me not to act.  My motivation was the money so I said, \u2018Fine, I won\u2019t act\u2019. I wanted the Tom Hanks part but they would have had to pay me more for that.  They\u2019re no fools.\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\/2019\/01\/raggedy-ann-tiny.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"85\" height=\"75\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-50624\" \/><strong>The Raggedy Ann That Never Was<\/strong>.  In November 1993, Cambium Productions approached the Canadian animation company Catapult about doing a <em>Raggedy Ann<\/em> television series (<em>The Magical World of Raggedy Ann<\/em>) but it wasn\u2019t until August 1995 that a promo piece was created consisting of costumed actors in a computer generated set being menaced by a computer animated bat.  It was hoped that Children\u2019s Television Workshop would pick it up for Cartoon Network\u2019s <em>The Big Bag<\/em> show but it was not selected.  Cambium also pitched the idea to another buyer who was only interested in cel animation holiday specials.  <\/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\/2019\/01\/glen-keane-beast.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"209\" height=\"160\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-50625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/glen-keane-beast.jpg 209w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/glen-keane-beast-150x115.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 209px) 100vw, 209px\" \/><strong>Glen Keane<\/strong>.  From <em>Premiere<\/em> magazine November 1991, animator Glen Keane talked about working on <em>Beauty and the Beast<\/em> (1991):  \u201cI think we\u2019re rushing too fast through it all.  On Friday night, I worked \u2013 just racing, physically moving my hand across the page at lightning speed, just driving as fast as I could.  The next day, I couldn\u2019t hold a cup of coffee.  My hand was shaking.  At first, I thought I had palsy or something.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve grown to respect (Jeffrey Katzenberg).  He comes up with as many ideas as animators can \u2013 and as fast.  The fact that he throws out whatever comes into his head is valuable to me.  You just kind of have to take it with a grain of salt.\u201d  One of Katzenberg\u2019s suggestions was that one of the servants in the castle was transformed into a punching bag so he would be a human punching bag. <\/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\/03\/ratigan125.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"125\" height=\"109\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-39852\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/ratigan125.jpg 125w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/ratigan125-100x87.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 125px) 100vw, 125px\" \/><strong>Ron Miller Ratigan.<\/strong>  In the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> for July 14th, 1986, animator Glen Keane talked about the inspiration for Ratigan in <em>The Great Mouse Detective<\/em> (1986): \u201cOur first version of the villain was thin and sort of weaselly.  But he didn\u2019t have the power or presence we wanted.  Then one day, we heard Mr. (Ron) Miller\u2019s footsteps coming down a long linoleum hallway.  You could hear the floor shaking as this 6-foot 6-inch guy with 260 pounds of muscle moved into the room. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we started doing caricatures of Miller as a huge rat.  It wasn\u2019t done to be derogatory.  I sweated it out when I presented the first sketches to him but he didn\u2019t recognize his own face and said, \u2018Go with it\u2019.\u201d  <em>The Journal<\/em> contacted Miller who was the former president and CEO of Walt Disney Productions and he replied, \u201cThat\u2019s news to me.\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\/2019\/01\/Phil-Mendez.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"209\" height=\"117\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-50627\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Phil-Mendez.jpg 209w, https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Phil-Mendez-150x84.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 209px) 100vw, 209px\" \/><strong>Phil Mendez at Disney<\/strong>.  In a 1986 interview, animator Phil Mendez said, \u201cI started work at the age of 19 at Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample (doing commercials) under Bill Tollis who was a great disciplinarian.  He made me do a storyboard thirteen times.  That\u2019s how I learned to draw.  When I left, I joined Disney as an animator.  The seven months I spent there were the roughest, toughest of my life.  I went there expecting it would be a friendly, wonderful place to work.  It was a factory.  I lost twenty pounds.  I lost my job when I asked for a small raise.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was told that I should be grateful that as a black I was given an opportunity to work there.  I told this man that Mickey Mouse was black.  He instantly fired me and barred me from the lot for four years until he left.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;With the Garbage Pail Kids &#8211; we had all the best intentions of being able to translate the cards into a program but it didn\u2019t work.  The fit just wasn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":50628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[2270,2093,2254],"class_list":["post-50613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation-anecdotes","tag-garbage-pail-kids","tag-glen-keane","tag-phil-mendez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50613","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=50613"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50629,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50613\/revisions\/50629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}