{"id":73138,"date":"2022-06-23T00:01:41","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T07:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=73138"},"modified":"2022-06-23T09:24:35","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T16:24:35","slug":"updates-eyvind-earle-restoration-project-and-the-tuba-tooter-1932","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/updates-eyvind-earle-restoration-project-and-the-tuba-tooter-1932\/","title":{"rendered":"Updates, Eyvind Earle Restoration Project, and “The Tuba Tooter” (1932)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m really enjoying this summer more than usual. It\u2019s been a really good mix of around-the-house and getting things a little spiffier here combined with jumping into film and blu-ray projects, often until they\u2019re finished. I\u2019ve been looking at the list of things we\u2019ve started and the steady progress is gratifying. The best thing about Thunderbean is seeing people enjoying the results once they’re out of our hands. <\/p>\n\"\"\n

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In Thunderbean News:<\/strong>
\nHere\u2019s the condensed cream-of-wheat version of almost-finished project status: Flip the Frog<\/em> has the final mpegs made as we wait for the last bonus stuff, Stop Motion Marvels 1<\/em> is on the fast track as films come back from cleanup and I spend most of my time tweaking this set, the VB Tom and Jerry<\/em> is getting lots of love right now, and the Party Disc 2<\/em> is thankfully almost done as well.<\/p>\n

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“Death And Sunrise”<\/p><\/div>Master painter Eyvind Earle\u2019s work at Disney is well-known and documented, but his independent films deserve some rediscovery for the absolutely beautiful work created for them. One of the bigger projects we worked on over the course of the last few years has been restoring two films produced by Eyvind Earle at full film resolution. This project was sponsored by ASIFA-Hollywood, working with the Eyvind Earle estate. Covid set this particular project back quite a bit, but we\u2019ve been very happy to finally complete it.<\/p>\n

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These two films are the one reel short Death and Sunrise<\/em> (1962) and the three reel short Were You There<\/em> (1967). For this project, we did 5k scans of the existing 1962 answer print of Death and Sunrise<\/em>, and the A\/B roll camera negs on Were You There<\/em>. We then digitally cleaned them up using digital restoration software, including reassembling Were You There<\/em> following the A\/B roll lab notes and lining up the results with the faded answer print for accuracy in the dissolve and timing effects.<\/p>\n

It was a huge challenge to get these independent films looking as good as they can. They\u2019re now ready to be output back to film or shown from the digital restorations. I\u2019m not sure when they\u2019ll be available, but here\u2019s a few stills from them (click to enlarge<\/em>). Special thanks to Rick Law for getting the ball rolling on this project years back – we finally finished!<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

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We have several new special sets available at the Thunderbean shop\u2014 but as we\u2019re getting more \u201cofficial sets\u201d completed, we\u2019ve started to go through the special sets that are completed and are retiring a group of them on Friday. We\u2019ll be retiring more as the year goes on as well. Thanks to everyone for supporting all these projects through these years- it\u2019s helped cover lots and lots of scans as well as all the other aspects of the projects. We may make some things available again, but the plan is to retire many permanently. You can see the list we\u2019re retiring HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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…And now, onto the cartoon!<\/p>\n\"\"\n

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Earlier today I started looking through the Van Beuren Tom and Jerry \u201cstatus list\u201d, checking the cleanup of various films and adding the latest cleanups to that particular hard drive. The Tom and Jerry<\/em> set is the next closest to being done at this point. Our own Devon Baxter<\/a> has been working on The Tuba Tooter<\/em> (1932) off and on for a little while between many projects. He sent me the file today, suggesting it would make a good Thunderbean Thursday post, so I\u2019m taking him up on that! He did an absolutely great job on this one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I first saw this cartoon at a film collector\u2019s convention in the early 80s in an astonishingly beat up print that a collector brought but didn\u2019t want to sell. Happily, ailurophile and cartoonist Mark Kausler lent his really beautiful print for the blu-ray set. The scan was just dandy on its own and has some of the most booming sound of any prints I\u2019ve ever heard. A little spiffing later and it\u2019s looking great. I have another print here that I\u2019ll use to fix a splice or two as we often do, but otherwise another film is now ready for the set. <\/p>\n

As in the best of the early 30s Van Beuren shorts, The Tuba Tooter<\/em> is silly and enjoyable, full of dynamic, impossible poses and funny action. It\u2019s hard not to smile at the enthusiasm of this particular cartoon since it\u2019s practically begging you to join in the onscreen festivities. I\u2019m left with wishing I could go to one early 30s Bavarian festival. The best we can get is 7 minutes of artistic interpretation through the eyes of the studio\u2019s artists. I\u2019ll take it!<\/p>\n

Have a good week everyone and enjoy the cartoon!<\/p>\n