{"id":73423,"date":"2022-07-07T00:02:59","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T07:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=73423"},"modified":"2022-07-07T13:09:12","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T20:09:12","slug":"can-you-handle-it-1958","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/can-you-handle-it-1958\/","title":{"rendered":"“Can You Handle It?” (1958)"},"content":{"rendered":"\"tb-logo\"\n

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First, some Thunderbean news:<\/p>\n

Since the Fourth of July was on a Monday, It feels like I\u2019m writing this on Tuesday instead of Wednesday! I was lucky enough to be able to spend a little time just organizing and planning so far this week, and even have been able to animate a little for a project too. <\/p>\n

\"\"Working on four of the \u201cOfficial\u201d sets have been the concentration this summer. As of now, One is finished and two others, Flip the Frog<\/em> and Stop Motion Marvels 1<\/em> are nearly done Within the month the Van Beuren Tom and Jerry set will be starting to finish too. It\u2019s easily the most projects getting done at the same time here. I\u2019ll be off to New York to scan more material as well as visit friends and colleagues. Next will be working on Rainbow Parades, volume 2,<\/em> the Long-in-progress Lou Bunin<\/em> set and wrapping up the Little King<\/em> set.<\/p>\n

I was also able to spend some time working on a bunch of special sets, including a revision of an old one that I\u2019ve wanted to update too. The current sets are available at the Thunderbean shop. We\u2019ll be taking more of the special sets down in another week or so. Thanks to everyone for supporting all these projects; it\u2019s made a huge difference in being able to move forward. You can see a list of what will be released over the summer on the Thunderbean Status page at Thunderbeanshop.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Seeing as things are going fast and furious here, it\u2019s been pretty hard to concentrate on one thing at a time, but I\u2019ve been spending a little time sending things to clean up to freelancers and then back to forgetting what was sent out! <\/p>\n

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A Saul Steinberg drawing from 1948<\/p><\/div>\n

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And\u2014 onto our cartoon of the week! \u201cCan You Handle It?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"\"A little while back, I won a few reels of animated work from the Cal Dunn studios of Chicago, Ill. The material seems to date from the late 50s and early 60s. One of the reels was what appears to be a commercial demo reel from the studio; the other is an industrial film called Can You Handle It?<\/em>. When I showed this film right off the projector back in 2020, Animation historian extraordinaire Yowp gave some great background info on the studio. He mentioned Art Springer was Cal Dunn\u2019s chief animator in this period and that the studio made a series of shorts, like this one, for the National Safety Council. He also mentioned that this film was mentioned in the February 1959 issue of Business Screen, as well as the music being from the Valentino Mood Music Library (this particular track is \u201cKomic Capers\u201d by Roger Roger).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a low budget production, but clear in its message and easy to watch. While the graphics seem to owe more than a little to UPA and Saul Steinberg\u2019s design sensibilities, I sort of liked seeing our \u201cBrotherhood of Man\u201d hero learn the fine details of lifting. He also looks like he\u2019s been eating well for the past 14 years! A simple message and a simply designed film for education. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the current \u201craw\u201d scan of this short from the 16mm print. We\u2019ll be giving it a little cleanup for its appearance on \u2018Mid Century Modern, Volume 3\u2019 coming soon.<\/p>\n

Have a good week everyone!<\/p>\n