Little Grey says We’re Up and Running! Go to www.itsthecat.com !
Hi readers! Thanks again for all your kind words about Little Grey, who is still very much in our thoughts around here. Here he is in mid-groom, looking very contented with squinty eyes.
Thanks to the expertise of our webmaster Adrian Urquidez and Top Producer Greg Ford, “itsthecat.com” is now fully updated and operational! Just go to www.itsthecat.com and click the “mouse” next to the word “gallery”.  There you will see an updated page of cel set-ups for sale in three different price ranges, with Sc. Three (the most requested), well represented. The shipping is included with every cel and a free DVD of the cartoon: “It’s ‘The Cat'” will be included along with the cel. If you go to “movies” (“Movies, we NEVER go to movies!”) on the gallery page, you will find a Quick Time embedded movie of the original pencil test from “It’s ‘The Cat” to entertain you as you select the cels you would like to purchase. This is probably the last place on the Internet where you can buy actual PRODUCTION cels from a cartoon, and not reproduction or so called “sericels”. Most of these cels are HAND-INKED as well as HAND-PAINTED, production methods and skills which are increasingly rare or little used. With each cel comes a reproduction of the BACKGROUND, and in most cases the original DRAWING from which the cel was inked. Help us continue to make short cartoon films, the first six scenes of our new short, “There Must Be Some Other CAT!” are almost ready for the production camera. Your purchase is appreciated by lovers of cartoons and cats everywhere. Thank You!
This week I’m re-printing an ad promoting the St. Louis Post-Dispatch comics which appeared in the Moberly (Mo.) Monitor-Index on March 7th, 1956. This is a rare instance of a newspaper actually printing an ad promoting a rival paper’s comic section. Both “Marvelous Mike” and “Reverend” were winners in a contest that United Feature Syndicate held to find new comic strips. I believe “Reverend” ran a little longer than “Mike” but neither strip proved to have “legs”. Our “Marvelous Mike” strips this week are from 2/25 to 3/2/1957. Cliff Crump (who increasingly reminds me of Joe McDokes in the Warner Bros. shorts), is appointed judge by retiring Judge Hartshorn because Cliff is a “good citizen”. We’ll see if he can resist a bribe. Krazy Kat this week is from 7/17 to 7/22/1939, the subject being “music”. There are a lot of puns on the words “suites” and “fugues”. The 7/21 strip has me baffled, can one of you comic experts tell me what “fugues” are in “Ken-tuggy” and “Tennis Sea”? I’ve heard of the “Tennis Sea Walts” to paraphrase Krazy, but not a fugue. I like the fact that in the 7/19 strip the pose of Ignatz hurling the brick is now so familiar that Garge can just draw Ignatz with his arm following through without even showing the offending missile!
We’ll see you next time, good readers. Please consider buying a cel, they make wonderful gifts, too!
Mark Mayerson says:
Hi Mark. I bought a cel. Thanks ever so much for putting the pencil test online. It’s a real treat to see it. I’ve plugged your film yet again on my blog and I hope that it leads to additional sales for you.
Mark says:
Mark, you are now an official “Ailurophile”. Thanks for being the first to buy a cel from our updated website. I’m glad you enjoy seeing the pencil test, maybe it will help sales? All the best, many meows, Mark
David Nethery says:
Great to see the artwork available. I want one !
Also , thanks for posting the Pencil Test .
I also updated my link to your site from my blog, with link to the pencil test. (I especially want my students to see it .)
http://hand-drawn-animation.blogspot.com/2009/02/its-cat-by-mark-kausler.html
Gene Hole says:
Fugues… could that possibly be “feuds”? I love Krazy’s mangled dialect as much as the next cartoonist, but some of his Spooneristic expressions are rather perplexing to decypher!
Mike Kazaleh says:
Hiya Mark! I think the “Ken-Tuggy” and “Tennis Sea Fugues” that Krazy Kat was thinking of may have been the kind of fugue like the one between the Martins and the ‘Coys.
Mark Kausler says:
Hi Mike. Gene and David,
Mike and Gene, you seem to have de-baffled (as Bill Blackbeard says) this Krazy Kat dialog. “Feuds”/”Fugues” seems to ring true. Krazy’s dialog/dialect should be read aloud to really get the feel of it.
David, thanks for linking over to my website, I will put a link up here over to yours so that your students may travel back and forth more easily. I’m glad you like the PT!
Mark
FantasySpringsResortCasino says:
Looking good, the cells are epic!
Ryan says:
Hi Mark, I was reffered to you from Bob Jaques. I am a real big Fleischer collector and Bob told me you may be able to help me. I posted my web address above so you can see my collection. I am trying to indentify a Fleischer production number or a drawing. I have a bunch of drawings of Betty, Bimbo, and Koko jumping into the inkwell, and of a Baby Billy Boop climbing up like a latter then sliding down and walking to the left then the right. I can email you images or you can view them on my site. They all are from the same collection I know the baby Billy Boop was used from 32 to 34 but I canot find the toon. Please let me know if you can help, even if you cant looking forward to talking with you. Thanks Ryan