Progress Report
Right now, you’re probably asking yourself, “How’s ‘There Must Be Some Other Cat’ coming along? If you look above, you will see the only 35mm color material that is around right now, an exposure test frame from the “Pre-Credits” sequence, where the Cat flips a stylus on to a record played on an old gramophone. The purpose of the scene is to quiet the audience, and prepare them for the sound of an old acoustic record used on the soundtrack. The background was painted in oil by Catherine Hill, and the cel was inked and painted by Greg Ford Co. Inc. The other photograph is of a checking table at Greg’s Co. with the cels from Sc. 15 on top. The rival cat is whispering sultry nothings into Pearly’s ear in this shot where the characters are silhouettes on the window shade. It looks like there are several more scenes in the background of the photo. On this evidence, I’m basing my hopes for the cartoon’s completion. To my sorrow, it won’t be this year. This little short will have just as difficult a genesis as “It’s ‘The Cat'”. I can only hope that principle photography will begin soon. If you believe in cartoons, don’t send money (because I know you have none), but applaud real loud and think your best positive thoughts that “There Must Be Some Other Cat” can be completed. “The Cat” and I send our thanks.
   Speaking of exposure tests, here are a couple of frames scanned from a test shot for the “Adventures of Red Ryder” serial: 
 I’ve never had a way of sharing this little strip of film before, so thanks to these computers, you can see it. This Republic serial from 1940, starred Don “Red” Barry as Red Ryder and Noah Beery Sr., along with Tommy Cook of the Our Gang Comedies as Little Beaver. It was based on the comic strip created by Fred Harman, Hugh Harman’s brother, so there is a cartoon connection. The same year, Republic produced another 12 chapter serial, “King of the Royal Mounted” based on the Zane Grey comic strip. The cartoon connection here is that Zane Grey’s brother, Romer, was an early producer of sound cartoons with his “Binko the Cub” series from the early 1930s. They were never finished, although the artwork still exists, you can probably find images from Binko on the Web.
    As an adjunct to Yowp’s post for today, here are three out of the four Yogi Bear Sunday pages he posted, complete and in color: 
 These are from Nov. 5, 12th and 19th, 1961. I don’t have the strip from Nov. 26th, sorry. I will now scold my youthful self for failing to save it back in ’61. I especially like the Nov. 12th strip, featuring a guest appearance by Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy. Please click the thumbnails to view at a readable size.
Felix from 3-25 to 3-31-1935, finds Danny using his Boy Scout skills to send a morse code message to the S.S. Sillatania, which picked up “One-Eye” and Spike on the high seas. They don’t have the gold they took with them, but Felix has that stowed. We’ll see if they pick him up next time. In the Sunday, Felix is still in Dreamland, in a frozen bubble from the Giant’s pipe. The King of Dreamland attempts to torture Felix with foodstuffs.
Krazy (2/3 to 2/8/1941) has a very funny continuity this week, featuring Ignatz’s indignant wife, Molly. Offissa Pupp’s jail becomes a refuge for Ignatz, as he uses it to escape his wife’s wrath. I love Ignatz’s vocal impression of the brick’s “Pow” that he uses to get thrown in jail on 2/6, and in the 2/8, both Ig and Offissa Pupp wind up in the clink to escape Molly. It’s the only time I can recall seeing the Pupp in prison.
Patrick, from 12/5 to 12/10/1966, finds brother Nathan being “elevated” by television in the 12/6, and Patrick doing a sorta kinda Charlie Brown bit in the 12/8 as he chews out Godfrey for wanting to quit baseball in the deep snow. It’s amazing that Patrick is not obese from drinking 27 bottles of “sody pop”, as he confesses in the 12/9. Enjoy all the strips, folks, and think your best thoughts for “There Must Be Some Other Cat”.
Charles Brubaker says:
Ah, good ol’ cels! That oil paint backgrounds look great.
Glad to see you’re still working on the film. Looking forward to seeing it finished.
Mark Mayerson says:
Hi Mark. I anxiously await your next film. Regards to both you and Greg.
Kirk says:
That top frame is a beauty!
Matthew Koh says:
Where in the world did you get those cels?
David Nethery says:
I’m eagerly awaiting the new CAT film, Mark.
It’s true, I don’t have much money , but I’d love to contribute something . Do you and Greg have any sort of system set up through KickStarter or Indie-a-Go-Go or just a Pay Pal “tip jar” where interested fans could contribute towards the film getting finished ?
Will you be at CTN Expo again this year ? I plan to be there, so I hope I’ll run into you again. I really appreciated you showing me the pencil test of “There Must be Some Other Cat” last year.
By the way, I just read about Neil Boyle’s film “The Last Belle” which is also traditionally animated , hand-inked and painted on CELS , and photographed on 35 mm film.
http://thelastbelleblog.blogspot.com/
http://thelastbelleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/why.html
Mark says:
Hi Charles, Mark, Kirk, Matthew and David,
Trying to finish an animated short film on cel is not a task I would wish on my worst enemy. It takes a very long time. Money doesn’t seem to be the problem here, just a lack of people to work on the film and my producer’s life situation at present. This is merely a three minute silly little cartoon, it has taken so long to make it that I’ve sort of given up on it for the time being. When Greg is ready to shoot anything, he will. If we get a lot of outside money, they will be entitled to results, which we really don’t have to show. I think the idea of a Paypal “tip Jar” like Mark Evanier has would be a good idea, I’m going to discuss that with the web administrator. In the meantime, all who are reading this, think the best thoughts for us, maybe buy a cel from “It’s ‘The Cat'” to give at Christmastime. And thank you.
To Matthew, we get out blank cels from Cartoon Colour company in Culver City, CA. You may also get fine animation paper and supplies from Chromacolor in Canada.