Mark Kausler’s CatBlog

John Sparey R.I.P. 1927-2010

See that laughing maniac up there? That’s a caricature of me drawn by John William Sparey back in 1969, more than 40 years ago. Here John is comparing my laugh to the sound of a cackling chicken. We were working for John Wilson on the animated feature “Shinbone Alley”. It was my first real job “on staff”, doing inbetweens. It was on that picture that my friend the animator Frank Andrina gave me my first professional scenes to animate on the Archy Declares War sequence, layouts by Sam Cornell.  I also met among many others, the one-of-a-kind gent, John Sparey. John had been an assistant animator at Disney, animator at Hanna-Barbera, and worked on the original “Crusader Rabbit” TV cartoons in San Francisco in 1950 before working for John Wilson. My pal, James Tim Walker was also working as an inbetweener for Wilson that summer. The studio was in a ramshackle wooden building right across from the Colorvision studios lot, formerly Monogram Pictures, now it’s the home of KCET. Our wooden building was torn down years ago, the beat-up old animation desks were supposedly from the Disney Hyperion studio. Life there was a many-splintered thing. (John would have groaned at that one.) John, Bob Bransford and some of the other guys took great amusement at J.T. Walker and myself as we bumbled our way through the studio in our naiive fashion. I was an easy laugher in those days and used to laugh really loud, so John got a lot of gag cartoon material out of that (see above).  John loved to draw gags about his fellow workers, but had excellent work habits himself and stayed at his drawing board most of the time. His drawings were very precise, and we marvelled at his effects animation as well as his character. He did a snow storm cycle for “Shinbone Alley” that looked very convincing, every drawing had the path of each snowflake closely delineated. John had what might be called a “closely-held” personality, he looked at animation as a profession and he seemed to derive little joy from it. His amusement came from a rather detached attitude of an observer and critic of his fellow animation toilers. He loved to draw gag cartoons, and would proudly walk through the studio with his latest cartoon held out before him at eye level. It behooved you to laugh at the cartoon!  Sometimes, if you crossed the line, John’s temper would flare up. John roomed with my old friend, Mike Sanger at Wilson’s. Mike was a very non-serious person, and John was a very serious one. Mike told one too many funny stories on a few occasions, and one morning, Mike came in to their room to find all his pencils broken, papers torn and his desk in total disarray. It was pretty clear who smashed the art supplies.  John Wilson had to put Mike Sanger in a different room. Here’s a cartoon John drew before the broken pencils started flying:  That’s me, and I think, James T. Walker lurking outside John’s room, John on the right, Mike Sanger on the left. If anyone is interested, I have quite a few more of John’s cartoons of the goings-on at the Wilson studio I could post. John Sparey passed away on December 15th, 2010 at the Motion Picture Country House in Woodland Hills, aged 83 years. Here, in John’s own words, is an overview of the start of his career, beginning at Jay Ward’s, through his Disney years:

In the summer of 1950, I stayed in Berkeley between spring and fall semesters for a chance to work on an animation project that was to be called the first animated series done for TV: “Crusader Rabbit”, by Alex Anderson (a nephew of Paul Terry) and Jay Ward, a real estate agent. They had two Disney veterans, Gerry Ray, who did storyboards pegged to serve as layouts, and Chuck Fuson, an animator. Bob Mills, a local boy, also animated. Joe Curtin was the writer. He had left a job at Terrytoons in New York by way of a window in the men’s room.

Come January, I graduated and went home to Indio. I hadn’t begun preparing my assault on the Hollywood animation industry when I got a phone call from Jay saying that the studio was moving south and asking would I join him. But of course! Coming with Jay were Alex, Gerry, Bob Mills, Joe Curtin, and their cameraman. Bob Bemiller was hired as an experienced animator. Ted Bemiller was a second cameraman. For the rest of the crew, Jay placed an ad in the classifieds. Among others, he got Dean Spille, Jerry Bowen, Jim Scott and Ed King. I’m fairly certain about those last two names. Dean made a career in the industry. Jerry stayed in the Screen Cartoonists Guild long enough to become business agent before stepping out of a high window. Jim was a compact Marine veteran with a hearty, easily triggered laugh. Once, he got pleurisy, which caused him a sharp pain when he laughed—which made him laugh again. The last time I might have crossed his path was in the Pantages theater once when I heard what might have been his laugh carrying across the width of the theater. Ed surfaced a few years later with some sample newspaper comic panels he had split with three other artists, each tackling the topic of the day. One of the artists was Roy Williams. The title was something like “Four in a Square”. I don’t know if it ever reached publication.

When the Crusader Rabbit shoestring broke in August, the Navy had already reminded me of my Inactive Reserve status. My last job for the studio was restyling the stock walk cycles to fit their evolution. We were helping Alex pack up everything when we took a break to watch Jay and his family and their St. Bernard take off for Berkeley in his MG convertible.

A season of watching civilians testing guided missiles out in China Lake carried me through 1952. I figure that the name China Lake tricked the Navy into thinking that there must be a body of water somewhere around.

I must have applied by letter to Disney, I got a meeting with Andy Engman, showed my college cartoon scrapbook, did test inbetweens of D. Duck and Snow White, and was accepted. A telegram asking me to start in March, 1953, made it official. Disney was no longer handling classified material, but new employees were still fingerprinted. “Melody” was being converted to 3D, and we were given an explanation in a tour of camera of how it was to be shot. Each frame was shot three times on B&W film stock using three color filters for three consecutive exposures. The Technicolor lab then used the film strip of three exposures with color filters to unify them in one image. That was how all Disney color animation was shot. But for 3D, art work had been split onto several levels, using as many peg bars as necessary. It was shot with one set of peg bar settings for one eye, which were then shifted by varying increments, to be shot three more times for the other eye. I filed all that info for possible future reference. The studio also shot a Chipmunk short in 3D: “Working For Peanuts”. But it wasn’t given much thought. A rear end view of an elephant drawn on one depth level fell–so to speak–flat.

We beginning inbetweeners honed our talents working on shorts. One specific I remember is “The Lone Chipmunks”, in which Chip and Dale faced “Peglegless” Pete. For their final triumphal scene they were astride a rearing steed. For that, a scene from “Ichabod” was destructively “borrowed” from the morgue. I erased the Headless Horseman from the saddle and some animator substituted the Chips. On “Lady and the Tramp”, I had no specific assigned position; I took whatever work was needed, moving up to temporary Breakdown during production. At some point around this time, I had my first specific connection with a picture. Bob Bemiller had joined Disney for the first time–not as a full animator, but essentially animating. The short was “Social Lion”, using the cat designed for “Lambert, the Sheepish Lion”. Bob tried introducing some limited animation techniques, but without much success. Perhaps he had asked for me to work with him.

Before “Lady” was wrapped, artists with specific talents were siphoned off to begin developing projects for Disneyland. I forget the order of events involving the end of Feature layoff, the planning of Disneyland the park and the TV show, the winding down of the theatrical shorts program, the Mickey Mouse Club, the highly stylized Disney characters turned commercial pitchmen for TV. I was off for only about six weeks from Oct. ‘54 to Jan. ‘55 before joining Esta Haight’s Art Props Dept. This was essentially a clearing house for locating model sheets, cutting BG overlays to mount on cels, dry mounting various art materials. Some times Esta actually found props for the M.M. Club. I developed a project to refile all of the model sheets by production numbers rather than by subject matter. As a reward, Esta let me take all the copies of models that I wanted for my personal collection and gave me property passes to remove them from the lot. But you know about all of that.

By July, I was back in the Animation pool, as an inbetweener. I was assigned to the Jack Kinney unit, which soon became the Woolie Reitherman unit. We started with doing bridges connecting old cartoons for the TV show. “The Great Cat Family” had a story of sorts of domestic cats from Egyptian times and on through Medieval ages with some inclusion of witchcraft (I think), and I forget what shorts were used. “The Goofy Sports Story” used a Spirit of the Greek Olympics to introduce various Goofy sports shorts, and “The Goofy Success Story” covered his movie star career, beginning with his discovery as a Extra in “Orphans’ Benefit” through getting his ears tied atop his head and hidden under a hat for the character parts of Mr. Walker and Mr.Wheeler in “Motor Mania”. I was in to see head of personnel, Andy Engman, and came back from another chat with Andy to say I was now an Assistant Animator. Somehow, “The Truth About Mother Goose” fit in to the transition to “Sleeping Beauty”. Woolie’s group got “London Bridge is Falling Down”. Bill Justice had a couple of segments, one of them being “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary”(a.k.a. Mary Queen of Scots). I then began assisting with and cleaning up after, Eric’s dragon. I had enough loose time to turn out a lot of my personal color works during that time, as well as some personal pencil tests. (Which were encouraged, camera shot them.) One of these was of an abstract artist (i.e. the artist was abstract). Who would take slashes and slices with his brush at an easel turned away from the viewer. He would get excited by his work, do a little dance, trip, and tumble from the easel. He picked up his painting, looking shocked and dismayed. Sadly, he turned it toward the viewer, revealing Sir Joshua Reynolds’ “Pinkie”. This got shown around a bit. I had hoped it might show Ward Kimball something of what I could do with abstractions. Instead, Frank and Ollie saw something in it they liked: I had given my character a convincing body weight. I got a scene of Merryweather sitting on her bed ineffectually shaking her fists as she says: “OOOOO! I’d like to turn her (Maleficent) into a big old hop toad!”, lifting off the bed to accent “hop”. I thought I did a decent cleanup job. I must have had other scenes; I had reason to ask if the fairies’ wands should be part of character cleanup or left for effects. A simple decision, but in called for a Committee decision. Those two ruled lines should be done by effects. Anyhow, I soon found myself back tending Eric’s dragon. But there was one other distraction. By the time “How To Have An Accident In The Home” was completed, Walt decided that he didn’t like the new stylized look given to the Duck. So I got the job of rekeying the short in conventional fashion. I don’t know how much difference it made. I segued from following Eric’s dragon roughs to doing key cleanup, at which time I could give accurate counts of the plates down the Dragon’s throat, neck, chest, belly and tail. For scenes of the Prince slashing his way through the thorn forests and battling the Dragon, Ed Kemmer, starring as Commander Corey of “Spaaaace Patroool” for several years, was called in to perform astride a wooden sawhorse being rocked on a long handle by Woolie himself. I was surprised that a TV actor should be called in for such a function. Little did I know that he had provided live action of the Prince for the entire feature. Ken Hultgren, a specialist in animal action, did the horse. He needed no Rotoscope.

Bob Bemiller had left the studio prior to this. Another Assistant Animator, Ed Solomon, left the studio in late ‘57/early ‘58. Anyone who chose to leave the studio in those days had to write a Letter of Resignation, explaining why he was leaving. Ed’s excuse was that (he) would be helping his brother-in-law sell used cars. Along about March of 1958, work on the Dragon was beginning to wind down. Copies of “101 Dalmations” were going around the studio to familiarize animators with the next project. I got a call from Ed Solomon. He and Bob Bemiller were at a studio called TV Spots, which was starting a new Crusader Rabbit series in color. Would I like to join them? What? Leave Disney? I politely said no and hung up. I told Eric about the call. Noncommitally, he made some response equivalent to “It’s something to think about.” I could stay at Disney, expecting perhaps to become a career assistant. All. Those. Dalmatian. Spots. If I jumped, my base pay would automatically increase from $103.82 per week to $145.00 with built-in raises to follow. Within the hour I had called Ed back and said Okay. I had a chat with Andy. I wrote my letter of resignation. Janey, Andy’s secretary, typed it out. I signed it. In two weeks, I switched jobs on the weekend.

Bob was head of the animation unit. He was one of three Directors. I had to unlearn such animation niceties such as softening changes of dialog poses with inbetweens. My new walk cycles (from 1951) were used through the entire new series. I usually worked with Bob, but sometimes picked up from others. One scene I got from Paul Sommer showed a bird on a tree branch suddenly grasp his chest, as with a heart attack, and topple from the tree. Paul gave me specific instructions not to animate the action but use just one pose and provide positioning guides for that drawing. That’s what I did, but I handled the guides like animation, flipping them like drawings to work out the action. Paul said he had to study the scene very carefully afterward to determine that I had actually followed his specific instructions.

Now if he had said to make the action look fake, that might have been more of a challenge for me.

June 22, 2007

Are you there, Mark? When I began my brief career summary, I hadn’t realized how it would expand when I got into it. When continuing events began crowding around me, I broke off to write the enclosed family letter. Then rather (than) edit it or rewrite the pertinent parts of it, I decided to send it as is.

It’s my plan to continue my story after I have cleared up some of my other involvements. Libba’s book comes first, then the Bakshi book. Then back to my story. Unless you say “no more!!” It’s my intention to send you further installments as I get them done. Rather than send pieces of it to Mark Evanier or Jerry Beck or whoever for column fodder, anybody who is writing any responsible work on animation will be in touch with you, and you can distribute the material as you see fit. You can be my “agent”. I’m sure you can find a file folder for it. I have found memorabilia from all of my Bakshi films but “Wizards”. I’m hoping that it just got buried deeper in my storage unit and I am still awaiting delivery of that 24 pound pack of goodies salvaged from the Auction house. One of those nicknamed blogger buddies expressed the hope that they would be downloaded on the Internet for general availability. And it was suggested that whoever got them should eventually donate them to the ASIFA archives. Are ASIFA and the Animation Guild in competition for Archive collections? They should join forces.

I get the feeling that moving into a retirement home can enhance one’s reputation almost as much as being dead.

And it’s more fun.

John S. (Sparey)

Here is John’s Resume from his animating years:

John Sparey (Resume)

FEATURES

1955 LADY AND THE TRAMP

1959 SLEEPING BEAUTY

1965 THE MAN FROM BUTTON WILLOW

1966 THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE

1971 SHINBONE ALLEY

1971 THE LITTLE ARK

1972 THE WAR BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

1972 FRITZ THE CAT

1974 HEAVY TRAFFIC

1975 COONSKIN

1976 HEY, GOOD LOOKIN’

1977 WIZARDS

1978 THE LORD OF THE RINGS

1981 AMERICAN POP

1982 HEY, GOOD LOOKIN’ (final version?)

1983 FIRE AND ICE

1985 STARCHASER; THE LEGEND OF ORIN

1987 THE CHIPMUNK ADVENTURE

1993 TOM AND JERRY; THE MOVIE

1994 THE SWAN PRINCESS

TV SERIES

1950-51 CRUSADER RABBIT (B&W)Television Arts Prods.

1958-59 CRUSADER RABBIT (Color) TV Spots

1954 (?) THE KING AND ODIE (KING LEONARDO AND HIS SHORT SUBJECTS)

First Season-TV Spots

1960-BEANY AND CECIL –Bemiller (Snowball), 3 months

1960-61 FRACTURED FAIRY TALES, TV Spots (Jay Ward)

1961-62 CALVIN AND THE COLONEL -CRESTON (Was TV Spots)

1963-64 THE FUNNY COMPANY–Sam Nicholson, Mattel

1964-69 The Final Prime Time Flintstones-Jonny Quest-Atom Ant-The Impossibles-Space Ghost-Dino Boy-Laurel and Hardy-Birdman-The Herculoids-Moby Dick-Mightor-Abbott and Costello-The Three Musketeers-The New Adventures of Huck Finn-It’s The Wolf-Scooby Doo-Where’s Huddles?-Josie and the Pussycats-You name it and I probably worked on it-Hanna-Barbera

1988-89 U.S. ACRES (GARFIELD AND FRIENDS) Film Roman, CRO-Film Roman

1987 THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MIGHTY MOUSE-Bakshi

DISNEY SPECIALS

1953 MELODY -3D

1954 SOCIAL LION

1955-56 (?)Bridging old Goofy shorts for TV

(?) The Great Cat Family for TV

THE TRUTH ABOUT MOTHER GOOSE

1956(?) HOW TO HAVE AN ACCIDENT IN THE HOME

1985 STARCHASER; THE LEGEND OF ORIN-First 3D Animated Feature

ALSO NOTED

1962 WIENER COMMERCIAL-Sam Nicolson

1969 ARCHIE LAYOUTS-Filmation

1971 A SESAME STREET QUICKIE- Fred Calvert

1971 BIG YELLOW TAXI-Video-Fine Arts Films

1972 TITLE ANIM. FOR SATURDAY MORNING SPECIALS-Fred Calvert

1972 NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR-Sat. Morn. Specs.-Fred Calvert

1983 EXPERIMENTAL SHORT SHORTS-Ralph Bakshi

1987 HARLEM SHUFFLE-Video-Ralph Bakshi

1988-92 GARFIELD PRIME TIME SPECIALS-Film Roman

1993 VIDEO COMMERCIAL FOR SIMPSONS-Film Roman

1993 NICK AND NOEL-Toys R Us-Film Roman

                                                            John wanted me to spread the story of his career around, but he never sent me any further installments. By the time he sent me this letter, 2007, he was in the Woodland Hills Motion Picture Home, and in pretty bad health. If there is any interest, I will print a few other letters he sent me, where he analyzes recent Disney features and gives me a little career advice.  It’s hard to believe that more than two months have gone by since John died, and I learned about it from the TAG website. The last time I saw John, was in 2006, at a screening Jerry Beck and I hosted  of some “Calvin and the Colonel” TV episodes, a series John animated on. We showed them at the AFI screening room, and John Sparey, Frank Andrina, Mark Evanier, Earl Kress and a few other people attended. John was already pretty feeble at that point, and walked slowly and talked more slowly than that. Some of his wry humor about the show seeped though the gloom, however. I shall miss his letters, John was a pro to the end. 

 

Felix, from 4-20 to 4-26-1936, continues the extortion plot. Felix escapes from his kidnappers, and Mr. Dooit, forgetting that Felix put the Dooits on Easy street, offers the catnappers $1000.00 to take Felix off his hands! In the Sunday, Felix is once again kicked out by the Professor, and Messmer shows that he can draw funny goats in the last panel.

    

In Krazy, from 10-7 to 10-12-1940, Ignatz tosses bricks that do curves in the air like a baseball, and Ignatz does a perfect imitation of Krazy’s Yiddish accent in the 10-12.  He even fooled Offissa Pupp. I wonder if John Sparey would have liked these strips?   

 

 

I’m playing “Catch-Up” with Patrick this time, from about 7-8 to exactly 7-16-1966. On the 7-13 episode, I began to include the by-line, so it makes the strips a little larger. Patrick makes a fine art out of cheating at croquet, and is ecstatic about making Suzy hate him. It seems very obvious that it’s Godfrey Snodgrass hiding in the trash can in the 7-16 strip. John Sparey never really got into computers very much (lucky him), but lived to see a lot of his collection of his drawings go up on Ebay without his consent! If I get any comments on this post, I’ll print more of John Sparey’s drawings and letters. I guess there wasn’t much interest in my Mother’s song from last time, it’s OK.

    

                         

My Mother Sings!

Hi Readers, it will soon be Valentine’s Day. For some reason, it reminds me of my mother. I still miss her very much. My brother keeps finding odd bits of memorabilia that Mom saved. The one upstairs is a photo of the KXOK Choristers from radio station KXOK in St. Louis in 1939. My Mom is in the front row, to the left of the microphone. How I would love to hear what those Choristers programs sounded like. I also included a bit of the local radio listings from that day, I’ll bet the Jitterbug Jamboree, the Black and White Revue, “Ernie” Fio Rito’s Orchestra (Ted’s brother?), the Gay Nineties Revue and Frankie “Trombar”‘s Orchestra ( probably Frank Trumbauer) programs were musical gems! Probably no transcription discs were saved, as the only way to record those shows in 1939 was at 78 RPM. Speaking of transcriptions, go to www.archive.org/details/HymnToTheSun to hear a home recording of my mother singing this “Air of the Queen of Shemakha” from the opera Le Coq D’Or by Rimsky-Korsakov. It was recorded on a direct-to-disc Sears Silvertone machine on March 23, 1941 when Mom was 22. She recorded this solo with my Grandfather Fred playing the piano and is my favorite of many discs she cut in the early 1940s at home. The old record is very scratchy, but if you listen carefully (only 3.5 minutes, folks) you can get a sense of just how beautiful her voice really was. I love the Oriental Exoticism of the “Hymn to the Sun”, and Mom really captured the song’s difficult rises and falls in pitch. She hits a very high note towards the end of the side that thrills me! She was so talented, and is still very greatly missed by her sons. Entertain the world, Mom, we love you!

Just above is the first “Gordo” daily strip, from Nov. 24, 1941, created by Gus Arriola. A collector named Bruce Rosenberger is posting them at www.ilovecomixarchive.com/G/Go. Go there to read almost all the dailies from 1941 and 1942. On Oct. 28th, 1942, Gus stopped the Gordo daily to enter the Army and work for Major Rudolph Ising at the First Motion Picture Unit in Culver City. I’ve been waiting a long time to see these strips. I’m only posting the first one here to whet your appetite as Bruce spent a lot of time and money uploading these. As much as I love the 1950s Gordos that I grew up with, I love these pre-War Gordos even more, because they look so much like the MGM cartoons that Gus Arriola worked on, such as “The Lonesome Stranger”. Check out the book, “Accidental Ambassador Gordo” by Robert C. Harvey and Gus Arriola at your local library. It’s a great chronicle of what should be a much better known strip. Gus Arriola was born in Florence, Arizona, so he was an American citizen, with Mexican parents. The main reason why the early Gordos are not reprinted, is that they are the most stereotyped versions of the characters. Gordo is really fat and lazy, almost a Latino hillbilly, resembling a Dogpatch citizen. Senor Dog and the pig really look like they are from a Hugh Harman cartoon, and the dialog is a lot more “Mexican” sounding than it was later on. Gordo was a romantic from the beginning, about the only thing he could get out of bed for was to catch a sight of a “poorty gorl”, much to the dismay of Pepito, his nephew. There really is no hatred in the stereotyped portrayals of any of these Mexican characters. Arriola was using comic exaggeration to make Gordo and his world funny and accessible to his readers. He used many Spanish words in the dialog and gave a lot of cartoon lessons in Mexican art and culture along with the slapstick romance. I Love Comix archive has hundreds of major and minor comic strips to read, all at no charge, terrific site!

Felix still is treated like an alley cat by the Dooit family in the strips from 4-13-1936 to 4-18. Butlers grab Felix’s “ears” and tail and finally he is captured by a couple of crooks who think he is a good luck mascot to aid their malicious trade. In the Sunday (4-19), Felix still lives with the Professor, but has to sneak back into the house at night. He tries to help a dog keep warm with a pair of the Prof’s polka-dot pajamas, but the spots come off on the dog’s white coat. Felix has made another enemy.

Krazy this week (9-30 to 10-5-1940) features the eternal (for four more years anyway) battle of wits between Offissa Pupp and Ignatz over his deeply ingrained brick-tossing habit. Look at those lovingly crafted interiors that Herriman draws in the 10-4 and 10-5 strips. Ignatz and Pupp both live in nice little houses with candlestick telephones and comfy couches. I wonder why Ignatz is noting that it’s leap year in the 10-3 strip? This feels like it belongs on February 29th! That’s Coconino for you.

The Patricks are from approximately 7-1-1966 to 7-7. The only certain date is the 7-7. In the next post or two, the strips should be back to more reliable dating. Godfrey, Godfrey’s tricycle, Suzy Smith, Elsa and Patrick’s Mother all are in the cast this time. Even though the dates to these strips are lost, the continuity with the tricycle episodes and Suzy’s flowers seems to work.

Last time, Charles Brubaker commented on my Animation Guild interviews. If you want to hear me spout off for a couple of hours about my career in the mosh pits, go here: http://www.animationguild.org/organize/audio/TAGInterview_MarkKausler1.mp3 and here: http://www.animationguild.org/organize/audio/TAGInterview_MarkKausler2.mp3

The interview has a lot of crazy stories about animated cartoons involving me and a few other culprits. The union is recording interviews with a lot of us scallywags including Tim Walker, Robert Alvarez, Kathy Zielinksi, Mark Kirkland, and many more.

And by the way Charles B., I do remember the strip “Conchy” by James Childress. It appeared in THE MENOMONEE FALLS GAZETTE  in the 1970s. The strip ended in 1977 when Childress committed suicide. Both Conchy and Patrick were created by cartoonists who didn’t live too long. I think Patrick is the lesser known of the two. I hope I can do another post again soon, good readers. See you then.

Guess the Cartoon

Hello Readers! Here’s a nitrate 35mm frame from a silent Mutt and Jeff (note it’s full aperture), which has been in my frame clips envelope for many years. It’s interesting that nitrate frame clips will sit in envelopes without any deterioration at all as long as they are fully exposed to air. Anyway, does anyone have any idea of which M&J this frame could be from?

Felix can’t get no respect again in the strips from 4-6 to 4-12-1936. Felix has to get all spiffified and pretty to stay in Danny Dooit’s house this week, he envies the pigs! My favorite gag in the dailes is the 4-11, as Daddy Dooit grabs Felix instead of his black tie. This was a yuck! Messmer is in top action form in the Sunday page for 4-12, I love the boxing glove and frog drawings in Bobby Dazzler and Felix’s expression as he lands on the sprinkler in panel seven of his own strip is beautifully drawn.

Krazy from 9-23 to 9-28-1940 is mostly Mrs. Kwakk-Wakk’s moment to pry into everybody’s business. I like the discussion of Krazy Kat’s nature she instigates in 9-23, and the gag in the 9-27 is the “fourth dimensional” sort that Herriman loved to do, in this case the sound effect “PEEP” from Krazy’s egg misinterpreted by Mrs. Kwakk-Wakk as criticism of her actions. Garge brings back the “Doormouse” once again in the last panel of the 9-28.

Patrick continues to dominate Godfrey Snodgrass this time in strips from about 6-25-1966. These are not precisely ID’d date-wise, but the continuity of the strips seems plausible, so they could end with 6-30. This must have been early in the day of skateboards, Patrick takes an instant dislike to his in the 6-26 (?). Godfrey loses control of his tricycle to Patrick in the 6-28 and 6-29 (?) episodes. If any on you comic strip mavens can more precisely nail these down, please let me know.

Thanks to Paul Penna and Charles Brubaker for your comments last time. I’m glad you liked the Snafu animation, Paul. It was enjoyable to do it, much better than storyboarding any day. I’m glad you liked the Snafu DVD, too Charles. I’m glad you enjoyed our Christmas card. See you readers (both of you) next time! Happy New Year!

Dublin’ Oop!

Erin Go Braugh! It’s a little early for St. Patrick’s day, but I’m Dublin’ Oop this week anyway, you’ll see what I mean further along. Steve Stanchfield’s magnum opus: Private Snafu: Golden Classics, is now available through Amazon.com or your favorite video retailer. I like it, but the first new animation I’ve done in quite a while is in there, so I’m prejudiced. The transfers are really first rate, almost all of them from 35mm, the few 16mm ones are almost as good as the 35mm stuff. It’s loaded with commentaries from John K., Mike Kazaleh, Eric Goldberg, Jerry Beck and Mark Mayerson! Mark rarely does commentaries, so get the disc just to hear his voice! I listened to all of them, and they seem pretty accurate for the most part, what can you say in three minutes? I can’t help wishing we could have had Bobe Cannon, Rod Scribner, Bob Clampett, Bob McKimson, Cal Dalton and Chuck Jones doing the commentaries, but they are looking on from another dimension. Eric Goldberg did the cover and supplied more than half the commentaries himself. He can spot Ken Harris’s animation almost every time, I can’t tell Ken’s stuff from Benny Washum. John K. didn’t spot Cal Dalton’s animation in “Booby Traps”, but he’s very accurate with the McKimson and Scribner scenes. Even the rarest “A Few Quick Facts” cartoons made it on to the disc. Steve struggled with the 35mm master materials in the National Archives for years to get the copies on this disc. He spent many hours and a lot of his own money to clean these up. The Snafus never looked better, so support the effort, buy two or three and store them away to give as gifts. Maybe donate one to your local library! Auction off your old “The Complete Private Snafu” VHS tapes on Ebay! (Just joshin’.)

Two weeks worth of your comic favorites are my New Year’s gift to you, readers. Here is Felix from 3-23 to 4-5-36. Felix brings home the diamond to Danny Dooit’s family, and the only thanks he gets are Father worrying about his income tax, the tough neighborhood dog wanting his “cut” and the snooty new English butler griping over Felix’s appetite. In the Sundays, Felix comes back to 1936 from the 6th century, and gets locked out of the Professor’s house again in the 4-5 episode.

Krazy is from 9-9 to 9-21-1940 this time. Herriman breaks the fourth wall a few times, in the 9-13, Krazy thanks Garge for the extra ink to disguise his black brick against a black sky. In the 9-14, Ignatz hides behind a fake background on a roller shade. In the 9-18, the Jail is just a set, and in the 9-19, Mrs. Kwakk-Wakk is confused about what is a set and what is real. The mysteries of Coconino continue next time.

The Patrick strips are from 6-13 to 6-24-1966, approximately. Not all the strips have the dates on them, but they are pretty close. Elsa is living her movie star fantasies, which makes Patrick so sick that he can’t slug her. Mal uses a very old joke in the 6-18 (?), “..with some it’s next to impossible.” Patrick lives very much in his own world, insulated by his selfishness, and Elsa, Suzy and Godfrey are each deluded in their own way, but usually serve as pawns for Patrick. Happy New Year, y’all. I’ll try to post more often in 2011, but that’s not a resolution! Remember to click on the thumbnails to enlarge the strips. Thanks for reading.

OOo Such a Hust-eling and Bust-eling!

Dear Readers, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and all the other Variant Celebrations! Vic Vac of the old St. Louis Globe-Democrat, did Christmas, Halloween and July 4th special covers for the Sunday Magazine through the 1930s to the 1980s. He was a staff cartoonist who liked to use aerial perspective in his work, as in the Halloween cover I uploaded a couple of posts ago. This one is from 12-25-1977, and shows Santa taking a break from driving the reindeer to worship at a little mid-western church. Maybe he’s listening to my Mother singing “Oh, Holy Night”. I like the little touches Vic Vac throws in, like the fox, raccoon, mouse and birds with their Christmas stockings, the old horses and sleighs, the barn and farmhouse in the distance, down to the boots and overshoes laid out by the church door. These drawings were never syndicated outside of St. Louis, and they really remind me of a hometown Christmas.

Here’s the front cover of a brand new book by my pal, Tim Walker. Tim has done animation, assistant animation, storyboard and sheet timing for cartoon studios from 1969 to the present, we met at Chouinard Art Institute in 1968. There are few people I know who love cartooning like Tim. It was a real shock for him, when in 2007 his right arm grew very weak, and what he thought was Carpal Tunnel was diagnosed as Lateral Parkinson’s Disease. Tim was very worried, because he had always been right-handed. How would he draw and write now?

On June 11th, 2007, Tim took up his pencil and brush pen in his LEFT hand for the first time and drew the character above, his first drawing with his left hand. He kept working that hand, and soon began to fill sketchbooks with his appealing characters, gnomes, bearded dwarfs, batmen and batkids, cavegirls and caveboys and naked ladies. I like the shaded line he gets with the brush pen and the way he spots black shapes behind his figures helps to tie them together. The caveboy on the front cover is drawing a caricature of Tim with his left hand. Tim really loves to draw these characters, and almost always has a sketchbook with him. They are really fun to look at, and now he’s published this hardback book so everyone can share his story and the sketches. If you would like to order a copy, Paypal $25.00 to Tim Walker at gobofspitaa@yahoo.com . He will ship your copy to any place on earth. The binding is very nice on this book, it’s printed on beautiful paper as well.

Felix bids goodbye to Punk Chow and Fooy Tu Yu in the dailies from 3-16 to 3-21-1936 as he rides a gas balloon to the sky and boards Fooy’s airplane. Felix steals Fooy’s suitcase containing the diamond and waves goodbye to the escaping crooks. In the Sunday, 3-22, Felix is still trapped in the 6th century waiting for the scientist to bring him back to 1936 with the time-control. Bell-bottomed knights pursue him with axes and hope. Remember, just click on the thumbnails to blow them up.

Offissa Pupp becomes royalty in the Krazy strips from 9-2 to 9-7-1940. The 9-2 is a Herriman rarity, a continuity hold over from the previous week’s story. I like Ignatz’s defiant attitude toward Offissa Pupp’s royal assumptions as he finds that he is a Marquis. Does that make him a Don Marquis?

The Patrick strips this time are from 6-6, 6-7 possibly 6-8 or 6-9, 6-10 and 6-11-1966. There is at least one strip missing this week. Maybe one of my readers can supply it. Summers tended to be a little spotty with the newspaper, as Dad’s vacation time came around, the Post-Dispatch became scarce. Dad didn’t pick up a copy on his way home, he WAS home. Patrick beats Dagwood with his 24 decker peanut butter sandwich and apes Pigpen with mud puddle gags. Mommy is fully visible in the 6-10, a rare appearance.

Charlie Brubaker sent me this very early appearance of Patrick in an anthology strip called “Nibbles”, drawn by Mal Hancock, printed in an Ottawa paper.  It dates back to 4-17-1961, so Patrick has been around for quite some time for a little-known character. The link doesn’t work too well, so here’s the strip:

Thanks Charlie, for finding this!

Listen my readers and you shall hear a Christmas tale from Bret Harte, author of “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” and “The Luck of Roaring Camp”. Bret was famous for his stories about the California gold rush of 1848 and ’49, and the story I’m reading here: http://www.archive.org/details/HowSantaClausCameToSimpsonsBar/ is a good example of his short stories. It’s called “How Santa Claus Came To Simpsons Bar”, and is a tough yet sentimental tale of “The Old Man” and his sickly kid. It has a lot of Wild West action in the second half, takes about 19 minutes to tell. It is an abridgement of the original story, printed in a book called “Christmas Tales For Reading Aloud”. I’ll try to post again before New Year’s. Thanks for Listening!

Digesting the Expo

Presenting Col. Shuffle and Aces Wild at the CTN Expo, the weekend of Nov. 19-21, Burbank, Ca., after a three day poker game (That’s Jerry Beck on the left, and yours truly on the right). I was just about ready to go home when this was taken; I actually sold four cels from “It’s ‘The Cat'” to friends and strangers at the mighty Expo. Jerry had copies of his books on “Madagascar 2” and “The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes” for sale, which he autographed. In addition to the cels, I sold some scrap film and some Little Orphan Annie collections, one of which was bought by Moebius (Jean Giraud), famous French cartoonist. He watched “It’s ‘The Cat'” on my little monitor and enjoyed it quite a bit. I did not anticipate that this year’s Expo would be an even bigger hit than last year’s. The crowds were really lined up for all the panels and programs. I couldn’t go to any of them, because I was just trying to do business. Speaking of business, you can still buy cels from “It’s ‘The Cat'” anytime, free shipping and DVD included, just go to www.itsthecat.com, and go into the Gallery section. Click on Film Art, and you will be in production cel heaven. While you are there, consider giving something original for the Holidays! Help out my producer Greg Ford, and maybe get “There Must Be Some Other Cat” out a few days sooner. A special thanks to Milton Knight, for contributing to the Greg Ford Fire Fund. You’re now an Ailurophile!

Otto Messmer’s expertise in drawing all kinds of cartoon cats is in evidence in the dailies this time (3-9 to 3-14-1936) but Fooy Tu Yu tricks Felix away from the pound and out of the diamond and throws him into a safe! In the 3-15 Sunday page, Felix is still stuck in the sixth century where even the food is in armor.

Krazy is from 8-26 to 8-31-1940 this time. More puns and mixed associations this week, due to Krazy’s “Kat Langwitch” and twisty reasoning. I love the cow in the 8-30, and Herriman’s staging in the last panel of the 8-31; Ignatz standing on a platform just below the lip of the plateau, as Pupp laments the uselessness of his jail.

Patrick is from approximately 5-31 to 6-4-1966 this time. We learn that Elsa’s last name is “Primstone”, and that she collects movie magazines. Of course, Patrick has no scruples about smashing a bug with one of them. For the next several batches of strips, there will be educated guesses about the exact dates of a few of them, since I didn’t write the info down when I clipped them from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Dad was a little more relaxed about buying every issue of the paper in the summer time. I’m not even sure if these comics are from 1966 or not, they may be a couple of years earlier than that. I met two of my readers at the Expo who really seem to like Patrick, and were a little bit amazed that I clipped them so carefully in my childhood. Comic strips really had me dazzled in those days, they were free (for me), and I really looked forward to each day’s installments of the stories, especially L’il Abner, which also ran in the Post-Dispatch. I’m very happy to have readers who come back to read the strips each post. It’s a little harder to post as frequently over the holidays, but I’ll try!

Taken With A Grain of Salten

Hello everyone! Thanks Charles, Milton and Fortunato for helping to identify the Halloween mystery strip (Muggs McGinnis), and for the nice comments on Vic Vac’s cartoon from the Globe-Democrat. I’m glad you enjoyed it.  Felix this time is from 3-2 to 3-8-1936. The adventures of Fooy Tu Yu and Punk Chow continue, as Felix escapes from them with the diamond to the CPS (Cat Protector Society). They shelter Felix, but Fooy pays a tramp to “adopt” Felix from the CPS. Take a look at the last panel in the 3-7, I love the variety of cats in that panel, and the very beat-up black tom cat that the tramp is holding. In the Sunday, Noah tosses Felix off the ark, and the scientist brings Felix forward through Time (400 BC to 490 AD).

Krazy comes to us from 8-19 to 8-24-1940. Bricks hidden everywhere this week, some falling from the sky by parachute. In the 8-23, Offissa Pupp and Ignatz are pining for the school to re-open. In the 8-24, the Elephant’s Feet formation from the Coconino County Navajo Tribal Park is evident in the background. If you haven’t been to Monument Valley, you must go if you’re a Krazy Kat fan. When Cathy and I went there some years ago, my favorite formation in the Park was “The Thumb”. Just a hunk of rock that looked like an 8 foot high thumb. We may run across it in a future KK strip.

Patrick is from 5-23 to 5-28-1966 this time. Godfrey (5-23 to 5-25) is a lot like Charlie Brown. Patrick and Elsa make like Lucy and Patty and beat up on him emotionally. Patrick even uses his fists for “good reasons” in an exact parallel of Lucy and Linus’s dialog. Just let anybody try to make a “Charlie Brown” out of Patrick!  In the 5-26 to 5-28 strips, Hancock reverts to his more familiar gags. They never spare the corporal punishment in Patrick land. Sorry about the tape stain on the 5-28, don’t repair your newsprint clippings with adhesive tape, folks.

I’m still on my Felix Salten kick, I borrowed “Perri” from the library, and read it. Now I’m reading a very obscure Salten entitled “15 Rabbits”. “Perri” turned out to be a very gentle story, compared with Bambi and Jibby the Cat. Perri grows up from babyhood, escapes being killed and “marries” Porro. The main focus of the book, is on the little girl who is under four years old. She can understand animal language and is visited by birds and deer, with whom she converses. Perri and Porro also talk with her. The book concludes as Perri and Porro return to the little girl after many adventures. However, she has aged a year or so, and can no longer understand animal talk. Perri and Porro are very downcast at losing their friend. Kind of a bittersweet ending, especially when you compare it with the Disney “Perri” story, with it’s cute “together time” songs, etc. Bambi and some of the stags from the “Bambi” book make cameo appearances in Perri’s forest and are hunted down by HIM again. There is some killing and blood, but it’s not quite as stark as in Jibby and Bambi. I found an alternate translation of JIBBY THE CAT in the Glendale public library called DJIBI, and it’s even bloodier that the version I have. The farmer gets tired of Jibby, and in the last chapter, throws a flat iron (?) at her, killing her. The killing is offhand, not sentimental at all. It made me wonder what the author’s true feelings about Jibby were. DJIBI is the British version of the book, published in 1946. Speaking of BAMBI, go to http://www.archive.org/details/DeerStoryChap.10 and you’ll hear 19 minutes of yours truly carrying on the oral tradition. I read Chap. 10 of BAMBI, in which Bambi’s mother is killed by HIM. Some of the dialog and situations are close to the Disney film, but the reader can’t help being saddened by Mom’s total inability to protect herself from HIM, and by extension her child. The “don’t fly” line, spoken by the pheasants in the film is here. One of the rabbits dies in a very human way, trying to deny that it’s leg is mortally injured until the very end. The line the old Stag speaks, “Your Mother can’t be with you anymore”, isn’t in the book. Salten has Bambi asking everyone if they have seen his mother, but only concludes that he never saw her again. He spares us the bloody details of Mom’s demise. Please listen in, I don’t make too many mistakes. I lack editing software, so I have to do these in one take!

BOOO!!

Hi Everyone! Happy Halloween! Do you remember when big city dailies had LOCAL cartoonists to decorate their pages? In St. Louis in the 1930s through the 1970s we had “Vic Vac” (Victor Vaccarezza), the “Chief Artist” of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. That’s a picture of him up there in the Globe-Democrat art dept. in 1931. He’s in the middle of the photo, near the trash can. He was very adept at funny “crowd” cartoons, and usually did the holiday front covers for the “Sunday” magazine section of the paper. His aerial perspective reminds me of Dudley Fisher’s “Right Around Home with Myrtle” Sunday pages. He had a great Halloween imagination, I like the little green ghost shoving the moon aside so that the haunted house can be moved. In St. Louis, it was a relatively common occurrence for an older home to be moved from one lot to another, sometimes rolling there on large logs placed under the first floor. This cover is from October 28, 1962.

Also from 1962 is this “mystery” daily drawn by Wally Bishop. I saved a few of these because I like dachshunds (sorry, cats). Our first family dog was a dachsie named Schatzie. One day she ran away from us and never returned! My brother and I loved her, and this strip reminds me of her. The dachshund is called “Junior”, here. Anybody know what the strip’s actual title was?

Felix this time is from 2-24 to 3-1-1936. Felix continues to foil Fooy Tu Yu’s gang, and sits on the chimney to their hide out twice, once to warm himself, and once to “smoke” them out. I love Messmer’s dialog in the 2-29, “Again, I laugh at the villains.” That could be the title of a Felix strip collection. In the Sunday (3-1), Felix says Messmer’s favorite word, “Fine”, and Noah says “So!” in the last panel. Where would Otto be without “So and Fine”?

Krazy this time is from 8-12 to 8-17-1940. The strip’s mostly “for the birds”, featuring three days of bird themed gags. In the 8-15, Krazy takes the term “Watch your step”, literally. Krazy’s strict interpretation of stock phrases also is the basis for the 8-17, in which Krazy reads a barometer.

In Patrick, from 5-16 to 5-21-1966, Patrick is true to form, hitting little Suzy, his most ardent admirer, and getting close to Charlie Brown territory as the baseball game is rained out. Godfrey isn’t called upon to do the “rain, rain, go away” gag, that Linus did so well. Speaking of Peanuts, maybe some of you watched “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” on ABC last week. I enjoyed seeing old friend Bill Littlejohn’s appealing animation of Snoopy and Lucy. I liked the staging of Snoopy’s emergence from the pumpkin patch as one cel just slides north with an eerie sound effect. If this was an ideal world, ABC would have dedicated the hour to Bill Littlejohn, who passed away just a few weeks ago. The Peanuts specials wouldn’t have been as lively without Bill’s funny drawings. Not so very long ago, we used to look forward to animated specials on television. Now they are very rare critters indeed. And I, for one, don’t look forward to them anymore. Now go out and raid your neighbor’s storehouses, that’s what Halloween is for.

More Comics

Hi readers! There seems to be at least some interest in the Felix comics I’m posting, so here’s some more: 2-17 to 2-23-1936. Felix continues to elude the menacing men of China by running away with the diamond. The men fight among themselves and Felix throws onions at them causing a tear gas effect. The way is clear for Felix to escape through the roof. Another Messmer characteristic is to substitute “home remedies”, such as onions, for more lethal things like tear gas bombs. Sort of like making an airplane out of a dachshund and some oxygen balloons. In the Sunday, Felix mucks about with the Professor’s time machine to the Noah’s Ark era, and is rejected from the ark! This page must have looked beautiful in color with all the Messmer animals, but I don’t have it that way.

In the Krazys this time (8-5 to 8-10-1940) Mimi goes on a vacation leaving the principal cast devastated (they are all in love with her). In the 8-10, they learn she has a boyfriend, and revert to type. You will notice in strips such as the 8-8, Herriman put a lot of care into the rugs in Ignatz’s house that change in every panel. A lot of papers ran the strip severely cropped at the bottom, to save space. Because of this parsimony on the part of newspapers, cartoonists had to cram the dialog and the main figure action in the top two-thirds of the strip. Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy was designed that way in the early 1940s and so the Kat was truncated as well. These strips are the full size, top to bottom, so we get to enjoy all of Garge’s beautiful designs.

Patrick in the strips from 5-9 to 5-14-1966 enjoys mistreating Elsa and yelling at a bubblegum machine, while Godfrey eats several of Elsa’s mud pies to avoid hurting her feelings. I’ll bet Patrick grows up to be a spousal abuser.

Thanks for all the great comments on my last post! I will have another BAMBI reading posted soon.

Falling Leaves by the Salten Sea

Hi everyone.  We’ve been on a Felix Salten kick lately. I bought a copy of Salten’s JIBBY THE CAT for my wife Cathy’s birthday, and we both read it. It was not the children’s book it seemed to be, but a rather sober and grim look at a cat’s life from both the wild and domestic side. Salten doesn’t spare the blood or the death, and we both laughed and cried reading the book. I had never read Salten’s BAMBI. JIBBY whetted my appetite for more Salten to the point that I checked out BAMBI from our public library. I love the Disney cartoon feature version of the story very much, but Salten’s novel is a very different deer from the Disney version. It’s not so much “love is a song”, but “Can’t you stay by yourself?” Disney’s subtext is the “circle of life”, but Salten’s is that all creatures, including man, are mortal and there is a higher power over us all. I have continued the oral tradition this time by reading one of my favorite deleted scenes from Disney’s BAMBI, the “Leaf Scene”, and also reading Salten’s original version of the scene from Chap. 8 of BAMBI. The Disney script used many of Salten’s lines from the book, but rearranged them and assigned a definite sexual identity to the leaves. In Salten’s book,  once a leaf is severed from the limb, it loses all power of speech and life, but in Disney’s script, the leaves seem to have life even as they fall and wind up next to each other on the ground, giving a hopeful quality to the scene. The sketches above are from Robert D. Field’s book “The Art of Walt Disney”, as is the text of the “Leaf Scene”. Early treatments for BAMBI, anthropomorphized not only leaves, but even the raindrops, the original version of the “Little April Shower” song was called “I Like Falling” by Frank Churchill. In it, the raindrops are actually singing about how they enjoy falling from the sky. The screenplay of BAMBI evolved to the point that only the animals were anthropomorphic, and a lot of the proposed cast was dropped, such as a chipmunk and a squirrel character. Disney made major characters out of Thumper the Rabbit, “Friend Hare” in Salten’s version, and the owl, a Screech Owl in Salten’s version. The major change is that the Disney script is a matriarchy, with Bambi’s mother being very central, versus Salten’s patriarchy, with the Old Stag, Bambi’s father, becoming his son’s chief adviser and role model (“Can’t you stay by yourself?”) Here is a link to my audio on Chapter 8: http://www.archive.org/details/LeavesChap.8 . In future posts, I’ll read a bit more from Salten’s BAMBI, it is a remarkable and very affecting book, and really NOT for children.

Felix is from 2-10 to 2-16-1936. Felix and Danny Dooit run from the cobra and it turns on Punk Chow and Fooy Tu Yu. Felix becomes a high wire artist to retrieve the diamond from a clothesline. I like Messmer’s control of graphics to suggest Fooy Tu Yu’s change of mood in the 2/13, in panel one, he has rounded hands and rounded fingers as he talks to Danny, in panel two, Fooy’s hands and fingers change to menacing points as he chases Danny and Felix. In the Sunday, Felix is a hero again, as he retrieve’s the Professor’s radio from a thief. In the next to the last panel, a favorite Messmer word shows up in Felix’s speech: “Fine! It Worked” Messmer used “Fine” over and over again in dialog both in the strip and the comic books. Maybe Otto was a fan of the “Vic and Sade” radio show of the 1930s, one of the characters from that show, Uncle Fletcher (Clarence Hartzell) always said “Fine!”, when he wanted to cover up for his ignorance of a topic.

Krazy is from 7-29 to 8-3-1940. Ignatz is in trouble with his wife for bringing Mimi so many apples, and when Mimi sets up a private school of her own, the principal cast play hooky.

Patrick is from 5-2 to 5-7-1966. Godfrey, Elsa and Suzy wind up on the fuzzy end of an ice cream cone and a baseball bat, and Patrick is on the wrong end of a hypodermic needle.

I completed the scene of animation I mentioned last week. The characters were Private Snafu and the Technical Fairy, for Steve Stanchfield’s upcoming DVD with upgraded copies of all the Private Snafu cartoons, including a few that didn’t make it into “The Complete Private Snafu” videotapes of years ago. I really found myself enjoying drawing the characters, they were designed by Art Heineman to be fun to animate, and they are! Steve liked my animation and the drawings have been shipped to him. I was afraid I couldn’t animate or operate the test computer after such a long time, but it all came back to me. Maybe I’ll get to do another scene someday, maybe not. Experience counts not for a thing in today’s “animation” marketplace. Great working with you, Steve!

Animating again!

Well, thanks to a good friend, I’ve come out of a three year retirement to try animating another scene. The scene is only six feet long, but fairly involved with two characters, plus effects. I’m still doing it with pencils and paper, I’ll tell you if it’s worth bragging about after I shoot a test. I was really scared to try animating again, I admit it, but getting back on the horse was the hardest part. I’m trotting along again, and I’m enjoying drawing for animation.

Felix is from 2-3 to 2-9-1936 this time. Felix and Danny continue to explore Phooey tu Yu’s eerie Chinatown diggings. Keep an eye on that diamond on top of the cobra’s head in the 2-8, it’s going to be very important to Danny. In the Sunday, Felix continues to assist the Professor, but gets blamed for the Prof’s bad luck after a sharpster robs him of his radio. Felix never earns lasting respect from anybody!

Krazy is from 7-22 to 7-27-1940 this time. We continue the story of Mimi’s little red schoolhouse, as a strong streak of vaudeville takes over the strip. I am intrigued with the names of the games in the 7-22, what is “prisoner’s base” and “dug on a rock”? I could look them up, but I prefer to be educated by my readers, anyone know?

Patrick is from 4-25 to 4-30-1966, and is usual the mean little kid is beating up Suzy, Godfrey and his Mom, in that order. What does Suzy see in a brat like Patrick?

Perhaps Jim Tyer drew this picket sign in 1947, the last of our series of Terry picket signs from the strike. Thanks to Charlie Judkins for supplying some of the history behind the strike. I’m chagrined to say I’ve never read all of Tom Sito’s history of trade unionism in animation, “Drawing The Line”. I looked at Jerry Beck’s copy, and there is a whole chapter devoted to the strike, with great photos of Jim Tyer and Eddie Rehberg painting picket signs as only cartoonists can paint them. Jim was not only one of the three greatest animators of all time, in my opinion, but he cared about his fellow artists enough to paint signs and march! Very few Union members today would do that. So many studios, big and small, promise their employees Utopia, pension and health plans that evaporate as soon as the job is over, unpaid overtime, and promises of continued employment that never materialize. Unions are all we really have to help each other, make them better, people! Don’t work overtime (or straight time) for free!!!

Knight, Yoe, Terry, Whew!

Hi Everyone! That beautiful background painting you see up there below Felix is by Milton Knight, one of the last of the rugged American independent Cartoonists! Please go to: http://kck.st/cLaFYo to see Milton’s Kickstarter presentation of his new cartoon: Caprice, Teen of Tomorrow! Milton created Hugo and Midnight the Skunk for independent comic books, and was a key director on the “Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat” TV show some years ago. If you can, give a dollar or two to the production fund for Caprice. The little samples of finished animation are tantalizing and have an unusual take on animated motion that is uniquely Milton’s. He isn’t afraid to exaggerate body parts such as necks, legs and arms to follow through an action. Sometimes the effect is unsettling, but I like it! Milton is cleaning up and inking the action on paper, and then it is put over his backgrounds by aftereffects, I believe. The result is a lot more like his print comics in motion, than traditional cel animation, which looks terrific. Head on over there right now! Give if you can!

My fan and friend, Craig Yoe, who reads this here blog has come out with a beautiful new book on FELIX! The front cover and a sample image (trade ad for the 1927 Felix Daily Strip!) are displayed upstairs. Go to  http://yoebooks.com and order up a copy for yourself. It contains beautifully reproduced selections from Felix’s comic BOOK career, drawn by our own Otto Messmer and Joe Oriolo. These range from the Dells, Tobys to the Harvey comics. Of course, I have a special love for the comic STRIP Felix, but I like the comic books too. It’s FABULOUS FELIX FRIDAY! Head on over there and take a look.

The Terry Picket Sign this time reflects what Paul Terry actually did during the strike, hired outside workers to replace his striking staffers. Can you imagine anybody in the industry today caring  if an animator has experience or not? Now it’s PRICE that determines everything! No seniority, no union, no nothing can protect the American animator from the relentless march of NAFTA, GATT and Outsourcing! And that goes for traditional AND digital! I love the use of barnyard animals and cute cartoon images on these picket signs, with their eye-catching layouts. It’s a “big-city” concept, illustrated by “hick” images. The last in the series next post.

Felix is from 1-27 to 2-2-1936 this time. Danny Dooit and Felix invade the Chinese gang’s headquarters in search of the diamond and encounter a cobra! In the Sunday, Felix continues to interact with a nutty professor who can broadcast weather in the form of heat and cold. Beautiful Messmer UFA shadows in the 1/29.

Krazy this time is from 7-15 to 7-21-1940. The action mostly centers around Mimi’s classroom and the connection between her school bell and Ignatz’s brick tossing. The 7-15 is not as clear a scan as the rest of the strips, it came from a different source, so please excuse. I love that odd gag in the 7/18, as Mimi grows “Devil Horns” as she keeps her errant pupils after class.

Patrick is from 4/18 to 4/23/1966 this time. Suzy and Elsa do a pretty good exchange in the 4/20, and I love Patricks impassioned plea in the 4/23. Mommy saw through it, however. Enjoy your FELIX FRIDAY everyone, heck try Felix ANY day!

Oral Dorothy One More Time

Continued from last time, the parade of Terrytoons picket signs from the early 1940s. I don’t know who drew this one, but it’s a one-off, original design that looks better than most of the Terry one-sheet posters of the period. Beautifully lettered. By the way, the sign reads: : “A Standard Contract will Put Him On His Feet”, there is a light flare on the original that interferes with the lettering.

In the Felix strips from 1-20 to 1-26-1936, Punk Chow lives up to his name by trying to serve Felix poisoned food. Danny Dooit comes back into the action in the 1-24 and in the 1-25, whistles up a great collection of Messmer dog and cat characters. Look at all the variant cats from the last panel of the 1-25. Otto could draw cartoon cats many different ways. In the Sunday, Otto seems to be making a sly comment on the humor content of the “funnies”.

Krazy this time was originally published 7-8 through 7-13-1940. Ignatz is handled like a disobedient school boy by Mimi and Offissa Pupp, much to the disgust of Molly, Ig’s wife.

Patrick, originally published 4-11 to 4-16-1966 co-stars Godfrey Snodgrass. In trying to convince Patrick that the world is round, Godfrey gets the “Patrick Sock” for his trouble. Patrick sounds like the Global Warming deniers as he declares that he is a firm believer in “Might is Right”.

Last on the programme for this outing is Dorothy Parker’s story from the 1920s: “Here We Are”. This is another of her “bickering couples” yarns, featuring a couple of newlyweds out for a honeymoon trip to New York. It’s another example of her gift at revealing character through dialog.  Can anyone supply me a list of her screenwriting credits? Did she receive credit for her Hollywood labors? Just click on the link below to visit archives.org land and listen to your storyteller reading “Here We Are”. (About 14 minutes)

www.archive.org/details/HereWeAre_677

I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know if you think I should continue reading stories, there are many others I like. Until the next time.

The Great Paul Terry Strike!

Ah, ’twas ever thus. Paul Terry’s artists struck him in the early 1940s, and eventually got an IATSE contract. I have reproduced an image of one of the striking worker’s picket signs. There is nothing more beautifully designed than a cartoonist’s picket sign. That strike was a difficult one for the Terry animators, the boss had built up a backlog of films to release in the interim, and he hired scab workers off the street to replace the strikers. Terry got his final revenge in 1955 when he sold all the rights to his cartoons and his studio to CBS for $3,500,000. He didn’t share a penny of it with his loyal employees. I like the poster of “By The Sea” from 1931, with the great animator Frank Moser’s name above Terry’s. At one point Moser was a business partner of Paul Terry’s (Terry, Moser and Coffman), but his interest was bought out in 1936. Moser’s drawing style was the Terry signature design from the Aesop Fables of the 1920s, right through the early 1930s. I love his very rough, loose, animation style, especially good in the 1920s in cartoons like “Barnyard Lodge #1” and “Do Women Pay?” This is the first of a mini-series of Terry picket signs, more next time.

Felix, from 1-13 to 1-19-1936, follows Felix into Fooy Tu Yu’s house. He is hot on the trail of the diamond, but Punk Chow’s wise. I don’t think I would eat any of “Punk Chow”‘s cooking. In the Sunday, Felix blows a hole out of the mine with a piece of radium placed under the drill bit. Instead of black gold, the miners strike black cat! What a contrast between Felix at the beginning of 1936 and at the end. There is a lot of continued adventure fantasy here that devolves into situation comedy with continuity of little or no importance, like the out-of-work football team in the December strips. Felix is quite a brave little adventurer here, I like him that way.

Krazy, from 7-1 to 7-6-1940 takes place in Mimi’s classroom. Does anyone understand Offissa Pupp’s jargon in the 7-2, where he refers to Krazy as “so Navy”? I like Ignatz’s jealous wife Molly in the 7-4. It’s amazing what a tall poodle with a French accent can do to the citizens of Coconino. They all seem to love her. Except Molly.

Patrick introduces a new character this time, Suzy. In the strips from 4-4 to 4-9-1966, Suzy falls in love with the little brat and gets socked for her trouble. Patrick’s got problems this time, Suzy actually likes getting socked! Don’t give that brat any Easter candy, Bunny! He’s undeserving.

Come back next post for another Dorothy Parker story, the last in the series. Read aloud by your faithful blogger.

Real Quick!

In a rush to do things today, so here’s Felix from 1-6 to 1-12-1936, Krazy from 6-24 to 6-29-1940 and Patrick from 3-28 to 4-2-1966. Enjoy and I hope to be with you all again very soon!