The Cat’s Out! Scanner Log-Jam Broken!
Hi again, Folks! I finally managed to scan some Felix The Cat dailies from 1936, the first three will be in this post. We lead off with an episode of Nize Baby, in color this time, from 10/9/1927. In the “Banana Oil” topper, the convict doesn’t get out until 1994, really puts the Gross era into time perspective. This episode has even more animation than some of the previous strips I’ve posted. The drawings of Papa wrestling with the gum machine “scan” well, would look delightful animated. I love the payoff panel with Papa’s hand stuck to his son’s well-paddled rear end, no “time-outs” here!
Krazy Kat this time is from 10/30/1939 to 11/4. It’s “Mostly Spuds” week, with the gags centering about potatoes, and their “eyes”. I love the talking spud in 11/3; it should have been a recurring character.
Marvelous Mike is from 6/10/1957 to 6/15 this time. Mike astounds Cliff on the clubhouse green with his scientific putting. It looks like Mike is going to hit Cliff’s putts for him in the match with Mr. Smith, although Mike is developing some theories about mental application in golf that will bear watching!
Out first Felix dailies come from 5/20 to 5/22/1936. At this point in the continuity, Felix is a house pet of the Dooit family. His best friend in the family is the little boy, Danny Dooit, his worst enemy is Snobbs, the butler. Cousin Minus from Texas visits in the 5/21 strip, much to Snobbs’s disgust. Felix at times seems to be a minor character in his own strip! Felix constantly wins and loses, being thrown out and sneaking back in the house again.
Wow, look what the scanner can do with 35mm Technicolor frames! This is a frame from Bob Clampett’s “Book Revue”, Harry James on trumpet. I even “tricked” the scanner into doing some 16mm frame enlargements that look quite nice, almost like projected film. I’ll sprinkle them into the mix here from time to time, just to keep the animated cartoons from fading out of the blog. Remember to click on the small images to see them larger. Did ya know that this little blog is among the TOP 16 Comic Scannin’ Blogs according to the STWALLSKULL blog list which reviews comic sites! Check it out at www.stwallskull.com/blog. It’s humbling to be singled out like that, I hope whatever readers I have will keep coming back.
charlie says:
nize baby in COLOR, krazy kat, & more felix dailys.WOW – and swaskull is a great place to visit. charlie
Charles Brubaker says:
Man, I should get ‘dem film scanner someday. Looks nice!
Mark says:
Hi Charlie and Charles,
Glad you like the new post. The scanner can even be fooled into doing a pretty decent 16mm film still. I think the thing has possibilities! The scanner isn’t big enough to do a full size newspaper page like NIZE BABY, so I had to use a camera for that. I don’t have the budget that Mr. Worth has over at the ASIFA archives for scanning things.
Thanks, Mark
Charles Brubaker says:
Regarding your short film…
I first saw your film, It’s the Cat, when Cartoon Brew put it up on their site (back when you had to pay to download it). I still consider it an enjoyable film, a nice tribute to the 30s cartoon.
I was even more impressed when I learned that it was painted on cels. Was that a creative choice, to make it “look” like it was vintage, or was it because when you started production on the cartoon digital I&P wasn’t as advanced as it is now?
I like cels, if only because one can collect them (I have few myself).
Mark says:
Hi Charles, I don’t consider digital ink and paint to be more advanced than traditional. Especially when projected optically on film, digital transfers always look like a high-class kinescope to me. I make my shorts with cels with real paint and real ink, because they look so good on a movie screen when projected. It’s as simple as that. My new short is barely progressing, but my producer Greg Ford says the ink and paint crew are still working on the cels. I wouldn’t recommend that anyone try to do a short traditionally, it takes too long now and is too expensive. As a matter of fact, I can’t recommend the so-called “animation” profession to ANYBODY. No tenure, no seniority, nothing but endless competition with cheaper and cheaper foreign “animators” (India is now the new Korea), and at the end of the day, complete obscurity. Knowing the latest software won’t save you, there’s always some student or lower priced animator waiting to take your jobs away. I don’t even watch new “animated” films anymore, every time I see one, I think about the rotten deals and rotten treatment that the filmmakers probably got. Pay for animators even in the best of times was never lavish, today the pay scales are actually declining. Out union had to settle for a two per cent salary increase over the next three years while all the rest of the craft unions got three per cent. The reason? No clout. Don’t ever give your hard-earned money to new “animated” films, you are helping to support an international slave system. Do not partonize! Them’s my sediments!
Mark says:
P.S.
Don’t forget Charles and all my loyal readers, you can support our mad little enterprise in a simple way. Buy a CEL! Buy TWO cels! Just click over to http://www.itsthecat.com and order some, you get free shipping and a free copy of the cartoon on a DVDr. We can’t make a better deal than that.
Thad says:
Nice stuff! Is that a 35mm IB of the Blue Ribbon reissue of BOOK REVUE? That’d be a prized possession for me… I don’t own any of the pre-48 Warner shorts in IB…
Mark Kausler says:
Thad,
That’s a 35mm IB of Book Revue, but it’s so beat-up that it’s only good for making stills. I’ll do some more sometime.