Happy 89th Birthday Mickey

Today is the 89th birthday of cartoondom's most famous mouse. No not Speedy Gonzales, I am speaking of curse of Mickey. To celebrate we are going to look at four classic Mickey Mouse shorts.

Up first is probably the most famous Mickey Mouse short ever created, Steamboat Willie. This was not the first Mickey cartoon made but the first one to get a wide release. The first Mickey cartoon made was a silent short called Plane Crazy. However distributors did not want the cartoon (as well as the second Mickey made, The Galloping Gaucho, also silent) and he was turned down flat. With sound film catching on it became clear in the film industry that soon silent film would be a thing of the past. Walt as an artist who was always looking forward decided to make Steamboat Willie as a sound film. Though sound cartoons had been made before hand, none of them were very successful. Walt knew that for the audience to accept sound in an animated cartoon it had to be perfect. Wilfred Jackson one of the studio's animators prepared a bar sheet of music, while Walt prepared his usual exposure sheet. They did this simultaneously and with close work together to make sure the sound would be synchronized just right. Even with this they weren't sure the illusion of sound accompanying moving drawings would be accepted by the audience. Because of this after enough animation was made, the crew had a test run, with Wilfred Jackson on Harmonica and the rest of the crew making sound effects. The result worked and work on the film as a sound picture moved forward. When this film made its premiere at New York's Colony Theater, it was a huge hit and ushered in the era of sound cartoons. So without further ado here is the one and only Steamboat Willie. After the success of this film soundtracks were added to the two previous Mickey cartoons and they got the wide theater release they deserved.


Next up is one of my favorite black and white Mickeys 1929's The Karnival Kid. The reason I love this cartoon so much is that it is a pure cartoon in its purest sense. In later Disney animated films, it was decided that characters' bodies always had to stay intact and that characters couldn't take off parts of their bodies for their own uses as that would break the reality of the films. With all due respect, I disagree with this. It is a cartoon and if I believe the characters then I will also believe their bodies are detectable and retractable. Some of my favorite gags in this short involve how the cats avoid the things being thrown at them and how Mickey takes off the top of his head like tipping a hat to greet Minnie. This film also has the immortal first words of Mickey Mouse, "Hot Dogs". Though his voice sounds quite different here than later films, it is still Walt providing it.

Last up is two perfect cartoons for the occasion, a 1931 cartoon called The Birthday Party and a 1942 cartoon called Mickey's Birthday Party. The reason I am putting both of these cartoons together is that one is a remake of the other. The differences are clear. The latter one has Donald Duck, Goofy and Clara Cluck in it. These characters were not yet created in 1931, so they couldn't be included here. There is also the obvious fact that the later one is also in color. Still these cartoons are extremely similar and both delightful. So sit back and enjoy them.

Now let's close this post by all singing Mickey's favorite song together.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources UsedThe 50 Greatest Cartoons edited by Jerry Beck
Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier.
  
     

The Looney History of Witch Hazel

Happy Halloween fellow cartoon lovers. On a day like this there is only one cartoon character to discuss and of course that is Witch Hazel from the classic Looney Tunes films (she was not used in a Merrie Melodie oddly enough). Today I will provide you with a brief and basic history of cartoondom's favorite witch.

Even with how well remembered and beloved this character is today she was only actually in 4 of the classic cartoons. The first of these was a 1954 Chuck Jones cartoon called Bewitched Bunny. Despite the fact that today we remember her being voiced by June Foray. Instead here she was voiced by Bea Benaderet. This cartoon was a parody of Hansel and Gretel. Bugs Bunny sees that the witch is planning to eat the children. Bugs saves Hansel (Hansel?) and Gretel but Witch Hazel decides instead to eat Bugs. Her next appearance would be a 1956 cartoon Broomstick Bunny also directed by Chuck Jones. This was the first time she was voiced by June Foray however it was not the first time June Foray voiced a cartoon witch named Witch Hazel. She had previously voiced a character with the same name in the 1952 Donald Duck short Trick or Treat in that film Donald gives his nephews a trick instead of a treat. With this a much more kind Witch Hazel get her revenge on Donald using magic. This was also not the only time June Foray would replace Bea Benaderet as the voice of a Looney Tunes character. She had also done the same with Granny, who Foray had just voiced for the first time the year before in This is a Life?. In Broomstick Bunny Bugs Bunny goes trick or treating dressed as a witch. Witch Hazel takes great pride in her ugliness and asks her mirror who is the ugliest of all is happy whenever it answers she is. However when Bugs knocks on the door, the mirror tells her "that creep" is uglier than she. Witch Hazel decides something must be done about this. Her next film was her first time not being directed by Chuck Jones with 1959's A Witch's Tangled Hare. This cartoon was instead directed by Abe Levitow. Abe Levitow had been one of Chuck's main animators and even co-directed some of Chuck's later films for Warner Brothers. After Chuck left the studio, Levitow would take over the director's chair for a few cartoons. These cartoons would feature Chuck's usual team of animators and writers,, as this one does. In this short Bugs and Witch Hazel fight using many references to Shakespeare's plays and with a Shakespeare wannabe watching. The last of her classic cartoons was released in 1966 and called A-Haunting We Will Go. This short was her first film not to feature Bugs Bunny. Instead her she works with Speedy Gonzales and Daffy Duck. Daffy Duck and Speedy were strangely paired together in a series of films at this time. This was just one of quite a few with this duo. Witch Hazel wants a vacation and so she casts a spell to make Speedy look just like her. Daffy on the other hand is trying to prove to his nephew that the woman in that house is not a witch. This film was directed by Robert McKimson. 

-Michael J. Ruhland       

Hubley Family Films

Today we are going to look at some films, involving the Hubley family. John Hubley had been a Disney background artist working on films like Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi. He would leave during the Disney strike of 1941, and became one of the founders of UPA. There he would direct the first Mr. Magoo cartoon. However he would be blacklisted during the Cold War era for his communist beliefs. He would then create his own studio called Storyboard. His partner would be his wife Faith Hubley. Faith had not had a career before this, but this would be the beginning of a great career for her. Animator Shamus Culhane wrote in his autobiography, Talking Animals and Other People, that he felt Faith brought a lyrical quality to these films. This is true, the films they made together are beautiful and remain unique in the world of animation, and even film today. The 3 films we are looking at today, have the voices of their own children. They would record a conversation of their kids and than build an animated cartoon around that.

Our first film for today is an Oscar nominated cartoon and a great work of art in it's own right, 1968's Windy Day. This was built around a audio recording of John and Faith Hubley's daughters, Georgia and Emily Hubley at play. Those familiar with the indie rock band Yo La Tengo, might know Georgia Hubley as the drummer for that band. Emily would later be the associate producer and one of the animators on her mom's only solo directorial feature film, The Cosmic Eye. She would also have her own career in animation, directing such films as the feature length, The Toe Tactic, and the shorts The Pigeon Within, Rainbows of Hawai'i, and The Girl with Her Head Coming Off. She would also be the animation designer and an animator on the animated segment in Hedwig and the Angry Itch. Windy Day is a lovely film. The dialog between the two girls is very charming. Towards the end of the film the conversation turns quite profound and beautiful. This is a great reminder of how much more intelligent kids can be than we we give them credit for. The whole film is lovely though and the whimsical animation fits the kids conversation perfectly.

  Next is another film that was based around a recording of Georgia and Emily at play this film is called Cockaboody. The whole film was animated by a woman named Tissia Davis. Who would also work with the Hubley's on the feature length animated documentry Everyone Rides the Carousel, and with Faith and Emily on The Cosmic Eye. She had previously been an animator in France working for directors like Jean Image. The animation ranges from Whimsical to more realistic depending a the mood of the dialog (a great device).  The kid's conversation captures perfectly the feeling of childhood. Overall this 1973 film is another lovely film from these four Hubley's and another work of great art.

Last is the earliest of these films, Moonbird from 1959. This film centered around an audio recording of John and Faith Hubley's sons, Mark and Ray Hubley, at play. Mark Hubley would later become an animator, working on two of his parent's films, Dig and Voyage to the Next, and would be a layout artist on two Hanna-Barbera TV shows, The Smurfs, and Monchhichis. Ray Hubley would become an editor on live action films such as Scarface and Dead Man Walking. The animators on this film will included one of John's fellow UPA directors, Robert Cannon, who had before joining UPA than the Hubley's studio had worked at Warner Brothers as an animator (as part of Chuck Jones' unit), and on Disney's feature length Melody Time (also as an animator). The other animator was an animator who began and spent much of his career with the Hubleys, Ed Smith. This is quite an imaginative and fun film and it won the Oscar for best animated short film.

-Michael J. Ruhland

"How to Play Baseball" With Goofy

So it seems like baseball has been all people have been talking about lately. This is great for people who like baseball, but these conversations can be intimidating for someone like me who heavily prefers cartoons to sports. How am I supposed to know what the heck these people are talking about? Luckily for me and my fellow cartoon lovers who are bored by sports, there was a very instructional film made to explain all the subtle nuances of the game perfectly for us. And to make this film all the more accessible to us it was done by the Disney studio and features Goofy himself.

Released in 1942, How to Play Baseball was the first "How to..." short staring Goofy that the Disney studio released as a stand alone short. Technically audiences saw How to Ride a Horse first. How to Ride a Horse was a segment in the Disney feature film The Reluctant Dragon. That feature was released in 1941, however How to Ride a Horse would not be released as a standalone film until 1950. However this short did introduce something new to the idea of these "How to..." films with every player being Goofy. How to Play Baseball came about in a rather interesting way. Samuel Goldwyn was producing The Pride of the Yankees and was very proud of how that movie was coming along. He contacted Walt Disney about making a cartoon specifically to accompany that picture. According to some studio documents Walt said he saw Goofy as the animated counterpart to the live action Gary Cooper. So production on the cartoon began. Jack Kinney was chosen as the film's director as he had also directed How to Ride a Horse. Jack Kinney was the perfect choice for a cartoon like this. He was easily at this time the director of the zaniest Disney cartoon shorts. His films were fast paced, funny and featured a wise guy sense of humor that the other Disney directors didn't seem to have. Probably Kinney's biggest competitor as the zaniest Disney cartoon director would be Jack Hannah who would make some similarly very funny and zany cartoons. However Hannah wouldn't began directing for the studio until two years after How to Play Baseball was released. Assigned to animate on this film were some of the studio's best animators. Les Clark, Ward Kimball, Ollie Johnston, Marc Davis and Bill Tytla all animated here. Tytla animated much of Goofy pitching in this film, Ward Kimball animated the batter being hit with the ball and Marc Davis animated Goofy biting the baseball instead of the chewing tobacco.

This is a fantastic short film and just a lot of fun to watch. It is often said that Warner Brothers and MGM made the funny cartoons while Disney made the cute cartoons. However this short shows that this wasn't always the case. There is nothing cute here but lot that is really funny. Also the humor is just as slapstick and satiric as what Warner Brothers or MGM were doing with their cartoons at this time. There are plenty of laughs here and I am certain any fans of slapstick comedy cartoons will enjoy this cartoon a lot.

So sit back enjoy and for those of you who (like me) don't like to watch sports learn about what everybody around you is talking about.


                                                            

(I have been alerted that the video I linked to has been taken down, so I redirect you to this link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3uq6ed. Sorry for any trouble. -Michael J. Ruhland)

      

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/baseball-featured-in-first-goofy-how-to-cartoon/

Spooky Cartoons #1

So with Halloween coming up today we are going to look at some Halloween and Spooky themed cartoons.

Our first cartoon today is a silent film. This short stars Jerry the Troublesome Tyke. Jerry was the first animated character to be created in Wales. He was created by animator Sid Griffiths and stared in at least 41 films from 1925 to 1927. The character never made it into talkies. However this does not effect that his films are still highly enjoyable today. This short is a "spooky" one about Jerry's encounters with spook. So enjoy Spoofing a Spook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYgtbn26Nz4


Next up comes a pure Disney classic and one of the most famous spooky cartoons of all time. This is The Skelton Dance. This 1929 short was the first cartoon in a new series. This was the Silly Symphonies. While almost anyone else would be happy to just make Mickey Mouse cartoons, Walt Disney wanted to expand his horizons. The idea itself came from the musical director for Walt at the time, Carl Stalling. Stalling not only had the idea to make a series of cartoons based around music, but also came up with the idea for The Skelton Dance himself. Walt loved the idea and work on the film began soon. Walt's main animator at this time was Ub Iwerks, who handled most of the animation. Also animating on this film was Les Clark and Wilfred Jackson. Les Clark would state that he animated the scene where a skeleton plays another skeleton's ribs, however he is also sometimes credited with animating the opening scene instead. On the other hand it is known that Wilfred Jackson animated the rooster crowing, because it would be reused in the 1931 Silly Symphony The Cat's Nightmare where documents let us know he animated it. After he parted with the Disney studio, Ub Iwerks would direct a remake of this film for Columbia called Skelton Frolics (1937). My fellow silent film enthusiasts may also be interested to know at this movies premiere at the Carhty Circle (June 10, 1929) it played with one of the all time lost gems in Cinema history, F.W. Murnau's 4 Devils. Unlike the Mickey mouse cartoons this film is a mood piece. There is not much in the way of comedy or story here, but there is a lot of atmosphere. This however is done so great that you hardly miss the comedy or story. The film pulls you into its brilliant atmosphere and never let's go.

Next up comes a cartoon that actually takes place on Halloween. This is a 1933 Betty Boop cartoon called Betty Boop's Halloween Party. Betty Boop's cartoon career started just two years earlier in a cartoon called Dizzy Dishes. That film starred the Fleischer Studio's main star of the time Bimbo. Since Bimbo was a dog in that cartoon Betty was a dog also, but a very human looking one. It wasn't long until she would become human, however Bimbo would remain her boyfriend. Her design was created by animator Grim Natwick and much of her personality was based on a singer named Helen Kane. Betty Boop's Halloween is a highly entertaining short with a lot to recommend it. This film shows what the Fleischer studio was best at during this time period. That means the film was full of brilliant imagination. The gags are surreal and fun, and there is no mistaking this for a cartoon from any other Hollywood studio. This cartoon is also a pre-code film (if you don't know what that means I direct you here), so there are a some risqué jokes that would not fly if this cartoon was made later.

  

Last is our only made for TV cartoon on this post, Spook A Nanny. This cartoon first aired in 1964 on The Woody Woodpecker Show. For the most part this show was made up of classic theatrical cartoon shorts with new bridging sequences. Spook A Nanny was the only cartoon made for this show. While it may not be as good as the Woody Woodpecker shorts of the 1940's there is still quite a bit to recommend here. The short is rather entertaining in its own weird way, and the song is really really catchy.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series by J.B. Kaufman and Russell Merritt

The Animated World of Winsor McCay

Winsor McCay is easily one of the most important, and most talented pioneers of animation. Contrary to some stories you might hear though he is not the first filmmaker to use animation (Emil Cohl, J. Stuart Blackton, Charles-Émile Reynaud, and Segundo de Chomón beat him to it).  However his importance to the history of animation can not be underestimated.

 Winsor McCay had already enjoyed much success before entering the field of animation, as creator and writer of the newspaper comic strips, Little Nemo in Slumberland, and Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend. These comic strips were the highlight of the comics page back then. They transcended what comic strips had been know for through their abundance of imagination, and expert drawing style. It is only natural for a man who created this to be attracted to the art form of animation.

His first film was Little Nemo (Also called Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics) based off his own comic strip. Released in 1911, animation was still a novelty, and McCay took full advantage of that. This film in fact starts out in live action with McCay betting he can make drawings move (although he incorrectly credits himself as the first to do this), and his friends respond with laughter and disbelief. The live action segment of this film is very clever, and humorous. The highlight of the live action portion though is seeing McCay draw his characters before the animation starts. This is when you know you are watching a great talent at work. The animation segment itself is very well done and entertaining, but it is a little dated. It is obvious he had not yet figured out what to do with animation, and that leads to a lack of understanding our characters, and therefore a lack of personal involvement. However this animation is expertly done. It is very appealing and still looks very good by today's standards. This entire segment was hand-drawn by one man, Winsor McCay himself. He drew four-thousand drawings all by himself for this one short segment of the film. The early color was achieved by hand painting the 35mm film itself after it was complete. this was also done only by McCay.



The most famous film Winsor McCay made is easily Gertie the Dinosaur (1914).  This film was actually a vaudeville act before it was in theaters. The act consisted of Winsor McCay talking to his animated dinosaur Gertie. He would tell her what to do and Gertie would do it (most of the time). This was translated to theaters by having an off screen narrator, who speaks through intertitles (since this was a silent film). This film has often times wrongly been called the first cartoon ever made. While this is not true (It isn't even McCay's first cartoon, it is his third), its place in animation history is still extremely important. The reason for this is Gertie, herself. She is one of the first animated characters that the audience was allowed to see think. Unlike the characters in Little Nemo, Gertie does not seem like she is just moving drawings projected on a screen, but instead like a real character that we know and relate to over the course of the film. This was the beginning of character animation, and probably the first successful attempt at it. Like Little Nemo this film begins in live action. Winsor McCay bets his fellow cartoonists that he can make a dinosaur come to life and boy does he.



  Despite the great success of Gertie, McCay decided to do something complete different with his next adventure into the world of animation. His next film was The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918). This was not only the first completely serious cartoon that Winsor McCay made, but also the first animated documentary. For a cartoon to approach such a serious event as the sinking of the Lusitania was unheard of at this time. For the animation McCay knew he needed to achieve much more realism in his animation. The amount of detail in the animation still remains an unbelievable feet. Due to this different style it took much more work and time than anything that had been before. Yet still the entire film was animated solely by Winsor McCay. This film remains a masterful and moving piece of patriotism and probably one of the greatest propaganda films ever made.



















-Michael J. Ruhland

Animated Feature Films Before Snow White

Though I cannot deny that the Disney animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a milestone in film history and a great movie, it is not the first animated feature film ever made. Why it is sad that this is often believed is because some of the animated features that came before are really good and definitely deserve more attention. That is why today we are going to look at these films.






El Apostol
1917. Director: Quirino Cristani. Writer: Quirino Cristani. Animator: Quirino Cristiani. Character Designs: Diógenes Taborda. Models: Andrés Ducaud.

El Apostol is believed to be the first animated feature film made. This was a silent film from Argentina. Unfortunately this film is lost today due to a fire in 1926. The film was a political satire about Argentinian president Hipolito Yrigoyen, and the film ran around 70 minutes.

Sin dejar rastros1918. Director: Quirino Cristani. Writer: Quirino Cristiani. Animator: Quirino Cristiani. Producer: Federico Valle.

Sin dejar rastros (or in English Without a Trace) was a silent movie from the same country and director of El Apostol. It is based on a true story of Baron von Luxburg and how he affected Argentinian history. It is unknown if any copies of this film exist today and the film is considered lost.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed1926. Director: Lotte Reiniger. Technical Director: Carl Koch. Animators: Walter Ruttman, Berthold Bartosch, Walter Turck, Alexander Kardan. Titles: Edmund Delco.

This German silent film is the earliest animated feature available for viewing and it is a delight. Through expert film making and subtle but extremely expressive character animation, this film tells a simple story in the best way possible. Director Lotte Reiniger started directing animated films in 1919 and specialized in a style of animation called silhouette animation. This was achieved by cut out figures made from cardboard. Each limb of these cardboard figures had wires attached, creating the onscreen illusion of these characters moving of their own will. The rest of the crew working on the film had amazing film careers themselves. Carl Koch would for instance be a co-writer for Jean Renoir's 1939 classic The Rules of the Game. Walter Ruttman and Berthold Bartosch would direct some films themselves. Ruttman would direct the 1927 classic Berlin: Symphony of a Great City and Bartosch directed one of the most brilliant animated art-house films ever made with the 1932 short The Idea. In The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Ruttman and Bartosch animated mainly on the special effects. Because of this Animation Historian Jerry Beck has referred to them as "the world's first effects animators". When originally made it was hard for the film to find a distributor in Germany. However a composer named Wolfgang Zeller got permission to book a showing at a concert hall with his own  music. Reviews from this showing were extremely positive and the film was picked up for a year at a theater in Paris. This was followed by the film playing all over the world.

  Peludópolis1931. Director: Quirino Cristiani. Music: José Vázquez Vigo.

Peludópolis is believed to be the earliest sound animated feature. This is another film from Argentina and directed by Quirino Cristiani. Unfortunately like his earlier features this one is assumed lost. It is another political movie, this time about Argentine president Hipólito Yrigoyen and how a group called The Radicals were trying to overthrow him.

The New Gulliver1935. Director: Aleksandr Ptushko. Writers: Aleksandr Ptushko, Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, Grigori Roshal. Cast: Vladimir Konstantinovich Konstantinov, Ivan Yudin, Shaolin Santiago. Cinematographer: Nikolai Renkoi Renkov.

This stop motion/live action hybrid was the first Russian feature to make extensive use of animation and the first mostly stop motion feature film released. This movie takes Jonathan Swift's famous book Gulliver's Travels and turns it into soviet propaganda. While this film's combination of stop motion and live action is well ahead of its time, it is really only of interest to film buffs with a special interest in the history of animation, or those who want to see soviet propaganda. All others will surely find this movie just boring.

The Adventures of Pinocchio Directors: Raoul Verdini, Umberto Spano.


This is a debatable film to put on this list because it was never actually finished. The film had production trouble from the start and simply seemed to be fated not to be. If released when it was planned to (1936) it would have been the first cell animated feature and the first animated feature from Italy. It would have also beat Walt Disney's animated adaption of Collodi's book by four years.

The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda1936. Director: Mikhail Tsekhanovsky.

Based on a poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin, this was the first hand-drawn Russian feature film. Sadly due to a fire only six minutes of this movie still exist today as the rest was destroyed in a fire.

The Tale of the Fox 1937. Directors: Irene Starevich, Ladislas Starevich. Writers: Irene Starevich, Ladislas Starevich, Roger Richebé, Jean Nohain, Antoinette Nordmann, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Voices: Romain Bouquet, Claude Dauphin, Sylvain Itkine, Léon Larive, Robert Seller, Eddy Debray, Nicolas Amato, Pons, Sylivia Bataille, Suzy Dornac, Jamie Palma, Marcel Raine. Music: Vincent Scotto. Cinematography: Ladislas Starevich. Animators: Irene Starevich, Ladislas Starevich. Editor: Laura Sejourné.

This was the first French animated feature, and the first feature to be completely stop motion. It is only appropriate that one of the directors was Ladislas Starevich, one of the pioneers of stop motion animation and one of the first filmmakers to prove animation was art and not just a novelty. Not surprisingly this film is a pure work of art and one of the all time great animated features. Sadly this is the only animated feature film he worked on. The film was originally finished in 1930, but it there were problems with its original French soundtrack. This film ended up being released in Germany and in the German language in 1937, and wouldn't play in France or French until 1941.

Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons1937. Cartoons directed by Wilfred Jackson, Burt Gillett, Dave Hand..

With no new animation and simply being some short films put together and released as a feature, it is very debatable to include this here. This film is made up of five of the Disney studio's Silly Symphonies cartoons (Flowers and Trees (1932), Three Little Pigs (1933), The Tortoise and the Hare (1934), Three Orphan Kittens (1935), The Country Cousin (1936)). It would be released in 1966 with four cartoons added (The Old Mill (1937), Ferdinand the Bull (1938), The Ugly Duckling (1939), Lend a Paw (1941)). Naturally as these short films are all great the feature film is a lot of fun to watch, but there is nothing new offered here, which leaves it out of most lists of Disney feature films.

The Seven Ravens
1937. Directors: Ferdinand Diehl, Hermann Diehl. Writer: Paul Diehl. Cinematographer: Alfonse Lufteck. Music: Walter Pepper. Animators: Ferdinand Diehl, Hermann Diehl.

This stop motion animated feature from Germany just barely makes this list as it was released earlier the same month as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This movie is based off of a story by the Brothers Grimm.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources UsedThe Animated Movie Guide edited by Jerry Beck
Animation Art edited by Jerry Beck 

Teen Titians Go! Movie and What it Might Mean

Ok so some of you might have heard about the Teen Titians Go! theatrical released feature film. For those of you not in the know, this will be a movie based off the Cartoon Network animated TV series Teen Titians Go!. This show is a hit show, but has also alienated many fans of the 2003-2007 Teen Titians TV series who hate this show with an undying passion. Naturally because of this show getting a feature film based off it many cartoon fans are extremely upset about this news. I on the other hand am not angry as much as curious. My curiosity isn't all dedicated to this simple film, but rather to what this means for other Cartoon Network shows. Many of you may be aware of a 2002 movie called The Powerpuff Girls Movie and based off the Cartoon Network show, The Powerpuff Girls. Well this movie when released did not do as well as expected either at the box office or with critics. Because of this Cartoon Network decided to stop production on any other theatrical released feature films based off their TV shows. And from that day forward, there has not been another theatrically released movie based off a single Cartoon Network show. This is why the announcement of a Teen Titians Go! movie for theaters got me thinking. This movie will be released July 22, 2018 and I have to wonder if it does well at the box office, will there be more movies based on Cartoon Network TV show based movies made for theaters? I don't have an answer to this but it is an interesting thought. Personally I want a Courage the Cowardly Dog movie, hey I can dream can't I?

-Michael J. Ruhland 

Happy 107th Birthday Disney Legend Ruthie Tompson

Today marked the 107th birthday of Disney legend Ruthie Tompson. She is best remembered today for her work in the animation camera department and her work on every Disney animated feature up to The Rescuers (before retiring in 1975). Despite this though her work with Walt began much earlier. As a little girl she lived in Hollywood next to the original Disney Brother's studio during the mid-1920's when Walt was making his series of Alice Comedy shorts. These shorts involved a live action little girl entering a cartoon world. Before the animated sequences these films would feature live action wraparounds. Ruthie got to appear in some of these and the Disney brothers (Walt and Roy) would get neighborhood kids to appear in the films for a quarter (Ruthie bought licorice with these quarters as she recalls).

Ruthie would become a full time Disney employee because she got a job (at 18 years old) at Dubrock’s Riding Academy. Walt and his brother Roy often played polo there and Walt would end up offering her a job as an painter. One of her earliest assignments was to put some finishing touches on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It wasn't long until she moved up to being an animation checker. By 1948, she would also enter the area of scene planning. Bob Broughton, who worked in the studios animation camera department would later marvel at how good she was at working with a camera. One of her most accomplished works was to find a way to make Mickey Mouse fully turn on screen.

She is still alive today living in Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills. She still enjoys herself by reading and making movies on her phone. Appropriately she spent today at Disneyland.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
https://d23.com/walt-disney-legend/ruthie-tompson/
http://abc7.com/health/disney-legend-and-centenarian-shares-her-longevity-secrets/2437354/

Walt Disney's Alice Comedies

Hello again fellow animation fans. I feel it is fairly safe to assume that many of you who would read an animation blog are also Disney fans. If you are a Disney fan, I feel it is more than worth your time to know about Walt Disney's work before Mickey Mouse or even Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. That is why today we are going to look at Walt's first series with reoccurring characters, The Alice Comedies. So enjoy as we look at three of these great films.

This series was a purposeful and not too subtle reversal of what Max and Dave Fleisher were doing with their Out of the Inkwell series. That series involved the animated Ko-Ko the Clown escaping into the real live action world. In the Alice Comedies a live action little girl named Alice would enter an animated cartoon world. Our first film today is the first film of the series 1923's Alice's Wonderland. Before this Walt Disney was making a series without reoccurring characters called Laugh-O-Grams. These were fairy tale parodies set in the modern day. They were made at the short lived Laugh-O-Gram studios. When Alice's Wonderland was being made this studio was having finical. Before the film was ever released to theaters the studio went bankrupt. Walt did find a distributor in Margret Winkler though. Winkler at this time was also distributing the silent era's two most popular animated series, the aforementioned Out of the Inkwell series as well as the Felix the Cat cartoons. Because of this Walt moved from Kanas City to LA to make his cartoons. This was the last of Walt's cartoons to be made in Kanas City. The live action little girl is played by a very charismatic four year named Virginia Davis. The animation is provided by Hugh Harmon, Rudolph Ising, Ub Iwerks and Carmen Maxwell. The short was directed by Walt Disney himself.

Our second film might be my favorite of the series, 1924's Alice's Wild West Show. Despite this being of the series' best outings it does not feature as much animation as the first film did. This is instead a live action short subject with some animated inserts. There is however a reason for this however. After moving to LA, Walt left behind the animators he had worked with earlier. This left Walt to do much of the animation himself. Walt while a talented animator had little confidence in his animation. Walt was also hardly as fast at this as were the animators he worked with earlier making the animation part to take longer to produce. Because of this at this time Alice comedies relied more and more on live action. This would soon change when Walt would get Ub Iwerks to move west with him. Ub was one of the greatest and fastest animators of all time and because of this when he came west animation would play a much more prominent part in the series. This film in many ways feels like one of the silent Our Gang shorts. This was very common for an Alice comedy of this period, as Alice was given a group of friends who resembled the classic comedy team and went on similar adventures. This is an excellent film full of fun and energy. So enjoy.

 
Our last film for Today is 1925's Alice Solves the Puzzle. One thing you may notice about this short is that Alice is no longer played by Virginia Davis. Virginia Davis had to leave the series and for the rest of the shorts Alice would be played by different little girls. This is the first one not to feature her. Here Alice is played by Margie Gay. Don't worry about Virginia though her film career did not end here, as she would appear in such films as Three on a Match and Weekend in Havana. She would audition for the voice of Snow White in Walt Disney's landmark first feature, though she would not land the part. However she would end up voicing some of the boys in the Pleasure Island scene of Pinocchio. She would also work as a live action reference for the Donald Duck cartoon Mr. Duck Steps Out by doing a Jitterbug dance. This short would also introduce a new cartoon character. This would be Pete who would later become Mickey Mouse's rival. Here he is called Bootleg Pete. So enjoy.




-Michael J. Ruhland


Resources Used Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age by Michael Barrier

http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/in-her-own-words-virginia-davis/

Winnie the Pooh Goes Visting

Hello again fellow animation lovers, today we are going to look at a film from a Russian studio that hopefully some of you are familiar with. The studio is Soyuzultfilm and the film is Winnie the Pooh Goes Visiting (also known as Winnie-the-Pooh Pays a Visit). While I am sure many of you like me first associate Winnie the Pooh with Disney, but since the character came from a series of books by A.A. Milne, more than one studio would end up using the character.

This film was directed by Fyodor Khitruck. Some animation buffs would even go so far as to say he is one of the greatest directors in the history of animation. He started his career with Soyuzultfilm in 1924 as an animator. However he did not direct a film there until 1961's Story of One Crime which is declared by many fans of art-house animation as one of the best animated shorts and with its razor sharp commentary even caused some controversy when it was released. Though many of Khitruck's films were definitely more artsy and experimental, he did make some more mainstream films as well. Such examples are his short Winnie the Pooh films, which started with 1968's Winnie the Pooh.

Our short today is Pooh Pays a Visit from 1971. This film is based off an A.A. Milne story of the same name. The cartoon is extremely charming. The characters are just as likable and well thought out as in the Disney version. This film also has very charming look to it. The backgrounds seem to be colored in crayon to emphasize that this is a world in a child's imagination, and it is extremely effective giving the cartoon a unique feel. Also adding to this are the simple but very expressive designs of the characters. There is also some great humor here. I particularly love the ditty that Pooh makes up. For fans of these classic characters this film is a must watch. 


-Michael J. Ruhland


Resources UsedAnimation Art edited by Jerry Beck

Figaro's Short Subject Career.

Though today it is common for characters created for Disney's animated features to appear in other Disney animated works, such was not true until rather recently and in fact such a thing was very rare for quite a long time in the studio's history. The only exception being the characters in Pinocchio. Jiminy Cricket appeared in yet another feature film called Fun and Fancy Free as well as appearing on The Mickey Mouse Club TV show and various educational films. Figaro on the other hand became a short subject star. He often appeared as Minnie Mouse's pet and made a comedy team with Pluto. Today we are going to look at 3 of these short subjects.

First up is his first appearance in a short film with 1943's Figaro and Cleo where he costarred with Cleo the goldfish (also from Pinocchio). This cartoon came about because of a scene cut from Pinocchio. This scene would have involved Figaro and Geppetto trying to eat Cleo while starving in the belly of a whale. Much of this scene though was animated and after this scene was cut much of this animation was used in this cartoon. An example being Figaro using his tail as a fishing hook to catch Cleo (animated by Fred Moore). The cartoon was directed by Jack Kinney who would have been the sequence director for that scene in the feature and this ended up being the last short film with the cat, Kinney would ever direct. This is probably the best of Figaro's shorts and features some great slapstick (thanks hugely to Kinney, who was one of the studio's greatest masters at cartoon slapstick). So enjoy.


Next up comes a typical example of the type of film Figaro would appear in under the direction of Charles Nicholas. While Disney's other two major short cartoon directors (Jack Kinney and Jack Hannah) of this time made films using fast paced slapstick and zany gags, Nicholas' cartoons were often times much softer and slower paced. However Nicholas' films still have their charms, especially the great animation from Disney masters. Much of the animation here is handled by Marvin Woodward and George Nicholas (who I do not believe had any relation to the director). Woodward animates such scenes as Figaro trying to volunteer and Pluto stealing his thunder, Figaro in the first aid kit, Figaro being hit by a cork and more. George Nicholas animates such scenes as Pluto chasing Figaro under the rug, Pluto falling on the slippery floor, Pluto getting hit by the cork and more. Charles Nicholas himself animates a few short bit in this film (Pluto pushing Figaro out of the way, Pluto getting mixed up with a roll of bandages and Pluto crashing under the bed. Other animators include Norman Tates, Harvey Tombs and Bob Youngquist. So from 1944 here is First Aiders.

 

Last is another cartoon directed by Charles Nicholas. This film is from 1946 and is called Figaro and Frankie. This film uses a rather usual storyline for a cartoon from this era. Figaro tries to eat a bird named Frankie. However while Jack Kinney and Jack Hannah would have used this story as a way to fit in as many cartoon gags as possible, Charles Nicholas here uses it instead to tell a simple story. Despite this though the "kiss and make up" part near the end (animated by Marvin Woodward) may make a cartoon fan think of Tweety and Sylvester's first cartoon team up (Tweetie Pie) released a year later, the scene here is not played for slapstick as it would be in that cartoon. Enjoy the film.
   


-Michael J. Ruhland


Resources Used
Pinocchio: the Making of the Disney Epic by J.B. Kaufman

        

Pica-Pau: Woody Woodpecker's Brazilian Movie

On October 5th a movie that features a classic American cartoon character is getting its first release, however my fellow Americans probably are not aware of this. That is because it is a Brazilian movie and a release in the US is not planned so far. This movie will be known as Pica-Pau: O Filme. This movie was directed by Alex Zamm (Chairman of the Board, Inspector Gadget 2, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2). Despite being made for a Brazilian audience it was made in Canada with some help from Universal Pictures and has also been shot in English. Though it is unknown when or if it will actually get a theatrical release in the US, it will get one in multiple countries. The movie is a combination of CGI and live action.

Here is the preview:

  -Michael J. Ruhland

A Couple Short Films by Caroline Leaf

Hello fellow animation fans, I would guess many of you are probably aware of the National Film Board of Canada. From the 1960's until today this studio has brought us some absolutely incredible animation ranging from slapstick comedy to art house animation. One of the most artistically daring directors to work for this studio was Caroline Leaf. She allowed her work to take chances and dare to be different. Because of this and her sheer talent as a filmmaker, her films will always have a place in my heart. That is why today we will look at just a couple short films she directed.

Oud first short is The Street from 1976. This is a fantastic and very touching adaption of Mordechai Richler's short story, written by Richler himself. For this film Leaf used a very different style of animation than pretty much anyone had before. She used color oils to animate directly on the glass beneath the camera. Leaf animated this film completely by herself. The style proved very effective and so did the film.

   

Our second and last short for the day is Two Sisters from 1991. This is a dark and disturbing tale about what happens when you take trying to protect someone too far. The film has a very abstract style of animation provided by Leaf herself (with an assistant animator, Jacques Sainte-Marie). This style of animation adds to the uncertain and dark atmosphere of the film. However I cannot properly describe this film in words watch it below to see why this short is so brilliant.





-Michael J. Ruhland

Porky Pig 101

Get excited my fellow Looney Tunes fans, something great is coming your way. This is a new Porky Pig DVD collection containing 101 classic cartoons staring everybody's favorite Ham, Porky Pig himself. 99 of these cartoons are black and white Looney Tunes and to add to that we have two color Merrie Melodies. Quite a few of these cartoons have never been available on DVD, VHS, or Blu-Ray making this a very exciting purchase. DVD commentaries will be provided by Jerry Beck, Mark Kausler, Michael Barrier and more. I do not know if there will be repeat commentaries as there were on the Platinum Collection (by the way Warner Brothers if you read this I will always be interested in doing commentaries for Looney Tunes (no I am not doing any for this set and haven't done any so far)). The set will not be available on Blu-ray, but only DVD. The DVD will be available on September 19th.

I have a special fondness for these black and white Porky Pig films as you can really see the filmmakers gradually work their way to what Looney Tunes would become later with a lot of experimentation on the way. Some of these black and white cartoons give a feeling of true comic energy and you can tell that the filmmakers had fun making these. With how big of a fan that I am of these cartoons, I am especially looking forward to this set and all the joy I know it will bring me and hopefully you as well.

You can pre-order it here:

http://www.wbshop.com/product/porky+pig+101+%28mod%29+1000645629.do?sortby=ourPicks&refType=&from=Search

By the way Porky fans let us all sing our praises to this great cartoon Pig to get ready for this set.



















-Michael J. Ruhland

Happy 83rd Birthday Donald Duck

Today is the birthday of one of Disney's best and most iconic animated characters, Donald Duck. Though these years his quick temper and love of fun have entertained us all (as well as his trademark voice provided originally by Clarence Nash) So it is only natural to pay tribute to him here.

Donald's film debut was in a 1934 Silly Symphonies cartoon called The Wise Little Hen. The Silly Symphonies were a series of musical cartoons that usually starred one shot characters. Donald was one of the very few characters from this series to really take off and get his own series. In this debut cartoon Donald was animated by Art Babbitt and Dick Humer. This also marks one of the few times where Donald's sailor suit actually makes sense. Donald's friend Peter Pig was also voiced by Clarence Nash and this cartoon was directed by Wilfred Jackson.
 

Despite this though Donald's real breakthrough as a cartoon star was as a supporting player in the 1934 Mickey Mouse cartoon Orphan's Benefit. In this film directed by Burt Gillett, Donald as animated by Dick Lundy does his first angry pose. With this quick little bit of animation the character was fully formed. As Mickey Mouse was becoming much more viewed as a role model for kids, he could no longer engage in any negative behavior making him harder to write as a comedy character, however Donald, who could never be confused for a role model, could get away with this stuff, allowing much more comedy to flow out from him. This cartoon also introduced the character of the hen Clara Cluck. It was remade shot for shot as a color cartoon in 1941, but here we have the original Black and White short.




Next up comes one of my favorite Disney cartoons of all time, a 1943 wartime film called Der Fuher's Face. This short was originally to be called Donald Duck in Nutzi Land. The title was changed when studio musician Oliver Wallace wrote a catchy song called Der Fuher's Face. This film was directed by Jack Kinney, who was a master at slapstick comedy and probally Disney's greatest answer to the wild crazy and very funny cartoons coming out of Warner Brothers and MGM at this time. While many people refer to the Disney cartoons as cute while Warner Brothers cartoons are truly funny, Jack Kinney (as well as Jack Hannah and Ward Kimball) proved that that wasn't always the case. This is one of the fastest paced, cleverest and all around funny cartoons to ever come out of the Disney studio.





Last but not least we have another wild and crazy Disney cartoon, that easily stands against the crazy comedy coming from other cartoon studios at this time. We are going to look at Clown of the Jungle. This film was directed by Jack Hannah, who was also a master of fast paced wild slapstick. Donald's adversary in this film is the wild and crazy Aracuan Bird, who had previously appeared in the Disney feature, The Three Caballeros. This cartoon released in 1947 is a very funny short that never fails to make me smile.




-Michael J. Ruhland

Old Town Music Hall: Vintage Animation Festival

Hello everybody and welcome to Back to the Drawing Board your home for Animation history, news and much more. The perfect way to start off this blog is with a festival that perfectly shows what we are about here, a love of animation.

At the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo, California this weekend was a fantastic film festival of 1930's cartoons. Now like many of you I grew up watching these cartoons on TV and loving them, but to see them in a movie theater (where they were originally meant to be seen) is a whole different experience and an even better one. When viewing these on a big screen and sharing the experience with many people who love these cartoons just like you do, somehow a different and even more addictive energy runs through one's body.

 Before the cartoons began a very talented man named Bill Field played The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, this was an organ specifically made to accompany silent films. It has many moving parts behind it and different from what you would see in a movie theater back then, we were actually shown these moving parts colored and on full display, no need to mention it was an incredible experience. After this we were lead in a sing along of many old standards.

After this animation historian Jerry Beck introduced these cartoons and gave great introductions to them supply us with many facts about the making of these films. Then the cartoons began. The set list included such classics as Betty Boop for President (1932), The Gorilla Mystery (1930, Mickey Mouse), Sinkin in the Bathtub (1930, the first Looney Tunes cartoon), I Love to Singa (1936, Merrie Melodies) Funny Face (1933, Flip the Frog),  Let's Get Movin' (1936, Popeye), Hold it (1938, Color Classics), Page Miss Glory (1936, Merrie Melodies), Katnip College (1938, Merrie Melodies) and You Outa Be in Pictures (1940, Looney Tunes). Each of these cartoons are fantastic and deserve a post of their own. Seeing them with an audience only made them better.

Afterwards I got to talk to Jerry Beck and he signed a couple of books (he worked on) that I had and overall this was an incredible experience. The Old Town Music Hall does this annually, so if you love cartoons look for this, it is a real treat.

-Michael J. Ruhland