Bozo’s furniture

P.S. Forget about the Disney furniture collection.
This Saturday you can bid on Bozo’s personal furnishings. The property of Larry Harmon (a.k.a. Bozo the Clown) is being auctioned off in New York by Tepper Galleries (click on the Sept. 8th preview for detailed information). Nothing too weird is listed, no 16mm prints of Laurel and Hardy, no cels of Butchy Boy. Just a bunch of classy furniture.
What a clown!

Magoo’s Christmas Carol

Calling all cartoon historians! Animator Darrell Van Citters is researching and writing a book about the classic UPA TV special Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. All primary interviews and research have been completed, but Darrell is now looking for anyone who might have additional relevant information, documents, artwork or photos regarding these crew members: Lee Mishkin, Sam Weiss, Steve Clark, Tom McDonald, Hank Smith, Ed Solomon, John Walker, Xenia DeMattia and Earl Jonas.
Anyone who has any information or artwork from either Magoo’s Christmas Carol or The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo is strongly encouraged to contact darrell.vancitters (at) renegadeanimation.com.

Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 5

I’d be remiss if I didn’t update Brew readers to the forthcoming Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 5 - which will be released on October 30th, available from your favorite online retailer or at a brick and morter video store near you.
Details of its contents have been floating around various websites for a couple of weeks. TVshowsOnDVD.com has the best listing - but even their information has a few omissions and errors: for example, the Snafu and Hook cartoons are actually part of Disc 3 (not Disc 2) and the Walter Lantz Hook cartoon, “Take Heed Mr. Tojo”, and the Private Snafu cartoon “Gas” are unfortunately not included, despite what others on the Internet have reported. There are a few things on the set that nobody has mentioned yet. Disc 1 has a bonus section featuring of over a dozen rare Bugs Bunny Show prime time TV commercials for sponsor General Foods, for such products as Tang and Post Cereals. I’m particularly delighted with the inclusion of these little advertising gems, most transferred from 35mm elements, which were produced during the waning days of the original studio.
And then there are the restorations (see comparison below: laser disc frame at left, DVD frame at right) and several newly restored original titles… but I’ll be telling you much more about that in the weeks to come. For now, mark the date: October 30th.

Ratatouille Art

A new Pixar film usually means another great Chronicle Art Of book and, at the other end of the spectrum, another neat looking Little Golden Book.
It’s easy to overlook the Golden Books - and difficult to find them - even in major bookstores. I just came across the Ratatouille one at my local Ralphs supermarket this morning. It’s a 24 page delight (especially for $2.99), with gorgeous art, credited to Scott Tilley, Jean-Paul Orpinas (illustrators) and Tony Fejeran (designer). As a long time fan of vintage Little Golden Books, the recent Pixar volumes are excellent additions to the collection.

Have you noticed how Pixar’s character merchandising art translates perfectly in two-dimensional and hand drawn versions? That’s due, of course, to the characters basic design and Pixar’s cartooning aesthetic. It’s also due to the calibre of artists assigned to create this ancillary artwork. One particularly cool looking publicity project was a series of images inspired by A.M. Cassandre’s vintage French posters, designed and painted by Stephane Kardos (above) and Eric Tan. It’s this kind of attention to detail, and sense of style, that keeps Pixar ahead of the pack - on screen and off.

Animation History Round-Up

Golden Age comics by animation artists Rod Scribner and Dan Gordon.
Even B-animation studios get love online: “Why we love Famous cartoons.”
Terrytoons animator Carlo Vinci: Artist first, animator second. A valuable lesson if there ever was one.
The greatest Warner Bros. background painter: Paul Julian.Ample evidence here, here and here.
Lovely pre-production art from Dick Williams’s Raggedy Ann and Andy.
Rubber hosey goodness: The Office Boy, a Flip the Frog short by Ub Iwerks.

Killer Koko

Mike Van Eaton’s latest acquisition is a killer. An original Koko the Clown drawing, apparently related to (or for) the 1922 film called The Mosquito,signed and dated by Max Fleischer. Click on image above to see a larger version. The intriguing inscription reads “My Dear Raoul, Here’s wishing you success with my new productions. Sincerely, Max Fleischer, 1922″
Raoul Barre perhaps? If anybody has a copy of “The Mosquito”, I would love to see if this is one of the opening drawings.

Bugs Bunny’s Autobiography

Once again the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive provides a new piece of the giant jigsaw puzzle that is the history of animated cartoons.
Steve Worth has scanned sections of a December 1945 issue of Coronet magazine which includes an autobiography of Bugs Bunny (illustrated with original images loosely based on the storyboards from A Hare Grows In Manhattan (released in May 1947). Anybody have any guesses as to who did the art?

Hanna Barbera Treasures

Here’s an early heads up on one of the several books I’ve been working on this past few months. It’s just been announced publicly in the latest edition of Diamond Comics Previews, so I see no reason not to mention it here. The Hanna Barbera Treasury is a unique coffee table art book celebrating Hanna Barbera’s legacy (mainly the 50s and 60s TV series) through visuals including original production art, rare merchandising material and obscure comic books. It’s shaping up rather nice, I’m having a lot of fun with it, and it’ll make a nice gift for that cartoon fan on your holiday list. It’s being lavishly produced by Insight Editions, the folks who did the Surf’s Up and Monster House coffee table books. Look for it to go on sale in October.

Popeye Song Folio

One of the best pieces of Fleischer Popeye memoribilia ever created was a 32 page compilation of sheet music, the Popeye Song Folio, published by Famous Music in 1936. Brotherly Love, Clean Shavin’ Man, I Wanna Be A Lifeguard, King Of The Mardi Gras, and of course, Popeye The Salior - and others - are each illustrated with a nice piece of art by one of the studio’s top artists (Willard Bowsky?). Coincidentally, with you know what going on sale next Tuesday, Brew reader Joe Busam has posted several of the best pages of the Song Folio on photobucket. These songs are great - and this is a perfect warm up to the restored cartoons which will soon be here.

Before and After

(Click on images above for larger version) The painting above left is original art from Fleischer Studios Technicolor two-reel special The Raven and how it may have looked on screen in 1942. The image at right is a blurry 16mm frame grab of the same shot - the way it looks today as it sits unrestored and essentially unavailable to view. ASIFA-Hollywood is working with the UCLA Archive to help preserve neglected films like this (and in fact, The Raven may be ready later this year). It’s a real crime that these animation classics are allowed to rot in the vaults of the mega corporations who own them. The Raven is one of the Fleischer’s lesser efforts, but can we really judge it in the horrifying condition as it now exists?
If you’d like to see a larger, more complete version of the gorgeous background painting above, click here. And for those of you who might like to own it, the piece is being sold at auction by S/R Labs sometime during October 22-23, 2007, along with more than 250 fine pieces of animation art like it. S/R is an animation art conservation center that specializes in restoring vintage cels and paper (as well as doing ceramic, porcelain and oil conservation). They do good work.

Yogi reads Playbear

Reader Lliam Amor spotted this 1968 Gene Hazelton Pete Alvarado (see Mark Evanier’s comment) Yogi Bear Sunday comic strip original on the Heritage Auction site and thought it was interesting because (a) “the great line work & paste up marks” and (b) “the fact that Yogi has no hesitation about reading Playbear in front of the young and impressionable Boo Boo…”

KidRobot does Underdog

Just in time to clear the stench of that current Underdog movie debacle from my memory cells, come these delightful KidRobot figures that restore the fun designs of the original characters.
Click here to see close-ups of (and get ordering information for) these cool vinyl figures of Underdog, Polly, Riff Raff, and Simon Bar Sinister. Like a breath of fresh air - these characters look great in three dimensions!

Raggedy Ann & Andy and Disney Dance Band

Don Brockway’s IsntLifeTerrible.com is a new entry on the blogging scene and well worth checking out. He’s done a couple posts in the past week that have caught my attention. The first is a nicely written appreciation of Dick Williams’s feature Raggedy Ann and Andy - A Musical Adventure which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The other post offers a stellar collection of downloadable MP3s of 1930s and ’40s British dance band recordings of Disney songs. My iPod thanks you Don.