Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- I’ve long been a Laurel & Hardy fan. I think it’s great for animators to study this pair for their incredible timing and movement. It was kind of a surprise to receive the following material from Bill Peckmann, and it didn’t take much decision to choose to post it.

Let me allow Bill to introduce the material, himself:

Here’s something that might be a pleasant surprise to your readers who are Laurel & Hardy fans. Attached are the 8 x 10 black and white glossy stills (10 of them) from a L&H silent two reeler titled “Liberty”. It’s considered one of their best silent shorts.(I’ll vouch for that. Back in the late ’60′s we used to run it at lunchtime at work (Focus Design) and it always brought tears to everyone’s eyes who watched it. A side perk was the fact that animator Jack Schnerk, ex LA resident, was able to tell us where all of the outdoor city locations were that they used to film the L&H shorts.)

To give some background to “Liberty”, I’ve included an excerpt from Randy Skretvedt’s excellent (my all time favorite) Laurel and Hardy book “The Magic Behind the Movies”. (1987) I believe it’s still available in paperback. (Note: three names connected with the film, Leo McCarey, George Stevens and Jean Harlow.)

Because these marquis/publicity photos are printed from still camera film negatives (no dots), they have a great personal “Family Album” feel to them.

The book’s cover

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The stills are production stills and don’t come from the book.

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In escaping from jail, they mistakenly put on each others’ pants in the taxi.

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That’s a young Jean Harlow outside the taxi.

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They spend the rest of the film trying to get into their own pants.

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“BennyZ” left a comment about this still, which I’ve found on-line
and have added to the post just to complete them.
(Thanks to: www.christiankessler.de/laurelhardy.html)

This material was sent to me by Bill Peckmann. Here’s Bill’s note accompanying it:

In a couple of days Dean Mullaney and and Bruce Canwell‘s Genius Isolated, a book about the work of Alex Toth, will be hitting the bookstores. This is certainly going to be a GREAT tome given the track record of dedicated work of the authors. (Early reviews bear this out.)

To celebrate the book here’s one of Alex’s Dell/Disney comic books. It’s the 1958 adaptation of the Disney movie Clint and Mac.

Alex was a big Robert Fawcett fan and I believe the 30 year old Toth had Fawcett on his mind when he illustrated this comic. There are so many beautifully designed panels on these pages. Sorry about the slap dash coloring of the book, but that’s the way Dell did it in those days, though the computer screen helps a lot.

One page of this magazine appears in the book. Here, you’ll get to see and read the whole thing. This is the first half of the book

The magazine’s cover

Inner cover

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Many thanks to Bill Peckmann for this rare piece of the Alex Toth collection.

- Harvey Kurtzman produced a piece for Pageant magazine back in 1960. It was a telling of Pinocchio with that distinctly Kurtzman touch. Bill Peckmann recently pulled his copy of the magazine off the shelf, dusted it off and sent scans to me. So all I have to do is take pleasure in posting it. Enjoy.

The cover of the magazine.

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- I have to admit I’ve been a bit remiss. I was handed a copy of a brilliant new book and would have liked to have reviewed it much sooner than now. However, the book is so gorgeous that it’s hard to say much more than that about it. But I will.

The book is titled: Robert Fawcett, The Illustrator’s Illustrator and it couldn’t be more appropriately labelled. Fawcett was
an illustrator who started selling in 1927 and continued on until his death in 1967. He worked for all the major magazines and entertainment groups.

Although Fawcett and Norman Rockwell worked at the same time, they were two sides of the coin. Rockwell illustrated mom, hearth and apple pie; Fawcett illustrated men, war, danger and action. He was the consummate draftsman and an inspiration for many illustrators who followed after him.

The text clearly covers Fawcett’s biography but it also goes into depth about his drawing and painting techniques. It’s thoroughly researched and well written to convey the artist’s process. There’s also a method to the arrangement of images so that you can see a repitition of poses, and some of the themes of the artist. It’s a well thought out book.

I’ve chosen a number of illustrations from the book to give a wide range of examples from his work. I think these will speak plenty for the volume, which is filled to the brim with well framed and positioned images.

Also included in the book is an interview done with Robert Fawcett by Mary Anne Guitar for Famous Artists Magazine, Vol.8, No.4, Summer 1960.

I have to applaud the key people responsible for this book. They include:
David Apatoff who wrote the text.
Manuel Auad who edited the book.
Walt Reed who wrote the Introduction.

An early commercial assignment for Fawcett.
Illustration for “Eight Bells” by Frank Waters. (1927)

Another early commercial sale, the book illustrations for
“Young Hickory” by Stanley Young. (1927)

An interesting piece presented by the book’s authors.

Day of Vengeance by Noel Langley
for Saturday Evening Post, April 10, 1948.

Counterfeit Marriage by George Tabori
for Saturday Evening Post, June 11, 1949

Prisoners of the Plain by Geofrey Household
Saturday Evening Post, October 31, 1947

Dawn Pursuit by Wyatt Blassingame
for Saturday Evening Post, March 1951

First preliminary sketch and the Final sketch for The Pride of Beauty.

The Priide of Beauty by A.J. Cronin for
Woman’s Home Companion Magazine (1955)

The Myna Birds by james Michener
for Holiday Magazine, (date unknown)

Mutiny In Paradise by James Michener
for This Week Magazine May 5, 1957.

If the South Had Won the Civil War
Look Magazine, November 22, 1960

Story illustration, date & title unknown.
This Week Magazine

Run From the Hangman by Geofrey Household
Saturday Evening Post, March 10, 1951

Preliminary sketch for Center Air Conditioning Refrigeration
Date unknown

Center Air Conditioning Refrigeration advertisement
Date unknown

Center Air Conditioning Refrigeration advertisement
Date unknown

Many thanks to Bill Peckmann for getting a copy of this beautiful book to me. I wholeheartedly suggest you try to get a copy. It belongs in the hands or on the shelf of every working artist.

- Bill Peckmann recently came upon a collection of New Yorker cartoons from 1937. Since we’ve been running some artwork by Peter Arno and Whitney Darrow Jr., we thought it’d be interesting to grab the cartoons by these two from that year. To put it in perspective, remember that 1937 was the year that Snow White was released.

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- Last week we posted a couple of “Bingbang Buster” stories from the “Black Diamond Western” comic books. These strips were done by Basil Woolverton. The Blacxk Diamond Western covers are by Charles Biro. Here are two more stories from June and August of 1950.

We’ll finish up with Jack Davis‘ story for “Mad” comic books. The “MAD” cover is by Harvey Kurtzman.

These, of course, come from the immense collection of Bill Peckmann. I’m grateful to him for the scans and the loan to post them.

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On posting some of Grant Wood‘s illustrations last weeik, Eddie Fitzgerald commented that:”‘Death on the Ridge Road’ might have been the inspiration for one of my favotite Bill Peet illustrations in (I think) ‘Chester the Worldly Pig.’” Bill Peckmann pointed out that the book is probably not “Chester the Worldly Pig” but “Jennifer and Josephine.”

Bill’s scanned a good half of the book’s illustrations leading up to the point where the Wood painting and the Peet illustrations come close to matching. It’s good to see what was so obviously Peet’s influences.

Grant Wood’s DEATH ON RIDGE ROW.

Cover of the book.

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Thanks go to Eddie Fitzgerald for the reference in the comments.
A bigger thanks goes out to Bill Peckmann for the search and the scans.

- – Here’s the last half of Whitney Darrow Jr.s book, The Unidentified Flying Elephant. (To view Part 1, go here.)

The book is a gem from Darrow who was a longtime cartoonist for The New Yorker Magazine. Perhaps in an upcoming post I should showcase some of those cartoons. I have a number of them lying about the studio. His brilliant laine work makes it a learning lesson just to view them.

This book comes courtesy of Bill Peckmann, and I’m most grateful.

Hope you enjoy it.

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As a bonus, here’s a clip from The Saturday Evening Post circa 1960.
Part of an ad done by Whitney Darrow Jr. for an insurance company.

- Bill Peet‘s Capyboppy was published in 1962. It’s one of the best examples of his book illustrations. The images are all B&W and are strong drawings, all.

The book feels like a close relative to Bill Peet: An Autobiography. (For those of you in animation, you ought to have a copy of this book on your bookshelf. It’s one of the finest biographical books by an animation veteran, and it’s completely illustrated by him. It’s an original.)

Once again, I don’t post Peet’s writing; you’ll have to get the book for that (and it’s worth it.) I do, however, summarize the story under each illustration so that they make sense.

To view the other parts of this post: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

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We worried about Capy’s depression. He just sat there
doing nothing and couldn’t be pulled out of it.

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The same continued the next day. Steve was already there feeding him and
giving him water, but Capy didn’t move. We only knew he was alive by the breathing.

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On the second morning, things remained the same. we heard from Tommy.
His head was better and he wasn’t mad at Capy for hurting him.

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By the third day, Capy had gotten better. He sat up and was
drinking water and eating a little food. He seemed to be happy.

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Meanwhile Tommy had become a local celebrity. His scar from Capy’s scratch
was a hit and every kid wanted to see. We were afraid other children would
want to be scratched by Capy and we began to think how we could avoid this.

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I suggested donating Capy to the Los Angeles Zoo.
Margaret said that’d be like sending him to prison. Why not send him
back to South America with a note that he should be released into the jungle?
Then she suggested we bring him there, ourselves.

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We agreed. But we worried that Capy wouldn’t survive in the jungle.
He’d want to play with the other animals, and they’d want to eat him.

At this point, Bill, our son, returned from Mexico.

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We discussed the problem with Bill and we tossed and turned
over the decision for many days. Finally, one day Bill picked up
Capy and put him into his jeep. He drove him to the Zoo.

Margaret cried, but aI reminded her that the Zoo was only a half-hour’s
drive away and we could visit him any time we wanted.
On the third visit, Capy shared his pen with a pair of huge hippos.

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The zookeeper told us it wasn’t a mistake, and
Capy even rode around on their backs.

We watched as Capy and a hippo fought over some grass to eat.
The hippo won and we worried that Capy would go hungry in this pen.

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So we sat across the way on a park bench until feeding time.
The hippos were playing in the pool and Capy was having a feast.
We should have known the ultimately Capy would have his way.
If anyone was to have his way in the pen it’d be our Capyboppy.

This posting concludes Capyboppy. Many thanks to Bill Peckmann for introducing the book to me and sharing it with all of us.

- I was recently thinking about Grant Wood. This came out of my reading the biography of Maurice Noble by Robert McKinnon. And from Maurice Noble I thought about Paul Julian‘s great background work. Julian, and for that matter Noble, both look as though they were greatly influenced by Grant Wood..

So it was a surprise to receive a number of scans of work by Grant Wood from Bill Peckmann. We seem to be on the same wavelength. So I’m devoting today’s blog to this book of images from Wood. I think he influenced quite a few of the animation designers of the 40s and 50s.

The cover of the catalogue.

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Spring Turning 1936

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New Road 1939

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Haying 1939

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Stone City, Iowa 1930

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Death on the Ridge Road 1935

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Midnight Ride of Paul Revere 1931

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Fall Plowing 1931

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Autumn Oaks 1932

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The birthplace of Herbert Hoover 1931

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Iowa Landscape 1941

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Plowing 1936

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American Gothic 1936

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Self Portrait 1932

Many thanks to Bill Peckmann for sharing these works with us.