Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- I’ve had a number of different spaces over the years, and I’ve loved them all. Here’s a recap of a post I did back in Feb. 2007 which showcases a couple of those spaces.

These are the only pictures I have of my very first studio. Originally I set up in an apartment leased by Richard Williams. I took care of his apartment while he was out of town (most of the time), and we did Woman of the Year out of that space. (You can see photos of that space here.) Once it became clear that I needed my own space, I found one in a building at One West 30th Street.

It was an historic building and a very interesting site. Every floor was decorated differently, and except for the second floor it was completely housing. The second floor had about half dozen office spaces. Two of them were Persian rug dealers with whom we spent time drinking a lot of Turkish coffee. (This area of NY features quite a few rug sellers.)

My office looked like something out of Sam Spade. All these steel and glass partitions broke the space up into two parts. In the photo above, I’m standing in the larger space (maybe 20 foot squared) which leads into the back area, my space. This was possibly 10×20. I loved it.

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The B&W photo above left is the only other picture I have from that space. The framed cels are from Woman of the Year; it sits above the end title image from Morris’ Disappearing Bag. Both of these were done in 1981-82. Hence this photo dates back to 1982. The color image above was taken this morning from the vantage of our current studio’s front door. The flowers are on the front desk.

Last week we saw a day of heavy snow/rain/sleet which left the City covered with 3-4 inches of iced snow. A week later it still covers most of the town. Garbage is piling up a bit more than usual and construction has slowed down – just a bit.

This is the front of my building. A gypsy fortune teller sits just atop the entrace to my space – down a dozen steps. There’s a knitting shop (red for Valentine’s Day) next door. They have a cafe wherein many women seem to gather to knit. (I’ve only been in the store once, but it’s usually filled into the late hours.)

This is the actual entrace down some icy steps.

Once you go down these steps you have to walk down an icy, outdoor corridor. On the left you can see this corridor from the street side. On the right it’s from the studio side.

Finally. from the front door of this studio you see this space. (I’m literally standing in the doorway.) This room has four stations equipped with drawing tables and computers as well as two other computer setups. The editing station is all the way in the back right. Matt Clinton, our principal animator on staff, works to the back left with Katrina Gregorius working just to his front. Christine O’Neill, my assistant, sits behind the flowers, up-front.

My room is in another room to the right.

- For some reason, whenever I step out into a newly snowed-upon setting, I feel obligated to take a picture. Consequently, I fill up the nearby Sunday Photo blog with snowy settings. Sorry about that.

It snowed this week. Not as heavily as they threatened on the newscasts, but it was heavy enough. (Right up to an hour before it ended, Al Roker was still forecasting 15 inches. We only had about 6.)
Regardless, it was white.

Memories of my first photography assignment in college – shoot white-on-white pictures – came rushing back. I didn’t aim for the white-on-white, but white was enough.

My first sight of 30th St. after entering the outdoor snowfest.

Park Avenue looking downtown from 30th St 6:30am.

Park Avenue bicycle rack.

My pictures were boring enough that I won’t get too tedious on you. But my friend, Steve Fisher, knows what to do with a camera, and he sent me some great stills, shot in Queens, that I have to share.

OK, let’s bring it back to Manhattan. Madison Square Park has had an art installation displayed for some time now. By sculptor, Mel Kendrick, Markers went up in September last year, but I wasn’t inspired enough to take pictures though it’s obviously monumental enough. It was supposed to have been removed at the end of December.

Now standing in snow, it looks different. The blacks look about 70% gray against the snow. Here it is. The writing comes from the official commentary by the Park.

Mel Kendrick – “Markers”

Kendrick’s Markers are cast in alternating layers of black and white concrete, resulting in bold striation that alludes to the layered stone found in Italian Gothic Cathedrals.

Standing over ten feet tall, the commanding scale of these sculptures echoes the grandeur of their home on the Oval lawn at the center of historic Madison Square Park.

By the way, HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve featured any photographs. Steve Fisher sent me a couple that I thought pretty extraordinary, so I’m posting them. It’s a late afternoon in Maspeth, Queens.

The sky seems to be saying everything.

The houses beneath the sky.

That “twilight” hour.

Late night Friday, the moon was full and big.

- Given the crazy weather lately, this post seems appropriate for repeating just now.

- The other day, to escape the rain, I found myself in the 8th Street subway station heading downtown. It was a BMT station which features a number of artist images done in tiles. Called Broadway Diary some 40 mosaics are featured on this subway platform’s walls. The art was created by Tim Snell who specializes in mosaics and murals.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

A number of themes appear in the grouped images. NYU is part of the
neighborhood, so it’s prominantly featured in many of the pictures.

A lot of the animal life of the area also appears prominently.

Some of the animals appear on a leash.

The busy shopping area of 8th Street is prominent.

The free flying hat makes me think of the 23rd St. station
and its murals by Keith Godard of free flying hats.

Many of the local shops are also featured.
This one was on the other side of the station.

Rain seems to play a part in a number of the pictures.

It’s a delight to be able to see this work while waiting for a train. (I was able to snap all these pictures before the next train arrived.) It’s a bit like the 20th century’s answer to WPA art. (These were all done before 2000.)
Let’s hope Obama initiates art projects to keep some artists alive while giving us some positive artwork.

- By far one of my favorite writers was the British author, John Fowles. I enjoyed The Magus, but with The French Lieutenant’s Woman he had me as more than a fan. His language, his intellectual arguments, his absolute respect for his reader all brought me back again and again to follow his every word. I spent time with a specific retailer in New York who specialized in Fowles’ books to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything that he published.

In 1985, on a vacation in London, I found a translation Fowles did of a French play, Martine by Jean Jacques Bernard, playing at the National theater. I hastily bought a couple of tickets to the show at the last preview, just prior to the play’s opening. Arriving early, there was an hour to kill before going into the theater. Fortunately, some vendors had set up book stalls selling used books, and I pleasantly sorted through the wares. Looking up from a book of Edmund Dulac’s illustrations, I saw John Fowles an aisle away. I was too timid back then to introduce myself and shake his hand. I just gloried in the knowledge that he was a brush away. The play was not memorable, but the evening was.

For a short while, Fowles wrote the text for a number of books which were really photographic essays. One of my favorites of these is one called Shipwreck. Featured throughout the book are historic photos of ships that crashed on the coasts of the Scilly Islands and West Cornwall. (Fowles was always dedicated to his home town of Lyme Regis.)

Here, I’m posting a few of the photos in the book because they are inordinately interesting to me, and I think you may also find them such. The text is by Fowles.

Seine
Ran ashore in Perran Bay (Perranporth), December 28th, 1900.
This beautiful ship was a French ‘bounty clipper’ – so called because
a government subsidy to French ship-owners allowed them to build
for elegance rather than more mundane qualities. The crew got off
in heavy seas. By dawn the next day she was dismasted and on her
beam-ends, and broke up on the next flood-tide. Two weeks later the
hulk of this celebrated barque was bought for only £42.

Mildred
Struck under Gurnard’s Head in thick fog at midnight, April 6th, 1912.
She was carrying slag from Newport to London. When she began to
pound broadside on, the captain and crew launched a boat and rowed
along the cliffs to St Ives. The Mildred, Cornish built and owned,
was launched in 1889.

River Lune
Struck in fog and at night just south of Annet (Scillies), July 27th, 1879 –
the same day as the Maipu. The master later blamed a faulty
chronometer, since he had believed himself fifteen miles to the west.
The ship heeled and sunk aft in the first ten minutes. The crew took
to their boats, but returned in daylight to collect their belongings.
This barque was only eleven years old. She broke up soon afterwards.

Jeune Hortense
Stranded near St Michael’s Mount, May lyth, 1888. The foreground
carriage is for the Penzance lifeboat. This sturdy brigantine lived
to sail another day.

Mohegan
Struck the Manacles, October 14th, 1898. One of the most dreaded of all reefs,
the Manacles (from the Cornish ‘maen eglos’, rocks of the church, a reference
to the landmark of St Keverne’s tower) stand east of the Lizard promontory,
in a perfect position to catch shipping on the way into Falmouth — and before
Marconi ‘Falmouth for orders’ (as to final North European destination) was
the commonest of all instructions to masters abroad. But the Mohegan was
outward bound, and hers is one of the most mysterious of all Victorian sea-disasters.
She was a luxury liner on only her second voyage, from Tilbury to New York.
Somewhere off Plymouth a wrong course was given. A number of people on shore
realized the ship was sailing full speed (13 knots) for catastrophe; a coastguard
even fired a warning rocket, but it came too late. The great ship struck just as
the passengers were sitting down to dinner. She sank in less than ten minutes,
and 106 people were drowned, including the captain and every single deck officer,
so we shall never know how the extraordinary mistake, in good visibility, was made.
The captain’s body was washed up headless in Caernarvon Bay three months later.
Most of the dead were buried in a mass grave at St. Keverne.

Blue Jacket
Stuck fast – and surely a classic example of the expression-on the
Longships lighthouse rocks off Land’s End, December 9th, 1898. This
tramp was in ballast from Plymouth to Cardiff. The captain went below
to his cabin – and his wife – at 9.30 p.m., leaving the mate on watch.
He was woken near midnight by a tremendous crash, and came on deck
to find his listing ship brilliantly illuminated by the lighthouse only a few
yards away. Captain, wife and crew took to their boats and were picked
up by the Sennen lifeboat. How the mate managed to play moth to this
gigantic candle-the weather was poor, but provided at least two miles’
visibility-has remained a mystery. The Bluejacket sat perched in this
ludicrous position for over a year.

Hansy
Wrecked in Housel Bay near the Lizard Point, November 13th, 1911.
Sailing from Sweden to Melbourne with timber and pig-iron, she missed stays
while trying to come about in a gale. The crew were brought ashore by
breeches-buoy. Two days later a salvage party boarded – to find a pair of
goats lying happily in a seaman’s bunk. Local fishermen did a thriving trade
in timber for weeks afterwards; and the iron pigs are fished up for ballast
to this day. The Scottish-built Hansy (formerly Aberfoyle) had had an
unhappy history. In 1890 the bulk of the crew jumped ship in Australia,
after a bad voyage out – only to be returned on board following a fortnight
in jail. Jail must have been more agreeable, for eight men jumped ship again
at the next port of call. In 1896 a steamer found the Aberfoyle drifting helplessly
off Tasmania. The captain had been swept overboard, the first mate had
committed suicide by leaping into the sea and the rest had given up hope.
Similar stories of low morale – and often of insane bitterness between
officers and crew – are manifold.

Susan Elizabeth
Driven ashore at Porthminster Beach (St Ives), October 17th, 1907.
A gale blew this collier’s sails out off the Mumbles. Less than three months
later the Lizzie R. Wilce and the Mary Barrow also had to beach here.

- I was just reminiscing about the steam rising in front of the Raggedy Ann studio and how irritated it seemed to make Dick Williams. Remembering that I’d written about this already, I searched out the piece and think it worth recapping. Here it is.

- Steam is the secret energy that runs my city. There’s an article in a local paper called The Gotham Gazette which describes the system in full detail. It’s a good read, so I urge you to go there if you’re interested in further understanding the system.

Atop ground we get to see steam leaking out of sewers, see giant pipes spewing steam into the air, and read about exploding steam pipes that cause damage. (There was a recent explosion at 42nd Street near Grand Central Station. Another in Murray Hill, a couple of years back, destroyed a building and closed a city block for several weeks.)

We pass by these steampipes and stewing manhole covers without thinking about it. It’s like some primeval force out of the Rite of Spring hiding underground.
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(Click any image to enlarge.)

For the times Con Edison is working on the system at specific locations, they construct barber-pole colored pipes which emit large bursts of steam into the air. That wonderful scent you get when walking into a dry cleaners often surounds these pipes.

Back when Raggedy Ann started, there was a very large construction and similar pipe steaming up the entire front of the Brill Building in which we were located. I seem to remember we were originally on the fourth floor, so any offices that faced the front of the building saw nothing more than steam flowing all day long.

Dick Williams had one such office; the conference room was another.

The steam would make a very loud SHUSSSHHH-ing sound as it flowed out. This was often accompanied by workers jackhammering their way underground.

There was a Saturday rush to complete the art for the rough animatic. Dick and Gerry Potterton and I were in the conference room for at least 8 hours madly coloring storyboard drawings with colored pencils. We had a great time laughing and joking and gossipping about everyone under the sun. I was a lowly Asst. Animator, but they treated me like an equal. It was fun, needless to say.

All day long that incessant SHUSSSHHH; all day long that steam flowing up and pass our large bank of windows. It was crazy-making.

Dick finally broke from a conversation we were having to scream out at the steam and the workers. He was sure that New York was ready to burst out and blow up underneath us. Gerry and I had a good laugh at the rant.
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Obviously, not all of these pipes are striped in the Con Edison orange and white. I found
this black, short pipe.

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You can see it coming out the sewer caps. Sometimes heavy, as in the left; sometimes
light, as in the right.

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Often close to invisible. I had to go closer to see the steam coming out of this cap.

This truck trailer has been parked on Fifth Avenue and 8th Street for a while. Apparently Con Edison isn’t supplying all the steam needs for the city.

I found this guide to where things are underground. It gives a good, informative view of what’s flowing underneath us in this town. Maybe it will blow up someday.

- Steve Fisher sent me two ways to celebrate Christmas. Here are his photos:

1. The commercial

(Click any image to enlarge.)

2. The Non-commercial (though safety-proofed)

The funny thing about that last photo is that I shot a picture of it
a couple of days before they actually installed the creche.

By the way, they’ve added the baby Jesus today,
Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas

- Last night it snowed heavily and has continued through to this morning (and is still at it.)

1 2
Looking up and down Park Ave at 30th Street.
Lots of plowing has already been done by 6:30am.

3
The view as I exit the West 4th Street subway station at 7am.
Not as much shoveling done on the sidewalk. Time to walk in the street.

4
Approaching my studio on Bedford Street.

5
Down the stairs and through the tunnel. This is my view.
I’ll have to shovel it later. For now, I’ll trudge through the snow about a foot deep.

6 7
There are a couple of steps as you get to the door of my studio.
Before stepping into it. Then looking back from the POV of the door.

Steve Fisher gets us back to Christmas with these photos
he took last night while the snow fell at it’s greatest.

And here’s one he took a few minutes ago.

Rather than posting more shots of snow, I thought it more in the spirit of the season to show the decorated trees of NY. I did this post in 2007, and since time and Christmas often stand still, those same trees are identically lit this year (but now covered with snow.) So I’ve decided to recap this past post.

– I thought for one edition of these sunday photo trips, I’d post images I’ve taken of some of the Christmas trees decorated around New York.

So, of course, we have to start with Rockefeller Center.
This is the most famous one we have. Since NBC is centrally located around this tree and skating rink, it’s been featured on TV forever. Saturday Night Live ice skating after one of the shows around the tree; Keith Olberman doing his news with the tree behind him, or even David Letterman telling viewers, for years, to go home there are just too many tourists there. The tree gets its annual plow of plugs.

My first REAL incident with this tree came a million years ago when I was still in the Navy, on home for Christmas leave. I was on a double date with a friend. The four of us at 2AM came upon the rink empty on not completely dark – just dimmer. There was the tree; there was the ice skating rink; there we were.

The four of us skating around the tree late night (without skates) brings back a fun memory. The security guard chased us away after ten minutes of our play. I suspect that I might be in Guantanomo Bay if I tried that today.

I was told that Rockefeller Center had installed some solar panels atop one of these buildings which would cover the electricity for the lights. This would make sense of all the additional lights this year. I don’t remember all the white lights, but I do remember that the tree was lit differently. This year it’s quite blue. In the past, it felt less color coordinated.

For those who haven’t seen it in person, the way to the tree is this alley lined with stores. The centerpiece has a lot of over illuminated angels blowing horns. This leads to the skating rink with the tree dominating the space.

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Looking 180 degrees from the tree, you see a wall of Saks Fifth Avenue. They’ve lit their wall with snowflakes, and it’s attractive as a backstop
for all the Rockefeller Center decorations.

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Don’t ask me why, but I’m a sucker for the tiny tree in Madison Square Park. I’ve posted images of this tree several times, and I’ll probably do it again.

This was historically the firsts lit public tree in the City. 1925 was the first ceremony, and
it was broadcast on radio.

Of course, any of us in the City looking to bring a real tree into our homes go to the local supermarket where groups of brigands have settled in for the season to make as much money as possible from trees they’ve brought to our local CTown, Food Fair or Gristedes.

- Last Tuesday, ASIFA East celebrated the work of one of New York’s finest, John Dilworth. It was a treat to be asked to speak for John about his earliest days. Since I was there, I took as many pics as possible. However, the place was pretty dark, so it took four times as many pics as I’d planned to get some that weren’t totally blurred out.

Here are a few which give an account of the show.

On entering, I was directed to a front/left row seat. Not the best
place to watch the show, but handy in making it to the podium.
As people assembled, up front, Elliot Cowan and Linda Beck covered a
table that was selling ASIFA-East calendars and Dilworth merchandise.
.

John D. checked out things at the podium before it started. You can
see that ASIFA operates out of a classroom at the School of Visual Arts.

ASIFA-East President Dave Levy started things off by making some
preliminary comments and introducing the first speaker . . .

It wasn’t Linda Simensky, who couldn’t make it. Elliot Cowan read a
letter she’d sent. Dave stood in the back trying to wrest our attention.

John stood off to the side grimacing at
every compliment or bad joke Linda offered.

Finally, the star of the hour came forward to make
his opening comments and introduce his first guest.

Howard Beckerman was one of John’s earliest teachers and
he’s now one of John’s best friends.

Howard introduced John’s Thesis short. After the short’s opening,
I was surprised at how great the timing was on this student film.
That’s usually something that takes a lot of time to get.
(Remember, also, this was in the pre-computer days.)

This was the view from my seat of part of the audience.
I was the next speaker (and there are no pics) and spoke about
John’s early days animating for me on Lyle Lyle Crocodile.

From the podium, you looked out into blackness.
You weren’t able to see any faces.

Fred Seibert followed me with a reminiscence of John’s pitch
for THE CHICKEN FROM OUTER SPACE.

That short became the series COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG
after it got an Oscar nomination for John.

Jody Gray and Andy Ezrin came up to play the music live
for NOODLES AND NED (1997). However, the task couldn’t be
pulled off and they just played some themes before showing the film.

John brought on a live band to play a song written
in homage to his latest film, RINKY DINK.

They’d also come on at the night’s end to play another 15-20 mins.

While the audience watched THE CHICKEN FROM OUTER SPACE,
John changed into his signature space suit.

The idea, he told us, is to have a
blast while you’re making the films.

While John spoke, Courage the Cowardly Dog snuck into the room.

John had paid to ship the Cartoon Network costume to NY
so that his elusive character could be properly celebrated.

After the show, a bunch of us went out for beer and hamburgers.
The evening had been a lot of fun, and John Dilworth had pulled it
all together. A different kind of ASIFA-East event to end out 2009.

- New York is an enormous spiderweb of parks and parklettes gathering within feet of each other. Of course you have the giants like Central Park or in Brooklyn Prospect Park or in Queens Forest Park or in the Bronx Van Cortlandt Park. But there are other, many other smaller parks. Some of them are a block or two large, like Bryant Park or Madison Square Park, but there are tinier ones. Many of them.

Within a two block radius from my studio, there are four of these tiny parks (and that doesn’t include the three children’s playgrounds or the basketball courts). Here are pictures of the four tiny parks:

a1
(CLick any picture you’d like to see enlarged.)

a2
The first of these parks is the newest. It’s a triangle of a space
right at the intersection of Houston St. & Sixth Avenue.

a3
It was originally fence-less. But then suddenly, ovenight,
it grew too many fences and not enough park.
Now, it’s a strange space.

b1
Half a block away, right at the tip of
Bleecker & Sixth Ave., is Winston Churchill Square.

b2
It’s a tiny little, tree congested space with a
beautiful orological statue in the center of it.

b3
This is probably the most peaceful of the parks and my favorite.

c1
The largest of the four and also relatively new
is Father Demo Square. This is right across the
street from Winston Churchill Square.

c2
This park seems the loneliest in that there’s so much space
between benches and so little foliage planted around it.

c3
It looks a bit better during the summer when the
fountain is going and the trees are green and in bloom.

c4
The park features a brand new, usually operating fountain
made of some new material trying to look like marble.

c5
This September, a local merchant told me I had just missed the
Yankees who been in this park. A few of the Yankees were out making
calls to a few NY neighborhoods to reach out and support some of the
local charities. Now I think of the Yankees when I think of this park.

d1
There’s a fenced in lot of greenery named Minetta Green (part of
Minetta Triangle.) I’m not sure if it is open to the public, though
I assume it must be.

d2
I just never see anyone in there, and I don’t see a gate. Although
I would guess there must be one. (I’ve just never looked hard enough.)

It’s about 20 feet wide by about 120 feet long. Narrow.
It’s right across the street from Father Demo Square.
All of them so close to each other.

- While out photographing I ran into Judy and Roberta Levitow.
I should have taken their picture. I’ll see them Tuesday night for the event at The Paley Center, the panel devoted to Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. I hope NY turns out for this event. I’m looking forward to it and hope to snap plenty of photos.