Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- Last week I posted the first part of this display of comic book covers (front and back) drawn by the inimitable Walt Kelly in his pre-Pogo days.

As he completed the series of Fairy Tale covers, he moved into Mother Goose and then The Brownies. There’s a charge I get looking at the brilliant draftsmanship on display here. The man could draw. We knew this from the quality of the art in Pogo, but these covers give us a different light in which to view this artist. It’s a great trip to waltz through the years 1942 – 1948 with Walt Kelly seeing the progression of his comic art.

As I mentioned last week, these covers were copied in the 1980′s by Bill Peckmann from the great collection of John Benson. Bill has loaned them to me, and I’m sharing.

Front cover__________________________ Back cover
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Mother Goose develops after the Fairy Tale comics.

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Mother Goose becomes a holiday item.

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An Easter version of Mother Goose

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The Brownies debuts

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- I’ve not paid much attention to Errol LeCain lately, so I thought it might be amusing to revisit a book that I only touched on in the past. Le Cain illustrated two books out of T.S. Eliot’s book of poems, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. See the first post here.

In one of the two books, Growltiger’s Last Stand, three of the poems are illustrated. In my initial post, I only offered the illustrations from one of the the three. To amend for that, this post will include illustrations from the other two.

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Of the Awful Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles

The Song of the Jellicles

- Last week I posted the first part of a two-part article written by John Canemaker for the magazine, Cartoons, the International Journal of Animation published by ASIFA Int’l. The two part article appeared in the Winter 2006 and Spring 2007 issues. (See Part 1 here.)

John Parr Miller worked at the Disney studio from 1934 to 1942 as part of the Character Model Department run by Joe Grant. After Miller’s service in WWII, he designed and illustrated many children’s books and he continued in that field for the remainder of his life.

This is an extraordinarily well-researched article by John Canemaker, and I’m pleased to post it here for all those who don’t have access to the magazine, Cartoons. Thanks go to John for his permission to post both parts of the article.

With more of a focus on his children’s books, this is part 2:

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- John Canemaker contributed a two part article on J.P. Miller to Cartoons, the International Journal of Animation published by ASIFA Int’l. The two part article appeared in the Winter 2006 and Spring 2007 issues.

John Parr Miller was a designer who worked at the Disney studio from 1934 to 1942 as part of Joe Grant’s elite Character Model Department. After his service in WWII, he became a children’s book designer and author remaining in that field for the remainder of his life.

J.P. Miller’s career at Disney’s is not something we often hear about, and I think the information in John’s extended article is so valuable that it has to get out there even further and be shared more openly. Consequently, with John’s permission, I’m posting both parts.

This is part 1:

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- You’ll remember that I did a couple of pieces on the illustrator Vernon Grant. He was the original designer of Snap, Crackle and Pop for the Kelloggs Corp. back in the late ’30s, and I featured a post on the history of those characters.

I followed that with one on his Mother Goose book. There, I posted some of his uniquely styled illustrations for that book of Mother Goose rhymes.

Both those posts were heavily dependent on some great material loaned me by Bill Peckmann from his remarkable collection.

Vernon Grant was also drew Santa Claus. He seemed to love drawing St. Nick in many different incarnations. This is something we share. Whereas I confine myself to many varied Christmas cards, he has a perennial best selling picture book, Vernon Grant’s Santa Claus, that’s been on the market for many years. Bill Peckman recently sent me a copy of the book to scan and post, but I’d already had my own copy. I’ve decided, here, to post about half of the book. I’m particularly interested in Grant’s illustrations prior to the ’50s. Conseqeuntly, I’ve chosen to select only those illustrations that were done in 1953 or earlier, and I’ve placed them in chronological order.

Not all of the images are of Santa Claus. Hence in organizing them by date, we have to start off with a beauty but one that doesn’t feature Santa.

Hi-Ho! For a Merry Christmas – 1932

I got your letter – 1934

Empty pockets – 1936

How sad! The Depression hit Santa, too.

Merrie Minstrels – 1937

Santa’s Special Delivery – 1940

Season’s Greetings – 1942

Untitled – 1946

This one is untitled, but it’s far and away my favorite.

Is It My Turn Yet? – 1946

These last two are too Norman Rockwell for my taste.
But it shows the direction Vernon Grant and America were taking.

Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – 1953

The song “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” written by Tommy Connor
was a smash hit in 1952. The smash singer was Jimmy Boyd (who later
grew into the role of “Jimmy” on the original Mickey Mouse Club.

Vernon Grant obviously built on the song title.
It looks like a Coca Cola ad of the period.

- We’re starting to wind down on this delightful book. It’s Tanya Usvayskaya‘s drawn diary while she worked for Yuri Norshtein‘s studio. This book caricartures the small family within the studio and Norshtein’s world during that period.

Richard O’connor, whose Asterisk Productions does wonderful animation of their own, gave the book to me as a gift, and I’m pleased to share it with you.

Note that the translation by the Japanese publisher isn’t always the best, but it does capture the gist of the original Russian. I’m transcribing the book without alterations.

The first four parts of the book can be found here:
Norshtein Comics – 1
Norshtein Comics – 2
Norshtein Comics – 3
Norshtein Comics – 4

Here we continue with a chapter on “Pirat,” the studio’s dog:

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Chapter 5: My Friend, Pirat!

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“Run! Pirat let’s go bathing!”
Spring! On trees are first leaves.
Tanya says “Let’s go to the class. It is Nazarov today!
Norshtein is hurried to a lake,
while Tanya is not.

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“I wish he would give it to me.”
Norshtein is thoughtfully breakfasting dry “Hercules.”

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“It’s wonderful!”
Nazarov brought cheese that smelled badly as a gift for Norshtein.
Everyone in the studio ran away to fetch gas masks.
So only Pirat shared the joy with Norshtein.
The director mumbled it
smacked it and muttered with opening his eyes.

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“Goodbye, flea!”
Pirat washes himself
with shampoo against fleas.

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“Yes, eh, I . . . have decided to cut my hair myself.”
Norshtein was observed in front of a mirror in a strange pose.
“Yuri Borisch, what is the matter with you?”

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“Valya, I know you prefer a rabbit.”
Pirat, not Tanya, writes a report about the studio.
[Norshtein and Valya Olishvang are taking the rest from shooting the film.
Good night, children. They are swimming on the lake in the winter.]

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“It is OK !”
Norshtein dislocated his leg and stretched the leg
in the corridor under the direction of Pirat all day.

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“Good night, children !”
Norshtein says that at some moment,
characters start to live by themselves.

- For the past two weeks I’ve been posting the dummy of a book written and prepared by Bill Peckmann and Rowland B. Wilson. It didn’t find a publisher back in the 1980s when they were seeking one, but the book survives. And it’s a gem.

The first couple of pages were done in a color, as a sample, and the remaining were left as line drawings. The beautiful artwork of Rowland Wilson reads as clean and sharp as ever. This wordless book rips at a breakneck speed and tells a real animated story that would have made for a wonderful children’s book. Imagine a child sitting on a parent’s lap and the dialogue they could have had in developing this graphic story. (It also would have made a great animated short!)

I’ve really enjoyed posting this, and I thank Bill Peckmann for allowing me the opportunity of doing so. You can see Part 1 here.
You can see Part 2 here.

As with the past post, we start with the last drawing of Part 2.

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And just to put everything in proper perspective, here’s a letter they received from Houghton Mifflin rejecting the book. He was Rowland B. Wilson, for god’s sake!

Bill Peckmann added this background info: “The rejection slip from
Houghton Mifflen really hurt the most because our thinking at the time
was that since they were publishing Bill Peet’s books (my all time
favorites), we thought they would understand the concept of “Robert”
better than anyone else. Go figure”

- Today we continue with this magnificent, yet unpublished, book that was written by Bill Peckmann and illustrated by the late, great Rowland B. Wilson. The book almost reads like a dialogue-less storyboard.

Posted the way it is, the piece moves with all the speed of fast paced cartoon of the forties, and is drawn and composed with as much grace.
This is a treat to post, and I thank Bill Peckmann for the chance to do so. You can see Part 1 here.

I begin this entry with the last image from the last post.

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One more part to come, next week.

- Bill Peckmann collaborated with Rowland Wilson, back in the early ’80s, on a charming little book for children that never found a publisher and, consequently, never was completed. Bill had a bound copy of the book – in a mockup form – and sent it to me. I, naturally, would like to share it.

So here’s the first part. There are about 90 pages, so it’ll probably take three posts to complete them all.

First, here’s the note on the inner sleeve of the cover:

ABOUT BEDTIME FOR ROBERT, A WORDLESS BOOK
Bedtime for Robert is intended to bring to small children an early experience of the special personal relationship one has to a book; the availability and flexibility that a book enjoys over a fixed-time medium such as television.

Being wordless, the book needs no translation. The child has access to it at any time without relying on adults. This early exposure to the physical reality of books will, we believe, enhance the experience of reading later on.

The story combines the pull of a narrative with information that appeals to a child’s curiosity: in this case what goes on at night in the adult world. Although the child must go to bed (reluctantly), Robert the cat’s curiosity leads him into this forbidden adult world. Robert is all cat with cat qualities, not a little person in a cat suit as most cartoon cats are. The child can project his own emotions into the character.

The authors are booklovers with extensive experience in both print and film. We have both won Emrnys and other awards for our animation designs for educational TV.

We believe this is the first book to utilize the principles of film continuity in a printed form. This continuity is vital to the understanding of a narrative without the aid of words.

The use of film pacing supports the unfolding of adventure and humor in a wordless story.

The book is planned to be in color. The pages up to 17 are in finished linework and the rest is in rough layout form.

Robert is conceived as a series. The character and structure would remain constant. The variables would be in the cat’s adventures in various places, seasons, times of the day, and occupations.

Please contact either of us at the addresses below. This is a simultaneous submission.

Yours truly,
Rowland Wilson
Willi Peckmann

Here, then, are the first 20 or so pages. You’ll see immediately how original this book is:

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Rowland was so brilliant with color; it would have been wonderful if he’d been able to complete the book. At least we have this much.

Many thanks to Bill Peckmann, again, for sharing this gem.

- It’s Saturday, so it’s time to continue with Tom Hachtman’s strip, Renaissance Masters. We started posting this last Saturday; (go here to see Part 1.)

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