Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

There was a time when Christmas Specials lit up CBS TV, and a few dotted the other networks prior to Christmas. But then cable came, and everything changed. The same one or two shows bounce around the fringes of cable: The Grinch (with and without Jim Carrey), Charlie Brown’s Christmas, Rudolph.

Last night I actually was looking for one of those little shows, say a Rankin-Bass bad/gem – maybe Frosty The Snowman, or The Night Before Christmas (ycch!). But no, not even a soapy live-action film on the Hallmark Channel about Christmas. One of the hundred-odd versions of The Christmas Carol; definitely no Mr. Magoo. All that I could find was Jim Carrey as the cartoon Grinch on A&E and the 2000th rerun of A Christmas Story – this time on TCM sans commercials. There was also a short, mean, clay animated program “mocking” all the Rankin-Bass shows by animation expert, Seth Green. Nastiness was certainly not what I was looking for. I’m sorry to say I didn’t even have a Christmas dvd at hand.

Presumably there will be better fare on tonight, but this isn’t Kansas anymore; things have definitely changed. I guess Christmas is in Bill O’Reilly’s hands, the rest of us have holidays.

For those of you who get up early and are searcing for Sporn animated films this is the upcoming schedule for the rest of DEC. on HBO Family:

MIKE MULLIGAN & HIS STEAMSHOVEL
Sat 12/24 06:00 AM HBO FAMILY – EAST / 09:00 AM – WEST

THE MARZIPAN PIG
Sat 12/31 06:00 AM HBO FAMILY – EAST / 09:00 AM – WEST

The last transit strike in NYC happened almost 26 years ago. I had just formed my own company and was in the process of making the first film for my first client, The Learning Corporation of America. Byron Blackbear and The Scientific Method was in production in two Boroughs of New York. I was animating and filming it out of my apartment in Queens, and the Ink & Paint was being done out of the apartment of Steven Parton, who was supervising a staff of two: Bridget Thorne and Patty Hoyt. I made daily trips to Manhattan to deliver art I’d animated the day before and pick up the cels that had been colored. Back home, I animated or did backgrounds for the remainder of the day; I shot the film at night. Of course once the transit strike hit, everything went topsy-turvy. Steve was located on 42nd Street, so Patty and Bridget had long walks from up and downtown.
I had a car back then; with a strike on, I would drive in very late at night – to avoid other traffic – to make the exchange with Steve or get my film to the lab. I remember that I wasn’t particularly annoyed about that strike; as a matter of fact, I saw it as a fun adventure. This was particularly true in light of my first film in production that was initiating my own company.
Somehow the current strike sparked that memory that had remained hidden for so long and probably would have stayed hidden otherwise. I wonder if I’ll remember anything about this strike. Walking two miles to and from work isn’t the fun-adventure I’d had back in 1980, but it isn’t terrible. I can use the exercise. The work in my studio isn’t getting all the attention it should. People have to travel long distances to get here or are working home if they can. I suppose with Christmas around the corner work might have slowed a bit anyway. Maybe the real problem I’m having is that the party mood doesn’t seem to be as buoyant as it might, or maybe I’m just getting old.

There’s an excellent, newly posted interview with Eric Goldberg at Animated-News. Originally recorded on Sept. 17, it yields a lot of information about him, though I would have enjoyed hearing a bit about work Eric is doing now. I have this fixation on being current and not spending all of my time in the past – despite the 30 year old illustration I’ve posted here.

Incidentally, for those interested in animation, I recommend Animated-News for a daily read. It always contains lots of information.

Greg Ford has put together another series of programs celebrating the Cartoon Musical. This will take place at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center from Dec. 28th through Jan. 4th. Several features and lots of shorts are being screened. Betty, Popeye, Woody and Bugs will be joined by feature presentations of Hoppity Goes To Town, Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure, and South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut. These prints are hard to come by, and somehow Greg always gets stunning, new 35mm prints. Make plans soon; these shows sell out.

An early morning note: The subway strike that started today in NYC makes me think about one of my favorite films, Redball Express by Steve Segal. This is a 3 minute short that was animated on film in 1976. Steve is an animator who left Virginia for California to work on various projects including animation on The Brave Little Toaster. He moved on to PIXAR where he worked on a number of films including Toy Story.
For some reason this early short of his has affected me with probably something that Norman McClaren’s drawn-on-film shorts brought to earlier audiences. It’s so alive and pleasant and well made; to me it seems to synthesize the very notion of animation. I bought a print from Steve way back when and still infrequently run it. I’ve never really thought of replacing it with a dvd version – if one exists; somehow it belongs on the 16mm film that I have. I thought of Steve and this film recently because he contacted me (via Karl Cohen). We hadn’t spoken (albeit through email) in over 20 years, and I was pleased to have heard from him. I guess the internet is the new Red Ball Express.

There was a very nice article about Bill Plympton and his work in the Sunday NYTimes. The article featured a story about the music video done for Kanye West. For those who haven’t already see it, you can see the video here.

For those of you who havent had enough of Nick Park‘s films, there is a series about to premiere on BBC America. It’s built on the Oscar winning short film, Creature Comforts. The shows were directed by Richard Goleszowski; Nick Park acts as Executive Producer. The official premiere is Friday, Dec. 23 at 10:30pm, but there seem to be some showings earlier this week – including one today at 2pm. Go to BBC America for the complete schedule. Since I like the short, Creature Comforts, more than I do the Wallace & Gromit films, I look forward to seeing this series.

Thanks to George Griffin for sending me information which I definitely feel should be posted. It concerns the “Zoetrope” PIXAR has placed in the middle of their exhibit at MOMA.

“Michael, The Pixar zoetrope is so obviously indebted to Gregory Barsamian and Toshio Iwai and the wall notes only mention Studio Ghibli as an inspiration. Why does a studio that has so thoroughly re-invented cartoon technology play dumb about individual artists who have gone before them. Corporate deception. Here are some urls for this topic, “solid animation?”

AWN article
Gregory Barsamian

Since viewing the exhibit I’ve had no fewer than five people tell me that the “Zoetrope” on display was inspired by Studio Ghibli. Why shouldn’t PIXAR & MOMA appropriately credit the two artists originators? Maybe Disney is getting closer to renewing their relationship with PIXAR.

To see a couple of photos of PIXAR’s “Zoetrope” go to Ronnie Del Carmen‘s blog.

More PIXAR:

I found two more articles about PIXAR and MOMA that looked at the show from other interesting perspectives. The first from FORBES Magazine focused on money, the second The New York Sun reviewed it as an “Art” exhibition.