Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- Congratulations to Bill Plympton on an amazing Kickstarter campaign< . $75000 and the needle goes right there, so Bill ups it to $100000, and that’s how much he raises. I hadn’t seen anything like that before, and I’m impressed. Let’s face it the guy’s a star.

Then, Signe Baumane begins her Kickstarter campaign to complete her excellent movie. A $42900 goal, and she’s attained that total with five days to go. Excellent! I love this film and think it’s going to be brilliant when it’s completed. Maybe in the next five days, she can get a bit more so that she reaches a nice, small comfort zone to complete it. She interviewed Bill and me for a little testimonial of a DVD, and just posted it last week. (I think that’s what brought her the money raising it so high – joke – joke.)

In case you hadn’t noticed there’s a third Kickstarter Campaign to notice.

Ralph Bakshi.

The Last Days of Coney Island. Talk about great titles!

Bakshi’s hoping to raise $165,000 and he’s uncovered almost $40000 so far. With only 20 days to go, he’ll need a quick infusion of cash to get things moving, so I’m not sure it’ll work. I hope so; this project interests me.

The idea is to do a series of 6 to 8 minute films which eventually will be grouped together as a feature. This could be nice if it’s well orchestrated. Somehow, given his track record, I have a lot of faith in Ralph. He has the ability to do it. He has Ian Miller aboard as a background designer. I was never one for fantasy art – all that Lord of the RIngs and The Hobbit stuff never touched me. I saw most of the films based on the material and didn’t like much of it. I looked at all the fantasy art and wasn’t captured.

Except for Ian Miller. This guy’s work is just extraordinary.

I’m watching this campaign pretty closely. Very interesting

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- I realized, having written this piece, that I haven’t really written about Ralph Bakshi and his films over all the years I’ve done this blog. It’s not an oversight on my part. I have written about Fritz the Cat (here too) several times and I did write about Heavy Traffic once. Many times I’ve thought of writing in depth about this man’s amazing body of work. However, this is not going to be the right time, either, so don’t expect an elaborate Bakshi post now. I would have to spend much more time on it to properly get it right. However, I do see his work as intimately related to my history in animation.

Fritz the Cat was released n 1972 just as I escaped the Navy and became a citizen – meaning a potential animation worker. By the time it hit screens, I had already grown out of my love for Disneyana. I was a Hubley convert and a big fan of UPA. Bakshi came from the grit of animation – those lst days at Terrytoons under the aegis of Bill Weiss. The shoddiest of films had emanated from them in those last few years, but there were also hidden great ones. I was always a fan of Deputy Dawg and earlier on, Clint Clobber. Hashimoto Sam and those Astronaut cartoons, not so much.

A hop skip and a jump away, and we find Bakshi directing Fritz the Cat for Steve Krantz. He’d made a nice living writing cheesy books that were very successful, and now he’d taken one of the best know underground comics and gave Bakshi the chance to turn it into a feature.

Needless to say it created some waves, and that was good for animation, though I have to say most animators protested the material. It was a pretty good film with plenty of solid moments – some not so solid, too.

Bakshi could have followed it up with The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, but he went personal, instead. Heavy Traffic was the result, and it ended up a selection by Vincent Canby of the NYTimes as one of the top ten films of the year.

Bakshi played his career much the way Quentin Tarantino ha. A couple of films came out that caught the racist accusations. The films couldn’t fight the press, and it took Bakshi’s switch to Sci Fi with Wizards and Lord of the Rings to gain some modest success.

All of his movies got attention and all deserved more attention. There was usualy excellent material there and a chance for animation to start growing up. By this time, Bluth and Spielberg were challenging Disney for the family audience, and they got all the attention.

I miss the sore paw of Ralph Bakshi and I’m glad to see he’s pushing the Kickstarter campaign and hoping he has some success with The Last Days of Coney Island.

Alex Toth had a lot of different wonderful sides, and they’re all rich and exciting. Bill Peckmann forwarded this material whcih is just great. Take a look with me; Bill takes over writing from here:

In anticipation and in celebration of the new, long awaited Alex Toth book, “Genius Illustrated” by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell due to come out in a few weeks, (check out LOAC’s site and Amazon) I thought it’d be appropriate to post three of Alex’s stories from this time period in his career that the new book covers.

This Toth triptych could be called “Alex in Hollywoodland” because that’s where he lived the bigger chunk of his life, and it also illustrates his love for the “good” things that came out of Hollywood. Ever the west coast movie aficionado, it really shows in these Warren Publications stories.

The first story, Alex’s take on the comedies of the silent film era is from the March 1976 issue of Creepy magazine.

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Here is Mr. Toth’s tip of the fedora to Hollywood icons Sam Spade and Humphrey Bogart.
This appeared in the November 1975 issue of Creepy magazine.

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This last story would probably fall into the 1950′s Hollywood Sci-Fi category, and it’s a pretty good fit, but I also believe it’s Toth’s ode to the great Americana illustrators of the Saturday Evening Post magazine of the ’40′s and ’50′s, of which Alex was a great fan. No jazzy panel layouts, just solid art story telling. And, the ol’ curmudgeon really pulls it off, this story of all heart!

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Here are four panels from the ‘Pie’ story, the first version is the printed one, the second version is Alex’s original art. I thought you would like to see what got lost during reproduction. Happily, the new “Genius: Illustrated” book will have quite a bit of original art in it. So, we will get to see a lot more of what Alex’s art looked like when he finally laid down his pens and Pentels!

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Well involved with the two J.B. Kaufman books on Snow White, and about to re-read Mike Barrier‘s writing on the making of the feature, per his book, Hollywood Cartoons, you can be sure that a lot of Snow White material is going to comve your way via this blog.

Bill Peckmann offered to send the initial strip done to coincide with the release of the feature, so thank you, Mr. Peckmann, I couldn’t be happier than to offer this.

Disney had, since 1932, a Silly Symphony comic strip that ran weekly. With the release of Snow White, the strip’s regular writers were replaced with writer, Merrill De Maris, pencils artist, Hank Porter, and the inker, Bob Grant. The strip continued for a full 20 weeks, beginning on December 12, 1937.

There are noticeable differences between the story in the strip and the released film. The movie’s story, from the start, had a sequence called “Prince Buckethead” which lasted in the original storyline until the last months in making the film. Then the sequence found itself dropped from the film, but, oddly, reappears in this comic strip version. It’s a game the Prince plays was supposed to play with Snow White at the beginning of the movie. The Prince also is imprisoned in the original story in the caverns of the castle; the same is true here. Other things like the huntsman having the name, “Humbert,” return to the story. I’m curious as to who made these decisions to keep the noticeable differences. Many versions of the stirp appeared over the years and in many languages. You can check them out here.

Without wasting more time, here’s the original strip.

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Thanks, again, to Bill Peckmann for putting this all together.

This is our third installment of Vince Cafarelli‘s collection of the Ed Smith edited issues of Top Cel the u-nion organ. Local 841 of the MPScreen Cartoonists had Pepe Ruiz as their Business Rep., Izzy Klein as the President and Howard Beckerman as VP.

Feb 1963

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Pages 1 & 4 wrap around 2&3
March 1963
Cover unsigned but it looks like Ed Smith drew it

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Pages 1 & 4 wrap around 2&3
April 1963
Drawn by Ken Kimmelman

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May 1963
Designed by Bill Feigenbaum & Karl Fischer

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July 1963
Drawn by George Cannata

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August 1963
Desiged by Ed Smith

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September 1963
Desiged by Ed Smith & Karl Fischer

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October 1963
Drawn by Gloria Graves Kougal

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This cover was probably the most famous Top Cel cover.
It was originally printed in two colors – red & black and
was 8½ x 14 in size. Ed Smith did justice to it in this reprint.

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The Two Gun Kid, is illustrated by Jack Davis. It, of course was sent by Bill Peckmann. Here is some of the story behind it:

A famed/named comic book team that is seldom heard of, is that of Stan Lee and Jack Davis. Short lived as it was, they did work together, Stan wrote and Jack did the art back in the late 1950′s. At that time, Stan Lee had quite a roster of western comic book titles, and when one of his most gifted, young cartoonists, Joe Maneely met a tragic and untimely death, he had Jack Davis step in and finish the job.

Here is Jack Davis’ first “Two Gun Kid” cover, (he did three) along with the story from that issue that was started (first page splash panel) by the very talented Joe Maneely and completed by Jack.

Because of the difference in page rates from Stan Lee’s company and Jack Davis’ more lucrative alma mater EC Comics, Jack had to be a little quicker on the drawing board, and it shows a wee bit. But, a faster Jack is still better than no Mr. Davis at all!

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(Joe Maneely’s opening page.)

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(Jack Davis completing the story.)
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Having featured Joe Maneely, we thought it a good idea to give a few samples and background of his work:

The cover

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Bill Peckmann writes about the following two stories also from the Stan Lee work:

Here are two of Jack’s Stan Lee western stories that Manuel sent me. Sorry, I don’t know the name of the comic book it came from.

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And the followimg is the second story:

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- A friend (who asked to remain anonymous) sent a copy of this script of “The Story of Pluto,” an early episode of the Disneyland TV show. This document obviously follows the show very closely, but I think a lot of the on screen dialogue is actually missing. Regardless, I thought it a good opportunity to go back to the show (which when it hit TV was called “The Story of Dogs.” (At least, the video on the Lady and the Tramp DVD, which has the same date listed is longer.)

I’ll first post the “script” and then will follow with frame grabs from the TV program wherein Lady runs from some rough dogs who are chasing her, and Tramp comes to her rescue. The original show aired in B&W, but this version mixes B&W PT to color ruff-cut. It’s one of my favorite sections of the film with a lot of animation by Woolie Reitherman. (It comes on page 11 of the script.)

Here are the script pages:

Script Cover

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This sequence is followed immediately by Milt Kahl‘s sequence where Lady and the Tramp go to the zoo. They seek the help of the beaver to remove her muzzle.

He’s Alive!

- I thought I’d make the small announcement to say that POE‘s alive. Having completed my presentation for HBO, I’ve put all energies back into completing the opening and trailer for my li’l feature. The brilliantly talented, Matt Clinton is back with us working on the sequence, and we hope to be able to go directly into production once that trailer is done.

We still have a couple of storyboards to work and another couple to rework. With that we’ll complete an animatic of the whole. It’s going to be a fun ride, and I’m glad to be back with Matt on board.

By the way, the artwork at top is sort of a new logo for the film.

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Splog’s Alive!

- For the past couple of days, I was playing with/fighting with/working with the enormously helpful Matt Clinton to get my Splog back. And then at 1am on Saturday, Hostgator became more of a host and less of a gator and they told me they made a mistake. The problem that was created was THEIR fault, not mine. They put things back together again, but I feel like Humpty Dumpty, sitting on the wall but knowing that my shell is cracked. I gotta get outta this place and find a new webhost.

Since lights were out most of yesterday, this post is going to sit tight through Sunday (though I’ll probably add some stuff to it). So because it hasn’t changed on Sunday doesn’t mean we’re down again. It feels good to be back.

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The Dick Williams Tribute

- As was noted on Cartoon Brew, this past week, there will be several programs at the downtown YTribeca celebrating some of the more famous work of Richard Williams.

On Wed, Feb 27th, at 7:30 pm there will be a screening of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This marks the 25th anniversary of the ground breaking feature which took the combination of live action and animation to a new level. Tarring character actor, Bob Hoskins, the film features almost every character ever created for motion pictures, from Bugs Bunny to Mickey Mouse to Betty Boop.

On Thurs, Feb 28th, celebrating the upcoming 80th Birthday of Richard Williams (March 19th), there will be a retrospective of some of Dick’s best short animated films, commercials and sequences. This program is called The Little Island and More. This will conclude with his first theatrical short, The Little Island (1958), which gained immediate success for the young animator. I was asked to host this program, and I couldn’t be prouder than to do so. I’ll also be excited to see some of the commercials on the big screen again. here are many beauties among thee, and, not yet knowing the list of films, I’m hoping some of my favorite gems are among them.

On Friday, Feb 29th, at 7:30 pm there will be a program featuring Persistence of Vision, Kevin Schreck’s documentary about the making of Williams’ long-in-production feature, The Cobbler and the Thief. This film will be followed by a Q&A between director, Schreck and Amid Amidi. I’m really looking forward to seeng this. Having not yet see the doc, I’m hoping some information will be revealed for me.

I felt very torn when Dick’s feature was ripped from him by the insurance bond company. I remember going to the reworked film they patched together to complete the movie. Tissa David and I sat side-by-side sinking into our seats as some of the most glorious animation ever done skipped by alongside some of the worst animation we’d seen. (The princess’ opening song is one of the most dreadful sequences ever done.) I will definitely be present for that showing.

I’ll, of course, write more about this before the event. For now, I would order tickets if I were you; it’ll probably sell out soon.
Go to 92y.org

Dates: Wed, Feb 27th, 7:30 pm, Thu, Feb 28, 7:30 pm, and Fri, Feb 28th, 7:30 pm

Venue: 92YTribeca Screening Room
Location: 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St

Price: from $12.00

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Rocks In My Pockets – Kickstarter continues

- “Rocks In My Pockets” is Signe Baumane’s feature in-production.
She’s mid-way through a Kickstarter campaign, raising money to finish the film. She needs help.

This week she sent out a mass email saying:
“We have only a limited time left, and we would love for you to join our efforts.”

If you would like to be the first to see the film when it is done, please pledge $10
and get a password protected link to the film.

If you would like to have a hand made animation drawing from “Rocks”,
you can pledge $75 and the drawing along with the password protected link is yours!

A rare treat – animation cells from “Dentist” – is on the rewards list, too.
Who is making films on cells anymore? This is an historic gift.

You could also be part of our small team in other ways:
- ‘LIKE’ “Rocks In My Pockets” Facebook page?

- Promote the link to our Kickstarter campaign to your Facebook friends

We are excited to welcome you to our small “Rocks” family!

THANK YOU!
Signe

PS if you are curious how other people feel about this project, please check out
the video testimonials of 15 test audience members we compiled into 3 minute video.

As I wrote in the past, I’ve seen a rough cut of the film, and I love what I’ve seen so far. The combination of 3D backgrounds with textured 2D animation works excellently well and is an inspired decision. The best part about this film is that it’s about something. It’s not just funny for the sake of being funny. I wholeheartedly support what she’s doing and recommend strongly that you look into it and support it in any way that you can.

To prove how much I like Signe’s work so far, I’m in one of her videos. Me and Bill Plympton. We were born just days apart, Bill and I, and now were just minutes apart in this video telling you how great we both think Signe is. Actually, I was prepared for the worst, and I don’t think I did too badly. Shifty eyes, but otherwise OK. This week, I’ll give you the link. Next week I’ll put the video on my blog.
Here’s the link.
the link.
the link.

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Hitler à la Glass

- The Perfect American is a Phillip Glass opera of the book by Peter Stephan Jungk which opened in Madrid this past week. It found its way to a review in the NYTimes by Zachary Woolfe. Many of Glass’ operas have been biographical sketches of some well known personality. This production doesn’t make it seem like there a Glass gem buried here. ‘s review includes many lines such as “a pleasure to listen to but dull as drama” which make one inclined to isten to the recording and skip the production which was, “Archetypal and specific, good and bad, Disney is, in other words, an ideal operatic character. But Mr. Jungk’s tight, strange novel has been transformed into a slack, mild pageant with an alluring soundtrack.”

“The opera is a score in search of a story. Dantine has gone from narrator to bit player; the tension between him and Disney, Old World and New, has vanished without being replaced by another drama. The book’s most ___ Time is running out for Walt Disney.
“striking set pieces . . . (Sounds like
some of the later animated features.)

“Dantine has sought out Disney’s family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances, from Salvador Dalí to Peter Ustinov, reconstructing a bizarre narrative of Disney’s illness and death.”

Let’s just say that even though I’m a fan of Phillip Glass’ work, I’m not going to rush to Europe to see this production (which is headed for London to open there.)

Mike Barrier has brought a lot of attention to the piece protecting the memory of Walt. Apparently the book includes a connection between Disney and Hitler just prior to WWII. It certainly never happened, but neither did a conversation between Disney and the audio-animatronic Lincoln that Disney built for the World’s Fair. There’s a lot of other fantasy in there, apparently, and I’ve come to expect such things of Mr. Glass in his operas.

By the way, no mention is made of Hitler in this review.

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- In case you haven’t noticed it, John Kahrs, the director of Paperman – the Disney animated short which is among the five Oscar nominees this year – has a little piece published in today’s NYTimes.

They ask him for some of his likes and dislikes, (actually, it may only be his likes) and he shares them with us. This is one of those cute little pieces that money buys. Disney advertises so many dollars in the Times, and the Times pays off with so many pure puff pieces. It was my fortune to get some big time space back when Woman of the Year was on Broadway.The producer bought some ads, and my animation was as puff as they could go for the cover of the Weekend Section of the Times.

I somehow doubt that some of the poorer animators nominated this year, might get their likes or dislikes printed in the NY Times. Minkyu Lee and Timothy Reckart what favorite books are you reading these days?

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- The lincoln Center Gallery is hosting an exhibit of drawings by Spanish animator, Diego Agudo Pinilla. His short animated film, , premiered last Friday and will be shown again on Monday Feb. 04 at 8:30pm. His film is part of a program called Dance on Camera, program 1.

The gallery is on 25 Central Park West at 62nd Street
Gallery Hours
Friday February 1- Monday February 4
1:00pm – 8:00pm
Tuesday February 5
1:00pm -6:00pm

Take a look; it’s rare for animation art to go on display at Lincoln Center and usually worth catching when it does.