Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- After posting my copy of the book, Mr. Bug Goes To Town, Robert Cowan sent me another gem from his unbelievable collection of animation art. This is a background from the film’s start. Hoppity’s just arrived and is trying to separate the cigar from the Honeyhouse.

Do they make them more beautiful than this? You can scrape through many of the current features and come up empty handed in comparison. Of course one expects the wonderfully imagined things about the Fleischer backgrounds – the heart shaped sign stuck with a hat pin, the clothespin reaching from the honeycomb – but the densities in that watercolor. There’s something vulnerable and glorious about good watercolors.

Bob Little OK’d the background. I wonder how much he, personally, contributed to it. I met him briefly at Grim Natwick’s 100th birthday party August, 1990.

(Click on either image to enlarge.)

Robert Little is in the upper right just in front of Bill Littlejohn.

In situations like this party, I tend to become a bit shy and anchor myself in a comfortable place. This, as it turns out, was near Bob Little who I met for the first time. The entire evening was a jaw dropper for animation fans, but meeting Mr. Little was certainly a highlight for me. We talked for at least a good half hour, and I was in animation heaven.

It was also a pleasure to see Tissa in the same room with Grim. She’d assisted him for a couple dozen years, and they were quite close with each other in all the years since they stopped working together. I’ve always felt an odd connection to Grim. He passed everything on to Tissa who took it and ran with it. She passed some of what she knows on to me.

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