Animation Artifacts &Commentary &Frame Grabs &Independent Animation 05 Feb 2010 08:53 am
Shinbone Alley
- Don Marquis‘ book, Archy and Mehitabel, garnered fame quickly and not least because of the extraordinary illustrations of George Herriman, the creator of Krazy Kat.
The first book was published in 1927 and others followed in 1933 and 1935. It wasn’t until the third book that Herriman took over the characters created by Marquis in his book of short stories, developed mostly, in poetry. An on-again off-again love affair, the story had two principal characters: a cat, Mehitabel, and Archy, cockroach. (You can read these poems on line here.)
In 1953, writer Joe Darion along with composer George Kleinsinger (the creator of Tubby the Tuba) created a musical theater piece. Tenor Jonathan Anderson played Archy and soprano Mignon Dunn was Mehitabel. At about the same time a recording of the showtunes was recorded with Carol Channing as Mehitabel and Eddie Bracken as Archy. The record was a success.
With the help of the young writer, Mel Brooks, they were able to get their show to Broadway in 1957, but it was now named Shinbone Alley. After 49 performances, the show closed, but the original cast album was recorded that same year. The songs stayed in the permanent repetoire of Carol Channing and Eartha Kitt.
In 1971, John Wilson directed an animated feature starring the voices of Channing and Brackett and using the songs from the musical. The love affair between Archy and Mehitabel was penned by Archy, the cockroach; his poems tell their story.
The film suffers from its music. The songs are simple and sound as if they’re written for children, but the lyrics pull from the poems which are definitely designed for adults. It gets a bit confusing, as a result, and is a bit picaresque; the poems are short and illustrating them in animation would take more adaptation than seen here.
John Wilson had developed his studio, Fine Arts Films, on the back of the weekly, animated, music videos he did for The Sonny and Cher Show, an enormous hit in the early 70s.
These music videos were loose designs animated quickly and lively around the songs Sonny & Cher would schedule each week. There would always be one or two of these pieces, and they were highlights in the weekly one-hour musical/variety program.
The graphics of Shinbone Alley aren’t too far from these Sonny & Cher videos. Loose design and animation with a design style not too far from the Fred Wolf’s made-for-ABC feature, The Point. This was the first feature made for television and featured the songs and story of Harry Nilsson, although Shinbone Alley featured a wilder color pallette.
Jules Engel, Corny Cole and Sam Cornell all worked in design on the film. The long list of 
animators included Barrie Nelson, John Sparey, Spencer Peel, Eddie Rehberg and Jim Hiltz. Mark Kausler was an assistant on the show.
The film wasn’t an enormous success, but that was probably explained much by the limited distribution and the poor marketing of the film.
The Jacob Burns Film Center will host Shinbone Alley on Tuesday Feb. 16th. The screening will be at 5:30 & 7:25 pm.
Here are some frame grabs from the first 1/4 of the film:
We’re introduced to Archy right off the bat as he
flies out of the river onto the dock. He realizes that he,
the poet, tried to kill himself and was sent back as a cockroach.
He soon finds a typewriter and goes straight back to work.
Mehitabel is a performer – with Carol Channing’s voice.
The two meet cute.
She has another boyfriend, voiced by Alan Reed,
who is also the voice of Fred Flintstone.
A song video takes us outside.
pan down.
Another music video brings us into Peter Max’s style.
Life in Shinbone Alley.
on 05 Feb 2010 at 10:12 am 1.richard o'connor said …
It’s in the air.
I was thinking of suggesting a piece on John Wilson for the ASIFA International magazine.
He seems like the forgotten son of British animation, overshadowed by Halas & Batchelor and Richard Williams.
I love those Sonny and Cher films, too. They were like a forbidden “Sesame Street” to children in the 1970s.
on 05 Feb 2010 at 11:33 am 2.Michael said …
He may be British, but he’s done most of his work out of the studio he had in LA.
on 05 Feb 2010 at 4:21 pm 3.Stephen Worth said …
This would be an interesting film to see on the screen. I saw it on video years ago, and all the scratchy black lines all over the backgrounds ended up looking like barbed wire fences at night. Perhaps it looks better on film.
on 06 Feb 2010 at 12:25 am 4.RacattackForce said …
I love the style used in this film. I’ve heard of “Shinbone Alley” before, but I could never really find it. I would love to go down and watch it, but I have this school project (a comic) that I really to work on. Maybe another time…
on 06 Feb 2010 at 4:32 am 5.Tom Carr said …
Trying to outdo or “improve on” Don Marquis and George Herriman’s work is a hopeless— and stupid— task. Both men, if they’d lived to see such “cute” efforts, would have probably been appalled!
For one thing, Mehitabel is a scruffy and nasty old cat who’s seen the bleaker side of life (according to her, over several centuries). In one poem, she takes out a feline suitor’s eye with her claw. In spite of which, she still maintains the outward attitude of “Toujours gai!”
Some great literature doesn’t lend itself to screen adaptations, and ought to be left the hell alone.
Especially when the result looks a lot more like Hanna-Barbera than Herriman— and, as such, is an insult to the memory of one of our greatest visual artists.
on 07 Feb 2010 at 6:50 pm 6.Jenny said …
I heard about these poems, the film and the Broadway show from my dad when I was little and was tremendously curious about them…until I saw clips of this film in the late 70s. I am the first to admit that clips and trailers are poor substitutes for actually sitting through anything and I will watch it in a theater given the chance.
But I have to say that for me this particular style in graphic design for animation is my least favorite and dates terribly. Pinks and yellows…I disliked the color schemes and over-busy look then as a kid…and decades later it still looks bilious to me. And I love the work of Jules et al.
The work of Herriman is eternally appealing.
on 08 Feb 2010 at 7:34 pm 7.Joel Brinkerhoff said …
I own a copy of The Life and Times of Archy and Mehitable and there are great opportunities for a really good film. Some stories are hilarious, some are tragically sad and other are soulfully beautiful. Shinbone Alley missed the feel and heart of the writings.