Animation Artifacts &Comic Art &Daily post 08 Oct 2008 08:23 am
Van Boring
- I received an email yesterday from Tom Sito (who’d heard it from Jeff Massie) that Gerard Salvio died June 23 at the age of 82. Gerard was the last Business Agent for Local 841 of the NY chapter of the Screen Cartoonists Guild. He and I bumped heads quite a few times during the production of Raggedy Ann, but we always did it with civility and good temper. After that feature, the Guild slowly fell in NY, eventually becoming part of another union.
Tom’s note points out that there’s an obituary on page 70 of the latest IATSE Bulletin (which I don’t have). This obit appeared in the NY Daily News: Gerard R. SALVIO, June 20, 1926 – June 23, 2008. Of complications from renal failure. Optical Cameraman for MPO & EUE; Business Agent, Screen Cartoonists Local 841, IATSE & later IATSE Int’l Rep. Gerard is survived by his wife, Ann Salvio, (nee Terpay); his daughters, Katherine Salvio, Lenore Hinrichsen, Janet Littlejohn & his granddaughters Danielle Hinrichsen & Sara Littlejohn.
Jeff Massie also pointed to this book about Gerard written by one of his daughters.
- Allan Holtz’ Stripper’s Guide, a site featuring lots of interesting information and examples of past comic strips, has a post highlighting the Van Boring strip done by “Tish Tash,” otherwise known as Frank Tashlin. Of course, he was the man who directed Scrap Happy Daffy and The Disorderly Orderly as well as plenty of other animated and non-animated films. Tashlin also did a short-lived comic strip. Obscure examples are on display at this site.
There’s also a follow-up post on Scott Marks’ Emulsion Compulsion.
There’s an excellent interview with Tashlin (and another example of Van Boring) on Mike Barrier‘s site – naturally enough.
If you’d like to know more about Tashlin (and you should) look at this NYTimes article._______Tashlin & Bob Hope “The Lemon Drop Kidâ€
And speaking of Mike Barrier, if you haven’t read his piece on Phil Klein, check it out. There’s a wealth of material there, and it flows so effortlessly for Mike. (Or, at least, it seems that way.) I have to say I love this site.
Another site I love is A Film LA, Hans Perk‘s gem. So much material shows up there. Recently he had an ad I remembered from the ’50s. It took me by surprise. It advertised for the Disney Animation Kit available from Disneyland’s Art Corner.
I actually bought one of those kits and animated on the light box for many years after making almost two hours of 8mm animation before I even got to college. Lots of memories in that one ad.
The kit included books on how to draw Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. It also had a book on tips on animating (stretch & squash, follow through, etc.) I lost those books but got copies of them when Disney held a big event at NY’s Lincoln Center in 1973. The set also included a lightbox – a wedge you constructed made of beaver board with three holes to place three circular wooden pegs into it. They gave a couple of flip books and a couple of exposure sheets. That kit probably solidified my desperate desire to get into animation when I was a kid. Is there anything comparable today to inspire children?
Then, to top off that post, Hans has given us the scene drafts to The Alpine Climbers, a brilliant Mickey short. This site is probably the equivalent, at least for me, of the Art Corner at Disneyland.
You can see a closer look at at the Animation Kit on Jenny Lerew’s site, Blackwing Diaries, where she also displays a couple of the books.
on 08 Oct 2008 at 8:35 am 1.bill said …
Hi Michael.
Growing up, a friend who had been to Disneyland had this kit, and I always wanted one. I thought you could only get one at the park! Wasted youth!
I know you got this ad in the mail. Do you you know if it ever ran in a magazine?
on 08 Oct 2008 at 10:15 am 2.Michael said …
Actually, Bill, I don’t know where the ad was placed. I can’t imagine there having been enough kids back then who wanted to go into animation that would have made the cost of the ad profitable. It wasn’t until I got into college that I met anyone who thought of it as a career.
However, there was DISNEYLAND MAGAZINE and the MICKEY MOUSE MAGAZINE; I would guess an ad for it might have appeared there.
It was nice to see, on Jenny Lerew‘s site, that Tom Roth had bought one as well.
on 08 Oct 2008 at 12:42 pm 3.Tom Minton said …
Michael,
As a member of Local 839 I get IATSE quarterly bulletins it in the mail, so I’m typing this in verbatim from page 70:
REMEMBERING RETIRED INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE GERARD SALVIO
Retired International Representative Gerard R. Salvio, 82, of New York, New York, passed away on June 23, 2008.
His life as a youth, and as an adult, was colorful and memorable, with lots of friends and colorful characters. He was an athlete, and enjoyed playing baseball, basketball and he also boxed.
Prior to working for IATSE, Brother Salvio dabbled in many different careers. He worked with his uncle in Interior Design. He was an upholsterer and draper. Later on he worked in construction, and his family can verify that he helped build the Throgs Neck Bridge, which connects the Bronx to Queens, New York.
Salvio served as Business Agent of Local 841 (merged into Local 600) for 14 years. He was also a member of Locals 437 and 702, where he served as Trustee of Local 702 from 1989 to 1994, and was commended for the job he performed in putting the Local back together.
Brother Salvio received the Retired International Officers award from International President Short on the final day of the 62nd Convention held in Miami, Florida. He loved being involved with the Union, and was sorry he retired at 69 years of age. He would have loved to work with all his friends and members until the day he died. He will be truly missed.
A memorial service was held at the Our Lady of Good Counsel in New York City.
Brother Salvio is survived by his wife, Ann; his daughters, Katherine Salvio, Lenore Hinrichsen, Janet Littlejohn and his granddaughters Danielle Hinrichsen and Sara Littlejohn.
on 08 Oct 2008 at 1:22 pm 4.Mark Mayerson said …
I have no wish to speak ill of the dead, but I don’t think that Gerard Salvio was a particularly effective business agent. His lack of vision was a factor in the decline of New York animation.
Two points I want to make. The first is that the Hollywood union had a 40 hour week and the NY union had a 35 hour week, which guaranteed that major projects such as TV series or features would not be done in New York because they would be more expensive. By not electing to have a different work week for larger projects (New York animation was largely TV commercials while Gerard was in charge of the union), he made it more likely that young talent would be forced to leave the city in search of work and that the New York business wouldn’t grow.
Another issue has to do with non-union studios. I worked at Teletactics, a non-union studio, during the production of a TV special called Days of Liberty in 1976. Working conditions in that studio sucked. The union never approached anyone at the studio about signing a rep card or trying to drum up support for turning the studio union. Only when the TV special aired and the union producers started complaining to Gerard did he finally turn his attention to Teletactics. And then he was more interested to know which union members were working there than he was in organizing the studio. It’s highly ironic that that Gerard was more responsive to the producers complaints than he was to the well-being of animation artists.
on 08 Oct 2008 at 1:25 pm 5.Mark Mayerson said …
I should clarify that the union producers objected to Teletactics as unfair competition. Their attitude was that if they were forced to pay union wages and benefits, non-union studios who could underbid them were a threat to their survival. It was the producers who wanted Teletactics unionized to that the playing field would be more level.
on 08 Oct 2008 at 1:51 pm 6.Michael said …
Thanks Tom for taking the time to type out the obit for Gerard.
Mark, I had MANY fights with Gerard and ultimately, because of a long drawn-out story, walked away from the union – as a producer – since he was dishonest with me and tried to dupe me. I had no problem with member’s benefits, but I did have problems with him.
Working with him at Raggedy Ann was a constant fight, and he certainly did protect the producers over the members. He harassed the members frequently.
You are right about the 35 hr week, bit the wages in NY were also lower than LA’s wages. This, I don’t think, was a real problem for producers. But there were many others.