Here’s something you’ve probably never seen before: a Tex Avery cartoon from 1955 produced by Walter Lantz simply called “Sh-h-h-h-h-h”.
This was Tex Avery’s last animated short cartoon. The sounds of the trumpet player and the laughing woman who keep the man awake through the night are taken directly from the novelty OKeh Laughing Record, which was released in 1923. The voice, of course, is Daws Butler. Beyond that, we should obviously say no more. Enjoy.
January 1929 was a very good month for comic strip readers. On the 7th they got to see the arrival of Tarzan and Buck Rogers while ten days later, fans of Thimble Theater met a brand new character named Popeye. The sailor was never intended to take over the strip but his popularity with readers encouraged E.C. Segar to keep him around until he finally shoved the Oyl family from the spotlight.
Burnishing his reputation were the brilliantly execute black and white theatrical shorts produced by Max and Dave Fleischer. After they shuttered operations, others took over the cartoon production, keeping Popeye a mainstay for generations of fans. Many of my generation were treated to the somewhat inferior Associated Artists Productions cartoons which completed their run in 1957. Not to be undone, King Features Syndicate hired Al Brodax to oversee a new round of cartoons aimed for the burgeoning television syndication market. He spread the order around to five different animation houses: Jack Kinney Productions, Rembrandt Films, Larry Harmon Productions, Halas and Batchelor, Paramount Cartoon Studios (formerly the Fleischers and Famous Studios), and Southern Star Entertainment. A whopping 220 cartoons were produced over a two year period, flooding the airwaves. Given the retention of the memorable theme song and vocal cast (Jack Mercer as Popeye, Mae Questel as Olive Oyl, and Jackson Beck as Brutus), young viewers were kept happy.
Bluto was renamed Brutus when KFS’ lawyers thought Paramount had copyright to the Bluto moniker because no one did their homework. Bluto first appeared in the strip, making him a KFS property.
Of these cartoons, with their simplified animation design and short running times, the ones from Paramount stood out as the most memorable so it’s nice to see 72 of them collected for the first time in Warner Archives’ just-released Popeye the Sailor: The 1960s Classics Volume One. Classics may be stretching the point, compared with their 1930s rivals, but the kid in me remembers many of these stories. I suspect these work because so many were taken from the comic strip, which was an imaginative serial. Sweetpea, Eugene the Jeep, the Sea Hag, King Blozo, Toar, and, Rough House, all turn up more than once.
We are treated to the standardized Popeye, the none-too-bright, kind-hearted sailor in his white uniform, the dim and fickle Olive in her red turtleneck and long black skirt. Bluto’s muscle mass became flabby fat and he ditched his sailor uniform for dark clothes.
The stories go from adventurous to silly, such as the time Popeye goes to elementary school but is ridiculed for his lack of knowledge (sorry, but a sailor has to be plenty smart to wear that uniform). Where the Fleischers added a dose of an animated verve to the action, the limited animation meant far more static storytelling. Each episode ends with a new set of lyrics to the theme music and Popeye in the same pose, a cost saving measure that only now grows tedious as one works through the six dozen toons.
Are all 220 worth collecting? Probably not, but this is a nice time capsule reminder of the simpler pleasures children’s television once offered. We were entertained, with little in the way of moralizing beyond good triumphs over evil and you need to eat your spinach.
Every now and then an anniversary comes along and it makes you pause and realize just how much time has passed and how much the world has changed. Twenty-five years ago, the idea of mixing animation and live-action was nothing new, but using computer-enhanced animation was a fresh approach. Then there was the mind-blowing idea of mashing up every animated icon from the golden age of animation. Yes, Disney and Looney Tunes side by side. The Fleischer Studios creations hobnobbing with the others. It had never been attempted before and was cause for celebration.
In the two and a half decades that have passed, Disney’s attempt to turn Gary K. Wolf’s protagonist into a cartoon perennial has petered out. Roger Rabbit was first born in Wolf’s 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? and was turned into a major player thanks to Robert Zemeckis’ ambitious adaptation followed by a series of shorts featuring the bunny. Sadly, he hasn’t been seen since 1993’s “Trail Mix-up”.
As a result, the anniversary release of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is cause for celebration and reflection. First, the film has been released for the first time on Blu-ray and looks wonderful. The combo pack comes with both a Blu-ray and DVD but no digital copy. The murder mystery featured Bob Hoskins as the proverbial private eye hired to investigate the alleged murder, bringing him to Toontown and its wacky inhabitants. There, you could see Donald and Daffy, Bugs and Mickey; imagine the pairing and there it was. Thanks to the production prowess of Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, everyone happily signed off on their creations being a part of the fun.
The film nicely mixed the film noir aspects of the real world with the slapstick shenanigans of the denizens of Toontown. It’s 1947 and Eddie Valiant is spying on Roger’s wife, the curvaceous Jessica (voiced by Kathleen Turner). Given the challenge of crafting a unique, distinctive cartoon voice, Charles Fleischer succeeded admirably. Roger’s disbelief at the revelation that Jessica has been playing pat-a-cake with Acme Corporation owner Marvin Acme (the late, great Stubby Kaye) is filled with pathos. When Acme turns up dead, Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) accuses Roger of the crime and the chase is on.
Nearly stealing the show is cigar-chomping Baby Herman (voiced by Lou Hirsch), sick of being an infant after five decades. But he’s a sidekick in service to the bewildered Rabbit. And when the chips are done, Herman stands by roger’s side. The humans do a fine job treading the line between playing things straight and interacting with just enough exaggeration to work well with the toons.
The novel had the unique aspect of the characters speaking with tangible word balloons that become slid objects and fill the air (he also used comic strip characters rather than cartoon players). Instead, Zemeckis filled the screen with larger-than-life antics and cameos galore (my favorite may be Snow White helping the disguised wicked stepmother down the street).
The transfer to high definition is handled with the usual Disney excellence and makes for a very pleasurable viewing experience. The sound nicely compliments the video so sit back and enjoy.
There should be fresh bonus material but we’re left longing. Instead, the DVD material from the last DVD release is here, some of it upgraded to high def. As a result, you still get Audio Commentary from Zemeckis, Marshall, associate producer Steve Starkey, screenwriters Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, and visual effects supervisor Ken Ralston; the three Roger Rabbit Shorts (“Tummy Trouble”, “Roller Coaster Rabbit”, and “Trail Mix-Up”); Who Made Roger Rabbit (10:55) featuring Fleischer; Deleted Scene: The Pig Head Sequence (5:30); Before and After (3:07), live-action shots followed by their blended counterparts; Toon Stand-Ins (3:14), the on-set rubber puppets designed to guide the animators; Behind the Ears (36:37), the standard Making Of; On Set! (4:50), behind-the-scenes footage; and, Toontown Confidential, a separate pop-up track featuring text-based facts and trivia.
(March 28, 2013- Bellingham, WA) – Motionworks, the new digital comics experience, is proud to announce an exclusive relationship with Space Goat Productions, the premier comic book talent management and production company. Space Goat is now Motionworks’ exclusive service provider of art and animation services. Titles can be viewed at www.Motionworksent.com.
With its worldwide network of top comic book talent and its veteran management team, Space Goat will be the sole art provider and packager for the Motionworks titles.
“We’re thrilled to be a part of this exciting evolution in storytelling,” said Shon Bury of Space Goat Productions. “By matching top talent with these exciting concepts, we can supply strong storytelling that will keep readers surprised and thrilled.”
Motionworks Entertainment recently launched with James O’Barr’s Sundown, a Gothic Western. Combining both motion and music, Motionworks offers an immersive, multilayered experience. Other properties quickly followed, including Octane, The Interactive Ruppie Girls and Katie Greaven. These stories are available via iOS and Android platforms.
It is exciting to get our artists involved with new storytelling technologies,” said Bury. “How people find, buy, read and enjoy comics is changing. Artists with experience in the new formats are going to be more valuable and better prepared for the future.”
“It’s all about telling stories and engagement,” said Alexis Alarcon CEO of Motionworks. “We have great ideas and we have a great platform. And now, thanks to our relationship with Space Goat, we will have a steady stream of strong creators to bring it all to life”.
The end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s saw fans confronted with two completely different visions for what Flash Gordon could be.
It began in the late Seventies when producers Norm Prescott and Lou Scheimer wanted to make a full-blown, live-action Flash Gordon movie, probably for television but possibly for theatrical release. They commissioned a script that turned out to be, in their description, extremely close to the original pulp source material and potentially amazing as a film–but also far, far too expensive to produce.
Instead they decided to create an animated version of the movie using essentially the same script. They did so, complete with references to Hitler and the Nazis working with Ming the Merciless, but then decided to revamp the concept into a weekly animated series. That’s how we ended up with the show as it now exists–known at the time simply as FLASH GORDON but today called “The New Adventures of Flash Gordon” to distinguish it from other versions of the property.
Needing extra money to be able to complete the project, they hooked up with film producer Dino de Laurentiis (he of “Orca” and 1976 “King Kong” fame) to help fund the show in conjunction with the production of a live-action movie. This, of course, would result in the Sam Jones/Max von Sydow 1980 “Flash Gordon” film. De Laurentiis saw the animated series as perhaps raising public awareness of the property in the months leading up to his big-budget movie’s release.
As it turned out, the movie was about what one would’ve (or should have) expected from De Laurentiis–an over-the-top camp-fest, best remembered today mainly for its fantastic Queen music score.
The animated series, however, lives on as a mostly very-good-to-excellent example of late Seventies animation (with rotoscoping of human movement, interesting back-lighting effects, and pioneering use of scale models for spacecraft animation). It’s also just a flat-out great planetary adventure pulp story, with Flash first confronting (as foes) and then gathering to his side the leaders of the various other kingdoms of Mongo, in common cause against their evil ruler, Ming.
As a side note, not only was the animation cutting-edge, the music is excellent (an orchestral score–for a Saturday morning cartoon!) and the women… well, let’s just say you can tell this project was conceived as a movie for grown-ups and retrofitted into being a kids’ cartoon! Wow!
The series is available on DVD and, with the ability to fast-forward through some of the repetitive parts necessitated by the serialized format of a weekly half-hour show and budget constraints, it is well worth your time.
(Addendum: The voice of Ming the Merciless is performed by Allen Oppenheimer, later known as the voice of Skeletor in Filmation’s “He-Man” and “She-Ra” series. This might prove distracting to some, as the voice is quite distinct.)
I finally watched The Dark Knight Rises last Saturday.
Just a short recap: personal demons of mine kept me from seeing the film when it opened because of the shootings that happened during an opening night screening.
The first day the film came to Blu-Ray I brought a copy and planed a Dark Knight Rises night, complete with all the man cave fixings. That week another mass shooting happened and again I put the film on hold. Then Sandy Hook happened and again I put the film on hold.
I freely admit that I’m a pussy when it comes to confronting my own demons. I also freely admit that because of those demons I’ve made stupid decisions and reacted quickly instead of smartly.
Comics, animation, video games and the like take up a great deal of my time and my life, but they are not all my time or all my life.
I was not ready to see The Dark Knight Rises and waited until I was.
The film was, in a word, great.
I don’t regret waiting I don’t regret not seeing it on the big screen because the film was so badass I could have watched it on an iPhone and loved it.
On another note…
Dwayne McDuffie was a dear friend and creative partner of mine. I have yet to watch All-Star Superman, written by Dwayne, which debuted around the time of his death. I’m just not ready. But it sure is something to look forward to.
New autobiography of Lou Scheimer, co-founder of Filmation Studios, debuts November 7.
(RALEIGH, NC) On November 7, TwoMorrows Publishing releases LOU SCHEIMER: CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION, the new autobiography of the co-founder of the renowned Filmation animation studio. Hailed as one of the fathers of Saturday morning television, Scheimer devoted over 25 years to providing animated excitement for TV and film. Always at the forefront, Filmation created the first DC Comics cartoons with Superman, Batman, and Aquaman, ruled the song charts with The Archies, kept Trekkie hope alive with the Emmy-winning Star Trek: The Animated Series, taught morals with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and swung into high adventure with Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, and Zorro.
Forays into live-action included Shazam! and The Secrets of Isis, plus ground-breaking special effects work on Jason of Star Command and others. And in the 1980s, Filmation single-handedly caused the syndication explosion with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and its successors. Now, with best-selling co-author Andy Mangels, Lou Scheimer tells his entire story, including how his father decked Adolf Hitler, memories of the comic books of the Golden Age, schooling with Andy Warhol, and what it meant to lead the last all-American animation company through nearly thirty years of innovation and fun. Profusely illustrated with photos, model sheets, storyboards, presentation art, looks at rare and unproduced series, and more — plus hundreds of tales about Filmation’s past, and rare Filmation-related art by Bruce Timm, Adam Hughes, Alex Ross, Phil Jimenez, Frank Cho, Gene Ha, and Mike McKone — this book shows the Filmation Generation the story behind the stories.
288-page Trade Paperback with COLOR, by Lou Scheimer with Andy Mangels Print Edition: $29.95 cover price Digital Edition: $9.95, available only at www.twomorrows.com
ISBN10: 1-60549-044-X ISBN13: 978-1-60549-044-1 Diamond Comic Distributors Order Code: JUL121245
ABOUT THE CO-AUTHOR: Andy Mangels is the USA Today best-selling author and co-author of over twenty fiction and nonfiction books — including Star Trek, Roswell, and Star Wars novels — and is an award-winning comic book anthology editor. He has also contributed to international magazines and newspapers, and has scripted, directed, and produced over forty DVD documentaries and Special Features projects.
LOU SCHEIMER: CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION will be in stores on Wednesday, November 7.
Since 1994, TwoMorrows Publishing has been bringing a new day to comics fandom, through its award-winning line of magazines and books.
Slowly but surely, intellectual property is flowing into larger lumps, eerily mimicking the actions of the country’s banks. The WWE owns the assets of its former major (only) competitor, WCW. Dreamworks owns Classic Media, which means it controls a massive library of classic animation and TV, including Jay Ward and Harveytoons. Disney now controls its own properties, the Muppets, Marvel Comics and now Lucasfilm. They also finally got back the rights of one of Walt’s earliest creations, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which he had done for Walter Lantz. He’s now starring in their [[[Epic Mickey]]] video games, and now that they own him outright, I’m sure there are plans for using him as well.
If there’s one thing Disney is good at, it’s finding innovative ways to use and market its properties. In addition to the promised new Star Wars film in 2015 (get in line now!) I expect they already have a full list of plans to execute. Here are our predictions… (more…)
Tarzan returns to the big screen in 2013 in a new motion capture movie starring Kellen Lutz from “Twilight” performing the motion capture of Tarzan. Spencer Locke from the “Resident Evil” movies plays Jane. A teaser trailer has been released showing the lord of the jungle in action.
PRESS RELEASE:
Tarzan Official Trailer #1 (2013) – Motion Capture Movie HD
Reinhard Klooss will direct. Robert Kulzer will produce with a script written by Klooss, Yoni Brenner and Jessica Postigo. According to THR, the story is being updated: “Tarzan’s parents, billionaire adventurers, are now killed in airplane crash rather than being marooned with their child. And the movie’s villain is the CEO of Greystoke Energies, a man who took over the company from Tarzan’s deceased parents. In the script, Jane is the daughter of an African guide and is committed to the conservation and preservation of the African jungle. She eventually works with Tarzan to defeat the mercenary army of Greystoke Energies.”
All Pulp will bring you more news as it becomes available.
Walt Disney deserves its reputation for making magic on a regular basis, starting with the black and white shorts of the 1930s all the way through their current hits on their cable channel. They’ve managed to spread the supernaturally wonderful touch to cartoons, films, television, theme parks, and tons of merchandise. The joy is looking back, seeing the progress as Disney and the Nine Old Men, the master animators, learned the tricks of the trade, refining them and then owning them, setting them apart from all.
The 1950 release, Cinderella, is one of those films where all the elements come together. It possesses a classic story, told with verve and humor, coupled with fluid animation and memorable songs. Disney has spruced the film up, debuting it this week as part of its Diamond edition series of films.
Watching this classic feels fresh thanks to the restoration efforts. The songs sound better, the characters feel funnier, and you grin happily all the way through. The fairy tale was nicely adapted as the young girl found herself trapped in her role as scullery maid to the wicked stepmother and her homely, but favored, two daughters. She makes her wish to attend the ball and is greeted by the lovable but somewhat daffy Fairy Godmother. There’s the ball, the price, the dancing, and the glass hoe left behind as the clock strikes twelve. It’s all there, well-paced and crafted, with natural movements to the humans, saving the exaggerated antics for the anthropomorphized mice that were Cinderella’s friends from the outset.
You root for Cinderella, hiss at the step-mother, and giggle at the slapstick. It’s all done well and is a perfect family film that endures.
One of the highlights of Disney’s Diamond releases is seeing how much improved the video image is and Cinderella does not disappoint. The high-definition restoration is amazing, with bright colors and sharp clarity, making the film all the more magical. Accompanying the improved look is amazing sound, which enlivens the overall experience.
Disney rarely skimps on the extras for these special releases and once more, this disc comes chockfull of goodness. The Blu-ray and DVD come nicely packaged in an embossed case but that’s just starting the fun. There are tons of extras that show the history of the film, the filmmaking process, and the usual assortment of excellent featurettes taking us into the magic behind the screen. Thankfully, the Classic Backstage Disney section repurposes all the content from previous editions.
“The Real Fairy Godmother” (12:00) is fascinating in that it is a tribute to Walt’s wife, the inspiration for the supporting player. Daughter Diane Disney Miller appears here along with an optional video introduction to Cinderella. A new Tangled short appears in “Tangled Ever After”, which was in theaters with the last rerelease of Beauty and the Beast but acts as the lead-in to the Cinderella.
In a nice bit of cross-promotion, Snow White, that is Once Upon a Time’s Ginnfer Goodwin, takes you on a tour of the revamped Fantasyland at Disneyland, as “Behind the Magic: A New Disney Princess Fantasyland” (8:00) emphasizes the Princesses that have proven a marketing juggernaut. More promotion can be found in the focus on designer Christian Louboutin in “The Magic of a Glass Slipper: A Cinderella Story” (10:00).
For Blu-ray fans, there’s the DisneyView option, spotlighting the art of Cristy Maltese, in case those black bars on the sides bother you.
If anything is less than stellar, it’s the Disney Second Screen, accessed via your mobile device or computer, lacking the usual breadth of secrets from the Disney Vault.
