Sunday, February 27, 2005
Calvin and the Colonel
(from left) Frank Andrina, John Sparey, Phil Roman, June Foray, Mark Kausler, and Mike Karaleh
So here it is Oscar Sunday and I haven`t blogged yesterday`s Calvin and the Colonel screening at AFI yet. I had familial duties to perform last night. It was my night for dishes. At the DreamWorks party yesterday I was talking to real nice lady named Rita who seemed to be the wife of the head of post at DW (noise levels). She asked me what I was about and we got talking about the animation history classes I teach.
Jerry Beck`s AFI screenings keep me humble. I was privilege to set in on a conversation between Mark Kausler, Ray Pointer, and a number of others after the screening that ranged from studio locations to music timing devices in animation to the sound signatures of animation composers. I keep picking up pieces to hundreds of puzzles I have running around in my head.
The screening started with a Van Beuren Amos and Andy cartoon. I was surprised at how mild this demonized series really was. Scrub Me Mamma With a Boogie Beat is much more racist in content. Amos and Andy, at lest in this incarnation, was like a black Life of Riley with a sympathetic Andy in the Riley role.
Next came Calvin and the Colonel. Good solid UPA style animation with very good posing and solid situation comedy writing.
Here is an example of one of the hundreds of those animation puzzles running around in my head. What about Shull Bonsell? I got an answer to that question from Fred Patten who was up and around and looking very good after his hospital stay of last month.
For those of you who don`t know who Shull Bonsell is let us just say that he is not the favorite person of Lucile Bliss, Jay Ward, or Alex Anderson and that through very hardball business practices he gained the rights to Crusader Rabbit. (see Keith Scott`s The Mouse that Roared for more details)
I know a lot about Bonsell from his days in the lime light but I never knew what happened to him. Fred tracked him down to his son-in-law`s horse ranch some years ago.
Bonsell had gone bankrupt and was now the foreman on said horse ranch. Bonsell partly blamed the NAACP opposed Calvin and the Colonel for his business going belly up.
The panel was not nearly long enough. Nor was the conversation afterwards. All and all a very good day. Next up at AFI is commercials of the 50`s and 60`s followed the month after with a Scrappy screening with a display of Scrappy collectables showing before the screening.
Mark Kausler (It`s the Cat) and Bob Stenhouse (The Dog the Frog and the Devil)
Frank Andrina
Mark Evanier, Phil Roman, with Jerry somebody with his back to us
Frank Andrina, John Sparey and Phil Roman
Ray Pointer, Bob Stenhouse, June Foray, back of Phil Roman and I am not sure who the last person with his back to the camera is ¶ 9:47 AM
(from left) Frank Andrina, John Sparey, Phil Roman, June Foray, Mark Kausler, and Mike Karaleh
So here it is Oscar Sunday and I haven`t blogged yesterday`s Calvin and the Colonel screening at AFI yet. I had familial duties to perform last night. It was my night for dishes. At the DreamWorks party yesterday I was talking to real nice lady named Rita who seemed to be the wife of the head of post at DW (noise levels). She asked me what I was about and we got talking about the animation history classes I teach.
So you are an Animation Historian?
No, I am a teacher of Animation History who would like to be an Animation Historian some day.
Jerry Beck`s AFI screenings keep me humble. I was privilege to set in on a conversation between Mark Kausler, Ray Pointer, and a number of others after the screening that ranged from studio locations to music timing devices in animation to the sound signatures of animation composers. I keep picking up pieces to hundreds of puzzles I have running around in my head.
The screening started with a Van Beuren Amos and Andy cartoon. I was surprised at how mild this demonized series really was. Scrub Me Mamma With a Boogie Beat is much more racist in content. Amos and Andy, at lest in this incarnation, was like a black Life of Riley with a sympathetic Andy in the Riley role.
Next came Calvin and the Colonel. Good solid UPA style animation with very good posing and solid situation comedy writing.
Here is an example of one of the hundreds of those animation puzzles running around in my head. What about Shull Bonsell? I got an answer to that question from Fred Patten who was up and around and looking very good after his hospital stay of last month.
For those of you who don`t know who Shull Bonsell is let us just say that he is not the favorite person of Lucile Bliss, Jay Ward, or Alex Anderson and that through very hardball business practices he gained the rights to Crusader Rabbit. (see Keith Scott`s The Mouse that Roared for more details)
I know a lot about Bonsell from his days in the lime light but I never knew what happened to him. Fred tracked him down to his son-in-law`s horse ranch some years ago.
Bonsell had gone bankrupt and was now the foreman on said horse ranch. Bonsell partly blamed the NAACP opposed Calvin and the Colonel for his business going belly up.
The panel was not nearly long enough. Nor was the conversation afterwards. All and all a very good day. Next up at AFI is commercials of the 50`s and 60`s followed the month after with a Scrappy screening with a display of Scrappy collectables showing before the screening.
Mark Kausler (It`s the Cat) and Bob Stenhouse (The Dog the Frog and the Devil)
Frank Andrina
Mark Evanier, Phil Roman, with Jerry somebody with his back to us
Frank Andrina, John Sparey and Phil Roman
Ray Pointer, Bob Stenhouse, June Foray, back of Phil Roman and I am not sure who the last person with his back to the camera is ¶ 9:47 AM
