Archive: Three Interesting Documents Today, we posted three fascinating documents... A letter from Roy Disney to Grim Natwick offering him a job, a letter from Charles Mintz to Virginia "Alice in Cartoonland" Davis, and Dick Huemer's contract with Disney from 1946...



Biography: Three Interesting Documents

I hope you're finding our posts useful and interesting.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive"  ¶ 7:25 PM

  Archive: Musical Timing Rediscovered Today, I posted an some material that is going to be of great interest to animators... Rudy Ising's complete bar sheets for a 1933 Merrie Melodies cartoon...



Media: Musical Timing Rediscovered

Musical timing is one of the most significant differences between classic and modern animation. This document details how it was done. I hope the professional animators out there study it and apply these techniques to their own timing.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive  ¶ 5:50 PM

  Down Date:

I will be off line with computer problems for a day or two, or gods help me, three. Always fun!

There will be no volunteer meeting this coming Wednesday. The volunteer meeting will return next month.  ¶ 7:32 AM

  Archive: Jules Engel Color Keys Today, I posted some color BG keys by Jules Engel from Format Films' Alvin Show...



Media: Jules Engel's Color Keys

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive  ¶ 7:51 PM

  Archive: Disney Model Sheets Today, we digitized a batch of Disney model sheets...



Reluctant Dragon and Pinocchio Model Sheets

Check them out.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive  ¶ 1:01 PM

  Jam Every Other Day:

Time moves on. Comic Con was a month ago. Meeting with a guy this morning who has a recording studio to talk to him about putting sound to the ASIFA Comic Con Animation Jam. Got a voice actor to call next week to see if she would be willing to do some voice on the project. Just got a email from the people at Platform International Animation Festival in Portland announcing their festival:

Somehow this all seems to fit together.

This is to let you know we have entered you in our database for the Platform International Animation Festival, which will take place in Portland, Oregon from June 25-30, 2007.

You will receive regular updates on information as it becomes available.

Preliminary information is available on our temporary website, and our complete website will be live this September. http://www.platformfestival.com/

At that time you will find full details and be able to sign in securely to enter your films in competition (the entry deadline is February 1, 2007 for films and November 30, 2006 for Installations. Preview tapes should be received by February 10, 2007).

It is about time we get a major Animation Festival on the West Coast in the continental United States. Okay, Ottawa Intl. Animation Festival is on the same continent but it sure isn`t West Coast. So I`m thinking maybe put the ASIFA Animation Jam in the Platform Festival, could be fun. Portland is not that far (okay 1,000 miles) but I do have some friends that live in the area that I only get to see once a year at Comic Con time. It would be nice to see them without 125,000 other people crowding around.  ¶ 9:00 AM

  Brooks College Program Wednesday On Wednesday night, the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive will be presenting a program entitled Treasures of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. It will include a screening of rare cartoons, an exhibit of vintage animation artwork, and a panel discussion hosted by Jerry Beck on how animation's past can change its future. You won't want to miss this!



In his posting on Cartoon Brew today, Amid Amidi commented on the news that Turner UK is planning to edit references to smoking from the cartoons in its library. This is just the latest in a long string of "objectionable" gags that have fallen to the editor's sciscors over the past thirty years... references to WWII, ethnic humor, drinking, gambling, fistfights, and a long list of other vices- large and small- have been edited out of cartoons to protect children from being exposed to negative influences. Very few classic cartoons remain on television any more.

But those of us who love the art of animation know that animation isn't just for kids... These films have great historical importance, and deserve to be preserved and presented intact. Amid calls for collectors to circulate copies of the banned and edited films themselves, so they won't disappear completely. But there is another way- an organization dedicated to keeping these films alive... I'll give you one guess which organization I'm referring to!

Here are just a few classic images you likely won't see on TV, but you will see in the Treasures of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive program Wednesday night...



Treasures of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive
Wednesday, August 23rd, 6pm
Brooks College Campus (Brooks Cafe)
Map to Brooks College Campus
4825 East Pacific Coast Hwy
Long Beach, CA 90804  ¶ 5:28 PM

  Animation Education:

I am a big supporter of The History of Animation because 1. I love the stuff and 2. The History of Animation is a big supporter of me and my family. (I teach it at 2 different Colleges and a University)

But I am sometimes surprised at just how many students show up for one of my classes. Last night was my first Animation History class at CSUF, California State University at Fullerton. I had 83 students enrolled and 12 students wanting to add the class.

Since 83 students are too many students to interact with in any meaningful way I will not be adding any students unless some current students drop. Sorry guys.

Anyway, each student is assigned a research project on an animator from the ASIFA-Hollywood Biopedia and this class will pretty much finish up all of the available listed names so I`m not sure what I will do in the Spring.

Guest speakers at Fullerton this semester are Dan Lund and Dream on Silly Dreamer and Tom Sito and Drawing the Line. I did not set out to discourage and depress my students by talking about layoffs and strikes.

This just kind of happened. I called Dan and set up Dreamer and then Tom emailed me and volunteered and I have been waiting for his book for 4 years so I jumped on it.

I also have Tom set up to do a book signing at Laguna College of Art & Design. Which is a little strange, programming events for a school I am not currently teaching at. (I teach at LCAD in the Spring and Fullerton in the Fall).

And Brooks College, Long Beach all year round. None of these events above are really open to the public but the ASIFA Treasures Event at Brooks College tomorrow (Wed. August 23rd) is wide open to anyone and everyone. See details below.  ¶ 11:49 AM

  AWN Looks Back @ Comic Con 2006:

I know you are tired of hearing/reading me talk about Comic Con. But Sarah Baisley, editor of AWN still wanted to talk about the show for their Comic Con Wrap Up article so I answered her questions as did a number of other battle scarred Comic Con veterans.

It is up at: http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=2980&page=1  ¶ 10:45 AM

  Happy 100th Friz: I'd tip my hat to you but I haven't got a hat

You may want to mention on the ASIFA Blog monday the day long Friz-a-Thon happening across the Blogosphere to celebrate the 100th Birthday of Friz Freleng. Cartoon Brew is involved and it's being organized by a site called www.HellonFriscoBay.Blogspot.com (they have links to all the Friz blog sites).

I'll have several anecdotes about Friz on my site for the 21st. http://www.tomsito.com/blog.php
Best, Tom (Sito)

Happy 100th Birthday to the incredible changing man, one of Walt`s original Kansas City Boys that went on to create Porky Pig and Beans the Cat (one of the original Boston Beans) I haven`t Got a Hat and then went one step further to embrace the new animation style championed by UPA with his Pink Panther.

  ¶ 6:41 AM

  Do I Really Want to Drive to Long Beach Wednesday? YES!

Is it worth the drive to Long Beach to see this Archive Treasures Screening thing? Okay, you know I am going to say yes. That is what I do in these pages. But I am prepared to back up that yes.

I gave a similarly name screening at Comic Con and here is what I showed at my Treasures of the Archive screening, all pristine prints most straight from 3/4 inch masters donated to the ASIFA-Hollywood Archives by John K. :

• The Old Mill Pond - MGM 1936
  
• Romeo in Rhythm - Rudy Ising MGM 1940
  
• A Dream Walking - Fleischer 1934
  
• Goonland - Fleischer 1938
  
• Barnyard Actor - Terrytoons 1955
  
• The Last Roundup - Mannie Davis Terrytoons 1943
  
• What Happens at Night - Terrytoons 1939
  
• The Temperamental Lion - Terrytoons 1939
  
• Sweet Jennie Lee - Fleischer 1932
  
• Swing You Sinners - Fleischer 1930
  
• Tin Pan Alley Cats - Schlesinger Robert Clampett 1943
  
• Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs - Schlesinger Robert Clampett 1943

Wednesday night August 23rd
Brooks College
6 PM - Brooks Cafe
Brooks College Campus
4825 East Pacific Coast Hwy
Long Beach, CA 90804

FREE to the Public (that means you)  ¶ 9:55 AM

  Friday Roundup:

Fullerton:
Spent the last couple of days getting ready for Fall semester at Fullerton. I`ll got the long walk today from one end of the campus to the other and then back again getting signed up, signed in, and set up for class. The only thing I dislike about Fullerton is the number of hoops I have to jump through to start and end the semester.

Drawing the Line:
On a related topic, just put together a couple of appearances/book signings for Tom Sito and his new book., Drawing the Line. The strikes are such an importance subject that most people just want to bury and forget. (which is why this is so important) You can not understand modern animation without understanding the forces that formed it.

Most people think about the strikes as only a negative thing. What happens to animation when you train 500 people in detailed figurative 2-D animation and then release half of them on the job market all at once?

I`ll tell you what happens. The style of that one studio becomes the style. Then it becomes the style to break away from and after that the style to return to. It is the yardstick even today. Everything after 1941 is colored by this one event but no one wants to talk about.

I haven`t read Tom`s book yet but I have been talking to him about the subject for years. Order your copy today. Or make sure you get to one of his signings.

ASIFA-Hollywood Archives at Brooks College:
The book signing I just set up are on college campuses but are not open to the public. Here is an event on a college campus that is a public event.



Treasures of the ASIFA Archives:
Ever wondered what is in the vault at ASIFA? Here is your chance to find out.

Wednesday August 23rd
6 PM - Brooks Cafe
Brooks College Campus
4825 East Pacific Coast Hwy
Long Beach, CA 90804  ¶ 7:59 AM

  Archive: Boody Rogers' Babe Comics Today, I posted the first half of an epic riff on Li'l Abner by Boody Rogers from Babe comics...



Media: Boody Rogers' Babe Comics (1949)

I'd never heard of this cartoonist before, but he is wonderful. Check it out.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive  ¶ 1:37 AM

  Archive: Early 50s UPA Model Sheets Today, in honor of the release of Amid Amidi's new book, Cartoon Modern, I posted a batch of UPA model sheets from the early 50s... Gerald McBoing Boing, Mr Magoo, Rooty Toot Toot and more...



Media: Early 50s UPA Model Sheets

While you're at it, check out Amid's great Flickr set of photos of the people who made these great cartoons...



Cartoon Modern Yearbook Flickr Set

Great stuff!

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive  ¶ 7:51 PM

  Box Office Monster:

I went out to the ASIFA screening of Monster House last night. And guess what, there was screen after screen of animators in the credits. Mo Cap is not going to kill animation any more than Rotoscope killed animation.

It was a fun movie, very dark and not really for little kids. About time someone other that Tim Burton used animation to make animation for grownups. Okay, there were a couple of times that looking at the process pulled me out of the film but I liked the story and the performances. And I loved the animation on the house. Killer stuff and lots of fun, big payoff ending.  ¶ 11:33 AM

  Archive: Grammar of Ornament Part Three Today, we posted more pages from Owen Jones' landmark design manual, The Grammar of Ornament...



Media: The Grammar of Ornament Part Three

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive  ¶ 2:40 PM

 

Here is the Book I have been waiting for. The one that talks about what no one ever talks about, the Animation Strikes.

Tom is over seas at the moment taking work away from people on an island in the China sea. But he will be back soon. Here is a list of his up coming book signings.

DRAWING THE LINE Booksigning events planned so far...

October 13th Fri. Burbank Cal. Gordon Biersch - c/o Creative Talent Network.

November 17th Fri. San Francisco Cartoon Museum 313 Mission St., evening talk with ASIFA/SF 7:00PM

November 18th Saturday -San Francisco- Zeum , a childrens interactive museum.

November 29th Weds. New York- Chelsea Barnes & Noble, 675 6th Ave near NYU. 7:00PM talk & reception courtesy of the School of Visual Arts and ASIFA*East.

December 8th, Fri. Los Angeles- The Animation Guild Local 839, IATSE Holiday Party, The Pickwick Center, Burbank Ca.

December 14th Hollywood- Dec membership meeting. the preservation society Hollywood Heritage dedicates restoration of 1920s era building near Capitol Records on Yucca that was once the Screen Cartoonists Guild Local 852 offices.

  ¶ 10:42 AM

  Why I have Been Missing:

I have been having fun. Ran out of hard drive space that somehow creamed my Internet connection and my sound card software at the same time that in blow away all of my past system restore points. Which is why I have not been with you in the last couple of days.

I am currently up and running but will be working on my Cal State Fullerton syllabus and grading data base for the weekend.



UPDATE:
Treasures of the ASIFA-Hollywood Archives - Brooks College:



Wednesday August 23rd
6 PM - Brooks Cafe
Brooks College Campus
4825 East Pacific Coast Hwy
Long Beach, CA 90804

Public is Invited:

The panel after the Jerry Beck Treasures screening is set:

Moderator:

Jerry Beck

Panelists:

Antran Manoogian, ASIFA President
Steve Worth, ASIFA Archivist
Larry Loc, Coordinator ASIFA Animation Rescue Team
Angelo di Nallo, Co-Creator Bradwurst & ASIFA
volunteer

  ¶ 1:15 PM

  ASIFA Hero:

As you can see below Steve Worth has advertised the Evening With Bill Melendez and Floyd Norman DVD project that I worked on. If you have been following these pages then you know the step by step of the process from my side of the project as I tried to bring this set of interviews to market. What you don`t know is the hours of very hard work by the other person involved in this project. (he doesn`t write a Blog and talk on an on about himself like some people)

I would like to focus today on that person and on all of the work he did that made this whole project possible. I am talking of Eric Graf, Extraordinary ASIFA Volunteer. This project would never have happened without him.

I first meet Eric at an ASIFA volunteer meeting. Which is not strange because he has been a dedicated volunteer for years.

I worked with him on the Terry Thoren Archive move. Now that the ASIFA Archive is up and running, he is very active at the Archive. He takes that long commute from Orange County into Burbank almost every Saturday to help with the digitizing and cataloging.

But all this is small potatoes compared to the major contribution Eric made to ASIFA over the last couple of months.

It all started in this Blog about 3 months ago. I was talking about a DVD I was editing of a couple Mark Kausler interviews. The next day I get an email for Eric saying that he would be glad to help ASIFA with DVD editing and authoring, which is what he does professionally.

Soon after that email, during an Archives move, I found a group of tapes of the Tom Sito Evening With interviews and just about now maybe Eric is a little sorry that he offered his talents because he ended up donation hundreds of hours of his free time to turn the substandard source material that I was able to lay my hands on into a very professional package.

I love the menu system that he designed. It is logical and aimed at the animation history buff. I am so tired of the DVD menu systems that seem to be designed to hide the good stuff under layers and layers of introductions and forced previews that I then have to fight my way through to get to the clip that I need to show my students. With Eric`s menu design it is all right there clearly labeled and just a click away.

I find myself using this interview disk almost weekly in my Animation History class to add a point on one subject or another. Just this last week I called up a couple of interviews from the Bill Melendez interview that covered the strike years, Leon Schlesinger and the organized crime / animation union boss Willie Bioff.

A big thank you is due to Video Resources for letting Eric use their equipment on his off hours to work on a project for a non-profit origination. http://www.videoresources.com (if you need short runs of professional authored DVD they are the people to turn to) and a giant heart felt mega-thank you is due to Eric Graf for all the long hours and the supreme talent he brought to the Evening With Bill Melendez and Floyd Norman DVD project.

As Steve Worth notes below, this limited DVD is available to own. Order yours today.

Here is the content of the disk:

Bill Melendez


• intro
  
• Animator`s attitudes - then and now
  
• Meeting Walt Disney . . . Walt draws Mickey Mouse . . . Producers and artists
  
• How quickly? How cheaply? Whay Walt was a great producer. . . Fred Quimby`s footage Book
  
• Rudy Zamora and Fred Quimby
  
• Rudy Zamora at Disney . . . The lack of humor at the studio . . . The Spirit of $17.76
  
• The non-Disney studios . . .The Clampett unit at Warner Bros. . . Practical jokes
  
• Leon Schlesinger. . .Asking Leon for a raise
  
• The beginning of TV
  
• The blacklist
  
• Willie Bioff . . .Strikes
  
• Cleanup and assistants . . . The Great Piggy Bank Robbery
  
• Jose Cuauhtemoc Melendez
  
• How I became an animator . . . Drawing classes
  
• Mexican polo players. . . Bill Tytla. . . Disney`s art library
  
• Norm Ferguson. . . Always shoot a test
  
• Working with Charles Schulz. . . Turning Charlie Brown
  
• Getting fired from Warner Bros.
  
• Voice acting and the SAG
  
  
  Floyd Norman
  
  
• Intro
  
• How I becaome a story artist
  
• Disney in 1956. . . Milt Kahl Features vs shors
  
• Race at Disney
  
• Disney artists acting like kids. . . Meeting Walt
  
• Dailies, drawing quotas, cleanup
  
• 101 Dalmations. . . The Sleeping Beauty Layoff. . . Drafted
  
• Windwagon Smith. . . The Hanna-Barbera poker game
  
• The Jungle Book. . . Sthe story department . . Recording Trust In Me. . .
• Plussing gags
  
• Walt`s input. . . Walt`s death. . . The Jungle Book`s ending
  
• Walt on camera. . . Roy Disney takes over. . . Disneyland
  
• Career path. . . Storyboarding. . .Disney comic strips. . . Writing for Mickey Mouse
  
• Comic strip gag meetings. . . Burnout
  
• Leaving Disney. . . Vignette Films. . . Hanna-Barbera. . . Faster! Cheaper! . . . art supplies
  
• Tex Avery and Kwicky Koala. . . When you gotta go. . .
  
• Phil Mendez`s office. . . Carter/Mendez Productions. . . Monkey muffins!
  
• Walt and 101 Dalmations. . . The Sword in the Stone. . . Xerox vs ink and paint
  
• Cleanup vs touch-up. . . Doing cleanup for Milt Kahl. . .Working rough
  
• Inter-studio visits
  
• Disney and race
  
• Floyd`s return to Disney. . . The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  
• Women in animation
  
• The Eisner era
  

  ¶ 8:09 AM

  Evening With Melendez and Norman DVD A new DVD from the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive



An Evening With Bill Melendez and Floyd Norman
DVD / NTSC / Over 2 hours / $15.00 plus $5 shipping / CA residents subject to sales tax / Allow 4 weeks for delivery /Save the shipping cost by stopping by the Archive to buy your copy, or... ORDER NOW by mail!

For many years, ASIFA-Hollywood VP, Tom Sito has been hosting informal interviews with important figures in animation. We're proud to release archive videos of two of these events... An Evening With- Bill Melendez and Floyd Norman. Here is a video excerpt from the Melendez interview. Bill is talking about his boss at Warner Bros, Leon Schlesinger...

Tom Sito and Bill Melendez
(Quicktime 7 / 9.5 megs)

PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.

Thanks to Larry Loc and Eric Graf for overseeing the production of this DVD, and to Bill Melendez and Floyd Norman for sharing their memories of animation's golden age.  ¶ 9:37 AM

 

John K. When Cartoons Were DRAWN Funny. This Thursday night at Van Eaton Galleries located at 13613 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks.

To RSVP, please phone 818 788-2357 or email your name and the number of guests in your party to vegallery4@aol.com .

There is an $8 donation to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive at the door, and you must reserve a seat in advance.

(I was not sure about putting this up. They may already be booked up, I am not sure if there are any open seats left. But you might get lucky if you act right now.)  ¶ 6:45 AM

 
Books and Cards:

I just updated my website. Got all the new info on my 5th edition of my animation studio creation ebook on the site. Put a new sample version of my ebook up (trimmed down to one page per section so you can see what you are buying but not too much of what you are buying).

New Features: One of the classes I teach is the internship class. The wake up call, time to find a job class. This comes as a surprise to some students who have not really thought about school to job, to others it is just a continuation of the process of becoming.

One of the tools I designed for my students is a business card tutorial and design guide. Nothing makes an impression like the business card. It would be nice if the impression was a good one.

For the first time I have made my business card tutorial available to the public (complete with a clickable examples section with both good and bad card examples) . www.agni-animation.com  ¶ 7:50 AM

  It is hard to get back up to speed after a big event like San Diego. I have been just trying to catch up with stuff this last week or two but it feels like I am running through Jello. I always find that it is hard to get focused again and talk myself into doing anything until some other project comes along to spark me back into action.

Here is that other project. Yes, a small project and even connected to the gone and forgetten Comic Con but a project to spark the interest none the less.

Below is a rough edit of the ASIFA-Hollywood Comic Con Animation Jam 2006. If there is anyone out there that would like to compose music, do voices and or folly work for this animation jam? I am really in need of same. Give me an email. larry@agni-animation.com




Animators involved in jam in order of appearance:

David Burgess
Dan Weeks
Francine Prestininzi
Meredith Gran
Pedro Santana
Larry Loc
Eliza Frye
Alice Lin
Jenny Bettis
Eric Goldberg
Federico Oropeza
Tobias Loc
Lou Scarburough Jr.

In the weeks to come I will be editing the making of footage and the ASIFA Comic Con panels for extra features on the disk. Still not sure what we will do with the finished product over and above getting copies to all the animators as promised. I have been thinking that it might be fun to put it in a festival or something.  ¶ 4:41 PM

 

Treasures of the ASIFA-Hollywood Archives: Brooks College:

Now here is an event right up my alley, History of Animation and dedication to preservation. Brooks College Long Beach is holding an event focusing on the importance of Animation History. It is open to the public and features a treasures of the ASIFA-Hollywood Archives Screening. Steve Worth and Jerry Beck are involved with the program (and since Brooks is one of the schools I teach at and I am on the ASIFA board there is a better than even change I will be involved with this project too)

Wednesday August 23rd
6 PM - Brooks Cafe
Brooks College Campus
4825 East Pacific Coast Hwy
Long Beach, CA 90804   ¶ 8:48 AM

 

ASIFA is having a screening of MONSTER HOUSE on Monday, August 14th at 7pm at the Leonard H Goldensen Theater (TV Academy) in North Hollywood. A Q&A after the film will follow with the director, Gil Kenan. Don't miss this members-only exclusive Asifa screening.

August 14th, 2006 - 7pm
Leonard H Goldensen Theater (TV Academy)
North Hollywood, CA
ASIFA MEMBERS: (310-274-3448)

I`m looking forward to seeing Monster House. It sounds like a fun story idea. The reviews and word of mouth are good. I talked to the guy that animated the house at Comic Con last week. (no, they did not put targets on a real house and capture its movements)

The hard part is watching the movie without getting in the middle of the latest media circus. The press is trying to turn motion capture into the next animation battleground. And all I want to do is watch a movie.

For those of you lucky enough not to be in the know, there is a giant stink currently going on around the animation community about motion capture and how the uninformed SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE movie reviewer, Mick LaSalle, thinks that it is a better tool for capturing animated emotional performance. Monster House has the misfortune of being right at ground zero in this mess.

LaSalle kicked over a hornets nest by saying there is no use looking at a close up in animation because it is impossible to get facial expression into the animation process without an actor in a mo cap rig. If you haven`t been over to Cartoon Brew lately to check out the outrage eating up the screens and you like that kind of thing maybe you should check out the fallout from LaSalle`s moronic statement. http://www.cartoonbrew.com

Don`t let the media muddy the water. They love to do that, it sells papers. LaSalle my not even be as stupid as he sounds because now everybody is reading him so they can take shoots at his opinions. The sale of a paper is the sale of a paper. And it all goes to make him richer.

For years the press was screaming 2-D vs 3-D. There is no 2-D vs 3-D, never was. These are just tools for making animation. Here we go again. The press loves to focus on the tool and to hell with all the damage they do. The label for a tool is something that the uninformed can latch on to and beat to death without ever understanding what they are talking about. And some times studio heads listen to them.

To me, a movie stands or falls on it`s own merit. Here is a well-known secret. They normally have top-notch animators animate right on top of the motion capture data. You don`t really believe that Gollum was all mo cap?

Can`t we all just get along? And go out to enjoy a movie without drawing battle lines. I`m not going to let them force me to pick sides. A tool is a tool and so are the muckrakers.  ¶ 11:02 AM