Gerry Chiniquy animated this funny scene from Friz Freleng's "Yankee Doodle Daffy" (1943). Notice the use of 'snappy' timing, so Daffy jerks from one pose to another, to keep in rhythm with the music.
The goal of this blog is to help people identify the many wonderful (and then not so wonderful) animators from the Golden Age of cartoons. Check back every day for more fun!
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Cheese Burglar
First, I hope everyone has noticed I've changed the title of my blog to something a little shorter (admittedly I never thought this thing would actually last longer than a week). David Gerstein suggested the name to me last night. He claims you can read it either as "I.D." or for my "unbridled criticism". Wiseass.
Secondly, today's breakdown is probably a Famous cartoon everybody here has seen before, seeing as it's on millions of public domain compilations. Milton Knight deserves full credit for breaking this down. He says: "Some people confuse Henning's work for Tyer's in this one; I'm attempting to set that record straight."
"Cheese Burglar"
Interestingly enough, all three animators are credited for this short.
- All scenes from opening to cat saying "The mouse was right!" and
jumping up with knife: Ben Solomon
- Cat stalks dog, dog pulls knife, and they attack each other: William Henning
- All scenes from Herman watching to cat falling and hitting head on the radiator: Jim Tyer
- Herman gloating ("The cat's death rattle!"), then walking out of hole: Solomon
- All scenes from Herman walking over "dead" cat and dog to Herman getting roped out of wine bottle: Henning
- Final shot of drunken trio: Solomon
This short is also interesting because it catches the animators at a transitional stage between traditional Fleischer-type models and the more modern Famous design. For the record, the model of the cat also appears in "Chick and Double Chick" (1946) and "The Stupidstitious Cat" (1947).
Secondly, today's breakdown is probably a Famous cartoon everybody here has seen before, seeing as it's on millions of public domain compilations. Milton Knight deserves full credit for breaking this down. He says: "Some people confuse Henning's work for Tyer's in this one; I'm attempting to set that record straight."
"Cheese Burglar"
Interestingly enough, all three animators are credited for this short.
- All scenes from opening to cat saying "The mouse was right!" and
jumping up with knife: Ben Solomon
- Cat stalks dog, dog pulls knife, and they attack each other: William Henning
- All scenes from Herman watching to cat falling and hitting head on the radiator: Jim Tyer
- Herman gloating ("The cat's death rattle!"), then walking out of hole: Solomon
- All scenes from Herman walking over "dead" cat and dog to Herman getting roped out of wine bottle: Henning
- Final shot of drunken trio: Solomon
This short is also interesting because it catches the animators at a transitional stage between traditional Fleischer-type models and the more modern Famous design. For the record, the model of the cat also appears in "Chick and Double Chick" (1946) and "The Stupidstitious Cat" (1947).
Sunday, May 1, 2005
B-Day: Emery Hawkins
Yes, it's my favorite animator's turn now (get used to it!).
Here's one of my favorite pieces of his animation from "Hurdy Gurdy Hare". Excellent line of action in this scene, and the gorilla's goony expression after being soothed is beautiful.
My Internet connection has been unbelieveably shitty for the past few days (I can't even get to my email or eBay), so I'll put up some earlier clips (Scrappy, Captain and the Kids) from Hawkins later this week.
Here's one of my favorite pieces of his animation from "Hurdy Gurdy Hare". Excellent line of action in this scene, and the gorilla's goony expression after being soothed is beautiful.
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My Internet connection has been unbelieveably shitty for the past few days (I can't even get to my email or eBay), so I'll put up some earlier clips (Scrappy, Captain and the Kids) from Hawkins later this week.
Saturday, April 9, 2005
Art Davis at Lantz
Since you older animation historian-type fellers are reading this blog, maybe you can tell me something. Who exactly came up with this view that anything done by Walter Lantz's studio after 1952 is bilge?
Leonard Maltin has mixed views, but not negatively biased, in his essential book Of Mice and Magic (BTW, I formulated my opinions on these shorts long before I read Maltin's book if you believe it!). When you hear a parrot parade on specific animation topics you can usually find their examples in Maltin's book, but not in this case. I am guessing that it's just lumping Paul Smith's output with those of Don Patterson, Alex Lovy, Jack Hannah, and Sid Marcus.
It's OK if you don't like them, but I don't really care what you think unless you've made an effort at seeing the films. The same goes for the Terrytoons, which I'm afraid I somewhat do fall into the 'parrot parade' on (more on Terry in a later post, I promise!). I will also go on a rant about how Woody Woodpecker was still a great character long after 1952, and how Lantz was turning out the best cartoons after Warners and MGM's golden ages.
Woody Woodpecker: Post-1952
Anywho... Art Davis was doing literally the ONLY cartoony animation in the 1960s for Sid Marcus' unit at Lantz. I thought you guys would like seeing the scenes he did from two of the studio's most popular cartoons.
These first two are from Chilly Willy's HALF-BAKED ALASKA (1965). I dare you to tell me you don't remember this one! My personal favorite is Chilly about to play the piano in the second clip. The music and animation builds up for some grand performance, with Chilly smarmily warming up his fingers. This kind of staging is what makes Chilly's performance hilarious!
This next bit is from one of the fabled 'Holy Grails' at the Lantz-O-Pedia, Walter Lantz's personal favorite, THREE LITTLE WOODPECKERS (1965). Artie handles everything up until Splinter says "Oh goodie,Santa's here!" Then it's handled by Ray Abrams. He drew his characters nicely, but pretty conservatively, which was typical for any 1960s product. He worked in Tex Avery's unit at MGM in the mid-40s where his work probably said something more of his draftsmanship.
You'll also notice, unless you are severly hard of hearing, that Splinter & Knothead are voiced by June Foray here. She was their original voice artist for Paul Smith's uses of the characters (GET LOST, RED RIDING HOODLUM, and INTERNATIONAL WOODPECKER, which are actually pretty funny films even though the latter two are hideous looking), and they usually just used Daws Butler and Gracie Lantz for them afterwards, like in the SPOOK-A-NANNY TV special. But Sid actually went out and got June back to do this pretty neat cartoon! Now that's care for your product!
Speaking of Daws, that's him as the "steeeyuuupid" wolf. He could do the Pete Puma voice just as well as Stan Freberg!
Let me know what you guys think of this!
Leonard Maltin has mixed views, but not negatively biased, in his essential book Of Mice and Magic (BTW, I formulated my opinions on these shorts long before I read Maltin's book if you believe it!). When you hear a parrot parade on specific animation topics you can usually find their examples in Maltin's book, but not in this case. I am guessing that it's just lumping Paul Smith's output with those of Don Patterson, Alex Lovy, Jack Hannah, and Sid Marcus.
It's OK if you don't like them, but I don't really care what you think unless you've made an effort at seeing the films. The same goes for the Terrytoons, which I'm afraid I somewhat do fall into the 'parrot parade' on (more on Terry in a later post, I promise!). I will also go on a rant about how Woody Woodpecker was still a great character long after 1952, and how Lantz was turning out the best cartoons after Warners and MGM's golden ages.
Anywho... Art Davis was doing literally the ONLY cartoony animation in the 1960s for Sid Marcus' unit at Lantz. I thought you guys would like seeing the scenes he did from two of the studio's most popular cartoons.
These first two are from Chilly Willy's HALF-BAKED ALASKA (1965). I dare you to tell me you don't remember this one! My personal favorite is Chilly about to play the piano in the second clip. The music and animation builds up for some grand performance, with Chilly smarmily warming up his fingers. This kind of staging is what makes Chilly's performance hilarious!
This next bit is from one of the fabled 'Holy Grails' at the Lantz-O-Pedia, Walter Lantz's personal favorite, THREE LITTLE WOODPECKERS (1965). Artie handles everything up until Splinter says "Oh goodie,Santa's here!" Then it's handled by Ray Abrams. He drew his characters nicely, but pretty conservatively, which was typical for any 1960s product. He worked in Tex Avery's unit at MGM in the mid-40s where his work probably said something more of his draftsmanship.
You'll also notice, unless you are severly hard of hearing, that Splinter & Knothead are voiced by June Foray here. She was their original voice artist for Paul Smith's uses of the characters (GET LOST, RED RIDING HOODLUM, and INTERNATIONAL WOODPECKER, which are actually pretty funny films even though the latter two are hideous looking), and they usually just used Daws Butler and Gracie Lantz for them afterwards, like in the SPOOK-A-NANNY TV special. But Sid actually went out and got June back to do this pretty neat cartoon! Now that's care for your product!
Speaking of Daws, that's him as the "steeeyuuupid" wolf. He could do the Pete Puma voice just as well as Stan Freberg!
Let me know what you guys think of this!
Sunday, January 9, 2005
Ken Harris - Frigid Hare
"Frigid Hare" (1949) is one of my very favorite Chuck Jones cartoons. In fact, I can't think of any Jones cartoons I don't love from this season. This is certainly one of the very best Bugs Bunny cartoons.
Ken Harris animated both of these scenes. Both are wonderfully timed and beautifully drawn, and the Charlie Chaplin mock-walk is one of the very best endings in cartoon history.
Ken Harris animated both of these scenes. Both are wonderfully timed and beautifully drawn, and the Charlie Chaplin mock-walk is one of the very best endings in cartoon history.
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