Reminder: It All Started Here! (in NY) Jan 17th

Just a friendly reminder to all you north-east American readers to try and make it to the White Plains "IT ALL STARTED HERE!" event which will take place on January 17th, this coming saturday. It is curated by animation veteran and historian Howard Beckerman as well as J.J. Sedelmaier of J.J. Sedelmaier Studios; not to be missed!
Here is some good information on the exhibit, and below some will be quoted if you cannot read the link.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/nyregion/westchester/11artswe.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1

"Visitors to the Arts Exchange will be greeted by four-foot standees of Mighty Mouse and Popeye. Inside, a 15-by-20-foot reproduction of McCay’s Gertie the Dinosaur towers up to the mezzanine balcony, and polychromatic murals of familiar cartoon personalities adorn the walls. A Popeye lamp circa 1938 and a 1960s Mighty Mouse radio represent merchandising based on various characters. An oversized list displays the nearly 550 animation companies that have called New York home since 1906.

There is original artwork from each stage of the animation process, including character sketches, cels and storyboards from a selection of films. “We’ve got artwork of Betty Boop when she still had little dog ears, signed by the animator Grim Natwick, who helped create her,” said Mr. Sedelmaier. “We have a 60-year-old scene of Popeye from ‘Lumberjack and Jill’ that was never used, and a pose test, pencil test and final footage from a Baby Huey cartoon.”

DVDs playing on flat screens and conventional monitors throughout the exhibition focus on different periods of animation. One presents snippets of characters from old silent cartoons; a second shows more contemporary independent animation by New York-based filmmakers. Another plays a compilation of animated television commercials, including Marky Maypo shouting, “I want my Maypo!” and Bert and Harry Piel (voiced by the comic duo Bob and Ray) promoting Piels beer, both from the 1950s.

Equipment on view ranges from an antique Mutascope and a Moviola from the 1950s once owned by the animator Preston Blair to a desktop computer used in the making of Disney’s 1982 feature “Tron.” There are also manual sound effects makers, a Fleischer Studios animation disk from 1936, and a planning board (used to assist in the checking process before the animation artwork was filmed) designed by John Oxberry, of New Rochelle, for Jack Zander, the Pound Ridge resident who animated Jerry of “Tom and Jerry.”"

Please come to the opening on Saturday evening January 17th, 2009
5pm to 8:00pm
The Arts Exchange
31 Mamaroneck Ave.
White Plains, NY 10601
914-428-4220 ext. 223

Here's the most updated info:

"IT ALL STARTED HERE !"
January 18 – February 28, 2009
Opening January 17, 2009
5pm to 8 PM
Curated by Howard Beckerman and J.J. Sedelmaier.
Presented by the Westchester Arts Council in partnership with
J. J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. and Blue Sky Studios

The Arts Exchange
Gallery hours:
Tuesday – Saturday, 12-5 PM
(914) 428-4220 x223

HELP SAVE ANIMATION HISTORY!

Whether you're a friend or fellow blogger, or maybe you've found my blog by googling some early animation key words, you will know that information and film availability is close to nill out there. It's been my goal for the past decade to locate as many pre-sound cartoons as possible--something that I spend hours each day attempting to accomplish.
I cannot do this without the help of fellow historians and fans, however. Almost all my my acquisitions are funded through the purchases of DVDs listed on my Tom's Vintage Film website (banner link above). There you will find the most comprehensive source for silent-era cartoons...as such, I challenge you to locate more!
It is especially necessary that you, the historian or fan, help with my search by purchasing one or a few DVDs in order to enable me to fund further films that can be unearthed at any given time. Imagine a scenario where a random, previously unavailable film hits the market and yours truly has no funds for it because DVD sales have been slow. That increases the chances of the film falling into the hands of someone else who can pay more and will only store it on a shelf for no one else to see. We all lose in that scenario, except for the lucky purchaser. Unfortunately, I've faced that situation countless times!
Here is an example of one DVD I've compiled, and what the costs were to obtain original 16mm film prints...
TS40: Mutt & Jeff Vol. 2 (with beautiful cover art!)

Cramps (1916)
A Kick for Cinderella (1924)
Invisible Revenge (1925)
Mummy O' Mine (1926)
The Globe Trotters (1926) excerpt
Westward Whoa (1926) Original b&w footage!
Aroma of the South Seas (1926; 1931 b&w/sound)
Aroma of the South Seas (1926; 1931 color/silent)

My cost: Roughly $275
Your cost: $20

Here's another example:

TS-38 Cartoons at Home (Brand new 16mm transfers)
Here you will get a glimpse into how your ancestors enjoyed cartoons from the 1920s and 1930s at home by renting 16mm prints from various distributors before the days of television. You may have seen some of these in their original versions, but chances are you've not seen these alternate versions which have been out of use for sixty-plus years.

Fighting Flees (Kitty Kat Cartoons: Felix the Cat)
Alice's Tin Pony (Novelty Film Co.)
Racing Fever (Screen Attractions Corp.)
Tuning In (Unknown Dist.)
El Toreador (Unknown Dist.)
Midnight Frolics (Unknown Dist.)
War Daze (Unknown Dist.)
Magazine Rack (Screen Attractions Corp.)
Slight Fantastic (Screen Attractions Corp.)
Hey Fever (Hollywood Film Enterprises)

My cost: Roughly $325
Your cost: $20

So you see, locating and acquiring these early films is costly. Few are willing or even have the time to do it.

As always, the animation enthusiast's contributions and purchases are always highly appreciated and necessary for allowing additional material to find its way to you. Just follow the Tom's Vintage Film banner link above and take a look at the DVD page.

Thank you all!

It All Started Here!

Well folks, here is a an event I think all of you tri-staters should attend..and one specifically about the history of cartoons in New York, where it all really began as an industry! I'm honored to have contributed some images and information for the event. If you live in the northeast, show you appreciate NY Animation History and try to make it, will ya!

Please come to the opening on Saturday evening January 17th, 2009
5pm to 8:00pm
The Arts Exchange
31 Mamaroneck Ave.
White Plains, NY 10601
914-428-4220 ext. 223

Here's the most updated info:

"IT ALL STARTED HERE !"
January 18 – February 28, 2009
Opening January 17, 2009
5pm to 8 PM
Curated by Howard Beckerman and J.J. Sedelmaier.
Presented by the Westchester Arts Council in partnership with
J. J. Sedelmaier Productions, Inc. and Blue Sky Studios

The Arts Exchange
Gallery hours:
Tuesday – Saturday, 12-5 PM
(914) 428-4220 x223

Walter Lantz's TAIL OF THE MONKEY (1926)

Many of you are probably familiar with Walter Lantz for having created Woody Woodpecker. Lantz's career dates back to the late 1910s as a teenager and budding professional in the animation industry. His first major and lengthy employment was at the Bray Studios, where he first worked on series like Jerry on the Job and later took over the revived Colonel Heeza Liar series, this time actually acting in live action segments of the films much like Max Fleischer in his Out of the Inkwell films.
By 1924, Col. Heeza Liar would again become defunct so at this point Lantz created his own character, Dinky Doodle who had a canine sidekick named Weakheart. Starting in 1925, he also created the Pete the Pup series, which is less known today and deemed by some as merely being "Dinky Doodle in a dog costume".
Although I have a Dinky Doodle cartoon uploaded on youtube (and probably linked here on the blog, too), The Unnatural History cartoons remain rarely seen and even harder to find if you go looking for them. I've got a handful and of course will eventually have plans to find more and make them available at some point.

So, fans and historians, I welcome you to discuss this forgotten Lantz film from his early and perhaps most autonomous period while at the Bray Studios.