More Advice from the Ancient Animators

UPA crew in 1957. Pete Burness is in the center is holding the Oscar for the short When Magoo Flew. Ed Friedman is in the back row, third from the left.Courtesy AWN.com

"Directing Animation is Simple. Every Scene is Three Feet."
Ed Friedman (1908-2003)
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Birthdays: First Lady Julia Dent Grant, General Douglas MacArthur, Stephan Grappelli, Angela Davis, Maria Von Trapp, Wayne Gretsky "The Great One" is 46, Eartha Kitt, Paul Newman is 82, Roger Vadim, cartoonist Jules Feiffer, Henry Jaglom, Anita Baker, Edward Abbey, Scott Glenn, David Straitharn, Ellen DeGeneres is 49

1911- Richard Strauss’ opera Die Rosenkavalier opens in Vienna. Kaiser Wilhelm was offended by the E.T. Hoffman story about aristocrats sleeping around with their servants. He called it "A dirty little play".

1934- Hollywood producer Sam Goldwyn bought the rights to L. Frank Baum’s book the Wonderful Wizard of Oz to develop into a movie.

1939- The first day of shooting on the film Gone With the Wind.

1967- THE BIG SNOW- The people of Chicago pride themselves on their ability to handle the toughest winters. But this day was one of the worst- 23 inches of snow in 27 hours, driven by 50 mile an hour cyclonic winds bring the city to a standstill.

1979- The Dukes of Hazard tv show premiered.

1983- the software LOTUS 1-2-3 premiered that helped make IBM’s PC into the most popular business computers in the US.

1984-HELP ME TITO! During the filming of a Pepsi commercial a magnesium flash ignited singer Michael Jackson’s jericurl hair gel causing him 3rd degree burns,

1988- Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical Phantom of the Opera premiered.

Hey! The February 2007 Issue of Animation Magazine ( the one with Happily Never After on the cover), has a special pullout supplement called SCHOOL GUIDE 2007. On Page a8 is a list of the magazine's suggestions of what should be essential reading for all animation students and die hard fans. And guess who made the list?

Drawing The Line, thats who!

They write: Here's a fascinating book that helps you understand the history of how animation workers struggled to get fair treatment from their bosses.

Other books on the list include Frank & Ollie's Illusions of Life: Disney Animation; Richard Williams' Animators Survival Kit, Tezuka School of Animation, Animation Writing by Jean Ann Wright, The Aardman Book of Filmmaking, Jerry Beck's Animated Movie Guide, Neil Gabler's Walt Disney bio, Tony White's Animation from Pencils to Pixels, and Amid Amidi's Cartoon Modern

I heartily agree. Thanks so much to editor-in-chief Ramin and Jodie and all the Animation Magazine gang.

Birthdays: Temujin called The Genghis Khan, "Prince of Conquerers", Benedict Arnold,Robert Burns, Somerset Maugham, Virginia Woolf, US Vice President Charles “Goodtime Charlie” Curtis, Edwin Newman, Jean Image, Dean Jones, Ava Gardner, Etta James, Corazon Aquino, Tobe Hooper

1824- Artist Theodore Gericault was famous for his paintings of horses. This day he died, from a fall off a horse.

1890- Newspaper reporter Nelly Bly ( Elizabeth Cochrane ) of the New York World is welcomed home after traveling around the World in 72 days. The stunt was inspired by the Jules Verne story Around the World in 80 days, which had became a hit stage play.

1947- Mobster Al Capone died at his home in Florida at age 48. Imprisoned in Alcatraz Prison since 1932 he was released because of ill health, his mind was being slowly destroyed by untreated syphilis. When another hood was asked if Al would resume leadership of the Chicago rackets he replied:” Big Al is nuttier than a fruitcake.” Capone lived his final days in seclusion at his estate on Biscayne Bay.

1959- Disney's " SLEEPING BEAUTY " opened. Despite earning the fifth highest box office for that year it finished $5 million behind what it cost to make. The animation staff had swollen to it's largest to finish the production. It’s disappointing box office soured Walt Disney on feature animation. His low budget films like the Shaggy Dog and his TV shows were doing much better. Walt confessed to animator Eric Larson:" I don't know if we can do this anymore, it's just too expensive." After the film was finished the studio had a massive layoff, dropping from 551 to just 75. Artists employed since "Bambi" and earlier found pink dismissal slips on their drawing tables when they came to work. Staff level will not return to these same levels until 1990.

1960- Actress Diana Barrymore, the daughter of John Barrymore, overdosed on sleeping pills. The Barrymore family that had dominated the American theater since the 1850’s had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse. Ancestor after ancestor drank themselves to death. Current leader of the family Drew Barrymore recovered after seeking rehab at age 12.

1961- John F. Kennedy has the first televised Presidential press conference.

1970- Robert Altman’s groovy movie M*A*S*H premiered.

History for 1/24/2007
Birthdays: Roman Emperor Publius Hadrian AD117, Carlo Broschi called Farinelli the Castrato-1707, Pierre De Beaumarchais, Ernest Borgnine is 90!, Swedish King Gustavus III, Frederick II the Great, Edith Wharton, Mary Lou Rhetton, John Belushi, First Disney director Wilfred Jackson, Daniel Auteuil, Natassia Kinski

1927- The Pleasure Garden premiered, the first film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

1942- Producer David O. Selznick signed young star Jennifer Jones. He became infatuated with her and left his wife, the daughter of Louis B. Mayer to marry Jones.

1961- Warner Bros. cartoon voice actor Mel Blanc had a terrible auto crash. He lingered in a coma for several weeks. The way the doctor brought him around was to say: “Hey Bugs Bunny! How are we today?” Blanc replied in character:”Ehhh…fine,doc!”

1972- Japanese soldier Soichi Yokoi was found in the jungles of Guam unaware that World War Two had ended 27 years earlier. He had stolen a radio and listened to the news. But he thought the stories of Americans in Korea and Vietnam were just propaganda. He was returned to Japan a healthy, if somewhat confused hero.

1983- Hulk Hogan pinned the Iron Sheik to win his first World Wrestling Federation title.

1984- Apple announced the first Macintosh Computer. It went for $2500.

1986 -Voyager 2 spacecraft flies by Uranus. A friend of mine was in the visitor's gallery at The Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the data began to roll in from the space probe. He saw one man break up the entire room of Nobel-prize winning professors into hysterical laughter with the childish pun :”Here is the latest data on Gas Emissions from Uranus..."

2006- The Walt Disney Company acquired CG animation studio PIXAR. Apple and PIXAR head Steve Jobs and Ed Catmul get a seat on Disney Board and director John Lassiter becomes creative head.

MY OSCAR PREDICTION from last night-
Animated Feature- CARS, HAPPY FEET, MONSTER HOUSE



I turned out to be correct all around. Not that I liked Monster House all that much, it just seemed the buzz around the industry was more for it than the others. I felt Over the Hedge should have gotten one. I liked the facial animation and acting in Hedge. Maybe if we had gotten the five noms instead of three it would have. And the more experimental films like Scanner Darkly and Renaissance were passed by.

My Predictions from last night for Best Animated Short-
Joanna Quinn's Dreams and Desires, No Time for Nuts ( Ice Age Skrat), Don Herzfeldt's Everything Will Be Okay.

The actual nominations went to-
The Danish Poet (NFB) Torill Kove
Lifted (Pixar) Gary Rydstrom
Little Match Girl (Disney) Roger Allers
Maestro Géza M Toth
No Time For Nuts (Blue Sky) Chris Renaud and Mike Thurmeier

Wow, I was way off here. I think Joanna Quinn's Dreams and Desires got robbed. I loved her draftsmanship, style and humor. Maybe the members didn't like fat Birmingham ladies in thongs speaking a brogue thick enough to warrant subtitles? I also thought that even though Don Herzfeldt's designs for Everything Will be Okay are simple, I liked it overall as a film. It reminded me of my time under general anesthesia. Oh well, wait'll next year...

And this Year's Category of Yet Another Randy Newman Song in a Pixar Movie, went to Randy Newman's song from CARS, Our Town.

One thing is certain. Most of the live action movies will garner lots of kudos and excitement while doing little business- Children of Men- $27 million,The Queen- 35 million, so far. Most of these " important films" disappear soon after the award telecast- does anyone remember I am Sam or Boys Don't Cry? Meanwhile every animated feature that doesn't do at least $100 million is considered a flop that makes studio executives run to the rooftops to grasp the landing gear of evacuating helicopters.

Wouldn't it be nice if we in animation could do a film that doesn't have to be a blockbuster to be taken seriously?

Wouldn't it be nice if it rained beer and it was Christmas every day? ( Apologies to A Man for All Seasons)