I just got a nice e-mail from my old boss, animator Jack Zander.

Jack was born in 1909 and began at the Rohmer Grey Studio in 1930. He worked at Looney Tunes, MGM and Lantz and was the first president of the Screen Cartoonists Guild when it formed in 1938. He did some great Tom & Jerry animation. After the war he moved to New York City where he became a mainstay in New York Commercials- with Tempo, Pelican, then his own Zanders Animation Parlour. Until age 90 was riding a Harley Davidson and he rode it across the U.S. to get his lifetime achievement award from ASIFA/Hollywood. Former employees of Jacks included Nancy Beiman, Dean Yeagle, Chuck Harriton, and Preston Blair. I worked as a freelance assistant at Zanders in 1977-79. His son Mark also has his own studio.
Jack and me in 1997. click on image to enlarge

I saw animator Doug Crane in New York last week and I was wondering how Jack was doing. So it was a pleasant surprise to receive this e-mail. He had given me some great stories for my book. I hope he doesn’t mind my printing some of it. But I know many of his old friends and employees would get a kick out of hearing from him.

DEAR TOM,

YOU KNOW HOW A BOY FEELS COMING DOWN THE STAIRS ON CHRISTMAS MORNING ANTICIPATING THE TREASURES THAT MIGHT BE BURIED UNDER THE TREE?

THAT’S MY FEELING AT THE MOMENT. JUST RECEIVED YOUR BOOK,"DRAWING THE LINE" FROM AMAZON AND AM ABOUT TO TAKE IT UPSTAIRS AND LUSTFULLY DEVOUR IT.
ALL IN ONE NIGHT? WHO KNOWS?

LIKE YOU SAID SOMEWHERE, WHO IN HELL WANTS TO READ A BOOK ABOUT ANIMATION UNIONS? WELL THERE ARE A FEW OF US AND I'M ONE OF THEM. COUNT ON ONE OLD (99YR.) HEART THAT WILL APPRECIATE THE TREASURE AND WE'RE OFF.

LOVE AND KISSES, JZ


Nice hearing from you Jack! I hope you like the book!

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B-Dazes: Roman Emperor Hadrian, Winslow Homer, Arrigo Boito, Wilhelm Grimm (a brother of the brothers Grimm),George Harrison, Abe Vigoda, Edward James Olmos is 60, Barry Bostwick, Michel Legrand, James Farentino, illustrator Zdzislaw Beskinski, Michael Radford, Billy Zane, Dominic Chianese- Uncle Junior Soprano, is 76

495 B.C. Roman Festival REGIFUGIUM in honor of the overthrow of the Tarquins and foundation of the ROMAN REPUBLIC. The king of Rome, Tarquinus Superbus -Tarquin the Proud, Rash, Pain-in-da-Butt, whatever, capping off a history of arrogant rule raped Lucretia, the daughter of a nobleman named Horatius. She tells her dad and he stabs her to death to save her further shame ( I guess that's 'tough love 'or something). The Roman people lead by the Horatius’ and his brother Marcus Brutus drive out the king and establish a republic. For the next 450 years Rome is a democracy led by a Senate-from" senates" or elders, electing two Consuls (presidents) a year with the common peoples spokesmen called Tribunes of the Plebs who could veto. The motto the Republic Romans would carry to the ends of the earth is S.P.Q.R.- Senatus Populusque Romanum -The Senate and the People of Rome.
The proudest status foreigners like Herod or Saint Paul could aspire to was to be made a Citizen of Rome. They could get out of any jam by announcing “Civities Romanum Sum!” I am a Roman Citizen. This meant you could not be imprisoned or otherwise punished by provincial or local authorities. Or if Saint Paul read MAD Magazine he would say " quid, me anxius sum?" what, me worry ?

1928- Frenchman Nicholas Landru, called BLUEBEARD was executed by guillotine. Landru married ten times, bringing the ladies up to his home, murdering them, and burning them in his furnace. He'd then live off their estates and sell their furniture. When the prosecutor said :"So, you made a career out of the suffering and swindling of others !" Landru replied:" No monsieur, I am not a lawyer."

1987- US Robotics sold the first 56k modems.

1988- The US Supreme Court defended the right of public figures to be satirized by throwing out a lawsuit Rev Jerry Fallwell brought against Hustler Magazine owner Larry Flynt. Flynt published a drawing describing Rev Fallwells first romantic experience in an outhouse. The Court ruled a public figure can be lampooned so long as it is not portrayed as factual.

1989- According to the David Lynch television series Twin Peaks this is the day Laura Palmer’s body was found and F.B.I. agent Dale Cooper came to town to investigate.

1996- Los Angeles Angel Flight reopened.

1997- The announcement of the first successful cloning of a mammal embryo, a sheep named Dolly in Scotland. To prove even though they're research scientists 'boys will be boys' They used cells from a mamary gland to do the cloning so they named their creation after busty singer Dolly Parton. After a series of illnesses the animal was put down in 2003, living half the life span of a normal sheep but she mated and had babies normally. But the drive to develop cloning continues. In 2002 the a successful cloning of a cat was claimed by a California company called Commercial Savings & Clone.

2003- State Farm Insurance Company announced that they would add a clause into future car insurance policies that Nuclear Explosions and Terrorist Biological Agents would not be classified as Road Hazards and so not covered. Yep, if a Hydrogen Bomb goes off in my neighborhood my first concern will be about my insurance premiums.