Media: Dulac's Tanglewood Tales

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 6 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about golden age illustration.


Today, a friend of mine asked me a question that a couple of his acquaintances had asked him about the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive... "Why aren't there more posts of material from animation?"

It's a valid question. There are two reasons... First of all, animation is primarily about movement. In order to convey that, it requires movie files. Unfortunately, at this point, the Archive Project can't afford the bandwidth to provide a lot of streaming video. At some point, when the project has grown a bit, we hope to be able to do that.

The second reason cuts to the heart of what the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is intended to accomplish. We aren't trying to create a trade school program in animation to teach people how to animate- That's beyond the scope of what we can do here. The purpose of the Archive is to provide inspiration... To supply material that will help artists see and create in a different way. Inspiration for animation doesn't have to come from animation itself. Real life, illustration, fine art, music and great literature can all inspire animation.

Animation celebrated its 100th Birthday in 2006. But in all that time, the way an animated film looks hasn't been explored nearly as fully as it should have been. From a design standpoint, cartoons have always been very imitative... In the 1930's dozens of characters looked like Mickey Mouse. Today, the main characters of animated features all look about the same. There's no reason why this has to be the case.

The purpose of the reference material I'm providing isn't to give you, the artist, a "cop file" that you can duplicate in your own work- It's to help break down the essence of animation design... caricature, anthropomorphism, stylization, color, pleasing shapes, expression, etc... so you can incorporate those elements into your own work, and create new ways of seeing for those of us in the audience. Referencing illustration and print cartooning is a better source for that sort of thing than referencing other animated films.

With that said, I offer these scans from Edmund Dulac's last great illustrated book, Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales....















If you compare these images to the ones in our previous posting of Dulac's illustrations of Edgar Allen Poe's Poetical Works, you will notice a radical shift of style. Just like Gustaf Tenggren reinvented his painting style between Small Fry And The Winged Horse and The Little Trapper, Dulac's style underwent a transformation from the classic illustration style of artists like Arthur Rackham and Howard Pyle to a style influenced by Persian illuminated manuscripts and oriental design.

A truly great artist can't keep working in a single style. They have to evolve and grow. I hope the images I'm posting here in this blog help you along to break new ground in how an animated film can look.

See also... Milo Winter's Aesop For Children, Lorioux's Fables De La Fontaine Part One and Part Two, Felix Lorioux's Tom Thumb, Puss in Boots, Fables De La Fontaine Part One and Part Two, Le Buffon des Enfants, Mabel Lucie Attwell's Peter Pan and Wendy, Einar Norelius' Bland Tomtar Och Troll 1929 and 1934, John Bauer's Bland Tomtar Och Troll 1917, More Norelius and Bauer, Arthur Rackham's Grimm's Fairy Tales Part One and Part Two, Kay Nielsen's East of the Sun and West of the Moon and Hansel & Gretel, Dulac's H.C. Andersen Part One and Part Two, Little Verses Part One and Part Two, and Rojankovsky's Frog Went A-Courtin'.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

6.07.08
.

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Biography: Two New Biopedia Posts- Bakshi and Culhane

There are two new Biopedia entries...

Jeramy Bray, the administrator of the discussion forum at ralphbakshi.com provides a Biopedia Entry on Ralph Bakshi

And Shamus Culhane is profiled by his assistant, Tom Sito.

We still have a couple of sets of Animation Masters postcards left in our Biopedia Contest, so research your favorite animators and post a Biopedia entry on them to win.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Meta: Mexican Cinema Exhibit At The Archive

On exhibit at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive throughout the month of March is a comprehensive collection of original lobby cards from the golden age of Mexican cinema. Included in the collection are cards designed by Mexico's greatest caricaturist, Ernesto Garcia Cabral.

Almost unknown in the United States, Cabral and the other illustrators working in movie publicity in Mexico during the 1940s and 50s created a style of cartooning that was uniquely their own. Bold colors and dynamic designs, combined with cartoony caricature drew audiences into theaters to see films by Mexican comedians like Cantinflas, Tin Tan and Resortes. Echoes of this style of cartooning exist to this day in Mexican movie posters and television show ads.

See our previous postings on Cabral... The Greatest Cartoonist You've Never Heard Of and The Lobby Cards Of Cabral Part Two.

The exhibit is free and is open to the public during office hours... Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1pm to 9pm.

For more info, see the Exhibit Calendar Entry

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive depends on donations from people like you to put on programs like this. The Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood encourages you to generously support this project in its crucial first few years. Please send your donations, large and small to... ASIFA-Hollywood, 2114 Burbank Bl. Burbank, CA 91506. Please write "Archive Donation" on the subject line of your check.

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive thanks its Project Sponsors: Sony Pictures Classics, The Walter Lantz Foundation, and the Animation Guild (MPSC Local 839).

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Media: Eldon Dedini

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 9 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great pinup art.


You know, I think I'm actually learning
quite a lot at my Mother's Knee, Mom.
Recently, we posted a group of Playboy cartoons by Erich Sokol. Today, we are featuring the work of Eldon Dedini.

Dedini started out as a staff cartoonist at Esquire in 1942, before coming to Hollywood to work in animation. He was a storyboard artist at Universal for a few years in the mid-1940s, and joined Disney as a story artist on "Mickey & the Beanstalk", "Ichabod and Mr Toad" and several Donald Duck shorts. He continued to do cartoons for Esquire during this period, and moved to the New Yorker in 1950. He began contributing cartoons to Playboy in 1960, joining Phil Interlandi, Jack Cole, Doug Sneyd and Erich Sokol. Dedini passed away at his home in Carmel, CA last December.

Chad Coyle was kind enough to lend us his collection of 1960s Playboys to digitize. We are working our way through the stack artist by artist. We'll bring you more featured Playboy cartoonists in a couple of weeks.


Shouldn't we be putting nuts away for the winter or something?


I hope nothing has happened to those two satyrs
who always surprise us at our bath.


What are 'morals'? Another one of your inventions?


Well, I've always looked at it as sort of
stockpiling the American Dream!


Well, I guess it just goes to prove that
not all God's children got rhythm.


Be sure to notice her dress. It's a topless.


It's become traditional. During the holidays
the country cousin visits the city cousin.


Hi!


Carl is always so interested in people


Terrific, eh? Each year we rent the old lady and come
out here and have a real underground Christmas.



Look at it this way- your medium is your message!


Wow! This is the most consciousness-expanding
plum pudding I've ever eaten!


Don't you find that some New Years
are harder to bring in than others?


Young man, you should be asleep!

If you enjoyed this post, check out these articles... Eldon Dedini Part Two (video interview!), Early Erich Sokol Cartoons, A Passel Of Sokol, Jack Cole And Other Great 50s Playboy Cartoonists, Little Annie Fanny Takes A Trip, Kurtzman & Elder's Little Annie Fanny, More Little Annie Fannie, Kurtzman Comic Books, Biography: Jack Davis, Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi, Early Interlandi Playboy Cartoons and Meet Doug Sneyd.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

6.06.08
.

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Meta: Link To Us

We would appreciate it if you would link to us in your blogs and webpages. Put the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive in your blogroll, refer people to our posts and feel free to use this nifty little button (with animation by Bill Nolan) on your site...


Please link this button to our homepage, http://www.animationarchive.org

Here's a larger version...

Please link this button to http://www.animationarchive.org

If anyone would like to volunteer to make more buttons and banners, I'll post them here so people can use them.

Thanks for your support!
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Media: Herb Klynn and the Animated Feature That Might Have Been

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see the bonus reason on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts featuring animation art.

Yesterday, the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Rescue Team made a trip to meet with the family of UPA and Format Films designer, Herb Klynn. Klynn passed away several years ago, and his family was donating some of his artwork to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. Included among the material were three intriguing portfolio cases. The cases contained pitch materials from three unproduced Format Films projects. This sort of find is what animation historians are most eager to discover, because it inevitably leads to fascinating "what if?"s.

Today, I'm going to post Klynn's pitch materials for an unproduced animated feature from 1970. The early 70s were a time of change in animation. The Disney features were running out of gas, and Ralph Bakshi had just turned the animation business on its head with "Fritz the Cat". It was a time when all bets were off... Animation was up for grabs. Klynn's concept was to produce an animated erotic film based on Japanese folklore. Sound familiar? But this was 1970, many years before anime began to make its mark in America. Japanese animation at that time meant Astroboy and Kimba the White Lion, not manga and anime.

Here is Format Films' presentation for MANEMON.

---

This is a presentation of an erotic, animated feature film. It is designed to be approximately 76 minutes in length. Manemon is based on a classic folk tale from medieval Japan. It was originally illustrated by Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770), the forerunner of Utamaro, Hokusai and other masters of the Ukiyo-e print.

The film will consist of eight episodes, told within the framework of the legend. This presentation contains an outline of the framework, and three of the eight episodes.

Many years ago in what is now the Lie Prefecture, there was once a Shogun who loved duck-- roast duck. And best of all, he loved the ducks which were raised especially for him by Iwao Tanaka. The Tanaka farm had supplied ducks to the Shogunate for two centuries-- the secret of succulence passing from father to son.

Now, Iwao Tanaka had only a daughter, whom he prized above all else. Kumi was beautiful, pure as the bloom of a tsubaki., her lips as fragrant as the wild mountain camellia. She knew that one day her father hoped to marry her to one of the Shogun's sons, but in her heart she secretly loved her father's duck-herd, Manemon.



Manemon was a wild, adventurous young man-- who was as handsome as he was conceited. An orphan, he had made his way through life without any man's help, and now-- at twenty-- he was sure there was little he did not know, and nothing he could not do. Among the things that Manemon knew was that every time he looked at Kumi, she hid her eyes and blushed. But looking was all Manemon could do. Iwao would not allow any young man near his daughter. Kumi was being saved for the Shogun's eldest son-- as soon as the winter rains were over.



As Spring approached, Kumi became more beautiful each day, and her beauty was matched only by Manemon's mounting desire. Manemon was determined, but his determination was matched by Iwao's precautions.

Whenever Iwao left the nojo, he took Kumi with him, and on the farm Kumi was never allowed to leave the house.

On the fifth day of the last rain, Manemon came running to the house. Pounding on the front door, he shouted that all the ducks had been buried in a mudslide. Alarmed, Iwao threw open the door. He saw hundreds of tail feathers sticking out of the mud at the bottom of the hill. Iwao ordered Manemon to fill the black kettle with water and to heat it over the fire in the house. The ducks would have to be washed as soon as Iwao could dig them out. As Manemon began filling the kettle, Iwao grabbed the shovel and ran down the hill to start digging out the ducks.



Long before the water had boiled, Kumi had declared her love for Manemon-- and he had taken it.



Suddenly, there was an angry shout as Iwao came storming back to the house. In one leap Manemon was at the open shoji, ready to leap out. Falling to her knees, Kumi begged Manemon to take her with him. Manemon laughed: he had already taken what he came for.

Covered with mud, Iwao burst through the door, clutching the duck feathers in his hand. The ducks were all safe where Manemon had hidden them. After one look at Kumi, Iwao understood that Manemon had not only plucked and scattered the duck feathers in the mud-- but that he had plucked his daughter as well.

Still laughing, Manemon ran into the bamboo forest-- deeper and deeper-- until he could no longer hear Iwao's angry shouts.



Finally, out of breath, Manemon sat down, leaning against the trunk of a tree. Suddenly, on the wings of an enormous crane, two wood spirits appeared in front of him.



The wood spirits had heard Manemon's laughter. Boastfully, he told them of his conquest. When Manemon finished his story, the wood spirits offered him a cup, and he drank thirstily. Instantly, Manemon felt strange, and in the next moment, he found that he was only ten inches hight.



The wood spirits told Manemon that for laughing at Kumi, he has shown that he understands nothing about love. Until he learns, he will remain this size--

Set adrift in a lacquer rice bowl, Manemon began his travels though Japan-- from the wilds of Hokkaido in the far North to the island of Kyushu in the South.



Almost invisible, Manemon arrived one morning in the town of Kashikojima-- where there was a very beautiful lady married to a wealthy merchant. There was also in the town a young man who desired the merchant's wife above all else. When the young man found an opportunity to state his desire, the merchant's wife answered that she would comply with his wishes-- provided he first gave her 100 gold coins.

The young man was saddened-- not only by his lack of money, but by the lady's greed as well. Manemon, having observed the scene, had an idea-- which he related to the young man.



With Manemon riding on his shoulder, the young man went to see the merchant. The merchant was about to leave on a trip, but the young man persuaded him to wait, then asked for a loan of 100 gold coins. The merchant agreed to the loan and the papers were signed.

The next day, the young man and Manemon went to the merchant's house. The wife answered the door, and the young man gave her the gold coins, saying "This is for your husband." The wife assumed that the young man wanted to hide the true nature of their transaction from Manemon, and she agreed.



That night, the young man enjoyed the merchant's wife and satisfied his every desire. When the merchant returned home, the young man went to the house-- with Manemon on his shoulder.

The wife admitted them and over tea, the young man told the merchant that he did not need the 100 gold coins after all-- and had returned them to the merchant's wife. The merchant turned smiling to his wife. She knew she could not deny that it was true. Manemon was the young man's witness, and she was thus forced to give the 100 gold coins to her husband.

The next morning, Manemon left to continue his search for the meaning of love-- as all he had found in Kashikojima was lust and avarice.

Some time later, Manemon found himself in a small fishing village on the shore of Lake Biwa. There, in one of the larger uchi, lived an old fisherman and his young wife. Though the old fisherman was no longer able to satisfy his young wife, he guarded her jealously. It was many months since he had left her bed, and she confessed to Manemon her gnawing hunger.

It happened that the next day a young peddler came to the uchi while the old fisherman was out on the lake.

One look was enough to tell him that the young wife was in need of more than the needles and cloth he carried in his pack-- and he was more than willing to offer what he had. Outside, Manemon saw the old fisherman's boat return to the beach, running just ahead of a sudden squall. As the old fisherman hurried toward his uchi, Manemon shouted a warning to the young wife. The peddler was frightened and did not know what to do. Manemon told him to climb up on the roof.

The old fisherman reached the uchi, just as the rain began to pelt down. Then he heard the footsteps on the roof and demanded to know who was up there. "The man to fix the roof." Manemon explained. Shouting instructions, the old fisherman tried to lead the peddler to the leaks, but the peddler knew nothing about fixing roofs and the rain continued to drip into the uchi.

Impatiently, the old fisherman ordered the peddler to come down and he climbed up onto the roof himself-- telling the peddler to stay inside the uchi and guide him to the leaks. With the old fisherman on the roof, the peddler and the young wife resumed their love-making-- while Manemon shouted directions to the drenched fisherman overhead.



The next day, Manemon left Lake Biwa behind. He had only found selfishness and stupidity-- and no love at all. After some time, Manemon encountered a group of pilgrims on their way to the holy city of Nara. Among the pilgrims was a blind Samurai and his wife, accompanied by their servant.

Tetsura, the blind Samurai, was very kind to Manemon, offering to share their food and lodging with him. Akiko, the blind man's wife, seemed devoted to her husband, and Yoichi, their handsome servant seemed equally devoted to both his masters.

But Manemon had already learned that things are seldom as they seemed. In Nara, Akiko asked Manemon to guide Testsura to the shrine. While Tetsura prayed at the shrine, asking for a miracle to restore his sight, Manemon went back to the lodgings. There, he saw Akiko and Yoichi performing their own miracles-- in Tetsura's bed.

Tetsura prayed daily at the shrine and continued his prayers each night at the lodgings, for he was truly a good and holy man. Akiko and Yoichi became more and more bold in their love-making. One night they could not wait for Testura to finish his prayers and go to sleep, and they made love silently in front of his sightless eyes.

Manemon wondered what would happen if Tetsura's prayers were answered at this moment-- and added his own prayers to those of the blind man. It so happened that their combined prayers were answered, for suddenly Tetura opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was his naked wife in the arms of his naked servant.

The sight made him forget the miracle and, enraged, Tetsura jumped to his feet and seized his sword. But before he could strike, Akiko began giving thanks to a merciful heaven. A voice had told her that if she gave herself to a humble servant, her husband's sight would be restored. And now the prophecy had come true. Her sacrifice was not in vain.

Husband and wife fell into each other's arms, each of them thankful, one not more than the other. Manemon resumed his quest. There may have been miracles in Nara, Manemon found no love.

Finally, after much travelling and many encounters, Manemon arrived back at the forest where his long journey had begun. The two wood spirits were there-- on the wings of a white crane. They asked Manemon whether he had learned what love truly is. Manemon answered with one word: "Kumi."

Manemon found that he was back to his normal size-- and he hurried to the Tanaka farm. While he had been gone, Iwao Tanaka had died-- but Kumi waited for him faithfully. Manemon and Kumi married and Manemon continued the tradition of raising succulent ducks for the Shogun. Over the years, Manemon had several sons-- and one lovely daughter, whom he prized above all else. The daughter was as pure as the wild mountain tsubaki and Manemon was determined that she should marry one of the Shogun's sons.

One night, while Kumi and her sons were away at the Shogun's palace, the young duck-herd came to Manemon with terrible news. A fox was raiding the ducks! Alarmed, Manemon seized his stick and ran into the woods behind the duck pen.



Manemon searched and searched, but could find no fox. He realized that the fox was in his house.

---

This has been a very long post, but I hope you have enjoyed it. Many thanks to Larry Loc's Animation Rescue Team: Linda Lee, Jon Reeves, Angelo di Nallo and Jason Plapp.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Meta: Announcing Our New Message Board

We are introducing a new message board system to facilitate communication between the organizers and friends of ASIFA-Hollywood. There are forums devoted to ASIFA Events, the Annie Awards and a forum for the use of you, supporter of the Animation Archvie Project.

Here is your opportunity to discuss the artists featured here, make suggestions and share your ideas. Please visit the board and register to participate...

ANIMATION ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARD

If our readers support this forum, we will expand it to include general subjects related to animation. If you have ideas about how it should be structured, post your suggestions.

Volunteer Call: The PayPal donation button and the button for the Forums are pretty bland looking... if someone with graphic design expertise would like to make nicer looking buttons (same size and text), we would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Media: The Lobby Cards of Cabral Part Two

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 6 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about golden age illustration.


A couple of weeks ago, we posted scans of a collection of Mexican lobby cards by master caricaturist, Ernesto Garcia Cabral. Today we digitized more of the collection.










Now for a little quiz... Which of the following lobby cards are by Cabral and which aren't?






The answer is "none of the above"... These five cards were likely painted by Juan Antonio Vargas Briones... a second generation Mexican movie poster artist who was the director of publicity at the Mexican Movie Distribution company. It's clear that Cabral's influence was strong among movie publicity artists.

For more wonderful Mexican lobby Cards, see The Greatest Cartoonist You Never Heard Of Before, SciFi and Adventure Gallery, and Mexican Lobby Card Fiesta.

See also... Mid 30s Colliers Illustrations, Mid 30s Advertisements, Wartime Colliers, Late 40s Colliers, Lawson Wood: The Monkey Artist, Casey Strikes Out In Coronet, Bugs Bunny in Coronet Magazine December 1945, Milton Caniff in Coronet Magazine

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

5.29.08
.

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Meta: John K Blogs The ASIFA Archive

Today John Kricfalusi mentioned the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive in his blog, all kinds of stuff. He describes the ASIFA Archive as "the greatest classic cartoon/animation resource anywhere". This is a high compliment, because I don't know anyone who knows more about animation than John K does. John was our very first Project Angel and donated the archives of Spumco to ASIFA-Hollywood last year. We wouldn't be as far as we are without his support.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Media: Dulac's Poe

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 6 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about golden age illustration.


The Raven
In the golden age of book illustration, there were two artists who led the field... Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. Both of these artists were prolific, but of the two, Dulac was the most stylistically versatile. Today, we digitized one of Dulac's most unique books, The Poetical Works of Edgar Allen Poe (1912).

Dulac took full advantage of the printing technology of his day to create images full of deep shadow, inviting the viewer to peer into the details in the darkness. Note for instance the figure in The Raven. His body falls into the shadow across the chair and rug, defined only by the cool shadowy colors of his trousers against the warm ones of the background. Dulac's images perfectly capture Poe's dark, melancholy moods, as well as the cosmic, dreamlike situations of poems like Israfel. Light is used to great effect with eerie, otherworldly uplighting in To One In Paradise, cool moonlight through an open window in The Sleeper, and a pinpoint light source in To Helen.

One of the genres of storytelling that has been rarely employed in animation is gothic horror. Looking at these images, it's clear that animation would be capable of creating a dark, sinister world even more vivid than could be ever be created in live action.




The Bells


The Bells


To One In Paradise


Lenore


To Helen


The Haunted Palace


The Sleeper


Eldorado


The Conqueror Worm


To The River


To Helen


To - -


Israfel


Dreamland

We will have more artwork by Edmund Dulac in the coming weeks. I'd like to introduce our newest Archive Alliance... nocloo.com, the home of the Children's Book Illustrators Archive. In the coming weeks and months, nocloo.com will be sharing scans from their collection of vintage illustrated books. Check out their website and their galleries of images for a wealth of information on classic illustrators.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

10.28.08
.

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Meta: Benefit Screening Hosted By Jerry Beck

Tonight (Thursday) At 7:30 pm!


This Thursday night, February 23rd, animation historian Jerry Beck will be presenting a program at the Van Eaton Galleries in Sherman Oaks, CA. The event is a fundraiser for the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, and it looks like it will be a lot of fun.

Jerry will be discussing the studios we don't usually hear enough about... Harman-Ising, Lantz, Terry, Fleischer and Columbia, among others... and he will be screening choice films from his personal collection. Mike Van Eaton will have amazing original production artwork from the films on display, and tasty refreshments will be served. Bring along your copy of Jerrry's books, Animated Movie Guide, Animation Art, The Pink Panther Guide or Looney Tunes: The Ultimate Visual Guide. He'd be happy to autograph them for you.

Great cartoons, amazing artwork and finger food... What more could you ask for?

Admission is $8 and seating is limited. If you plan to attend, you must RSVP to vegallery4@aol.com. The fun begins at 7:30pm, Feb. 23rd, at Van Eaton Galleries, 13613 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks. Please come out to this event and support the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.

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Media: Artzybasheff's Machinalia

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 6 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about golden age illustration.


In his introduction to the section titled "Machinalia" in his book As I See, Boris Artzybasheff says, "I am thrilled by machinery's force, precision and willingness to work at any task, no matter how arduous or monotonous it may be. I would rather watch a thousand ton dredge dig a canal than see it done by a thousand spent slaves lashed into submission. I like machines."


Making of Steel: Charging the Open Hearth


Tapping a Heat of Steel


Filling Ingot Molds


The Soaking Pit


The Blooming Pit


The Rod Mill


Hydraulic Press


Stranding of Wire Rope


Weaving of Fence Fabric


Wire Drawing Machines


Spring Forming Presses


Wire Cloth Looms


Navy's Mark III Calculator


Executive of the Future

Recently, I was asked by a visitor to the Archive what relevance half century old cartoons and magazine illustrations have to the current animation scene. Well, this question is best answered with an example... Look at these amazing designs by Boris Artzybasheff originally published in the 1950s, and look at this clip from Fleischer's Lost & Foundry.. It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to be able to picture what a sequence in a current CGI film would look like if it had designs like Artzybasheff's and animation like the Fleischers'.

Popeye in "Lost & Foundry" (Fleischer/1937)
(Quicktime 7 / 10 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.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Mid 30s Colliers Illustrations, Mid 30s Advertisements, Wartime Colliers, Late 40s Colliers, Lawson Wood: The Monkey Artist, Casey Strikes Out In Coronet, Bugs Bunny in Coronet Magazine December 1945, Milton Caniff in Coronet Magazine, Dispatch From Disney's Part One and Part Two, John Held Jr, Ward Kimball in Escapade, Complete Guide To Cartooning On Magazine Cartoons Part One and Part Two, and Rube Goldberg's Side Show.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

5.28.08
.

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Meta: Please Write! We Need Your Letters

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has been in operation for four months on our limited Tuesday/Thursday schedule. A lot has been accomplished in that short period of time. At the Annie Awards this weekend, June Foray and Nancy Cartwright gave a short presentation on the Archive, and called for the animation community to support the Archive Project. Leonard Maltin has also come to our aid with a letter of support.

Now it's your turn...

We are assembling a book of letters of support to present to potential sponsors. We want to show them that the Animation Archive is something that is needed and appreciated by professionals in the animation industry, artists, students, researchers and the general public. If the Archive is something you value and want to support, please snail mail us a letter expressing that. Tell us how it has helped you and let us know that you are following the progress of the project closely. Encourage others to support the project in your letter too. We will bind the letters together in a book and use them in our fundraising campaign. Every letter counts.

You can address your letter to...

ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive
2114 Burbank Bl
Burbank, CA 91506
USA

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive depends on contributions from people like you to continue its work. We run a lean operation. Every dollar makes a difference. If you are able to, please include a donation with your letter, or contribute using the PayPal link at the top of the right hand column. Donations big and small, and letters of support from all over the world will show our potential sponsors that this is a project worthy of their support.

This is very important. I hope you will help us out with this.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Media: Artzybasheff's Neurotica

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 6 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about golden age illustration.


Naught so sweet as Melancholy
One of the key concepts that an animator deals with every day is anthropomorphism... In most cases, this is applied to animals or teapots, but this aspect of caricature has barely been explored in mainstream animated films. Boris Artzybasheff was a master of anthropomorphism. He was able to give life and personality not only to animals and objects, but to ideas.

Artzybasheff had a long career as an illustrator, beginning in the late 1920s with art deco style illustrations for books like Creatures, extending all the way through the 1950s. His most notable achievements are his cover illustrations for Time magazine, depicting a wide range of contemporary people in the news; and also his arresting images for magazine ads promoting Shell Oil, Xerox and Parker Pens.

ASIFA-Hollywood is lucky to have a friend like Mike Fontanelli. His library of books on cartooning is one of the best in the country. Mike has agreed to share his collection with ASIFA-Hollywood's Archive. The first book he selected to loan us to be digitized is one of the rarest books in his collection... Artzybasheff's "As I See". The first section of this book is titled "Neurotica" and it is a visual depiction of extreme states of mind.






Anxiety


Frustration


Timidity


Repressed Hostility


Indecision


Infantalism


Paranoia


Schizophrenia


Inferiority


So pure, and so relaxing


Hypochondria


Manic-Depressive

For more amazing images from "As I See", see Artzybasheff's Machinalia and Diablerie

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

04.25.08
.

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Meta: Leonard Maltin writes...

Dear Friend of Animation,

It's very easy to become so focused on the current state of the animation scene that we forget the debt we owe to the innovative filmmakers whose passion built the foundation for the art form we all benefit from-- whether as professionals in the industry or as members of the audience. The history of animation isn't just a dry catalog of studios and films. It's the living story of the PEOPLE who made the films we all love. These stories need to be heard by students of the medium, those who currently work in the industry, and the millions of people who love the animated films they see on TV and DVD and in theaters.

Did you know that there is no archive, library and museum dedicated to animation anywhere in the United States? There are museums devoted to hundreds of other aspects of film-making and the entertainment business, but none for the history of the animated film. Hollywood is clearly the proper place for a facility like this. With its proven track record of over three decades of service to the art of animation, ASIFA-Hollywood is clearly the organization that should undertake the project.

The Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood has established a digital archive in Burbank as the first step toward creating a world class research facility dedicated to animation. This resource is bound to be of tremendous value to the animation industry. ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Archive will provide a foundation for untold numbers of students... the animators, directors and designers of the future. It will also be a useful resource for research by industry professionals and animation historians. And it will function as an outreach to the general public on behalf of the art form.

I encourage you to generously support this project, either personally through a monetary donation or professionally as a Corporate Sponsor. Every dollar donated to the project will be used to establish, maintain and expand ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Archive Project. We owe it to ourselves, and to the future growth and nourishment of the art form we love.

Thank you,

Leonard Maltin
LeonardMaltin.com

To contribute, please see the... Contribution Categories Page

Donate online using our PayPal button...

To join ASIFA-Hollywood, please see the Membership Page

Contributions can be sent to...

ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
2114 Burbank Bl
Burbank, CA 91506

When contributing to this project, please write ARCHIVE DONATION on the subject line of your check.

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Media: Erich Sokol's Playboy Cartoons

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 9 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great pinup art.


Well, I'm glad she's finally getting interested
in something besides running around with boys.
During the 1960s, Playboy magazine employed some of the best cartoonists around at the time... Eldon Dedini, Gahan Wilson, Phil Interlandi, Jack Cole, Doug Sneyd and Erich Sokol. Archive volunteer, Chad Coyle brought a stack of 1960s Playboys by to be digitized, and there's a wealth of great stuff in them. Today, the Sokols...

Well, how do you like married life so far?


I came up to complain about the noise.


What the hell kind of pacifist are you?


Take off your clothes... take off your clothes!
My goodness, don't men ever think about anything else?




Mother will be disappointed if you don't come in for at least
a few minutes, George. She's expecting to meet you tonight.


You got the part.
Now would you care to try for an Academy Award?


You're welcome.


You were wrong.... I'm NOT old enough to take care of himself.


I believe the new nurse is going to do wonders for him.
He's already learned to count to two...




Tuck my shirt into WHAT shorts?


Why don't you bug out now and I'll call you Friday.
If you enjoyed this post, check out these articles... Early Erich Sokol Cartoons, A Passel Of Sokol, Jack Cole And Other Great 50s Playboy Cartoonists, Little Annie Fanny Takes A Trip, Kurtzman & Elder's Little Annie Fanny, More Little Annie Fannie, Kurtzman Comic Books, Biography: Jack Davis, Eldon Dedini Part One and Part Two (video interview!), Doug Sneyd and Phil Interlandi, Early Interlandi Playboy Cartoons and Meet Doug Sneyd.


Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

5.28.08
.

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