Illustration: Uncle Remus Stories 1949

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 3 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about 50s children's book illustrators.


On Saturday archive volunteer, Eric Graf brought by another treasure for us to digitize... a 1949 edition of the Disney Giant Golden Book, "Uncle Remus Stories". It features a spectacular cover by Mary Blair and many beautiful interior illustrations by Al Dempster and Bill Justice.

This book is interesting, not just for its relationship to the rarely seen Disney film, Song of the South, but for the material that doesn't appear in the film. Along with the familiar stories about the Tar Baby and Brer Rabbit's Laffin' Place, the book illustrates a dozen other stories like "De Great Rabbit Terrapin Race", "Brer Fox and de Stolen Goobers" and "Why de Cricket Fambly Lives in Chimbleys".
































If you found this to be useful, see also... Little Verses Part One, Part Two and The New Golden Song Book Part One , Part Two and Part Three, and Huckleberry Hound Builds A House.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

11.24.08
.

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Comics: Cliff Sterrett's Polly And Her Pals Part Two

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.



It's been a while since we featured the work of Cliff Sterrett and his strip, Polly & her Pals. To see our first post on this subject, see... Cliff Sterrett's Polly & Her Pals 1936. Many thanks to Kent Butterworth for sharing these rare original comics pages with us.


February 23, 1936


March 29, 1936


April 5, 1936


June 7, 1936


June 28, 1936


July 5, 1936


August 2, 1936


September 13, 1936

For more examples of Cliff Sterrett's genius, see Polly & Her Pals Part One.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Meta: Thanks!

People are starting to respond to our Call For Help. I'd like to thank two new Project Angels, Rita Street and Jorge Garrido. I'd also like to thank a new Project Hero, Keith Lango. All of us at ASIFA-Hollywood appreciate your support.

I hope everyone who values the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive will come to our aid and do what they can to open the doors of the archive full time.

Please LINK TO US!

Thanks!
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Illustration: Maxfield Parrish's Arabian Nights 1909

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping images from classic illustrated books.


Yesterday, I posted on Lotte Reiniger's Prince Achmed, and I thought it might be interesting to see a different approach to the same subject... this time by illustrator Maxfield Parrish.

Parrish was one of the most successful artists of the golden age of illustration. It is said that during the depression, there were more Maxfield Parrish prints hanging on the walls of American homes than there were American homes!

The book I'm featuring today was done early in Parrish's career, but it contains all of the aspects of his style that would make him famous... the electric blues set off of bright sunset oranges, the dramatic lighting effects, the amazingly lifelike natural shapes and patterns contrasted with large flat areas of color, and the total control of the mechanical aspects of offset printing... if you look carefully at the foliage in the image with the urns on either side, you can see that the painting was pasted up from several pieces. Bud Plant's website has an interesting article on how Parrish used the four color process. Check it out.











I'll be posting soon on another of the great American illustrators, N. C. Wyeth.

If you enjoyed this post, see... Edmund Dulac's Tanglewood Tales and Gustaf Tenggren's Wonderbook

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

11.21.08
.

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Meta: The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course- Functional Drawing

NOTE: Do not move on to this lesson unless you have completed Lesson One, Lesson Two, Lesson Three, Lesson Four, Lesson Five, Lesson Six, Lesson Seven, Lesson Eight, Lesson Nine, and Lesson Ten

FUNCTIONAL DRAWING

Read John Kricfalusi's lesson at...
Functional Drawing Part One: Layout & Posing



I will add links to the further lessons in this topic as John posts them.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Meta: A Call For Help

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has been in operation for a little over a year. We have accomplished great things in that short time. Everything you see on this blog is the result of a part-time effort by me and a handful of dedicated volunteers. But what you see on the blog is just the tip of the iceberg... our database at the archive facility in Burbank contains much, much more. And there's a lot more to be done.

The past year has been very productive, but it's time to move the project up to the next level.

In the coming year, I would like to be able to have the Archive in operation five days a week. In order to do that, I will need your help. If you can, please contribute to the cause. Donations large and small will bring us closer to the goal of having the doors open full time.

You can donate right now with a credit card using PayPal...

Donations by check can be mailed to the address below. (Please make payable to "ASIFA-Hollywood" and write "Archive Donation" on the note line.)

If you can't afford to contribute, write a letter to the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood to let them know how important this project is to you, and encourage them to make it possible for the Archive to be open five days a week. You can send your letter to...

ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive
Attn: Board of Directors
2114 W Burbank Bl
Burbank, CA 91506

Please link to the Archive blog from your own webpage or blog. The more people who know about our efforts, the more support we will get. If we all pull together, we can reach the next stage of the project.

Thank you,
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Filmography: Reiniger's Prince Achmed Part Two

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 7 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great cartoons to study.



A reader of this blog, Michael generously translated the synopsis of the first part of Lotte Reiniger's Adventures of Prince Achmed. I updated the first post on this landmark film with the info, and have included his translations here as well. Thanks, Michael!



A flaming abyss opened next to Prince Achmed. A hideous woman rose out of it and stepped towards him. Was she going to kill him? He walked up to her and told her who had brought him there, and that the great wizard's animals had kidnapped him. When she heard that, she shouted: "He is my enemy, let us fight him together!" She called the monsters that served her, for she was very powerful, as powerful as the wizard. She ordered them to dive into the core of the earth and fetch weapons with which they could fight the wizard. Now she was friendly to Achmed, took him by the hand and freed him. Look how they soared through magic might, walking through the air with ease, as if they were walking on level ground. The prince shouted: "O look, down there is Paribanu, dressed for a celebration. Oh, she is going to be married with that hunch-backed jester! Let's go down there quickly and save her!"

Down they swooped like birds of prey, grabbing that noble girl. How they lay in each other's arms, Paribanu and Achmed!
But listen! The beating of wings, what does it mean? New dangers! Hosts of black creatures, horrible animals with flapping wings! "O Paribanu!" "These are the spirits of Wak-Wak, my home country. They will not tolerate my staying away from home, they will take me with them! O, the horror!" So the demons took to the air with their prey, and again Prince Achmed stood there alone, separated from his lover. He was furious, and in his anger he forced one of the birds to serve him. Racing after Paribanu, he saw the magic island from far away. The gate of Wak-Wak, and next to it endlessly high mountains. He flew into the gate, and through it.

Then, suddenly, the gates closed, and a voice told the Prince that he was not allowed to enter. "Have you heard of Aladin and his lamp," the voice said, "only that lamp can be your salvation!" Achmed stopped short, trying to recall what he knw about that name: Aladdin! Aladdin!

What monster is this? Many-armed, abominable! Big as a mountain! And look, there is a man in its claws! The prince took his magic weapons to kill it. He shot arrow after arrow, until it dropped dead. He asked the man who he was. It was Aladin, the man he was looking for! He told Achmed his story: "I used to live a quiet life in the caliph's city. While I was working in my workshop one day, a stranger of noble appearance came in and asked me to follow him to a place where immense treasures could be found. He lead me to a cave and bade me descend to the depths of the earth. There, between shiny stones, I found the marvelous lamp. "Give it to me, scoundrel!" the stranger shouted; he was waiting at the cave's entrance. When I refused, he left me behind in darkness and desparation. But I, lighting the lamp, became the master of its spirits. They helped me escape. They served me and did whatever I ordered them to do. I gave them the order to build a palace, more beautiful than any palace I had seen before. And before the sun set, they had accomplished that feat. I went to the caliph's daughter and led her home with me as my wife. But in the evening, everything had disappeared - she, the lover, as well as the incredible palace and, with it, the lamp.

The stranger had done that, but who was he? The great wizard!



"So I got up and fled the caliph's wrath. Travelling over the sea in a tiny boat, i got into a storm. I was whirled around, I was almost smashed against rocks, then I was thrown on the coast. I saw a tree with fruit that could help me recover. But as I reached out for it, the tree rose to the height of a mountain and threw off branches and leaves: It was a monster! That was when you found me, Prince Achmed, and when you saved me!"

When Aladdin had finished his story, the witch appeared and told them that Paribanu was in danger. She said that the spirits of Wak-Wak were revolting against her and only Aladin's lamp could save her. "So you must fight the wizard!" both Aladdin and Achmed begged her, "wrench the lamp from his hands and kill him, the villain!" Already the witch got up and wove magic circles in order to catch the wizard. Not before long he was with them, angry and raging.

Now began a fight like the earth has never seen one, never before and never after it. In a lion's shape, the wizard jumped at the witch in order to pin her on the ground, but she turned into a snake. He, however, took the shape of a poisonous scorpion, which she countered by changing into a rooster. Many shapes they turned into, but neither of them was stronger than the other. Until at last, the witch tore the fire down from the skies, engulfing the wizard in flames. He, too, had power over the flames, and threw many a fire towards her, but finally, finally he got weak and burned. The villainous enemy was destroyed! Now the lamp belonged to them.

Victory, victory! Now they had to hurry to Paribanu's rescue. Numberless were the demons that attacked them. But numberless were also the good spirits that came streaming out of Aladdin's lamp to fight them. And so the black power of the demons was broken forever that day, they fled desperately to the recesses of the earth. They were free now, all of them: Paribanu and Achmed, Dinarsade and Aladdin!

Once more they summoned the lamp's spirits and bade them carry them to the palace they had built in one night and that the wizard had whisked away from the ground. Happily the spirits obliged. Look what made them so glad, while it was flying through the air, light as a cloud, but still artfully created, with numberless galleries and stairs and proud towers. In front of them the house landed like an animal that was meant to carry their burden. They entered the palace, and it flew up again to bring them back to the caliph's city. There, they were greeted with measureless joy. How long they had been away, and what adventures their eyes had seen!

But the caliph embraced them all as his children, Paribanu the beautiful, who was now the wife of Achmed, the noble son, and Aladdin, his lovely daughter Dinarsade's husband. The caliph lifted his hands and blessed them all.

THE PLATES

Here is the balance of the plates from the 1926 portfolio of prints from Lotte Reiniger's Adventures of Prince Achmed...


17. Achmed with the witch


18. Paribanu in her wedding attire


19. The wedding procession


20. Achmed shooting the monster


21. The monster threatening Aladdin


22. Aladdin tells Achmed his story


23. The wizard calls on Aladdin in his workshop


24. The wizard leads Aladdin past the caliph's palace


25. Dinarsade, the caliph's daughter, playing chess


26. Aladdin discovers the magic lamp in the cave


27. Aladdin greets Dinarsade


28. Aladdin at sea in the storm


29. The battle between the witch and the wizard


30. The wizard and the witch fighting in the shape of a vulture and a rooster


31. Aladdin fights the demons of Wak-Wak with his magic lamp


32. The homecoming
This important film is available at Amazon... Adventures of Prince Achmed DVD

For the first part of this article, see... Reiniger's Prince Achmed Part One

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Meta: Frederator Blog

Floyd Bishop wrote a nice piece on the Archive Project for the Frederator Blog. Thanks, Floyd!

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Meta: Annie Award Ad

Antran Manoogian, the President of ASIFA-Hollywood, asked me to write an article for the Annie Award program book reporting on all the great things the Archive Project has achieved in the past year. I asked him if I could tell the story in pictures, rather than words. Here is the image that will be running full page in the book...


Can you name the artist behind each one of these images?
I recieved this note from a reader today...

I wish your organization much of luck, for not only the future of your foundation, but to continue to strive, survive, and share freely your archives to the public. Since the majority of people believe where, by all accounts, it's the norm to be as bland and repulsive as possible in the input of their artwork. I had found not only your archives a great source for study, but to also take a peek of what it would have been like to work with some of the greats not only in animation, but in children's illustration as well. Plus, your free "$100,000" animation drawing course had increasingly increased not only my skill, but also my knowledge of how to draw "natural". Keep it up! >From a wannabe animator

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Comics: Dan Gordon's Superkatt

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.

The other day, John K posted an article in his blog about Dan Gordon. He described Gordon as a "pure cartoonist" whose characters seem really alive and motivated from within.

Gordon was an animator, story man and director on the Superman and Popeye series at Fleischer in the early 1940s. After the war, he dropped out of animation and made a living as a comic book artist, working on titles like Giggle Comics. He returned to animation in the late 1950s as a storyboard artist at Hanna Barbera, (Gordon boarded the pilot episode of The Flintstones) and on Clampett's Beany & Cecil series.

Here is an example of Gordon's work featuring Superkatt. These scans were donated to the Archive by our good friend Kent Butterworth. Thanks Kent!










For more on Dan Gordon, see Sherm Cohen's great features at Cartoon Snap.

If you enjoyed this comic, see also... Milt Stein's Supermouse Comics No. 4, Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper, and Boody Rogers' Babe Comics Part One, Part Two and Part Three.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

12.10.08
.

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Comics: Milton Knight's Great Brown-Pericord Motor

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.

Today, we had a visit from the talented cartoonist, Milton Knight. He brought along the original boards from one of his stories for Graphic Classics series.

Milton is an amazing artist... His work is informed by a diverse variety of influences, from Japanese art to Terrytoons. His compositions and line reflect a distillation of the New York cartooning style, while still remaining uniquely his own. I can't think of a single living cartoonist whose work in any way resembles Milton's. He's truly one of a kind.

Milton kindly agreed to let us post this entire story adapted from a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...

THE GREAT BROWN-PERICORD MOTOR

















If you enjoyed this story, you can find the Graphic Classics Anthologies at Amazon. Also, make it a point to visit Milton's Website.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Meta: The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course- Lesson 10

NOTE: Do not move on to this lesson unless you have completed Lesson One, Lesson Two, Lesson Three, Lesson Four, Lesson Five, Lesson Six, Lesson Seven, Lesson Eight, and Lesson Nine

LESSON TEN

Read John Kricfalusi's introduction to this lesson at...
Animation School Lesson 10A: Model Sheets
Animation School Lesson 10B: Substance and Style

Print out and refer to these pages from the Preston Blair book, keeping in mind the following concepts...

CONTSTRUCTION


LINE OF ACTION


FLUID POSES


CLEAR SILHOUETTES - NEGATIVE SHAPES


APPEAL & CUTENESS


And print out and draw from the model sheets on these pages that John uses as examples on his blog...


Reluctant Dragon Model Sheets


Model Sheets by Hurter and Thorson


Mice and Duck Model Sheets


More Disney Model Sheets


Terrytoons Model Sheets


Berny Wolf's Iwerks Model Sheets
When you are satisfied with your drawings, post them on your blog.

PLEASE NOTE: The procedure for getting your blog listed on this page has changed. Due to the overwhelming response to this course, I don't have time to add each student's link by hand. Your assignment will be automatically linked at the bottom of this page if you...

• Click on "links to this post" at the bottom of this posting.
  
• Click on "create a link".
  
• Copy and paste the HTML code into your completed assignment for lesson number 9.
  
• Publish your post.

Your page will automatically be added to the list of links.

Do not delete or edit your posts or change the title after you have posted them. You will need them later to chart your progress.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Filmography: Reiniger's Prince Achmed 1926

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 7 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great cartoons to study.


If you ask the average person what the first feature-length animated film was, just about everyone will answer Walt Disney's "Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs". But Disney's film wasn't the first animated feature by a longshot. Arguably, that honor belongs to Lotte Reiniger's "Adventures of Prince Achmed".


In 1923, Reiniger and her husband and business partner, Carl Koch began work on an ambitious project... a feature length silhouette puppet film based on "The One Thousand and One Nights". She worked with animator Bertold Bartosch and background artist Walter Ruttman for three years on the film. The paper cutouts were jointed using wires and delicately arranged on top of a lightbox, where it was photographed frame by frame. Reiniger continued to animate her distinctive silhouette films up into the mid-1970s. She passed away in 1981.


Archive volunteer, Eric Graf was perusing a local library book sale when he spotted an amazing find... a portfolio of prints from Reiniger's landmark film. Published in Berlin in the year the film was released (1926), this group of images shows just how beautiful Reiniger's work was... and how unique. Eric picked up the book for the archive and brought it by today. Thanks, Eric!

Our reader, Michael generously translated the synopsis for us...


Once upon a time there was a wizard who could control all the powers and elements of the world. One day, he made a mighty flying steed out of pure will and thought. Then he took it to the caliph's palace and asked him to let him marry his daughter in exchange for the horse. The girl refused (she thought he was ugly), so the plan was dismissed, but her brother, Achmed, got angry and insulted the wizard. So the latter set up a trap for him: He offered him to have a ride on the horse to see how fast and strong it was. But as soon as he was in the saddle, the horse flew up into the sky and far away. Achmed managed at last to make it land on an island. There he found many beautiful women asking him to be their lover, but he denied as he wanted to find their queen, who - as he had heard - was a woman of exceptional beauty.


Achmed flew over the island on the magic horse and saw a lake shimmering in the night. While he was waiting there, a bird with beautiful feathers landed nearby and changed shape before his eyes: It transformed into Paribanu, the queen of the island, and she wanted to bathe there; around her were many gentle women. Achmed asked her to stay with him, but she was frightened and tried to flee; he, however, held on to her feathers and followed her through the thicket like the hunter follows the deer. He asked her to flee no longer and sat her onto the horse with him. Then they flew over numberless countries, until at last they found a lonely valley, where Achmed made a bed for her under a tree.

But in the meantime, the wizard was not idle, searching for his horse with magic webs, in which he caught the picture of the faraway valley. Then he transformed into a kangaroo, that strange jumping animal of the desert, and in the next moment he was with Achmed and Paribandu. He lured Achmed into a deep canyon, in which a horrible snake lived. While Achmed was fighting that snake, trying to save his life, the wizard kidnapped the girl and escaped with the flying horse.

In China he wanted to sell her as a slave. A very powerful emperor lived there; he had a hump-backed jester, who amused him with his pranks and his chimes. The emperor liked Paribandu and gave many sacks of treasures to the wizards for her. Big was the emperor, and fat. Beautiful he was not. When he approached Paribandu and wanted to make her his lover, she pushed him away, crying: "No, you monster!" That made the emperor angry, so he called his jester and told him: "Do with her what you want! You can kill her, but you may also take her as your wife if you want!" "Ah, marriage! We make marriage!" the hump-backed one called out and danced with joy.

Meanwhile, the wizard was flying back to the island on birds that he had made out of the sacks of gold from the emperor. On the island, Achmed was mourning the loss of his lover, but the wizard gave Achmed to those birds: They tore him away like vultures tear a corpse away. When they found a wasteland where the earth was gaping and spewing out horror, they layed him down shackled under a big rock.


A flaming abyss opened next to Prince Achmed. A hideous woman rose out of it and stepped towards him. Was she going to kill him? He walked up to her and told her who had brought him there, and that the great wizard's animals had kidnapped him. When she heard that, she shouted: "He is my enemy, let us fight him together!" She called the monsters that served her, for she was very powerful, as powerful as the wizard. She ordered them to dive into the core of the earth and fetch weapons with which they could fight the wizard. Now she was friendly to Achmed, took him by the hand and freed him. Look how they soared through magic might, walking through the air with ease, as if they were walking on level ground. The prince shouted: "O look, down there is Paribanu, dressed for a celebration. Oh, she is going to be married with that hunch-backed jester! Let's go down there quickly and save her!"

Down they swooped like birds of prey, grabbing that noble girl. How they lay in each other's arms, Paribanu and Achmed!
But listen! The beating of wings, what does it mean? New dangers! Hosts of black creatures, horrible animals with flapping wings! "O Paribanu!" "These are the spirits of Wak-Wak, my home country. They will not tolerate my staying away from home, they will take me with them! O, the horror!" So the demons took to the air with their prey, and again Prince Achmed stood there alone, separated from his lover. He was furious, and in his anger he forced one of the birds to serve him. Racing after Paribanu, he saw the magic island from far away. The gate of Wak-Wak, and next to it endlessly high mountains. He flew into the gate, and through it.

Then, suddenly, the gates closed, and a voice told the Prince that he was not allowed to enter. "Have you heard of Aladin and his lamp," the voice said, "only that lamp can be your salvation!" Achmed stopped short, trying to recall what he knw about that name: Aladdin! Aladdin!

What monster is this? Many-armed, abominable! Big as a mountain! And look, there is a man in its claws! The prince took his magic weapons to kill it. He shot arrow after arrow, until it dropped dead. He asked the man who he was. It was Aladin, the man he was looking for! He told Achmed his story: "I used to live a quiet life in the caliph's city. While I was working in my workshop one day, a stranger of noble appearance came in and asked me to follow him to a place where immense treasures could be found. He lead me to a cave and bade me descend to the depths of the earth. There, between shiny stones, I found the marvelous lamp. "Give it to me, scoundrel!" the stranger shouted; he was waiting at the cave's entrance. When I refused, he left me behind in darkness and desparation. But I, lighting the lamp, became the master of its spirits. They helped me escape. They served me and did whatever I ordered them to do. I gave them the order to build a palace, more beautiful than any palace I had seen before. And before the sun set, they had accomplished that feat. I went to the caliph's daughter and led her home with me as my wife. But in the evening, everything had disappeared - she, the lover, as well as the incredible palace and, with it, the lamp.

The stranger had done that, but who was he? The great wizard!


"So I got up and fled the caliph's wrath. Travelling over the sea in a tiny boat, i got into a storm. I was whirled around, I was almost smashed against rocks, then I was thrown on the coast. I saw a tree with fruit that could help me recover. But as I reached out for it, the tree rose to the height of a mountain and threw off branches and leaves: It was a monster! That was when you found me, Prince Achmed, and when you saved me!"

When Aladdin had finished his story, the witch appeared and told them that Paribanu was in danger. She said that the spirits of Wak-Wak were revolting against her and only Aladin's lamp could save her. "So you must fight the wizard!" both Aladdin and Achmed begged her, "wrench the lamp from his hands and kill him, the villain!" Already the witch got up and wove magic circles in order to catch the wizard. Not before long he was with them, angry and raging.

Now began a fight like the earth has never seen one, never before and never after it. In a lion's shape, the wizard jumped at the witch in order to pin her on the ground, but she turned into a snake. He, however, took the shape of a poisonous scorpion, which she countered by changing into a rooster. Many shapes they turned into, but neither of them was stronger than the other. Until at last, the witch tore the fire down from the skies, engulfing the wizard in flames. He, too, had power over the flames, and threw many a fire towards her, but finally, finally he got weak and burned. The villainous enemy was destroyed! Now the lamp belonged to them.

Victory, victory! Now they had to hurry to Paribanu's rescue. Numberless were the demons that attacked them. But numberless were also the good spirits that came streaming out of Aladdin's lamp to fight them. And so the black power of the demons was broken forever that day, they fled desperately to the recesses of the earth. They were free now, all of them: Paribanu and Achmed, Dinarsade and Aladdin!

Once more they summoned the lamp's spirits and bade them carry them to the palace they had built in one night and that the wizard had whisked away from the ground. Happily the spirits obliged. Look what made them so glad, while it was flying through the air, light as a cloud, but still artfully created, with numberless galleries and stairs and proud towers. In front of them the house landed like an animal that was meant to carry their burden. They entered the palace, and it flew up again to bring them back to the caliph's city. There, they were greeted with measureless joy. How long they had been away, and what adventures their eyes had seen!

But the caliph embraced them all as his children, Paribanu the beautiful, who was now the wife of Achmed, the noble son, and Aladdin, his lovely daughter Dinarsade's husband. The caliph lifted his hands and blessed them all.

THE PLATES




1. Achmed on the magic horse


2. At the caliph's court


3. The magic horse takes Achmed into the air with it...


4. ...so the wizard is taken prisoner


5. Achmed with Paribanu's servants


6. Paribanu flying to the forest lake in her feathery costume


7. Her nightly bath


8. Achmed following Paribanu


9. The lovers in the mountains


10. Achmed and Paribanu


11. Achmed fighting with the snake in the canyon


12. The emperor of China's jester playing the chimes


13. Paribanu is sold to the emperor


14. The emperor pressing Paribanu


15. The wizard turns the sacks of gold into birds


16. The hunchback plays the flute for Paribanu


17. Achmed with the witch


18. Paribanu in her wedding attire


19. The wedding procession


20. Achmed shooting the monster


21. The monster threatening Aladdin


22. Aladdin tells Achmed his story


23. The wizard calls on Aladdin in his workshop


24. The wizard leads Aladdin past the caliph's palace


25. Dinarsade, the caliph's daughter, playing chess


26. Aladdin discovers the magic lamp in the cave


27. Aladdin greets Dinarsade


28. Aladdin at sea in the storm


29. The battle between the witch and the wizard


30. The wizard and the witch fighting in the shape of a vulture and a rooster


31. Aladdin fights the demons of Wak-Wak with his magic lamp


32. The homecoming
This important film is available at Amazon... Adventures of Prince Achmed DVD

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Biography: Bill Tytla Part Two

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 4 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great biographies of important artists.



Today, we complete the article that John Canemaker lent us to digitize. It's an article he wrote for an exhibit of artwork by Bill Tytla. If you missed the first half, you can find it at... Biography: Bill Tytla Part One.

Here is the conclusion of this fascinating article...

















If you enjoyed this article, you'll also want to check out... Tytla At Terry: Mighty Mouse Meets Jekyll &' Hyde Cat 1940, The Pencil Test of Art Babbitt's Best Scene, our Profile of Carlo Vinci, and Remembering Berny Wolf

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Meta: 2006 Thanks

As we enter a new year, it's time to look back and thank the people who made everything that the archive accomplished in 2006 possible...

ANIMATION ARCHIVE SPONSORS







ANIMATION ARCHIVE ALLIANCES







ANIMATION ARCHIVE ANGELS

John Kricfalusi, Nancy Cartwright, Fred Seibert, Fred Ladd, June Foray, Mike Van Eaton

ANIMATION ARCHIVE HEROS

Margaret Kerry-Willcox, Joseph Campana, Myrtis Butler, Tom Sito, Stephen Worth, Leonard Maltin, B. Paul Husband, Flying Saucer Animation Studios, ToonHub.com, Gerard Miller, Ragnar LittleCartoons.com, 80sCartoons.net, David Soto, Mervyn Meyer, Willard Wolfshohl, Fred Grandinetti, Vincent Waller. Clarke Pencer, Rita Street, Steven Gordon, Jeramy Bray, Angus Glashier, Brian Behlendorf, Fred Hatfield, Fred Wolf, Paul Dini, Tom Kenny, Christian Ziebarth, Ron Clements, Candi Milo

ANIMATION ARCHIVE VOLUNTEERS

Jon Reeves, Jason Jones, Marc Deckter, Paul Abramson, Victoria Schwerin, David Gustafson, Chuck Pennington, Milton Knight, Louis Zee, Theron Trowbridge, Anita Pacheco, Julian Narino, Michael Eusey, Lois Keller, Marc Crisafulli, Chad Coyle, Richard Crowther, Jeremy Crowther, Jim Mortonsen, Claudio Riba, David Gemmill, Ryan Khatam, Dan Gizzi, Eric Graf, Annette Zilinskas, Art Fuentes, Michael Fallik, Matt Taylor, Max Ward, Corbett Vanoni, Clarke Snyder

We all owe these people and organizations a round of applause for helping make the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive a reality in its first year of operation.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Story: Ren & Stimpy Big House Blues Seq 03

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more amazing animation related articles.



It's been quite a while since I posted an installment of the storyboard to the pilot episode of the original Ren & Stimpy Show, Big House Blues. ASIFA-Hollywood owes a debt of gratitude to John Kricfalusi for generously sharing this material with us. This is a fascinating look at the Genesis of one of the most successful animated TV shows of all time. If you missed it, see Part One of this storyboard and Part Two.

BIG HOUSE BLUES PART THREE


















I will be posting the last section of this storyboard soon.

For the first two sections of this storyboard, see... Big House Blues Seq. 1 and Big House Blues Seq. 2. For more Ren & Stimpy stuff, see... John K's Stimpy's Invention and our profile of Vincent Waller

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Illustration: Einar Norelius' Bland Tomtar Och Troll (1934)

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping images from classic illustrated books.



I didn't intend to do another posting on this subject so soon, but today's post is taking a bit longer than I expected. (For Ren & Stimpy fans, it will be worth the wait!) Check back again on Thursday.

Recently, we featured illustrations from the Swedish Christmas annual, Bland Tomtar Och Troll. (Einar Norelius' Bland Tomtar Och Troll (1929) and John Bauer's Bland Tomtar Och Troll 1917) The artists on this series were John Bauer, Gustaf Tenggren, and Einar Norelius.

Here are more examples of the genius of Einar Norelius- the 1934 edition of Bland Tomtar Och Troll...















Is it just me, or do some of these characters seem to be perfectly designed for use as stop motion puppets? If you have any information on Einar Norelius, please let us know about it in the comments below.

See also... Einar Norelius' Bland Tomtar Och Troll 1929, John Bauer's Bland Tomtar Och Troll (1917), and Gustaf Tenggren's Grimm's Fairy Tales Part One and Part Two.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Filmography: The Temperamental Lion 1940

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 7 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great cartoons to study.

Today, we digitized some great Terrytoons model sheets that Carlo Vinci's family loaned to us...






This one is particularly interesting to me...



...because it's from one of the very best Terrytoons of the time, "The Temperamental Lion". Connie Rasinski created the goofy Bert Lahr lion character as the "King of the Jungle" for the classic cartoon "Doomsday" (1938) as well as "The Nutty Network" (1939). The model was adapted a bit in the late 1940s for "The Lyin' Lion", a film that includes some funny Jim Tyer animation...


...but the character was never better animated than he was by Carlo Vinci in this short... Check out his great scene of the lion singing!







The Temperamental Lion (Terry/1940)
(Quicktime 7 / 14.5 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.

Many thanks to the Vinci family for sharing their treasures with us!

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

11.18.08
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History: Nat Falk's How To Make Animated Cartoons Part Three

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 8 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great info on the history of animation told through the careers of great animators.



Today, we continue with the next chapter from Nat Falk's "How To Make Animated Cartoons". This section details the production process, including great pictures and artwork from Terrytoons in the late 30s. If you missed the first chapter of this rare book, see... Nat Falk's History of Animation. The second chapter is The Top Seven Animation Studios.



















For more from this rare book, see Nat Falk's "How To Make Animated Cartoons" Part One: History Of Animation, Part Two: The Cartoon Studios Part Four: How To Draw Cartoons and Part Five: How To Animate.


Thanks!
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Illustration: Einar Norelius' Bland Tomtar Och Troll (1929)

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping images from classic illustrated books.



A few weeks ago, we featured the work of John Bauer from the Swedish Christmas annual, Bland Tomtar Och Troll. After Bauer's premature death in a shipwreck, Gustaf Tenggren took over the series. A few years later, Tenggren relocated to America and the job was passed on to Einar Norelius.

I first heard of Norelius on P-E Fronning's blog, Martin Klasch. After seeing the beautiful illustrations from Jim, Jock and Jumbo that Fronning posted to his Flickr page, I went searching for books Norelius had illustrated. I found a batch of various vintages of Bland Tomtar Och Troll with an online bookseller in Sweden and had them shipped to me sight unseen. I wasn't disappointed. Here is the first of several posts on the work of Einar Norelius, this time featuring illustrations from the 1929 edition of Bland Tomtar Och Troll...















If you have any information on Einar Norelius, please let us know about it in the comments below.

See also... Einar Norelius' Bland Tomtar Och Troll (1934), John Bauer's Bland Tomtar Och Troll (1917), Gustaf Tenggren's Grimm's Fairy Tales Part One and Part Two, Arthur Rackham's Grimm's Fairy Tales Part One and Part Two, and Kay Nielsen's East of the Sun and West of the Moon and Hansel & Gretel.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!