Pantomime: Churchill and Chaplin

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 art instruction posts.


Charlie Chaplin and Winston Churchill may have both shared the same country of birth, but they aren't people you would normally associate together in your mind...


Today I was scanning Colliers magazines that Mike Fontanelli has on loan to us, and I ran across this article authored by Winston Churchill from October of 1935. Titled "Everybody's Language", it is both a film fan's homage to Charlie Chaplin and a history of pantomime in Western culture. I hope you'll take the time to read it, because it has some important things to say to animators...

"Twenty five years ago, when the young actor crossed the Atlantic, life in the States was more fluid than in England- more fluid perhaps than it is today. Its forms had not set. Personalities were more important than conventions. Democracy was not only a political institution, but a social fact. Class distinction mattered comparitively little when the hired hand of today was so often the employer of tomorrow, and the majority of professional men had paid for their university training with the work of their hands."

"Every cinemagoer is familiar with the Chaplin tramps, but I wonder how many of them have reflected how characteristically American are these homeless wanderers..."

"No mere clown, however brilliant, could ever have captured so completely the affections of the great public. He owes his unrivaled position as a star to the fact that he is a great actor, who can tug at our heartstrings as surely as he compels laughter... I believe that, had it not been for the coming of the talkies, we would already have seen this great star in a serious role. He is the one figure of the old silent screen to whom the triumph of the spoken word has meant neither speech nor extinction. He relies, as of old, upon a pantomime that is more expressive than talk."

"Pantomime, of which he is a master, is capable of expressing every emotion, of communicating the subtlest shades of meaning. A man who can act with his whole body has no need of mere words, whatever part he plays."

"I should like to see films without voices being made once more, but this time by producers who are alive to the potentialities of pantomime. Such pictures would be worth making, if only for this reason, that the audience for a talkie is necessarily limited by the factor of language, while the silent film can tell its story to the whole of the human race. Pantomime is the true universal tongue."

"It is a favorite cliche of film critics in discussing pictures to say that we cannot go back. In effect, they suggest that, because technical progress has given us sound, all films must be talkies and will continue to be so forever. Such statements reveal a radical misconception of the nature of progress and the nature of art. To explore the possibilities of the non-talking film, to make of it a new and individual art form, would not be a retrograde step, but an advance."

Churchill was mistaken about the return of silent filmmaking. Talkies were, and still are here to stay. But "a new and individual art form" based on the ancient foundation of pantomime was just beginning to make its mark when this article was written. I'll give you three guesses as to which art form that was!

Charlie Chaplin wasn't the last gifted pantomimist. Many others followed him... Jackie Gleason, John Cleese, Rowen Atkinson... and these two giants from the early days of television, Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Here is a brilliant bit from the mid-1950s from the The Sid Caesar Buried Treasures DVD


Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca:
The Cocktail Party (1954)
(Quicktime 7 / 17 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 Mike Fontanelli for the loan of this magazine and Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans for the wonderful Chaplin images that illustrate this post.

If you found this article interesting, see... Chaplin's Shadow: Inspiration vs Ripoffs, The Application Of Inspiration / How To Properly Use Reference / Incorporating Natural Forms / (Visual) Literacy / Why Do We Need An Animation Archive?

If you want an incredible insight into the mind of a brilliant filmmaker, you will want to get the DVD of Unknown Chaplin. Using never before seen outtakes, these three programs reconstruct Chaplin's creative process from the ground up. This is one of the greatest documentaries ever made. Check it out!

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

Stumble It!

Voice Acting: The Stan Freberg Show 1957

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.


Daws Butler and Stan Freberg accept the
Grammy Award for "St. George and the Dragon-net".
Archive supporter, Rich Borowy has been contributing some wonderful material to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. Here's another one of his treasures... the premiere episode of the legendary short lived radio musical variety show created by Stan Freberg.

In the Summer of 1957, CBS debuted a comedy program to replace The Jack Benny Program. It starred Captiol recording artist Stan Freberg, with support from veteran voice artists like Daws Butler, Marvin Miller and June Foray. The show exhibited all aspects of Freberg's unique sense of humor from goofy cartooniness to biting satire. This episode contains liberal doses of both, and includes his classic riff on Cold War politics, titled "Los Voraces" ("The Greedy Ones"). Freberg's sharp wit and his refusal to accept commercials for cigarettes didn't endear him to advertisers, and the show was cancelled after only fifteen episodes. But it made an indelible mark on many fans in re-release on records.

This particular recording is unique, because it includes off-air introductions by Stan before the show and a pickup of a musical cue at the end. It's a tribute to the professionalism of the performers and the musical director, Billy May when you realize that this elaborate program was performed live from beginning to end in front of a studio audience.

Enjoy the genius of Freberg!

The Stan Freberg Show
(CBS Radio/July 9th, 1957)
(AAC Audio File / 90kbps-44.1kHz / Mono / 42 minutes / 30.25 mb)

Thanks for contributing this, Rich!

Fans of the great Stan Freberg won't want to be without this great four CD box set, The Tip of the Freberg, which includes many of his greatest recordings. Get it at Amazon!

If you enjoyed this article, you'll also want to check out these articles... Mel Blanc on Advertising, Profile of Carlo Vinci, John K on Flintstones Animators, Bugs Bunny In Coronet Magazine, Ward Kimball In Escapade Magazine, UPA Done Right, The Pencil Test of Art Babbitt's Best Scene, A Drawing Lesson From Walter Lantz, and Remembering Berny Wolf

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!

Voice Acting: Mel Blanc On Advertising

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.


There's one aspect of animation that I haven't dealt with much yet- Voice Acting. My own research in this area is pretty limited. I hope sometime in the future, a specialist in this field will contribute their expertise to the Archive to curate this important aspect of cartoon filmmaking.

But that doesn't mean that we don't have any interesting material dealing with voice acting at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. Eric Graf stopped by with a wonderful treasure the other day... An LP record pressed by the production company of legendary voice actor, Mel Blanc. It's a recording of a speech by Blanc at the 1966 Annual Awards Luncheon of the Station Representatives Association. Titled "Mel Blanc Takes A Humorous Look At Commercials: Past, Present and Future (Who The Hell Is Mel Blanc?)", this record is a hilarious glimpse at both the advertising industry and a little known aspect of the career of one of the most famous voice actors of all time.

Who The Hell Is Mel Blanc?
(Mel Blanc Associates/1966)
(AAC Audio File / 32kbps-44.1kHz / Mono / 25 minutes / 6.25 mb)

Thanks for bringing this by Eric!

If you enjoyed this article, you'll also want to check out our... Profile of Carlo Vinci, John K on Flintstones Animators, Bugs Bunny In Coronet Magazine, Ward Kimball In Escapade Magazine, UPA Done Right, The Pencil Test of Art Babbitt's Best Scene, A Drawing Lesson From Walter Lantz, and Remembering Berny Wolf

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!