Scott Morse

From the blog of Mr. Morse. I post this so anyone stumbling across the Blackwing Diaries this morning will click right now and have a look at what this prolific artist is up to lately(even busier than usual getting ready for San Diego next month-but a few weeks off now). How he finds the time for all this personal work while juggling the gallery shows, his own publishing imprint, his day job and his young family I don't know, but it's inspiring--if exhausting--to think about.
I used this painting because I just really love it--especially how he's handled the girl. Great stuff. Dare I say he works the paint bottles(and I assume they're still squeeze bottles)like a chef?
So saunter on over and see his ukeleles.

Pop Quiz on a subject of some obscurity: Mickey Mouse--in Vietnam?

UPDATE 7/2: Didier Ghez, on his Disney History blog has come through yet again with actual images from this rare short, scanned from the book "Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!" by Thierry Steff. Many thanks , Didier.
By the way, if you haven't lately--please do pay a visit to ogle the rarities and terrific links always available on Didier's blog. Its an essential resource.


My friend Ennio here at work is looking for some inforrmation on this short film--one I'd never heard of and had no idea existed-"Mickey Mouse In Vietnam".
Below is pretty much all I was able to find, from Wikipedia:

"Mickey Mouse in Vietnam" is a 16mm underground short movie. The director was Lee Savage. It features the Disney character Mickey Mouse being shipped to Vietnam during the war. Moments after arriving, he is shot dead. It was produced independently in 1968 or 1970.

Sounds a little like "Bambi meets Godzilla" in terms of pacing. The name Lee Savage is barely familiar to me. I have several books about independent animation that date from the late 1960s-early 70s so perhaps I've read about him there.
But this short: has anyone ever seen it? Was it inked and painted, or done in any style attempting to be true to a classic Disney look? Is it available to see, either commercially or elsewhere?

Today it's more the norm to look at this kind of shock value approach and see it as obvious and heavy handed--and maybe it was, even then. But Mickey Mouse and friends were still sacred icons that represented a kind of wholesome, intact, optimistic America that was taking an awful beating in those years, so he of all characters must have seemed the ultimate target for political/sociological statements of one kind or another. I think much of that stuff was wildly overdone, but it was new once. At any rate I've no idea how well done--or not--this film was. I'd be very curious to see for myself--and Ennio wants to track it down for a friend who's writing about wartime cartoons.
Can anybody offer some input? All much appreciated!

An Animation Auction for a Good Cause

Craig Kellman does his take on Tony the Tiger-yours for a winning bid.

Here at work we've had ongoing art shows in a newly dedicated gallery space; the first show was an assortment from the visdev department. I loved what I saw and bought a swell painting from designer Andy Bialk. I'd have liked to add even more to my collection, but Andy's was the only piece offered for sale.



Andy Bialk's auction contribution

Now Andy's just emailed me about an upcoming public auction with many many works from great animation artists hosted by Cartoon Network. It benefits the Family Service Agency of Burbank, and that certainly seems a worthy cause. If you're local(bids have to be made in person), or can contact a local to bid for you, it's this Saturday, June 30th, at the Cartoon Network Studios. Here's the link:

Silent Auction


Paul Rudish donates this fellow

There's loads more talent on the auction page--Chris Reccardi, Seonna Hong, Megan Brain, some guy named Kent who did a terrifc abstract, Pete Oswald, a really cool piece by Ellen Williams-gan abstract, mixed media/glass on watercolor!--and many others. Check them out.

A Los Angeles Time Machine of a Blog

The proposed entrance of the Los Angeles Zoo circa 1957. Courtesy of The Daily Mirror blog

For all the beatings blogging has taken in the MSM lately, I find much more treasure than trash in my browsing-often in the least likely places.
Saturday night, while looking for information on a long-closed L.A. restaurant that my parents took us to as kids("Poor Richard's"-a sort of Pleasure Island/Farrell's/miniature Grizzly Flats-styled eatery in my memory) I came across a terrific blog I'd no idea existed:
The Daily Mirror.

Larry Harnisch scours the local paper of 50 years ago, re-reporting mostly crimes--lurid, unsolved or simply odd--that were on the front pages of the day.
Much of it makes for disturbing but fascinating reading. One or two entries are unbearably poignant. Some I find myself skipping over because they're just too disturbing for me--although they were published in what was supposedly a quieter, gentler time. Don't believe it.

In his posts Harnisch frequently goes to the scene of an event as it is today, taking a photograph and ruminating on how things used to be in 1957.
He also features some of the ads and ad art from the paper, along with articles in no way connected with crimes that are simply neat. Here's one about a proposed version of our L.A. Zoo:
A Googie Zoo for L.A.

So if you're at all interested in local history or feel like stepping back into the real-life world that inspired "L.A. Confidential", this is a must.

Disney paper circa 1989

How's this for an anemic post?
The above is a detail from the bottom edge of a piece of Disney feature animation paper from the summer of 1989. An intrepid friend was generous with some unused supplies(we were still at Calarts at the time) and I was the happy recipient of some drawing materials.
This is hardcore trivia, but apparently it was only for a very short span of time that this boilerplate warning appeared on every sheet of paper used by every animator, assistant and cleanup artist--printed not once but twice on each side of the center peg hole. Interesting. Well, sort of. The thing is, this proviso is really unnecessary--it's a legal fact that at every studio, every production drawing is always the property of the company, etc. etc. As it was this notice was soon dispensed with and the paper went back to its original blankness.

Incidentally the texture of this paper is quite different than the later super-luxe, slightly off-white bond we all lusted after at school and later at other studios. This one is a thinner, slightly rougher product.

I'd love to do a post sometime of the various papers and pencils--and pens--that came into and out of vogue at varying times at Disney's. We all know of the Blackwing and the Blaisdell Layout--and the ubiquitous Prismacolors--but what others made their marks in the hands of animators and story guys?

Luigi, tu sei un artista incredibile

The image and idea for this post are freshly swiped from Cartoon Brew, but you can't over-promote something like this: Lou Romano has done a New Yorker cover.

A New Yorker cover. The great one. The pinnacle of illustration platforms. The one magazine that strictly provides a forum for illustrative art on its cover almost 100 years after its inception.
Coincidentally(and it really is), he has a starring role on a film he worked on in visual development coming out soon, too. This isn't suprising as Lou was likely acting before he was drawing--or most likely it was simultaneous.

His cover looks typically beautiful.

And I can think of at least one man who wouldn't be in any way, shape or form the teensiest bit suprised at this cover, and in fact was certain sure of it a long time ago. I can almost hear him predicting it. He probably did.
Congratulations, Lou.

(and many thanks to Dave Derrick for the instant Italian translation-in a pinch)

Rat Review

Michael Barrier has written a typically thoughtful review of "Ratatouille". Apparently it had a sneak preview last night. If I tell you I had no idea there were any sneaks in the offing, that might offer some insight into why I haven't been updating much. Too busy!

As for Rat'--I've been very curious about this film(yes, I and every other person I know in the business) since word worked its way downstate that Bird had taken it on. Barrier, a writer I very much respect(he may be one of about two or three in the mainstream media who really, truly know how animation is made--animation of the present as well as the past), previously expressed skepticism that a film with rats as its main characters is setting itself up with a possibly insurmountable wall of aversion from the audience, but he's been happy to have his mind changed on that score.

Have a read.

Norm Ferguson, Webb Smith, and the Pluto flypaper sequence

An absolutely fascinating and must-read article by Michael Barrier examining some rare Pluto drawings.

Thanks to an anonymous collector(I think I know who that might be--and if I'm right--email or call me, you-who-shall-not-be-named! I need to talk to you), Barrier has posted some wonderful pages of sketches of Pluto, studies for that famous stuck-on-flypaper sequence in "Playful Pluto"--not only a very funny cartoon bit in itself, but exceptional enough that none other than Preston Sturges chose to feature it in the climax of his masterpiece "Sullivan's Travels"(Joel McCrea's Sullivan is a prisoner in a chain gang, taken for a rare "movie night" at a local black church; when he sees the desperate, beaten, dead-end prisoners laughing their guts out at Pluto's antics, he has an epiphany that stands as Sturges' own personal and professional credo).

Here's just one page--go to Barrier's blog to see more:

image courtesy of michaelbarrier.com

I personally don't believe that these are gag drawings, but agree with John Canemaker's assessment that they look much more like they'd come from the animator himself(Ferguson, the great Pluto expert). That said, they are more finished than one might expect of 'Fergie', so perhaps Barrier's other suggested possibility is true--that it's the work of yet another, third party studying the Ferguson sequence.

In any case, It's just great to be able to see rare material like this. Many thanks to Barrier and his generous contributor.

RIP Charles Nelson Reilly

Sad news for fans of goofball television on a Memorial Day: Charles Nelson Reilly has died.

Lest some readers of Blackwing think I am going the way of blog-potpourri with this post, rest assured that Charles Nelson Reilly was a friend to wonderfully cheesy and strange cartoons and the kids that watched them; he deserves a moment of reflection and thanks.
I mean that sincerely. A terrific comedian, likely the first openly gay man many kids ever saw regularly on television, he was also a serious student of acting, a director of award-winning stage productions, and a playwright. He was also a sweet, funny, engaging man in real life--an opinion I base on running into him after work at Pavilions on Ventura Blvd., doing his grocery shopping. Here was a guy who truly made life--or buying a lamb chop--a moveable party.

And speaking of parties, try catching up with some reruns of "Match Game", a game show where the game mattered not at all, the guest celebrities all knew each other and were often a little tipsy as the day's taping went on--and Charles "underplayed" if not underdressed his usual persona to wonderful effect. That man got away with some of the most unbelievable insults (mostly to the woman who became a close buddy, Jack Klugman's then-wife Brett Somers) ever ad libbed on american television. For kids who were watching it all made adult life seem like some bubbly cocktail party...or reminded us of funnier versions of our own parents, I'm not quite sure.

Of course, there was also Sid and Marty Krofft's "Lidsville", "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", and one fantastic performance on "The X Files"(the latter really showing what the man could do without all the schtick). He won a Tony award for "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" on Broadway. He's done voices for "Spongebob", Hanna-Barbera, Disney television and many Bluth features.

He said he'd be eulogized as a game-show guest, and he will--but the important thing is that he'll be remembered by millions of people who have a genuine, fond affection for him, courtesy of his own inimitable self. He afforded us some killer laughs. That's a real rarity. Hail and farewell.

Cartoon Modern

Look at these wonderful sketches from Cartoon Modern. There's plenty more where these came from.
I am really remiss in keeping current with a lot of blogs lately, and Cartoon Modern is one of those with some fascinating posts I've missed. The artwork above is by UPA designer Sterling Sturtevant. She's pretty keen, I think.

Blog Blurb: Will Finn

self-portrait by Will Finn, swiped from his new blog

...and another sucker answers the siren song of the blogosphere!

Welcome Will Finn to the fold, everyone!
Surely a man who needs no elaborate introduction to animation folk, I will nevertheless say that my introduction to him(though not his to me)occurred in an ex-bank building on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, California.

Don Bluth studios had their facility there at the time they were doing Space Ace, etc. and while I was visiting with a friend of a friend I picked up a little studio newsletter with a column about the studio cat, written by a Will Finn, accompanied by his own charming illustrations. This Finn was a story guy, or an animator--or both, I can't remember now.
He's done a few things since then(though if he'd done nothing else but supervise the damn clock I'd be in total awe).

Seriously, this blog should be fun and interesting reading. Carry on, Will!

Travel, vintage, cartoons

I was always told jet lag a)wears off after the first day or so, and
b)is always worse when flying west to east.
Neither has been true for me...or maybe Paris has a special hangover effect. That must be it.

Anyway, here's a little something that popped out at me from today's(May 27)New York Times:
Because We're Not There Yet

Someone found a copy of a 1954 book on traveling with the family via car. It looks like fun(I love this kind of social anthropology), and has some neat illustrations to boot.
Here's two:



Unfortunately the illustrator of this little book isn't credited in the article.

I do try and keep the posts here specific to animation, but I think all the animators I know wouldn't mind seeing these or knowing this book exists--Ward Jenkins, I'm squinting at you--so...

ETA: More Fun: The intrepid Scott Santoro found this fun b/w clip of the author of "Traveling By Car", Carol Lane, demonstrating how to pack.

Back with a question about Disney's Peter Pan

A page spread from the Golden book of Pater Pan. We had this one in the house when I was a kid, and I was nuts about it. The finished film has scenes that come as close as any in Disney's canon to matching the appeal of the visual development artwork.

Finally back in Los Angeles, and back to work.

Paris is unsurprisingly everything everyone says it is and more. It fills the mind and heart with a burning love for and appreciation of the beauty that is everywhere apparent--and not just in the concrete surroundings.

But right now, it's the interminable plane ride back that has me writing, with a question tossed out to all and sundry--I know someone knows this.

The in-flight entertainment included french and english versions of Disney's 1953 "Peter Pan". Since the flight was over 12 hours long(I'm still recovering)I had several opportunities to watch it in various pieces.
Now I can't get "You Can Fly!" out of my head(thank you, Sammy Fain)--and also would very much like to know:

Who animated the youngest Darling child, Michael?

He really struck me as being particularly solid and well done; even though he has only a supporting role he rings totally true as an about-3-and-a-half year old boy--and is completely charming(to me, anyway). Whoever did that work deserves a hand...Lounsbery perhaps?

I hadn't realized how long it's been since I'd seen the film. For me it has some of the most successful art direction and design of any of the features, if it's not a classic of the order of "Pinocchio" it's still able to inspire delight, in some scenes simply to look at.
And again, here's a Disney animated feature where the credits manage to evoke a sense of wistfulness, grace and anticipation for the story--the credits! This by a combination of absolutely gorgeous paintings, length of shots, choice of shots, and naturally the music score--all perfect.

This reminded me that I've intended for months to do a post about credits--how good they can be, and how frequently they're a missed chance for additional filmmaking in today's cinema, especially in animation.

So, who did animate Michael?

Blackwing a Paris

The Diaries are away in Paris at the moment. Back in a few days!


Audrey Hepburn in "Funny Face" looks out over a Paris balcony. While this scene was shot on a sound stage in Culver City, the film has a lot of fun location footage with the actors dancing around the real Paris-and some very appealing interior art direction, too.

Ward in his element, take two

Ward Kimball in his train room, circa 1977, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times. CLICK to make this image huge.


Thanks to an entry in one of my must-visit blogs, L.A. Observed, I found this great photo in UCLA's brand new online, searchable photo database. I am busy enough that I didn't have time to do anything more than the most cursory search--I actually found this photo of Ward by accident--so there must be plenty of other treasures there.