'TV historians will tell you that “Felix the Cat” was one of the first images ever broadcast on television (when RCA broadcast a Felix doll in 1928 on experimental station W2XBS) — but it wasn’t until the late ’40s that the first animated character was created expressly for TV.
Crusader Rabbit appeared for the very first time on KNBH (Los Angeles) on August 1, 1950, and featured a Don Quixote-like title character aided by his friend Ragland T. “Rags” Tiger as they pursued adventures in serial (i.e. cliffhanger) installments.' On November 8th, the voice of Crusader Rabbit, Lucille Bliss,
passed away at the age of 96. Ms. Bliss may be more familiar to younger fans as the voice of
Smurfette, from
The Smurfs, or as
Ms. Bitters on Invader ZIM.
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on Nov 15, 2012 -
18 comments
"Over the years in animation, there have been a lot of great animators.
Ub Iwerks was one of those people. We know his work, but we don't necessarily know the man."
The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story (in 5 parts on DailyMotion:
1,
2,
3,
4, and
5) tells of the life of Ubbe Eert Iwerks, from the formation of the friendship with Walt Disney when they met at advertisement studio in Kansas City, their artistic collaborations and Ub's 20 years of animation, to Iwerk's technical creations that kept Disney animated pictures ahead of other studios.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 31, 2012 -
14 comments
The Ropes at Disney's - 1943 Employee Handbook. The good old days when women got twice as much sick leave, the Penthouse club was accessible by "men only! - sorry gals...", and a violation of the U.S. Espionage Act could get you fired.
posted by madamjujujive
on Sep 26, 2011 -
52 comments
Advanced Animation by Preston Blair, "the best 'how to' book on cartoon animation ever published."
Blair, a Disney and MGM animator, put the book together in 1947 to illustrate the various basic principles of animation, only to have the book pulled from shelves after the rights to use some of the characters were revoked. Animation historian
Jerry Beck has been hunting for a first edition of Blair's landmark book for many years. He finally found a copy and is sharing high-quality scans on the
Animation Archive.
(Archive previously linked in this thread; discovered via this thread.)
posted by soiled cowboy
on May 7, 2006 -
11 comments
Education for Death. (YouTubefilter.) Disney-produced
anti-Nazi cartoon short from 1943. Look for Hitler's Satanic horns. More weirdness from WWII: Warner Bros
Snafuperman, starring Pvt. Snafu (originally created by Dr. Seuss!), who also deals with
spies, all while jabbering away in a voice that sounds disconcertingly like that of a certain cwazy wabbit. From Archive. org -- Pvt. Snafu learns about
booby traps, in one case literally. Bugs himself joined the Air Force, and was faced with
gremlins for his trouble. Superman himself got in on the act, battling
Japoteurs. After all, during the War we were plenty worried about those canny
Japanese.
posted by Astro Zombie
on Mar 23, 2006 -
26 comments
Ann Telneas is an editorial cartoonist. She started out working for Disney Imagineering as a designer. She has also been an animator for various studios in London, Los Angeles, New York and Taiwan. She now holds many awards for her cartoons and is in several prestige publications. Her works are an impressive array of
political caricatures,
feminism, and
cultural issues
posted by Hands of Manos
on Jan 12, 2005 -
12 comments
Walt would turn over in his cryonic chamber... (I know, I know, it's
not true.)
Speaking of
family trees, Roy Disney (the last board member with ties to the founding family)
resigned from the company Sunday, calling for the
ouster of Chairman Michael Eisner. Stanley Gold soon
soon followed. In a
harsh letter,
Disney said the entertainment conglomerate had "lost its
focus, its
creative energy, and its
heritage" and that the
public now
held the perception that company is "
rapacious,
soul-less, and always looking for the '
quick buck'."
No word yet from the
Disneyland obsessives, but the folks at
MousePlanet 's Mousepad
seem optimistic about this development...
posted by Fofer
on Dec 2, 2003 -
18 comments
