The History Mess Goes On

Just got this comment on part 3 of the History (sic) of Animation mess I posted yesterday from my friend Tee Bosustow, son of famed UPA founder Stephen Bosustow (Baa-Sus-Toe not gods help us Bass-is-sow).

wow, what a horrible mess, on top of it all, he ripped off my photo of the three founders with my font on it, and several generations down, so it looks really bad, and then he uses the Screen Gems Fox and Crows when he's talking about the UPA Fox and Crows, and a Saperstein Magoo, for the Columbia Magoo, and so on. Thanks to the warning. I gotta get back on my doc on UPA, before more of this stuff gets out,

thanks, tee

The Truth Is Not Out There

“This is the first part of a film I made as a final project for a class about the history of animation” read the label on the 3 part YouTube short. I have been teaching animation history for a very long time so I thought I would give a watch and listen. I looked on with horror and disbelief as one mistake after another was put forth as gospel fact.

WARNING: real animation historians have found that the disinformation in these pathetic videos will do lasting damage to the true history of animation. Only watch these videos if you are already informed about the history of animation and then only for the sad pathetic humor of the mispronunciations and misinformation pontificated with an all-knowing announcer`s voice.



Beware the lies told by the fool that thinks he is speaking truth.



One of the things I really hate about Animation Studies is that so few people outside the field take our history seriously enough to do the damn research.

When I first started to teach animation history I was forced to use the book Serious Business: The Art And Commerce Of Animation In America From Betty Boop To Toy Story by Stefan Kanfer, a book that is so deeply flawed that I got to the point that I would have students mark corrections in the text the first day of class. (The author dismisses Emile Cohl in one sentence and claims that Snow White came out in 1939 not Dec. 21st 1937 among a raft of other miss information too large to detail. Thank the gods for the Jerry Beck book, now if he would only update it.)

speaking of screwed up non-facts, I have a booklet that came with the Max Fleischer educational cartoon The Einstein Theory of Relativity that claims Relativity would have been the first ever animation rather than Steamboat Willie if not for the use of live action in the Fleischer film. And scientists (sic) put out this crap booklet.

I also have a VHS that claims that Gertie the Dinosaur was the first ever animation. Gods protect us from fools teaching what they do not know with the faith that they do really know what they don`t.



When it comes to misinformation these 3 YouTube videos take the royal cake. They are filled to the brim with mispronunciations of the names of the greats of animation (it is EYE-Works not E-Works, EYE-sing not IS-ing and what he did to the names Schlesinger and Bosustow is not within my power to render phonetically but I think I am going to send a link to Tee Bosustow for his entertainment and outrage) Also Walter Lantz did not work for Walt Disney and the Fleischer Bros. did not leave the J. R. Bray studio because it was closing down. Bray was taking all their profits. And then there was the fight over the ownership of KoKo the Clown and the name Out of the Inkwell and gods the list goes on and on.

In the 50s our parents set us in front of the TV to watch old theatrical cartoons and cartoons have been fighting against the unimportant kids fare stigma ever since. Maybe this is why these fools don`t care enough to research before they blow off their mouths. The damage these I-don`t-care-enough-about-my-fucking-subject-to-do-the-research lies will do down the ages is impossible to calculate. These videos really, really need a warning label attached to them.

Pre-Pre-Production Casting Call

These images may be a bit confusing but they are the raw castings of a number of stop motion armature parts.

The parts may not look like much but take my word for it, it is easier to cast parts than it is to machine them.

I am starting pre-production on a short stop motion animation or maybe pre-pre-production. I will keep you informed.
















Degated armature parts before rough cleanup.

Pour Pour Me

Bryn and I suited up for the pour


Animation Wheel Belt Buckle

The pouring point for bronze is somewhere around 1800 °F to 2000 °F. Last Thursday I took part in my first Bronze pore. I have been watching bronze being poured for some time.

I have set up the pour box and lined it with damp sand before. I have pulled the investments out of the kiln and arranged them in the pour box. I have broken them down after the pour. But this is the first time I have helped pull the crucible out of the blast furnace and then helped to pour the liquid bronze into the molds.



Me in front of the blast furnace with the pour yoke on the ground behind me.

Elli Frazetta has Passed Away

A note from my friend Chris Kalnick with sad news:

I'm sure some of you have heard, but I just found out that Elli Frazetta has passed away.

I'm saddened to hear this. A few years ago, when my daughter Dana was young, we went up to visit the Frazetta Museum. Elli was there to greet us, give us a tour, show us some unpublished watercolors, and when she found out Dana was an artist, she talked with her, giving her support and advice. She was very sweet and funny. I was just thinking about heading up there next weekend when I found out about her passing.

She was the model, mate and inspiration for one of the great illustrators of our age. And that means more than most people know. Art is hard to make without a support system to keep the world at bay.

I knew a lot of great artists who have been undermined by a wife or husband who thinks that they could make more money if they would only just get a real job. As if money is what it is all about. You don`t become an artist for the money. Not a real artist.

AniMazing Spotlight Festival Weekend

I am off to the Egyptian today for the AniMazing Spotlight Festival. http://www.animazspot.com. I love the Egyptian, even it the glyphs are fake.

AniMazing is a Internet short animation film festival that has been running for a year. This is the payoff weekend where all of the quarterly winners compete. I was a judge for the last round and really enjoyed getting to view all the short animation. Some really great stuff that you would love to see. So come on down if you have the afternoon free.