For when you just can’t shovel it in fast enough!

ToonFuse Episode 6

In the podcast this week, Lee and Katie talk about A Scanner Darkly

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Whoa! You’ve heard of virtuosos attacking this or that piece of music with enthusiasm? In today’s cartoon, “Bars and Stripes,” the instruments attack back; after sprouting little arms and legs, they run around lobbing musical notes like hand grenades! Their opponent in this epic battle is Krazy Kat, who, at this point in his movie career, bears zippo resemblance to his comic strip namesake (well, he still has that odd shaped ribbon on the back of his neck, but that’s about it.)

Manny Gould and Ben Harrison directed this opus for the Charles Mintz studios back in 1931. About the time the piano starts regurgitating huge melodic missiles at our protagonist, you’ll be deciding that early talkie cartoons are A: charmingly uninhibited, displaying wild imagination, unbridled by traditional concepts of narrative, or B: deeply disturbing, exhibiting the fevered hallucinations of a borderline psychotic. Maybe a little of both.

Harmonize with us again tomorrow as ReFrederator marches to a different drummer during “Musical Moments Week.”

Dave Kirwan

I was a child in the fifties and we had a giant black and white set as big as a range that rested on iron legs. Broke the dial at least once wrenching it back and forth searching for something to watch, especially on Sunday mornings. We had Farmer Brown cartoons, silents with un-synched music tracks (might have been the same cartoon every morning, now that I think of it) and Gumby and Davey and Goliath and Ruff and Reddy. Tom Terrific on Captain Kangaroo. Later came Bullwinkle and Hanna Barbera, my heroes. I loved Quick Draw and Baba Louie, Snagglepuss, and Huckelberry Hound. Raced home from school to catch my favorites, which I watched all afternoon (I was largely unsupervised as a child — and I think I turned out fine! Twitch, twitch!) Waited with anticipation for the stock jokes — and did all their voices. My friends said I sounded just like them. Which means I must have been a huge Daws Butler fan, though I didn’t know it at the time. Well into my 20s, my girlfriend (she became my wife) would wake up late on Saturday mornings and find me sitting on the couch with a big bowl of cereal, watching cartoons. Bloggingly yours, Manny and Alan

Tiffany animations returned from Korea last week. Retakes occurred. Notes were taken. Musicians were submitted. Old friends were reacquainted. After being busy, but absent for a while from my Nickelodeon pals it was nice to be in the mix again. Now I’ll wait for Korea to makes the necessary changes and then it’s time for Music, Sound Effects and the wonderful Post Production magic!

And by the way, kudos to all involved in planning the first (of many) Random Cartoon screenings at Nickelodeon. I thought it was a smashing success and can’t wait for the next one.

See ya.

Handycat’s slogan is really working! And after only six short months in business – he’s finally got his first job!

While Handycat is looking for his second job, the rest of us at the Indianapolis studio are finishing up the animation and preparing for post. It’s always awesome to start seeing a project come together!

Linked below is an animation clip. Enjoy!

Click here!

More soon…

~ Russ Harris

ReFrederator introduces “Muscial Moments Week” with a deathless classic, Bob Clampett’s “A Corny Concerto.” In one swell foop, Leon Schlesinger’s cartooniest director delivers death blows to both “Tales of the Vienna Woods” and “The Blue Danube” with a couple of animated interpretations that will forever corrupt your abstract enjoyment of these musical selections.

To drive his demented points across, Clampett uses several of the Warners’ signature cartoon stars, although, oddly, all in somewhat idiosyncratic fashion. “Tales” features a teaming of Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, two characters who spent virtually no time together in other classic WB shorts. The hero of the crazed ugly duckling story in “Danube” is unmistakably Daffy Duck, but in a tiny, infantile form. And the whole melange is introduced by Elmer Fudd, apparently sending up Deems Taylor, the narrator in Disney’s “Fantasia.” Now, Mr. Fudd is a fellow who traditionally shows up, even while rabbit hunting, nattily attired and impeccably groomed. But seen here, the guy is wearing some sort of clown-tuxedo with an outsized pair of Harold Lloyd glasses. His gloves look like they belong to E.T. and he has a five o’clock shadow that would put Fred Flintstone AND Homer Simpson to shame.

All in all, a very, very silly film, and an undeniable cartoon classic. Don’t you just love Bugs’ big death scene?

Check in this week for more toons with tunes. ReFrederator. Your daily dose of classic cartoon craziness.

Dave Kirwan

Goliath is almost ready for animation! Here is a character line-up showing the alien villians (1st four characters on the left) and humans of Goliath’s world (alien/villian design and clean-up by Erik Knutson; human/cat design by Mike Gray with clean-up by Doug Gray). All main characters had to be done with a five point turnaround, as the full Roger model sheet example shows…

–Mike

This was my first shot at doing the Teapot postcard/poster. This isn’t the final version but if anyone has any suggestions feel free to share.

I already got some good feedback and some ideas for changes. I’ll probably remove the text and darken the outline around the Teapot logo.

-Dahveed

I thought I’d take a jazz break for a couple of completely unrelated pop songs that have re-turned me on lately.

The Toys > A Lover’s Concerto
The Toys were truly a one-hit wonder. A great underrated producer, Bob Crewe (The Four Seasons, Mitch Ryder), took Bach’s Minuet in G, put on a Motown bass lined married to a girl group trio, and presto! one of the greatest tracks of one the greatest pop years (1965).

Elvis Costello & the Attractions > Pump It Up
The other day I was killing a few minutes at Virgin Records and a track started that made me wonder what new group could groove so hard. Turns out it wasn’t a new group at all (haven’t heard a rock band with a deeeeep beat in a long time). Elvis Costello & the Attractions second album. Pump It Up. The volume, I mean.

The Toys > A Lover’s Concerto
Elvis Costello & the Attractions > Pump It Up

Crummy audio alert!