Thursday, 7 April 2016

Fill 'Er Up

A ballet dancing Genie tells us in musical rhyme about the benefits of gas stations in Fill 'Er Up, a 1959 industrial by the John Sutherland studio. Here are a few of the poses. I like the unique swirls as he becomes visible.



Here’s “your car’s best friend,” the dealer. Note the stretches.



Designs are by Tony Rivera. Emery Hawkins, Gerard Baldwin and Ed De Mattia are the credited animators, directed by Irv Spence and Carl Urbano.

Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Constructing a Game Show

Putting together a successful TV game show isn’t as easy as it looks. As far as the audience knows, a bunch of people get together and have fun guessing at stuff with a windfall at the end. But there’s more to it.

The game itself has to be simple enough for the audience to be able to play along (and interesting enough that they would want to). It should have an element of suspense (will she guess all the answers on the pyramid and win the $10,000?). And there has to be chemistry among the people on the show so the audience will like them and their interaction, and would like to have them in their living rooms again.

Chemistry is an elusive thing and something that’s never guaranteed, even when viewers like panelists or a host as individuals. And producers learned in the radio days that there has to be some variety. Information Please had dry, intellectual panelists but tossed into the mix the quick-witted and cutting Oscar Levant. When network TV blossomed, What’s My Line? captured enough viewers to enable it to hone and refine its panel (though the producers had no say when it came to the departure of Louis Untermeyer, thanks to the blacklist).

This unbylined story in the New York World-Telegram and Sun of August 17, 1955 expounds on the make-up of a game show panel in that more refined era. I admit I’m posting it mainly for Willard Mullin’s great caricatures more than anything else.

How to Be a Panelist
Every successful TV quiz show should have one its four-member panel 1) an eager beaver, 2) a funnyman, 3) a serio-comic (i.e., someone not quite as eager as the eager beaver and not quite as comsciously funny as the funnyman), and 4) a guest or representative citizen.
The top eager beaver is What’s My Lines?’s Dorothy Kilgallen, who often seems to have patterned her technique on that of tenacious Lawrence Spivak of Meet the Press. Hearst Columnist Kilgallen is distinguished by her no-nonsense approach and her relentless slicing away of extreme issues in solving such epic equations as whether a contestant is a rabbit poacher or a gravedigger by trade. Says Moderator John Daly admiringly: “Dottie follows a logical, syllogistic construction; she is more of a technician and a scientist in her approach.” The only other quizzer to come close to equaling her eager beaverbility is Florence Rinard of Twenty Questions. Cinemactress June Lockhart of Who Said That? has been described as a “walking encyclopedia,” but she lacks the determined Kilgallen pounce.
Play by Ear. If one of the funnymen should, even accidentally, correctly guess an answer, he would undoubtedly be fired. On What’s My Line? Fred Allen listens alertly, not for clues, but for tags of phrases that can be turned into boffolas. Of his job on I’ve Got a Secret, Funnyman Henry Morgan says bluntly: “I’m just there to talk. I haven’t asked a sensible question in two years.”
The seriocomics like Arlene Francis and Bill Cullen may well have the toughest jobs of all, for they are expected to contribute to the evening’s gaiety as well as keep the game going steadily forward. Says John Daly: “Arlene plays it by ear, and more boldly than Dottie Kilgallen; therefore she misses more often.” Bill Cullen of I’ve Got a Secret underlines some of the hazards of the seriocomic: “I’m always thinking automatically of what question I can ask in case a joke falls flat. But even when jokes go over, I’ve got to be careful that Henry Morgan and I don’t get kidding and forget about the game. We’ve had the riot act read to us, let’s face it. We’ve gotten the riot act for horsing up the show too much.”
Look & Listen. The ideal straight man of the quiz shows is Publisher Bennett Cerf of What’s My Line? He fills the role of the man of substance, serious, determined, but not quite as scintillating as the rest of the panel. When he does solve a contestant’s trade, he is likely to worry the problem like a dog with a bone, asking repeated questions long after it is obvious to even the dullest viewer that he knows the answer. Cerf’s apparent function is to slow down the headlong pace of the game. He does it almost too well.
On the art of playing TV games, all panel members agree that the most important knack is to be able to listen. Explains Arlene Francis: “Newcomers on a panel are always too tense to listen well, and sometimes will ask questions that have already been answered.” Also, she and her cohorts know from sad experience that if the first contestant is not interesting or gay or entertaining, the show generally does not get off the ground: “Once you get started well, the mood is easy to sustain, but after a bad beginning, you have to fight to recapture your audience.”
On I’ve Got a Secret, Actress Jayne Meadows works to a pattern: “I have a theory that there are certain leading questions to ask to cover different areas, but intuition is just as important. You can learn many things just by the look on a contestant’s face or the studio audience’s reaction. For example, if on our show the secret has something to do with one of the panelists, the audience usually will laugh and look straight at that panelist. Fortunately, I’m farsighted.
Read the Papers. Any panelist working a show with a news angle, e.g., What’s the Story? needs to do as much homework as a student cramming for an exam. During the week before they go on the air, the Who Said That? team study morning and evening newspapers, magazines and assorted almanacs and source books. Blindfolded What’s My Line? panelists have a secret source of help when it comes to identifying mystery celebrities, before the show they work through Variety and see what top entertainers have recently arrived in Manhattan to promote new movies, rodeos or circuses. Some critics believe that quiz shows build and maintain their ratings on the strength of the double-entendre. The moderators are well aware that a situation having to do with personal services, e.g., guessing the occupation of the president of a diaper laundry, keeps the audience on tenterhooks waiting for the inevitable break, e.g., “Is it something I would be likely to use?” But over the long pull, the quiz masters have learned that popularity must depend on the personalities of the moderator and panel.
A steady job as panelist pays an average $500 per half-hour show (including an average extra hour of pre-show warm-up). Says Bill Cullen candidly: “It’s such a snap that sometimes I feel as if I’m stealing the money.”


My thanks to Kathy Fuller-Seeley for this article

Tuesday, 5 April 2016

The Bat!

Woody Woodpecker was a solid character in the hands of Don Patterson, the best director at the Walter Lantz studio after 1950 who wasn’t named Tex Avery. He and his animators came up with some good expressions, and there are some nice spikey fear takes by Woody in many of his cartoons.

Here’s Woody meeting up for the first time with the sinister Bat in Under the Counter Spy (1954).



Patterson milks things by having Woody do a shake take for 14 drawings, about half a second. It’s enough to register with the audience. It’s the old animation trick of a cycle of two drawings on ones with one drawing featuring a wavy version of the character. We’ve slowed down the take for you to see it better.



Some good expressions on Woody as he uses the strength of the “tonic” in the bottle to stop the Bat from shooting him. Looking at these reminds me of how dialogue-heavy the Woody cartoons got when Paul Smith took over the character.



Ray Abrams, Ken Southworth and Herman Cohen are the credited animators and Homer Brightman provides a good story with a bit of an odd conclusion (and a Dragnet parody to wrap it up).

Monday, 4 April 2016

Missile Hits Its Cinemascope Target

Director Mike Lah borrows the target-missile-butt joke from The Three Little Pups for his cartoon Blackboard Jumble (1956).



I don’t think the wide screen did the MGM characters any favours.

There’s no story credit. Lah’s animators were Irv Spence, journeymen Herman Cohen and Ken Southworth and long-time assistant animator Bill Schipek.

Sunday, 3 April 2016

Tralfaz Sunday Theatre – Your Name Here

A clever writer I knew once whipped up a gag spot featuring nothing but copywriting clichés. It was a funny satire but the fact is there are lousy and lazy writers out there who use crutches such as “for all your (blank) needs” or “fit your budget.”

Industrial films can be a lot of fun, but they can suffer from trite writing, too. It’s something that screams to be ridiculed, and that’s just what the anonymous staff at Calvin Productions did.

Calvin was an industrial firm based in Kansas City founded in 1931 by Forrest O. Calvin, a 1929 grad of the University of Kansas, and his wife Betty. Local radio production manager Larry Sherwood was also a partner. One of the company’s staffers was a fellow named Robert Altman. Besides industrials, Calvin produced a series in 1964 called “Cobby’s Hobbies” starring a chimp, available to TV stations in 156 five-minute shows or 52 fifteen-minute shows. The company seems to have had its tongue in its cheek as some of its industrial titles included “The Dingbat Story,” as well as “The ABCs of Film Direction,” “Artwork in Motion,” “How to Run a Filling Station” and “The Your Name Here Story.”

What is “The Your Name Here Story”? Allow American Cinematographer magazine from 1964 to tell you.
Calvin Workshop Films
Calvin Productions, Inc., 1105 Truman Road, Kansas City 6, Missouri, has a number of Workshop films available for loan. Four of the more popular subjects—all in 16mm—are described below. The subjects are also available for sale, and the prices of each are also included here. The prices include reel, can and Peerless treatment of the film—all f.o.b., Kansas City, Mo.
“The Vicious Circle”—Satirical handling of the subject of film production approval. Depicts woes of producer who attempts to satisfy the script preferences of individual department heads in a large corporation, rather than calling for the necessary, all-inclusive, production conference before attempting a detailed treatment and script. Running time approximately 15 minutes. Price, $100.00.
“The Your Name Here Story”—The first realization of a truly all-purpose film. Created to meet the demands of film buyers for specially tailored motion pictures, without the often difficult-to-explain costs of creative writing and personalized production. Visualizes how stock footage and sound can be edited to realize a “quickie-cheapie” of considerable magnitude. Running time, approximately 10 minutes. Price, $75.00.
“Over And Outs”—The title pretty well says it. A collection of culls, N.G. takes, and scraps from the cutting room floor (many of them carefully staged) that proves absolutely nothing. General spoof of the industry. Running time, approximately 11 minutes. Price, $100.00.
“Check And Let Me Know”—Goes to painful extremes to depict the confusion and wheel-spinning that results when a mish-mash of pre-occupied people try to communicate with each other on a specific, but not too well defined, subject. Satire. Running time, approximately 11 minutes. Price, $100.00.
Calvin died in Kansas City in 1963, Sherwood in 1968, and the company shut down in 1982. Not only did they produce the films listed above, Calvin was responsible for “Freeze,” starring Judy Carne and Arte Johnson in a low-budget, “Laugh-In”-like sales pitch for refrigerators. And many Calvinites worked on that 1956 camp classic “Corn’s a Poppin’,” a 1956 country-western musical starring Jerry Wallace and featuring some really stiff and grade-school-level acting.

“Your Name Here” is faintly reminiscent of Stan Freberg’s satire but without the Frebergian bite, and it seems to take forever to get started on its lampooning way. The ending is good and the narrator uses his best Vic Perrin-esque intoning as he takes us on a rugged journey of the inspired creation of a successful ad film using nothing but tired old ideas.

Dogs, Elephants and Don Wilson

A pair of Dons joined the Jack Benny show on April 6, 1934. Don Bestor replaced Frank Black as the band leader and Don Wilson took over from Alois Havrilla as the announcer. Bestor stayed until 1935. Wilson remained until the show left television in 1965.

Wilson announced on other shows—he appeared with Frank Sinatra at one point—but none with the ratings or the lasting fondness of the Benny show. He topped polls for years as radio’s favourite announcer. Somehow, you just knew he loved that Jell-O he wanted you to try. And in the “sitcom” days of the later ‘40s, his role changed from the kibitzing straight man after the show’s opening to the touting straight-man, urging Jack to hear what vocal and musical concoction for the cigarette sponsor his quartet had come up with this time (musical director Mahlon Merrick was actually responsible).

When Jack went to occasional specials, Don was around for a while, but his presence was more nostalgic than anything else. Bill Baldwin, who had been at the Blue/ABC network during radio’s golden era, served as the announcer, but strictly with a just-the-facts-ma’am script.

Wilson retired to a place familiar to Benny radio listeners—Palm Springs. The resort was featured on a number of Benny, generally around Christmas time in the later years, and it was a spot where Benny and his writers would seclude themselves for several days at a time.

Here’s a pleasant story from the Los Angeles Times syndicate, published in one subscribing paper on April 2, 1975.
Don Wilson Going Strong at 75
By CHARLES HILLINGER

Los Angeles Times
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — The same rotund, jovial announcer of Jack Benny radio and television days for 35 years running is a big name in television in this desert resort.
Don Wilson's Town Talk each afternoon from 5:30 to 6 over KMIR-Palm Springs has been a daily feature since Oct. 26, 1968.
It's a talk show produced by Don's wife, radio and Broadway actress Lois Corbet, featuring celebrities from all walks of life vacationing or living in the Palm Springs area.
Wilson is 75 and looks and acts like 50. The weight on his 6 foot 2 inch frame — “the same as it has been the last 40 years” — is 233 pounds.
“Jack had me built up fat as Andy Devine," said Wilson with a convulsive laugh that turned back the pages of time. "He had everybody believing I weighed at least 300.”
Wilson has guests from time to time who had never appeared on a previous talk show — like Alice Faye.
“I've had many scoops out here in our little valley,” he said.
“It’s strictly a local show reaching a 180,000-population market area. People from Beaumont to Bombay Beach on the eastern shores of the Salton Sea catch KMIR’s signal.”
That’s a slice of desert stretching 100 miles and 30 miles across between the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains to the west and the Little San Bernadino and Chocolate mountains to the East.
Wilson and his wife have been married 25 years. They worked together in radio and on stage for years before they were married.
Mrs. Wilson played many familiar radio roles — Mummy on Fanny Brice's Baby Snooks show; the mother on Date with Judy and the Corliss Archer programs and appeared as a regular on the Alice Faye-Phil Harris shows.
As for Don, his career over the airways began in the days of crystal sets over KFEL in Denver, in 1923.
“I started as a singer,” recalled Wilson.
By 1929 he was head of the announcers department at KFI in Los Angeles. Then he became a sports announcer.
Ted Husing and Don Wilson were the top sports announcers in the country from 1929 to 1933 on coast-to-coast radio.
“I did the play-by-play sportcasting of '31, '32 and '33 Rose Bowl games,” Wilson said.
“In the spring of 1933 I really got lucky. Jack Benny selected me to be his announcer.”
The relationship with Benny continued through 1968, first on radio, later on television.
“Mary was with Jack in the beginning, of course. Frank Parker was his original singer and Don Bestor the bandleader. We recorded the show in New York until 1936 when we moved to Hollywood.”
Dennis Day and Rochester joined the show after Wilson.
When the regular Benny show closed out, Wilson and his wife moved to Palm Springs.
“We had been raising championship poodles and thought of devoting full time to that,” Mrs. Wilson continued.
“But John Conte, a friend from radio days and an announcer as well, owned KMIR here in Palm Springs. He asked Don to join the staff as assistant to the president.”
Wilson agreed and it wasn't long after that his daily Town Talk show was on the air.
Guest performers have included Benny, Fred Waring, Tim Conway, Ginger Rogers, Dinah Shore, Bill Holden and most of the movie and TV colony in Palm Springs. Wilson has interviewed top business and political leaders, famous chefs, authors and opera stars and just plain people from Palm Springs.
“I’ve had about everybody and everything on the show, including horses, cows, dogs and elephants,” said Wilson as ripples of laughter rolled down his face. “We were worried about the elephants. We were scared to death they would trumpet and knock us off the air. Luckily they let out a blast just as the program ended.”
In his office is one of those famous sketches of Benny playing his violin signed: “To Don and Lois. All my love, Jack.”
There's a photo of Wilson with Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson on a Palm Springs golf course.
“Johnson was President then,” explained Wilson. “And Eisenhower had just made a hole in one. Ike was elated over that hole in one.”
Had he ever thought of retiring?
“I'd go stir crazy,” said Wilson.
Sadly, Don did retire the same year he gave this interview. He and Lois left KMIR-TV and spent six months on KPLM-TV doing the same interview show. And that was it. A local newspaper writer in 1978 cryptically put it: “The Wilsons no longer do the television show.”

Donsie didn’t go stir crazy. He and his wife spent their time enjoying cruises and telling stories to fans at old-time radio functions. No doubt he made them laugh just as loudly as Jack Benny made him laugh on a radio show that’s been gone for 60 years.

Saturday, 2 April 2016

Cartoons of 1954, Part 1

3-D? That’s so 1953.

Nobody was talking about 3-D in 1954. Instead, movie companies were turning their attentions to wide screens as the latest weapon against television keeping movie-goers at home. And cartoon producers were looking at the idea, too.

The first half of 1954 had few highlights for animation studios. Warner Bros. reopened its cartoon department at the start of the year with two units. The third unit, under the direction of Bob McKimson, didn’t return until a few months had passed. McKimson’s unit had been shut down before the other two were closed in June 1953. Given the length of time, it’s not surprising most of McKimson’s main crew didn’t return (background artist Dick Thomas, who seems to have been working for all three units at one point, was one who did).

Walt Disney continued to show his foresight, signing a deal with ABC. Disney didn’t view television as an enemy but as a promotional tool for his movies and a potential profit centre. Cartoons on TV in 1954 mainly meant old silents with added stock music sound tracks, or black-and-whites from B-list studios like Iwerks and Van Beuren. Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Popeye were yet to come.

Here are stories about animation from Variety for the first half of 1954.

January 8, 1954
Metro cartoon producer Fred Quimby's next musical subject will be "Tom the Fiddler," Tom and Jerry short. ... Knighthood is in flower on a lot of screens these days, so Fred Quimby is breaking out with a cartoon called "When Mousehood Was in Flower."

January 13, 1954
Jim Backus and Jerry Hausner completed a cartoon script called "Rocket Racket" and sold it to United Productions of America.

January 20, 1954
Wolper to NTA As Head of Sales
Dave Wolper, former Coast v.p. of Motion Pictures for Television and one of the founders of Flamingo Films, has joined National Telefilm Associates as v.p. in charge of sales. Marty Ross, who had assumed the sales post last week with the formation of NTA, moves up to the position of exec veepee as operating chief under prexy Ely Landau. [snip]
Wolper, one of the young "Harris group," Joe and Jim Harris and Sy Weintraub, who set up Flamingo Films, has brought over four Flamingo properties into the NTA distribution fold. Properties are 16 "Superman" cartoons, originally produced by Paramount, the "Tele-Comics" series originally run on NBC-TV, "Viz Quiz" series of five-minute quizzers and 77 quarter-hour "TV Baseball Hall of Fame" shows.

January 20, 1954
Music Notes
Bibo Music will publish "Chilly Willy," title song of a Walter Lantz cartoon. Words and music were written by Mary Jo Rush, wife of publicist Art Rush.

OFs New Syndication Status Via Takeover of Entire Lippert Catalog
Official Films this week took over distribution rights to Lippert Pictures' complete tv catalog, comprising in the main some 123 feature pix produced by Lippert since 1946. Official acquired the distribution rights as part of a deal wrapped up on the Coast between Lippert and theatrical-vidpix indie producer William F. Broidy under which Broidy acquired the Lippert film properties and assigned Official as sales rep.
Deal gives Official a powerful feature package for the first time, and projects the vidfilm outfit into a new sphere, syndication-wise. Firm has been swinging toward syndication for the past year—in. the earlier years of its existence it relied heavily on network sales—and acquisition of the features rounds out its roster of properties to include features, musical shorts, cartoons and other shorts, and four half-hour series with a fifth coming up. [note: the story doesn’t list specific cartoon series].

February 5, 1954
Cartoon Prod'n Costs Up 165% Rentals 15% Laments Walter Lantz
The costs of turning out film cartoons are now at the saturation point, and with cartoonists asking pay hikes of from 56% to 94% in current negotiations for a new contract producers can't stand another salary boost, Walter Lantz, former prexy of the Cartoon Producers Guild, who heads his own company, claims.
During the past 10 years, Lantz asserts, rentals have gone up 15% while costs have risen approximately 165%. Exhibs claim they, too, have reached the saturation point in amount they can pay for cartoons. There being no way of getting extra coin for product, since exhibs won't raise their prices for animated product, and any increase necessarily would ave to be absorbed by the producer, according to Lantz, one of the veterans in his line.
Producer contends that cartoon producers 30 years ago received more for their product than they do today. He said that Bray, for whom he turned out the old "Colonel Heeza Liar" series, used to get $500 for first runs on Broadway, with films costing an average of $2,500. Today, a $85,000 cartoon can get only $75 to $100 for the same playdates, according to Lantz.
An average of four years is required to get back the negative cost of a cartoon, producer insists. He illustrated what the cartoon producer is up against in way of investment by stating that a producer, who turned out a program of 12 subjects annually at a cost of $85,000 apiece, must lay out $1,680,000 before he gets back the cost of the first cartoon made in the first year.
Additionally the Indie producer is saddled with a 5% interest on amount of his bank loan, and a 80% distribution fee. To break even, Lantz says, he reissues six of his best oldies annually, all more than seven years old, against which there are no production charges. His license business, cartoon mags and cartoon strips, plus commercial cartoon work, keep him in operation.

February 9, 1954
METRO, WITH "INVITATION TO THE DANCE" in and out of production now for nearly two years, yesterday assigned every animator not immediately required for Tom and Jerry cartoons to work on the one-reel cartoon sequence for the feature musical. More than 45,000 drawings are being made for this third feature insert to be prepped for a Metro pic, other two having been made for "Anchors Aweigh" and "Dangerous When Wet."

February 15, 1954
Bob Clampett, Tashlin To Film 'Cecil' Feature
Bob Clampett, producer of tv's "Time for Beany," has set up a deal with Frank Tashlin to co-produce a feature-length theatrical color cartoon, "Cecil," based upon character of "The Seasick Sea Serpent" in "Beany" series. Lionel Barrymore will be sought by duo to introduce and narrate film, which deals with a family of humans adopting the serpent. Clampett has written script and Tashlin will direct.

February 16, 1954
OSCAR NOMINATIONS
BEST CARTOON
(1,000 feet or less)
"Christopher Crumpet," United Productions of America, Columbia. Stephen Bosustow, producer.
"From A to Z-Z-Z-Z," Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. Edward Selzer, producer.
"Rugged Bear," Walt Disney Productions, RKO. Walt Disney producer.
"The Tell Tale Heart," United Productions of America, Columbia. Stephen Bosustow, producer.
"Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom," Walt Disney Productions, Buena Vista Film Distribution Co., Inc. Walt Disney, producer.

February 17, 1954
Sign Dick Nelson For Voice of 'Beany'
Bob Clampett, producer of "Time for Beany," today inked Dick Nelson to a long term contract for a multi-voice assignment on "Beany" as well as "Thunderbolt the Wonder Colt." Nelson formerly voiced "Woody Woodpecker" among other theatrical film cartoon characters.

Television Followup Comment
"Omnibus," video's top bid for the highbrow element, came up with a full menu for the intelligentsia on CBS-TV Sunday (14). The show consisted of some T. S. Eliot dramaturgy, classical Japanese ballet and a doleful one-acter by Budd Schulberg. The only concession to the mythical average dialer was a brief cartoon sequence about a whale which wanted to become a submarine with narration by Orson Bean. This bit turned out to be show's weakest spot.

February 19, 1954
UPA Re-Elects Officers, Plans Expansion In TV
All incumbent officers of United Productions of America were re-elected yesterday with Stephen Bosustow assuming prexy and board chairman posts for ninth term. Other officers include Robert Cannon, veepee; Charles Daggett, pub-ad veepee; T. Edward Rambleton, treasurer; Melvin Getzler, assistant treasurer; and M. Davis, secretary.
Board also declared the regular dividend on preferred stock and instituted plans for additional expansion in the tv and commercial film field, to augment firm's current cartoon program for Columbia release.
UPA, according to Bosustow, will immediately step up its eastern sales and production activities, and board elected Don McCormick as veepee of UPA-New York. He has been manager of firm's NY studio.

February 24, 1954
SHORTS, CARTOONS IN REISSUE PROTESTED
Exhib beefs are mounting relating to the continued reissuing of shorts and cartoons by almost every distrib. Noting that it's almost impossible to keep track of every two-reeler issued within the past five years, an Allied midwest unit notes that alert small-fry usually call the fact to the theatremen's attention.
Says Charlie Jones, of Allied of Iowa, Nebraska and Mid-Central: "It is getting to be more than I can take to have kids coming out about every two or three shows and reminding you with a slight reference that you're pulling something on them and that they've seen that old cartoon before."
Jones complains that exhibs are paying full price for the cartoons and "the distributor makes full price profit from something that has once been liquidated." He points out that a reissued feature is usually half-priced or less. So "why not shorts?" he asks.

March 1, 1954
Metro over weekend finished three Tom and Jerry cartoons in CinemaScope.

March 9, 1954
Warners Expanding Its Cartoon Studio Into Three Units
Warners cartoon studio, which resumed production the first of the year with two units, very likely will be expanded to three following arrival later this month of Norman Moray, Warners' shorts sales chief.
Moray is slated to huddle with Jack L. Warner and Edward Selzer, who heads the cartoon division, on the upcoming program, expected to require the addition of another unit to handle the full output.

March 12, 1954
'Dance' Of The Years
Metro's publicity department, with a straight face, yesterday announced that Fred Quimby has set June 15 as finishing date for the cartoon sequence of "Invitation To the Dance." "This," the handout boasted, "is three weeks ahead of schedule."
The Gene Kelly starrer went into production on Aug. 19, 1952.

March 19, 1954
KNXT Buys Up 130 Old Two-Reelers
KNXT picked up another 180 comedy film shorts and cartoons from Unity for its afternoon program, "Space Funnies."
In the block are old Charlie Chase, Laurel & Hardy, “Tom and Jerry” [Van Beuren humans, not MGM cat and mouse] and Aesop Fables cartoons.

March 22, 1954
Jack Hellman’s column
CHAIN BREAKS . . . EVERY NETWORK IN THE LAND HAS made overtures to Walt Disney for a series of his cartoon characters from his projected Disneyland, a 55-acre playground which will be located in the direction of Anaheim. Site will be broken up into four amusement centers: adventure land, fantasy land, western land and futuristic land. The tv series would take the form of an omnibus, which Disney hopes to package with a network and/or sponsor. Programs would be remoted from Disneyland with all the cartoon characters and other flights of fantasy. Ifs still a year away, but sponsors have alerted their Hollywood agencies to keep close tab on every development.

March 24, 1954
TERRYTOON OK; 'UNSQUEEZED' IN C'SCOPE
New technique of drawing adopted by Paul Terry for his Terrytoon cartoons permits their showing via 20th-Fox's CinemaScope projection lens, even though the figures aren't being "squeezed" at the camera end.
After doing some testing, 20th, which releases the Terrytoons, has come to the conclusion that even some of the older subjects can be shown by CinemaScope houses on the wide screen since the distortion doesn't seem to matter in the Terry characters.
Availability of Terrytoons for CinemaScope widescreening somewhat relieves the very considerable bottleneck on prints of 'Scope shorts. "Jet Aircraft Carrier," the 'Scope short that was to have accompanied "Prince Valiant," 20th's Easter release, was dropped at the halfway mark when the cameraman was killed in a crash and the carrier put back into port.
Terry has been experimenting with a method of compensation in the drawing for the 'Scope lens for some time. The first subject he tried it out on was "Arctic Rivals." His shorts don't carry stereophonic sound. The projectionist uses the 2-D instead of the regular 'Scope aperture so that the stereo sound track is cut off. Pic is then masked in accordingly via the screen curtain.

TUSHINSKY SHOWS N.Y. SUPERSCOPE
The Superscope printing and projection process, developed by Joseph and Irving Tushinsky, and the subject of much trade speculation for some weeks, was given its eastern showing at the RKO 86th Street Theatre, N. Y., Monday (22). That it will have strong impact on the trade was immediately evidenced. [snip]
Hour-long demonstration on Monday had an audience of about 500 particularly impressed with the versatility of the variable prism operation and the screen images which looked like a reasonably good facsimile of CinemaScope.
Shown were scenes from Walt Disney's "Fantasia," Metro's "Knights of the Round Table" and a group of RKO pix which had been shot in conventional fashion and printed in the anamorphic system. Marring effect was via two thick shaded lines on the screen but technical observers said this was due to a flaw in the theatre screen itself. Also shown were some stock shots which came through with a certain amount of fuzziness.
Spectacular effect was achieved with "Fantasia," which had not gone through the anamorphic processing. Film simply was spread out to an area of about three to one. Dial control on the Tushinsky lens permits this but the print, of course, must conform to the aspect ratio.
Tushinsky admitted that this spreading, if done with a live-action pic, would distort the images but it can be done with cartoons. "Doing it with a Mickey Mouse short would make Mickey gain 20 pounds but Walt Disney is delighted with this new look," the inventor quipped.

March 26, 1954
Academy Awards winners
Short Subjects (Cartoon)
"TOOT, WHISTLE, PLUNK AND BOOM," Walt Disney Productions-Buena Vista Film Distribution Co., Inc., Walt Disney.

March 29, 1954
DISNEY IN TV WEDDING WITH ABC
First major link in the marriage of pictures and television was forged over the weekend when Walt Disney became a producing partner of ABC in a long term deal involving "many millions" of dollars. Marking the most dramatic development in tv-cinema relations, it is also significant in that Disney becomes the first major producer to "go over" to television.
Details of the transaction are being closely guarded pending preparation of an official release by ABC In NY this week. It is known, however, that the contracts signed by Roy and Walt Disney and ABC toppers, believed headed by Robert E. Kintner, network prexy, who passed last week in Hollywood, carry for 10 years or more with an over-all financial consideration in eight figures.
Disney will start producing a series of five or six hour-long shows for tv in October to carry through next season. Important part of the deal is ABC’s partnership with Disney in the projected 55-acre Disneyland near Anaheim, where many of the vidfilms will be live and cartoon with what Disney calls "the new approach" to tv. Understood that the vast backlog of Disney pictures will first be made available to his new partner —ABC, that it is included in the partnership deal.
There is a strong possibility that the Disney-ABC alliance may acquire a third partner especially in the Disneyland phase of the operation. One of the country's largest food packagers is known to have made overtures for the exclusive output of Disney telefilms on a financial-participation basis. Negotiations are said to be in progress in NY with agency reps of the company, guessed to be General Mills, General Foods or Standard Brands. One of the principals in the negotiations is reported as saying, "The door has been left open to whoever wants to come in" (meaning the sponsor.)
In the trade it will be considered another major coup by Kintner, who is believed to have incepted and engineered all negotiations for the network. It was the skein's prexy who brought into ABC such blue chip advertisers as U.S. Steel, American Tobacco and a half dozen others through his personal solicitation and salesmanship. Kintner was accompanied here by top level financial execs of ABC and meetings were said to have been held at Beverly Hills Hotel, where phone operators had the same reply to all calls, "We have orders not to disturb."
Partnership with Disney is expected to make available to ABC studio and stage space for the network's telepix, now farmed out to rental plants. For the 1955-56 season it is reasoned that most of the Disney hour shows will be shot at Disneyland, which will have four different areas of playground and recreation centers for the tourist trade and as an admission-charge amusement park covering 55 acres. Replicas of all the Disney cartoon characters "in action" will be the main attraction.
Understood each of the Disney hour shows will carry a production cost of around $100,000.

March 30, 1954
Disney Confirms ABC Hookup; Not Affecting Theatrical Pix Prod'n
Walt Disney yesterday confirmed his affiliation with ABC in the production and distribution of television films, as exclusively reported yesterday by DAILY VARIETY. A Disney spokesman also added that the multi-million dollar network tle-up will not affect the Disney company's regular theatrical production of shorts and features.
Disney currently is producing the live-actioner, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," and also has in work two cartoon features, "Lady and the Tramp" and "Sleeping Beauty." "Lady" Is slated for a spring, 1955, release, and "Beauty" early in 1956. All three are in CinemaScope.

April 7, 1954
Cinema-Vue Joins Transamerican On 3 Vidpix Skeins
Newly-formed Cinema-Vue vidpix distribution outfit, headed by former Tele-Pictures v.p. Joe Smith, is planning immediate production with Transamerican packaging outfit of two quarter-hour series and has picked up an option to handle sales of a third series, a half-hour group of fairy stories featuring the Salzburg Puppets.[snip]
Meanwhile, Cinema-Vue has picked up a Danish-made feature length cartoon based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, "Tinderbox," and already has set it in eight major markets, including N. Y., where it will air on WCBS-TV.

In New York City . . .
The Halee family keeps busy these days, Roy Halee scripting for tv while also doing the voice of Mighty Mouse for the Terry Toon cartoon strip; Mrs. Halee (Becky Cauble) doing tv stints (on Kraft) and commercials (Tide this week), and nine-year-old Alice acting one of the two children in the Metropolitan Opera production of "Norma" this season.

April 9, 1954
RKO To Distribute Disney Short In Canada
New York, April 8—Canadian distribution rights to "Toot, Whistle, Plunk And Boom" have been obtained by RKO, it was announced today by Charles Boasberg, general sales manager.
The Disney cartoon, first pen-and-inker in CinemaScope, was distributed in the States by Disney's own releasing company, Buena Vista. The short won an Academy Oscar.

April 21, 1954
'Animal Farm' Finished
Completed print of "Animal Farm," the full-length cartoon feature based on the late George Orwell's satire, will be delivered to the Louis de Rochemont Organization in about two weeks. The 75-minute film was made in England in a co-op deal between de Rochemont and Halas & Batchelor Cartoon Films, Ltd.
Release plans for the picture haven't been set as yet, but possibility exists that the de Rochemont outfit may handle it on its own. Company established a releasing and sales organization for "Martin Luther," the feature film it made for the Lutheran Church. The same setup can be employed for "Animal Farm," with National Screen Service handling the physical distribution as it is doing for "Luther."

Human Relations
The American Jewish Committee has come up with an unusual series of eight animated cartoons, currently getting a free ride on tv stations throughout the country, designed to foster tolerance and human rights. In an effective use of showmanship, the capsule presentations offered as station breaks and for integration into regularly sponsored shows do an enlightening job in an entertaining manner in carrying the torch for understanding and respect for the Bill of Rights.
There's a moppet cartoon; one themed to a circus; another to the UN, another to baseball, etc., most of them backgrounded by Tom Glaser's troubadoring. In the realm of combatting prejudice, the AJC has made tv an instrument for good.

Disney to 'Sneak' Theatre Product On New TV Series
Walt Disney will use his ABC-TV showcase to sneak preview 23 of his major theatrical productions over the next four years. Clips from his upcoming features through 1958 will be inserted in his hour-long network shows on an unscheduled basis either as part or the entirety of the particular show for that week.
That's only one phase of the format of the series of 26 a year that Disney will make for ABC. Other segments include "Fantasy Land," "Adventure Land," "Frontier Land" and "World of Tomorrow." These are the basic elements; whether they'll comprise separate shows by themselves is still to be decided.
While the actual working format hasn't been finalized, ABC prexy Bob Kintner is out pitching the show at agencies now, accompanied by eastern program chief Bob Lewine (who returned from the Coast after huddles with the Disney execs) and tv sales development director Don Durgin, who's prepared the presentation. Also completed are two exploitation reels, with clips from Disney's old product. On the Coast, the Disney lot has 20 scripts on the storyboards, with production to get under way on their completion.
"Fantasy Land" will reintroduce the old Disney cartoon characters (tracing the birth of Mickey Mouse, for example) and some of Disney's new ones, like Captain Nemo, The Lady & the Tramp and the General's Horse. "Frontier Land" will combine live action and animation to present the story of America's legendary heroes like Paul Bunyan and Davey Crockett. "Adventure Land" will utilize the Disney true-life adventure technique used in films like "The Living Desert" and "Bear Country." An integral part of this will be the demonstration of how the films were made (difficulties in photography, etc.). "World of Tomorrow" will take a cartoon family through history and into the future—a program in Rome, for example, and another on the moon.
Series starts in October, with ABC pitching for a Wednesday night exposure.

April 22, 1954
Add 'Hansel & Gretel', 'Babes In Toyland' To Walt Disney Schedule
Walt Disney has slated "Babes In Toyland" and "Hansel and Gretel" for upcoming production, both to be made as feature-length animated cartoons. Pix, however, will not be released until February, 1958, and February, 1959, respectively, due to the amount of work and time involved in such projects.
Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," first live-actioner in CinemaScope to be turned out by the producer, Is skedded for release this November. "Lady and the Tramp," Disney's first C'Scope full-length cartoon, will be released next February. "Sleeping Beauty," another C'Scope feature-length cartoon, goes out in February, 1957.
Disney, incidentally, is planning a reissue of "Bambi" in the summer of 1956; a reissue of "Cinderella" in February, 1958.

April 28, 1954
Sterling Claims Vidpic Pirating On 166 Cartoons
First known case of pirating of vidpix for "bootleg" sales to stations came into the open last week in a letter from Sterling Television to station operators warning them that other unnamed firms are attempting to sell a cartoon series exclusively distributed by Sterling.
Involved are some 166 cartoons owned by Bergen Film Labs, Bray Studios and Walker Stuart Productions and licensed to Sterling for tv distribution. Letter informed stations that distribution by any other firm is unauthorized and asked stations to notify Sterling of any offer of the films from other outfits.
Sterling officials said they are studying the legal aspects of the matter and refused to comment further. Pix involved include 44 "Aesop's Fables," 21 "Dinky Doodle" pix, 10 "Unnatural History" cartoons, 38 "Koko" shorts, 12 "Bobby Bumps," five "Out of the Inkwell" pix, 15 "Bergens" and 21 miscellaneous pictures.

Hollywood Inside
METRO IS MAKING UP A special 150-ft trailer for Its cartoon program, believed to be the first time that a briefie ever was turned out to bally a studio's animated product.
Trailer, produced by Fred Quimby, will announce "MGM's Kartoon Karnival" to promote cartoon matinees, and will feature clips from subjects starring Tom and Jerry, Droopy, Barney Bear and Lucky Ducky.

May 4, 1954
Selzer Seeks Tie-Ups For WB Cartoonery
Edward Selzer, prexy of Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc., hopped to Gotham yesterday for confabs with various manufacturers' reps on licensing of use of cartoon characters, as well as to close number of merchandising tieups.
While in the east, he will also finalize deal with a recording firm to put voices of Bugs Bunny and other cartoon characters on wax. He returns in two weeks.

May 12, 1954
Credit War Babes For Big Return Of 'Pinocchio'
Underlining the growing importance of the moppet trade, RKO's current reissue of Walt Disney's "Pinocchio" is outgrossing the original issue and the first reissue. In this new outing, "Pinoke" headed for domestic rentals of at least $2,000,000 and probably slightly more. This is based on numerous dates so far across the country. In its first time out, in the 1939-'40 season, the Disney entry drew $1,700,000. The first reissue was in 1945 and this brought $975,000.
Less money was spent for an ad-pub campaign at this time than in the course of the two previous distributions of the pic, adding to the startling b.o. performance.
Disney's cartoon product is timeless and invariably can be counted upon for some play in the re-run market every four or five years. But "Pinoke" in its third time around is regarded by distribution execs as particularly significant.
For it has brought into dramatic focus the existence of a new and expanding segment of the pic audience. This is the crop of children born in the immediate post World War II years who've now reached the theatre-going age.
Thus, the kid trade situation has been favorably reversed. Leonard Goldenson, president of United Paramount Theatres, recently noted that the low ebb in births during the war had the effect of cutting down on the number of potential pic customers immediately after the war. Now, the infants of that latter era are old enough to have spending money.
"Pinoke" in large measure has proved this point.

May 19, 1954
Smith to Guild As Sales Chief
Post of sales manager at Guild Films, vacant since Barney Goldman exited the firm a couple of months ago, has been filled by Joseph P. Smith, who's disbanding his Cinema-Vue Corp. to take the post. Smith is bringing in Cinema-Vue's sole vidpix property, the Danish-made cartoon feature, "Tinder Box," and may also turn over to Guild a couple of other properties for which he's been negotiating.

Vidpix Distribs
The Film Division of General Teleradio, in addition to its 30 features and "Greatest Drama," just made a deal with an undisclosed British firm for a 26-week package of half-hour animated cartoons. All of these products will be showcased at the meet and probably the former Phillips Lord properties as well. [Note: reference is to the National Assn. of Radio & Television Broadcasters convention in Chicago the following week. The British company was Primrose Productions].

May 26, 1954
The Roy Rogers' Exit Victor For Bell Deal; Shimkin Nabs 'Bunny'
Cowboy star Roy Rogers has ankled his long-term deal with RCA Victor to etch for the Golden and Bell labels. Deal was wrapped up last week on the Coast by Arthur Shimkin, who heads up both the low-price Bell line as well us the Golden kidisk label. Pact also includes Rogers' wife, Dale Evans.
Rogers cut his first sessions for the labels last week, but they'll be held off the market until September. He'll cut country and western as well as religioso sides for Bell and stick to the kidisk groove for Golden.
Shimkin, who returned to his New York office last week after a two-week stay on the Coast, also nabbed the wax rights to the Warner Bros, cartoons "Bugs Bunny." Only hitch here is that the soundtrack voice of "Bunny" is dubbed in by Mel Blanc, who's a Capitol Records' pactee. Shimkin, however, will hire another voice to portray "Bunny" on the shellac product.

Tinted Cartoons for Mex
Mexico City, May 18.
Production of tinted film cartoons has started in Mexico, with the making of three plus three others nearing completion by Richard Tompkins, ex-manager of the Churubusco pic studios here. The completed three were privately exhibited to Eduardo Garduno, chief of the pic trade's own bank. Tompkins hopes to distribute his pix in South America and Europe besides Mexico.

June 3, 1954
Chatter
Metro is starting a new "Butch" cartoon series, starring pooch which appeared in this character in studio's "Droopy" series.

June 4, 1954
Disney's Half-Year Net Nearly Double
Walt Disney Productions earnings for the six months ended April 3, 1954, virtually doubled the net of the first half-year in 1953, jumping up to $283,662 as compared with $142,728 last year. Net equalled 43 cents a share on the 652,840 shares of common outstanding, while per-share earnings last year were 22 cents. Film rentals on features and other pictures brought Disney an income of $8,218,523 during the six-month period, while income from publications, comics, licensing cartoon characters and music reached $1,118,804, for a total gross of $4,381,827. The first six months of last year the total income was $2,887,649, of which $1,695,740 came from film rentals.
In an interim letter to stockholders, Roy O. Disney, president of the corporation, reported that the company's current production program is the largest and most diversified in its history. Scheduled for completion by the end of 1964 are two live action features, one cartoon feature, one feature-length True Life Adventure, two pix in the People and Places series, and seven cartoon shorts. Investment in this production will ultimately reach about $8,750,000. All are in Technicolor. He pointed out that the current reissue of "Pinocchio" is doing excellent business, and the feature-length True Life Adventure, "The Living Desert," is producing sizable revenue and promises to earn a substantial profit. On the other hand, Disney reported two live-actioners, "The Sword and the Rose" and "Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue," are not up to expectations at the domestic boxofflce but are doing well in many foreign territories.
Report disclosed that, because of increased production activities, the company's bank borrowings were up to $5,308,706, as of April 8, 1954, compared with $8,119,967 at Oct. 8, 1953, and. for the same dates inventories had gone up to $12,531,019, compared with $10,400,450. Report also listed the 26 new one-hour filmed tv shows per year Disney has contracted to do for American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc., and the $150,000 investment it has made to date in the "Disneyland" project.

June 8, 1954
Army Archerd’s column
Gene Kelly isn't happy that "Invitation to the Dance" isn't going out until after "Brigadoon," but he won't be able to complete the cartoon sequences until August.

June 11, 1954
Quimby Celebrating 30th Year With Metro
Fred Quimby, head of the shorts department and producer of Metro cartoons, is latest member of the studio to join the "30 Year" club.
Quimby was signed to head the shorts department 30 years ago this month. Prior, he had been general manager for both Pathe and Associated Exhibitors.

June 16, 1954
With Col Cool On Coin For Cartoon Feature, UPA Overtures UA, UI
New York, June 15. — United Productions of America is again on the prowl for financing for a full-length cartoon feature, a project UPA long has eyed.
Cartoonery, which releases its two-reel animations through Columbia on a co-financing arrangement, has been unable to convince Col to undertake the full-length project. As a result, UPA prexy Stephen Bosustow has been here sounding out Warner Bros, 20th-Fox, United Artists and UI. Both UA and UI, it's reported, are lending a friendly ear.
If the coin can be lined up, UPA intends to start on a full-length animation of James Thurber's "Battle of the Sexes," on which it has had an option for some time.

June 22, 1954
Lantz Making His Cartoons Elastic To Fit All Screens
Walter Lantz, following four months of tests and experimenting, has hit upon a formula for filming his cartoons by which they may be projected on any size or ratio screen, producer announced yesterday. Release prints may be shown on screens from standard up to 2-to-1, or on CinemaScope, according to Lantz.
New method was worked out by William Garity, production manager for Lantz Studio, and Morrie Weiner, of UI, who worked with producer in preparation of tests.
Process is a combo of camera changes and what is described as a brand new technique of drawing by staff of artists which permits "elasticity" of the cartoon characters. Lantz makes first use of new technique on "Pig in a Pickle," now being dubbed.

June 23, 1954
Anamorphic Terrytoons
Two all-purpose Terrytoon cartoons will be available to exhibs on a monthly basis starting this month. Short subjects will be adaptable for projection in CinemaScope proportions through anamorphic lenses, or in standard or widescreen proportions via regular 35m lenses.
A total of 14 cartoons will be released from now until the end of the year, with eight being available through September.
At the same time, Metro is also readying for general release a cartoon carnival, consisting of the company's various series of animations which can be used to package special kiddie shows. Metro is making available a special Technicolor trailer to plug the cartoon carnival.

Friday, 1 April 2016

50% Boxer, 100% Stolen Gag

The narrator doesn’t say “50% Pointer, 50% Irish Setter,” but it’s the same gag as you saw in those Charlie Dog cartoons at Warners. Terrytoons’ The Dog Show features a scene where we’re told that amongst the contestants are a watchdog (wearing a bunch of watches), the Pointer (its tail turns into a pointing hand), the Spitz (it ptuis into three cuspidors that sound like the NBC chimes).

Another is “the powerful boxer.” You know what the gag’s going to be.



The cartoon’s supposed to be set in a dog show, but the plot cuts away from the competition so it can fit in another borrowed gag about the drunken St. Bernard rescue dog. And I like how there’s a three-man chorus on stage but you can hear a woman singing in the background. Paul Terry’s paid for a mixed chorus so he’d better hear all of them every time there’s singing!

Is Porky Pig Under Attack?

We don’t normally put these kinds of stories on this blog, but we’re making an exception today.

Ban Unpatriotic Porky, Says Local Group
RIVER’S MOUTH, Ill. – A local group calling itself “a watchdog against atheism” has demanded Warner Bros. Entertainment stop the circulation of a cartoon starring Porky Pig because it includes the United States Pledge of Allegiance without the words “under God.”
“Our children should be learning the correct pledge to their country,” said Dorothy L. Coslont, president of Patriots For America’s God, “and not exposed to a version which omits reference to the God upon which our nation was founded.
“We feel this deliberate exclusion is another example of the well-known liberal, atheistic bias with which Hollywood is infested,” Mrs. Coslont added.
She stated her organization decided to go public after not receiving a satisfactory response from the cartoon maker.
“We have called Warner Bros. Entertainment numerous times and requested to speak to the producer of the cartoon, Mr. Leon Schlesinger, so we can make our concerns known to him.
“Their response is they don’t have anyone working there by that name. Doesn’t that seem impossible to you? His name is right there on their cartoon.
“We are left to believe he, and the studio by extension, is refusing to address this issue.”
Children are being lured into a false sense of patriotism by the cartoon, Mrs. Coslont went on, pointing out the presence of Uncle Sam, Abraham Lincoln and animated scenes from the War of Independence.
“Then, after all these images of what’s good about America, they are blind-sided with a Pledge of Allegiance which makes no mention of God, directing them on the road to atheism,” said Mrs. Coslont.
“Porky Pig is beloved by millions of children and we don’t wish to see him used as a tool of those with a leftist, godless agenda,” she added.


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