Category: Cartoons

Famed Disney Animator Frank Thomas Dies at 92
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Legendary Walt Disney Co. animator Frank Thomas, whose work ranged from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” to “Pinocchio ” and “Bambi,” has died at age 92, the studio said on Thursday.
One of Disney’s original “nine old men,” the key group that helped make Disney an animation powerhouse from the 1930s onward, Thomas died on Wednesday after months of declining health following a brain hemorrhage. He died at his home in Flintridge, California, outside Los Angeles, Disney said.
Thomas joined Disney in 1934 when the studio had only just begun working on “Snow White,” its first full-length animated feature film. The costly movie nearly drove Disney into bankruptcy, but became the company’s foundation after it turned into a huge hit in theaters.
“Frank helped to invent animation as an art form and took it to incredible new heights,” film critic Leonard Maltin said.
He was known for emotional scenes, romance and deeply felt work early in his 43-year career at Disney, but in the late 1940s switched to villains.
Thomas created the spaghetti dinner scene between Lady and Rover in “Lady and the Tramp” and dreamed up Thumper showing Bambi how to ice skate in “Bambi.” He helped design Pinocchio and was responsible for the scene in which the marionette gets trapped inside a birdcage by the evil Stromboli.
In 1941, Thomas joined Walt Disney on a trip through South America that resulted in “The Three Caballeros.”
In 1949, he created the superstitious Ichabod Crane of Sleepy Hollow fame and one year later dreamed up the wicked stepmother in “Cinderella.”
Other films on which he worked were “The Jungle Book,” The Aristocats,” and “Robin Hood.” He retired in 1978.
Thomas was born in Santa Monica, California, and went to college at Stanford University, where he met his lifelong friend and another one of the “nine old men,” Ollie Johnston, who is the last of those original animators still alive.
Thomas’ son, Theodore, made a documentary based on the lifelong friendship between Thomas and Johnston, titled “Frank and Ollie” and released in 1995.
Thomas is survived by his wife of 58 years, Jeanette, their children and grandchildren.

‘Aw, Phooey!’ Donald Duck Turns 70!
PARIS – “Aw, phooey!” Donald Duck is 70!
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The cantankerous and often unlucky Disney legend feted his birthday at Disneyland Paris on Wednesday by dancing on stage under a shower of confetti as hundreds of park revelers sang “Happy Birthday To You.”
A parade down the theme park’s Main Street marked the occasion, with Mickey and Minnie Mouse leading the way. Daisy Duck and friends trailed behind carrying a giant pink cake bearing 70 candles.
Donald made his acting debut on June 9, 1934, in a Silly Symphony movie titled “The Wise Little Hen.” Since then, the lovable yet fussy fowl has appeared in hundreds of films, from the educational “Donald Duck in Mathematics Land” to the 1942 cartoon “Donald Duck Drafted.”
Turning entirely incoherent during his frequent feather-flying tantrums, Donald’s favorite sayings in calmer times include “Aw, phooey!” and “Oh yeah?”
Donald, who wooed longtime love Daisy during much of his career, usually wears a sailor suit with ó inexplicably ó no pants. His middle name, revealed in the World War II draft cartoon, is Fountleroy.
His nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie went on to their own show biz career, starring alongside Donald’s uncle Scrooge McDuck in the Disney series “DuckTales” that debuted in the late 1980s.
Clarence “Ducky” Nash was Donald’s original voice. He was succeeded by Disney artist Tony Anselmo. Moving from the screen to the printed page, Donald debuted in a daily comic strip in 1938.
Donald stars alongside Mickey Mouse in “Mickey’s PhilharMagic,” a new 3-D attraction at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Disney also released a retrospective DVD last month, titled “Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume 1 (1934-1941).”
For the festivities in Paris on Wednesday, Karl Lagerfeld drew a portrait of the birthday duck sporting the fashion designer’s signature glasses and cardigan. T-shirts with the image will be sold as collector’s items.
“Oh-la-la, what energy ó you’re always so young!” yelled the master of ceremonies as the septuagenarian bird waved to the crowd, kissed Daisy and buoyantly danced away.

MacFarlane Set for FAMILY GUY Movie
Seth MacFarlane that plans are under way to make a FAMILY GUY movie – unfortunately it’s going to be direct to DVD. “It’s all come down to the budget right now. We’re hashing it out,” McFarlane said. “Timeframe, you’re probably looking at a year, a year-and-a-half down the line. It will take a while to make. If we could do it within a year it would be very exciting.” MacFarlane expects all of the original cast members to return.

A Classic Case Of Downsizing
Something strange is abreast with Knickknack, the critically acclaimed 1989 short that precedes Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo at theaters nationwide.
The short follows the hapless attempts of a lonely snow-globe snowman to escape his domain and join a plastic Miami beach bunny. The movie was released on a G-rated 1996 video collection called Tiny Toy Stories. But in that version, the Miami beauty and a mermaid who appears at the end of the short were more well-endowed than they are today.
“In the original, the girls have breasts the size of large grapefruit,” says animation fan Raymond Tucker of Greensboro, N.C. “In the new version, the breasts just aren’t there.”
Though Disney and Pixar aren’t talking, fans say the reduction reduces the humor of the short.
Paul Poroshin, 23, an animation buff from Old Bridge, N.J., suspects the women were deflated to make the short more politically correct.
“It can be argued that this breast removal does nothing to the story or that it’s just some sexual male thing, but to me it’s all about intent and the vision of an artist,” Poroshin says. “The snowman is after a large-breasted girl. His facial expressions tell it all, especially when, in the end, he dunks in the fish tank and gets trapped again.”
Though it’s not clear whether Pixar or Disney made the change, Disney has a history of making subtle changes when reissuing a classic that includes aspects that might be less savory to modern viewers:
√Ø In the short The Three Little Pigs (1933), the wolf originally tried to get into a pig’s house by pretending to be a Jewish salesman, with a mask and a Yiddish accent. The scene was re-animated, probably in the 1940s, to make the wolf look and sound more like he does elsewhere in the cartoon.
√Ø When the feature Melody Time (1948) was released for the first time on DVD and video in 2000, Pecos Bill’s omnipresent cigarette was digitally removed from his mouth in every frame. Gone is the memorable sequence in which he rolls one and grabs a thundercloud to light the cigarette with a lightning bolt.
√Ø Even in the supposedly “uncut, restored” Fantasia (1940) released on DVD in 2000, a black “centaurette,” the servant of a white centaurette, has been eliminated, according to animation historian Jerry Beck.
“These films need to be treated like classic films, not kids’ fodder,” says Beck, editor of cartoonresearch.com and author of the upcoming book Outlaw Animation. “Would they cut a frame from The Wizard of Oz or Citizen Kane? No.”
Ironically, Beck says, Disney treats its classic cartoons better than other studios. “Disney is the only company to treat these films with a lot of respect,” he says. He singles out Disney’s ongoing DVD series Walt Disney Treasures (sample titles: The Complete Goofy, Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Silly Symphonies)as an example of well-done cartoon reissues.
The series includes the censored version of Pigs but offers a glimpse of the original with commentary by film critic Leonard Maltin.

D’Oh Canada: Homer Simpson Named Honorary Citizen
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) – The debate over just where the cartoon Simpson family lives has raged for years. A forthcoming act by the Canadian city of Winnipeg won’t settle it, but it will give Homer another place to hang his hat.
The city will issue a proclamation naming Homer an honorary citizen of the capital of Manitoba on Friday (May 31), the Winnipeg Sun reports. It’s not because of the “Simpsons” episode where the family travels to Canada or the recent show in which the characters join together to sing “O Canada.”
Instead, it’s because creator Matt Groening’s father, on whom Homer is loosely based, is a native of Winnipeg.
“We’re giving him a giant certificate, and there’s going to be an eight-foot-tall Homer Simpson there to receive it,” Winnipeg Councilwoman Jenny Gerbasi says.
“I think we’ll find there are lots of people in Winnipeg whose father has characteristics like Homer.”

CHARLIE’S ANGELS get animated
While CHARLIE’S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE doesn’t open in theaters until July 4, you can get your fix of Angels online, beginning May 13 when a series of online-only animated adventures hit the web with Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz providing the voices for their animated selves which are brought to life by the same people responsible for The Simpsons.
CHARLIE’S ANGELS: THE ANIMATED ADVENTURES will consist of six episodes, each only 2-3 minutes in length, only seen at Animated Angels.

PROTECTING MICKEY
The Supreme Court on Wednesday affirming a 1998 law extending copyright protection by 20 years. The decision is a victory for big media companies like the Walt Disney Company, who successfully delayed Mickey Mouse and other creative properties from entering the public domain.

DUCK DODGERS TO THE RESCUE!
Warner Bros. Animation planning Duck Dodgers, a new series featuring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig in outer space and scheduled to bow in 2004 on the Cartoon Network. Warner is also planning Teen Titans, a cartoon featuring Batman sidekick Robin and four other teen superheroes.

SNOOPY COMES HOME
Thousands of Peanuts fans expected to attend Saturday’s grand opening of the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California. The city is also putting on a weekend’s worth of free Snoopy movies and a pancake breakfast in honor of the late cartoonist who lived and worked there.

D’OH
Bugs Bunny topping TV Guide’s list of 50 greatest cartoon characters, edging out Homer Simpson. Rocky and Bullwinkle check in at third, Beavis and Butt-head are in fourth and The Grinch is fifth.