Saturday, December 31, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for New Years Eve Dec. 31,2011

Pixar Storyboard Artist Ronnie Del Carmen born.

1995- The final Calvin & Hobbs comic strip published.

FROM ALL OF US WHO TEACH ANIMATION, HAVE A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Friday Dec. 30, 2011

Birthdays- Rudyad Kipling, the author of The Jungle Book, and Douglas Engelbart the inventor of the computer mouse.


1988 the Pixar short Tin Toy released. The first CG short to win an Oscar.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Thursday Dec. 29, 2011

1913- Cecil B.DeMille telegraphed his partners back in New York:” Flagstaff no good for our purpose. Have proceeded to California. Want authority to rent a barn in a place called Hollywood for $75 a month.” His partner Sam Goldwyn cabled back: “ Rent barn on month to month basis. Do not make long commitment.” DeMille began shooting the Squaw Man, the first Hollywood Film.

1941- Disney animator Bill Tytla tells Time Magazine in an interview about creating "Dumbo": "I don't know a damn thing about elephants!"

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Weds Dec 28,2011

birthdays: Stan “The Man” Lee is 89, Martin Branner the creator of Winnie Winkle, Disney animator Rick Farmiloe

1895- THE BIRTHDAY OF CINEMA- In Paris at the Grande Cafe des Capuchines the Lumiere brothers combined Edison's kinetoscope using George Eastman’s roll film with a magic lantern projector and showed a motion picture to an audience in a theater. Back in the U.S. Thomas Edison thought the idea of projecting film in a theater was foolish and would never catch on. They called their device a Cinematograph, hence the word Cinema is born. The screening included dancers and people leaving a factory but the biggest reaction out of the audience was from shots of waves crashing on a rocky beach. The audience jumped for fear of getting wet.

1914- THE FIRST TRUE CHARACTER ANIMATION- Windsor McCay's "Gertie the Dinosaur" premieres as part of a vaudeville act. Up to then most U.S. animations were attempts to bring popular newspaper comic characters to life, but Gertie was a new character never before seen. Some critics had wondered if animated characters weren’t some kind of man in a special suit, so McCay drew a dinosaur, a character that couldn’t possibly be impersonated by a living thing. The brilliant draftsmanship and timing of this film would inspire the generation of Animation artists of the Golden Age of the 1930's-40s.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Tuesday Dec.27,2011

1904- PETER PAN, OR, THE BOY WHO WOULDN’T GROW UP, a play by James Barrie, opened at the Duke of York Theatre in London. Barrie reserved seats in the opening night performance for orphaned children who laughed and cheered all night. Peter llewlyn Davies, the little boy Barrie befriended who was the basis for Pan, used to say:” I am not Peter Pan. Mr Barrie is.”, He committed suicide in 1960. James Barrie once said to H.G. Wells:” It’s all right and good to write books, but can you wiggle your ears?”

1947- The "Howdy-Doody Show” debuted on NBC. Buffalo Bob, Howdy and Clarabell the Clown, also known as the Puppet Playhouse.

1954- The" Disneyland" television show premieres. Up until then the major Hollywood Studios were all boycotting the new upstart medium of television, then mostly done in New York by blacklisted stage actors and writers. Walt Disney is the first to break ranks with the major film studios and get into television production and even films the show in Technicolor, figuring television will develop color broadcasting eventually.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Sunday Dec. 25,2011 Xmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Birthdays: Cab Calloway, cartoonist teacher Burne Hogarth, Animator and teacher Howard Beckerman,


1955- Chuck Jone's 'One Froggy Evening' premiered. Director Steven Spielberg called it the "Citizen Kane of Cartoons." If you wonder why you never heard the old time ditty 'The Michigan Rag' anywhere else but here, was because Chuck Jones & Mike Maltese wrote it specifically for the cartoon.

1963- Walt Disney’s The Sword in the Stone released. First animated feature directed by Wolfgang,” Woolie” Reitherman.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Friday Dec. 23,2011

Birthdays; Otto Soglow -cartoonist of 'the Little King', Frank Morgan (the Wizard of Oz actor), Simpsons voice actor Harry Shearer is 68

1893- Humperdinck's opera "Hansel und Gretel" debuts in Weimar Germany.

1935- Walt Disney sent a detailed memo to art teacher Don Graham outlining his plans for retraining his animators to do realistic feature films.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Weds Dec. 21,2011

Birthdays: Animator Phil Roman, voice actor Paul Winchell, Keifer Samuel L. Jackson is 63, Ray Romano is 54, Jeffrey Katzenberg is 63

1937-Walt Disney's " Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" had it’s grand premiere. The first feature length American cartoon, it becomes the box office champ of 1938-earning 4 times more than any other film that year.

1971- Richard William's animated TV special "A Christmas Carol" with Alastair Sim reprising his scrooge.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Tuesday Dec. 20,2011

Birthdays: Amby Paliwoda, voice actor Charlie Callas,

1937- Nazis Josef Goebbels noted in his diary that this day he sent his boss Adolph Hitler a Christmas present of a dozen Mickey Mouse Cartoons from America. Officially der Fuehrer called Mickey ‘vermin’ but privately enjoyed his animated antics.

1968- Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day premiered.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Monday Dec. 19,2011

1914- Earl Hurd patented animation 'cels' (celluloids) and backgrounds. Before this cartoonists tried drawing the background settings over and over again hundreds of times or slashed the paper around the character and tried not to have it walk in front of anything. By the late 1990’s, most cels & cel paint had been replaced by digital imaging.

1974- The first personal computer went on sale. The Altair 8800, named for the planet in the 1955 sci-fi movie classic Forbidden Planet. The computer came in a kit that you had to build and it cost $397. The next year, two kids at Harvard named Bill Gates and Paul Allen created a programming language for it called BASIC.


2001- Peter Jackson’s film ‘The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring’ first opened.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Sunday Dec. 18, 2011

Birthdays: Diane Disney-Miller,Paul Klee, Leonard Maltin, Steven Spielberg is 65

1939-Max Fleischer's animated classic “Gulliver's Travels”.

1961-" In the Jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps to-night…a winoweh, etc. " this song by the Tokens goes to #1 in pop charts. Later used in Disney's The Lion King.

1964- DePatie-Freleng’s The Pink Phink, the first Pink Panther cartoon short.

1966- Chuck Jone's 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' premiered.

1997- Saturday Night Live Comedian Chris Farley was found dead in his Chicago apartment in the John Hancock Tower, surrounded by empty food containers and porn magazines. The chubby 31-year-old had been partying for 17 straight hours doing cocaine, heroin, vodka and crystal-meth. he was working on the animated film Shrek as the voice of Shrek. He was replaced by Mike Myers.

1998- Dreamworks feature cartoon the “Prince of Egypt”, or, as it was known in Hollywood,"The Zion King".

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Saturday Dec. 17,2011

1843- Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story for Christmas" first published. In the 18th century and earlier the Christmas celebration was a more rowdy affair with public drinking, marching around in costumes “mummery” and mayhem more like today’s Mardi Gras. This is why the Pilgrims tried to ban it. The popularity of Dickens story of Scrooge, Marley and Tiny Tim did much to help Victorians change the nature of the Christmas celebration to a more intimate and pious observance among centered on the family. Dickens said he wrote the story to make some money capitalizing on the new fashions for family Christmas celebrations around the tree. American business tycoon J.P. Morgan had a family custom every Christmas Eve of reading A Christmas Carol to his kids, from the original manuscript.

1989- The Simpsons, first debuted.

1999- The film Stuart Little premiered.

Animation Fun Facts for Saturday Dec. 17,2011

1843- Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story for Christmas" first published. In the 18th century and earlier the Christmas celebration was a more rowdy affair with public drinking, marching around in costumes “mummery” and mayhem more like today’s Mardi Gras. This is why the Pilgrims tried to ban it. The popularity of Dickens story of Scrooge, Marley and Tiny Tim did much to help Victorians change the nature of the Christmas celebration to a more intimate and pious observance among centered on the family. Dickens said he wrote the story to make some money capitalizing on the new fashions for family Christmas celebrations around the tree. American business tycoon J.P. Morgan had a family custom every Christmas Eve of reading A Christmas Carol to his kids, from the original manuscript.

1989- The Simpsons, first debuted.

1999- The film Stuart Little premiered.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Friday Dec. 16,2011

Arthur C. Clarke born

1871- BOSS TWEED INDICTED- William Marcy Tweed as New York City Commissioner of Public Works was behind one of the most corrupt city governments in U.S. history. Tweed mobilized poor and immigrant voters into political power and bought and sold Mayoral building projects. The cost overruns to build a simple courthouse cost more than the total cost to build the British Parliament in London- $13 million dollars. For example He billed the city $14,000 for 11 thermometers.

The press tried to expose him, but it was really Thomas Nast’s cartoons in Harper’s Weekly who helped bring the Tweed Ring down. Boss Tweed said: "I don’t mind the newspaper articles since most of my voters can’t read, but those damn pictures!" Tweed once offered Nast half a million dollars to go to Europe and "study art". Nast refused. Boss Tweed ended his life in the Ludlow Street Jail, which he himself built.

1900 -EARLY ANIMATED FILM "ENCHANTED DRAWINGS', James Stuart Blackton was a New York World cartoonist who used to do a vaudeville act in drag. He came to do an article on Thomas Edison then Edison put him on the payroll. He created this and several other trickfilms. It doesn’t move much more than his vaudeville lightning drawing act, His 1906 film Humorous Phases of Funny Faces is considered the first animated cartoon.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Thursday Dec. 15,2011

Birthdays: Ernie Pintoff, the director of the Violinist, and the Critic.

1815- Giacomo Rossini received the commission to write a new opera based on Beaumarchais the Marriage of Figaro- The Barber of Seville. Bugs Bunny to come.

1966-Walt Disney died at age 65. He was alone in the room at Saint Joseph's when he died. A heavy cigarette smoker- his favorites were Malboro and French Gitanes- he suffered from lung cancer and respiratory failure. Contrary to the legend that he's cryogenically frozen in a room in the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, he was cremated and interred at Forest Lawn. Or maybe that’s what he WANTS us to think?!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Weds Dec 14,2011

1913- Cartoonist Johnny Gruelle entertained his dying daughter by making up stories involving her rag dollies. After her passing friends urged Gruelle to publish them. The RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY stories are born.

1957- Hanna Barbera's first TV cartoon "Ruff and Ready" premieres.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Tuesday Dec.13,2011

1940- Fleischer Popeye cartoon "Eugene the Jeep" .The Thimble Theater character would give its name to the new army General Purpose vehicle- G.P. or "Jeep".

Friday, December 9, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Friday Dec. 9,2011

Birthdays: Elzie Segar the creator of Popeye

1965- Bill Melendez's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" the first half hour
animated t.v. special featuring the music of Vince Guaraldi. Producer Lee Mendelson
had heard Guaraldi's jazz combo perform in San Francisco. He never scored a
film before:" How many yards of music do you want?" A Charlie Brown Christmas has run every year for 46 years.

1994- Disney Animators in California move into their new Animation building designed
by Robert Stern.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Tuesday Dec. 6,2011

Birthdays: British Aardmann animation director Nick Park.

1877- First edition of the Washington Post.

1915- MAX FLEISCHER PATENTS THE ROTOSCOPE TECHNIQUE- This system enables you to film an actor then draw the cartoons over the still frames of the live action to achieve a realistic motion. (an early form of Motion Capture) Max would film his brother Dave in a clown suit then draw Koko the Clown over him. Dave had already owned the clown suit because he had been seriously considering a change in careers. The Fleischer's New York studio would be Disney's chief rival for most of the 1920's-30's.


1964- Rankin Bass' t.v. special 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' first broadcast.
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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Sun Dec. 4,2011

Birthdays: Jeff Bridges from TRON is 62, Fred Armisen is 45

1875- William Marcy “Boss Tweed” escaped Ludlow Street jail and fled to Cuba. He had been the corrupt boss of New York City politics throughout the 1860s and 70s. He was rearrested in Spain by a Spanish policeman who spoke no English. When asked by American diplomats the Spaniard said he saw newspaper cartoons by Thomas Nast of Tweed in prison garb with his hands on two young boys, so he thought he was a kidnapper! Tweed was brought to justice by the one crime he probably never did.

1941- film "Mr. Bug Goes to Town"-opened. Max Fleischer's last gamble to keep up with Disney and keep his studio alive. However the events of Pearl Harbor three days later not only sink the American Navy, but also Hoppity's box office and puts Max out of business.

1961- Someone at the Museum of Modern Art in NY noticed that they had hung Henri Matisse’s painting Le Bateau upside down. It had been that way for two months and until now nobody had noticed.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Sat Dec. 3,2011

Andrew Stanton is 46, Pixar Director of Finding Nemo and Wall-E.

1934- Lee Blair, Disney artist and brother of Preston Blair, Disney artist, married Mary Browne Robinson, Disney artist. She became the most famous of them as Mary Blair.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Friday Dec. 2,2011

Lucy Liu is 43, she did a voice in Dreamworks Kung Fu Panda 1 and II.

1935- Animator Marc Davis first day at Walt Disney Studios. He animated Cruella Da Ville, Malificent and designed Pirates of the Caribbean. He retired in 1978.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Animation Fun Facts for Thurs Dec. 1,2011

1835- Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of stories.

1887- The first Sherlock Holmes story " A Study in Scarlett" first published.