Lord knows, I love me some Disney. I feel the need to state this upfront just to underscore how much I enjoy the Disney animated canon. I grew up with those films, watching them over and over again, singing the songs, pretending to be a princess (or one of the dancing ostriches from 1940’s Fantasia–I loved…
Considering that lately I’ve been in a rebellious frame of mind, it’s fitting that my selection for the Horseathon stretches the rules of “horse” as well as “classic film.” Having grown up with horses, there is no other suitable excuse for what I am about to do, except perhaps that I’ve reviewed National Velvet (1944) at…
In 1918, Max Fleischer, the innovative mind behind early Walt Disney Studios rival Fleischer Studios, began producing a series of silent cartoon shorts called Out of the Inkwell. Much like earlier efforts by animation pioneers such as Winsor McCay, many entries in this series combined live-action with animation, showing Fleischer drawing the figures that would then…
“Aw, come on, Dad. This could be the miracle that saves the Simpsons’ Christmas. If TV has taught me anything, it’s that miracles always happen to poor kids at Christmas. It happened to Tiny Tim, it happened to Charlie Brown, it happened to the Smurfs, and it’s going to happen to us!” –Bart Simpson This…
Yesterday’s Google doodle honored the 100th birthday of Disney artist Mary Blair, and you know I couldn’t let that go by without a mention. So this week’s Saturday Morning Cartoons entry is dedicated to the beautiful, bold, and brilliant work of a true pioneer in the art of animation. Blair showed her talent for art…
Today, we’re wrapping up our week-long celebration of the 70th anniversary of The Maltese Falcon with a little irreverence. And where better to turn for irreverence than the Animaniacs? God, how I adored this cartoon in my callow and misspent youth. But it’s watching the show as an adult that really brings the greatest pleasure,…
For the next few weeks, we’re going to dedicate our semi-weekly “Saturday Morning Cartoons” feature to the men who set the stage for the art of animation in American film-making–the largely forgotten pioneers whose innovative work eventually inspired and facilitated the creation of Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, and scores of other classic cartoon figures. The…
Posting has been somewhat irregular this week, what with life’s many interruptions (in my case, this includes babysitting four children, five cats, and five dogs, in addition to everything else on my overflowing plate). Hopefully, next week we’ll be getting back in the swing of things. For today’s Saturday Morning Cartoons entry, we’re once again…
