Cartoon Stuff Around the Internet

There are plenty of great places on the internet to learn about old cartoons. Other than the blog roll on the side, I don’t link to very many, especially videos because the addresses become dead links more often than I’d like. But there are a few things that have popped up on line during the last week or so that I’ll link to, as you really should check them out.

There are a number of cartoon series I’m not crazy about. One of them is the Tom and Jerry series made by Gene Deitch. There’s no point in making a list of the things I dislike about those shorts. A far better thing, instead, is to read what Mr. Deitch has to say about them. He’s posted about his experiences making them exclusively to Jerry Beck’s aptly-named Cartoon Research site. Read his first-hand insights HERE.

Incidently, there are Deitch T&J fans who have said to me “Well, they’re better than those Chuck Jones ones,” as if I’m supposed to pick between the two. I’m not a fan of the Jones cartoons, either. If I had a choice, I would pick neither of them. And the Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera version of the cat and mouse had run out of gas by the time production was stopped in 1957.

Something I am a fan of is industrial and commercial cartoons. A neat cartoon is “Winky the Watchman,” a 1945 live action/animation short by Hugh Harman Productions. I’ll take a pass on Harman’s faux Uncle Walt cartoons at MGM of the mid to late ‘30s. But this one I like, mostly because of the animation of the bad guys and some creative layouts. And even better than the cartoon is the fact that Mark Kausler has recorded a commentary that explains, in great detail, all kinds of things about the production that only he would know. Frankly, I’ll listen to any cartoon commentary of Mark’s because I always learn something. Go to THIS POST on Jerry’s blog and read about it. The cartoon and commentary are courtesy of Thunderbean Animation, which is painstakingly restoring all kinds of great old cartoons that would have been forgotten otherwise.



Jerry’s got other great features at Cartoon Research (as if I have to tell you that). Recently, Devon Baxter has been posting (from various sources) breakdowns of animators on various cartoons from official studio documents. And I’m looking forward to Mike Kazaleh returning to give some more thoughts about 1950s TV spots made by the era’s top commercial studios.

Jerry’s got other great features on his blog. Recently, Devon Baxter has been posting (from various sources) breakdowns of animators on various cartoons from official studio documents. And I’m looking forward to Mike Kazaleh returning to give some more thoughts about 1950s TV spots made by the era’s top commercial studios.

Mark Evanier’s News From me blog always has something interesting or funny or both. Recently, Mark posted a link to a bunch of interviews on video with people involved in the Golden Age of cartoons. The sound isn’t great on all of them and I’d have asked some different questions, but at least someone made the effort to talk to these animation veterans. Included are Alex Lovy (of the Lantz and Columbia studios), Lloyd Vaughan, Owen Fitzgerald and Pete Alvarado (all of whom worked at Warner Bros. at one point). They’re worth your time to listen. HERE’s where you can find them, along with some thoughts from Mark who always has something worthwhile to say about cartoons and comics.