Today, we begin this look at classic animation across the pond with the other American animator who opened up a studio in London, the producer-director noted for his outstanding work as an animator and eventual lieutenant of Walt Disney's, David Hand.
While the following entry from the Animaland series, produced by former Disney director David Hand and Gaumont British Animation for J. Arthur Rank, isn't nearly as wonderful as the inspired lunacy from George Moreno Jr. and British Animated Productions, it certainly has its moments. Starts getting interesting at 2:02 - from that point on, it's no longer faux-Disney.
Funny, this series and those produced a few years earlier for MGM by ex-Disney animators Rudy Ising and Hugh Harman have one thing in common: the less derivative and Disney cute they are, the better they are!
Turns out animator Bill Plympton headed a fundraising dinner to get the ball rolling on a restoration of the second series produced by David Hand at the Moor Hall studio, the Musical Paintbox films (note: I didn't know about this and it seems neither did anyone else). Plympton's fundraiser didn't succeed, unfortunately - but one would hope that the British Film Institute, UCLA Film & Television Archives or George Eastman House will be able to take the initiative on a restoration of the Musical Paintbox series.
With all the unspeakably horrid recent news this week, Your Blogmeister forgot his scheduled posting; a respectful tip of the Jimmie Hatlo top hat to one of the greatest comedians who ever lived, the unsurpassed King Of Improv, Mr. Jonathan Winters, who passed away last week, on April 11, at the age of 87.
For some basic Jonathan Winters 101, obtain a copy - by hook, by crook or by schnook - of his standup comedy album Jonathan Winters Wings It, easily one of the funniest, wildest and most inventive performances ever. Think you're a good standup comedian/comedienne? Check out what Jonathan does here and on the following clips - and think again!
The next KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival will return to Foothill College campus in the lovely Los Altos Hills for hours of questionable movie merriment on Saturday, April 13, 2013.
The amazing 1955 Kelvinator Foodarama Refrigerator-Freezer
That means yet another hallucinatory excursion through the irritated bowels of popular culture, featuring trailers from schlocky drive-in movies, well-meaning but now ridiculous 1950's educational films, vintage TV commercials and theatre ads, Soundies, cartoon rarities, comedy shorts, "thunder lizards", kidvid, serial chapters, puppet animation, and whatever else we can dredge up.
Curator-archivist-producers-mad scientists Sci Fi Bob Ekman, Scott Moon and Paul F. Etcheverry, supported by ace KFJC soundman Austin Space, create the program on the fly, exemplifying the "And Now For Something Completely Different" approach to film programming.
Robert Emmett, host of KFJC's Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show m.c.s the festivities with dry wit, joie-de-mauvais-cinema and a painstakingly picked selection of cheesy door prizes.
Back again, with or without popular demand - the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival
When: April 13, 2013
Showtime: 7:00 p.m.
Where: Room 5015 on the Foothill College campus, Los Altos Hills, El Monte exit off of Highway 280
How Much: $5 Admission benefits KFJC 89.7
Parking: $3 Why: We like cheesy movies!
Since the last DEAR SPAMMERS: GO AWAY blog posting was, rather laughably, greeted with approximately 14,073 spam comments, none actually relating to a single topic, thought, word or syllable posted, ever, on Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, might as well give up and celebrate something close to Mr. Blogmeister's heart: the ceremonial raising of the pennant flag by the 2012 World Champion San Francisco Giants. Big thanks to everyone involved with The San Francisco Giants and to Comcast Sportsnet for the following cool footage.
And triple thanks to Mr. Blogmeister's late father for taking him to hundreds of Giants games, many when the team's stars were Willie "Mr. New York and Mr. San Francisco" Mays, Willie "Stretch" McCovey, Juan "The Dominican Dandy" Marichal and Gaylord "The Dry Look" Perry.
