Friday, June 26, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
Cubby Bear
So how did film producer Amadee J. Van Beuren of New York make a living in the 1930s? By signing animators to his studio to create now-forgotten characters, that's how.
The Van Beuren Studio was a New York animation studio that existed in the 20s and 30s. Many famous animators, like Bill Littlejohn, got their start there. It was founded in 1928 by Amadee J. Van Beuren, the namesake of the studio. The name was initially the Aesop's Fables Studio, because their first animated series was Aesop's Film Fables.
In 1933, the studio was producing a cartoon series for RKO Radio Pictures, named Tom and Jerry (no relation to the famous cat-and-mouse duo). These shorts were not a success, and a longtime employee of Van Beuren, Mannie Davis, was hired to create a new character to replace the Tom and Jerry series' main characters. Davis's response was a Mickey Mouse-like bear named Cubby Bear.
Cubby's first appearance was in Opening Night (1933). The short was not a success, and despite the attempts Davis made, Cubby had very little popularity. The following shorts fared even worse, and this resulted in Davis being fired and replaced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising from Warner Bros., and Davis joined Terrytoons (which was established by Paul Terry, who is also notable for helping to build the Van Beuren Studio).
Harman and ising worked on a couple Cubby shorts. One of Cubby's movements in World Flight (1933) was a slide-step, similar to the slide-step of the Harman-Ising character named Bosko, who was the first star of Looney Tunes. When Harman and Ising departed for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studio, Vernon Stallings took their place.
After the signings of Tom Palmer and Burt Gillett from Warner Bros. and Disney, respectively, Cubby was retired to make way for a new character named Molly Moo-Cow. Cubby's career ended in 1938 when Van Beuren was sold by RKO to home video companies.
That's all, folks!
The Van Beuren Studio was a New York animation studio that existed in the 20s and 30s. Many famous animators, like Bill Littlejohn, got their start there. It was founded in 1928 by Amadee J. Van Beuren, the namesake of the studio. The name was initially the Aesop's Fables Studio, because their first animated series was Aesop's Film Fables.
In 1933, the studio was producing a cartoon series for RKO Radio Pictures, named Tom and Jerry (no relation to the famous cat-and-mouse duo). These shorts were not a success, and a longtime employee of Van Beuren, Mannie Davis, was hired to create a new character to replace the Tom and Jerry series' main characters. Davis's response was a Mickey Mouse-like bear named Cubby Bear.
Cubby's first appearance was in Opening Night (1933). The short was not a success, and despite the attempts Davis made, Cubby had very little popularity. The following shorts fared even worse, and this resulted in Davis being fired and replaced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising from Warner Bros., and Davis joined Terrytoons (which was established by Paul Terry, who is also notable for helping to build the Van Beuren Studio).
Harman and ising worked on a couple Cubby shorts. One of Cubby's movements in World Flight (1933) was a slide-step, similar to the slide-step of the Harman-Ising character named Bosko, who was the first star of Looney Tunes. When Harman and Ising departed for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studio, Vernon Stallings took their place.
After the signings of Tom Palmer and Burt Gillett from Warner Bros. and Disney, respectively, Cubby was retired to make way for a new character named Molly Moo-Cow. Cubby's career ended in 1938 when Van Beuren was sold by RKO to home video companies.
That's all, folks!
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Everyone knows who Mickey Mouse is, right? Yeah, I know the weird-looking mouse has been in various cartoons and other media, too, but Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created him for a reason. It wasn't for nothing, you know- it was to replace the original star of Walt Disney's cartoons.
You, the reader, might be wondering who that star was? It was Oswald- a mischievous anthropomorphic rabbit with a unique, whimsical personality that would move on to the Walt Disney Studio's next star, Mickey Mouse, of course.
Oswald was created in 1927 by Iwerks and Disney, having finished off the unsuccessful live-action/animation series known as the Alice Comedies. Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal Productions, hired a film producer named Charles Mintz to produce cartoons with a new character. Mintz found Walt Disney in Los Angeles and asked him to create a new star, hoping the character would rival Felix the Cat. He suggested a rabbit, thus leading to the creation of a new rabbit character named Oswald.
Mintz saw the first Oswald cartoon, entitled Poor Papa. This 1928 animation featured Oswald as a father taking care of a massive amount of rabbit children. The short was poorly received by Laemmle, who pinpointed the bland animation and the maturity of the character's design. As a result, Oswald was redesigned into a younger, sleeker rabbit with a more mischievous side. The cartoons fared well, and the character eventually made his way to stardom.
Tragedy struck when Disney found out that Mintz secretly took the rights of the character, as well as the Disney animators. On the train ride home, Disney conceived the idea of a mouse character, and, therefore, Mickey Mouse was born. This eclipsed Oswald in the process, leaving Walter Lantz to redesign him into a realistic-looking rabbit. Eventually, Oswald would be retired in favor of the next Lantz star, Andy Panda.
Many years later, in 2006, Disney CEO Bob Iger traded Al Michaels from ABC to NBC to return the rights of the character back to the company. Since then, Oswald has been rapidly gaining popularity, not with the public, but with the Disney fans all over the world.
That's all, folks- and don't forget to stay tuned to see the next post!
You, the reader, might be wondering who that star was? It was Oswald- a mischievous anthropomorphic rabbit with a unique, whimsical personality that would move on to the Walt Disney Studio's next star, Mickey Mouse, of course.
Oswald was created in 1927 by Iwerks and Disney, having finished off the unsuccessful live-action/animation series known as the Alice Comedies. Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal Productions, hired a film producer named Charles Mintz to produce cartoons with a new character. Mintz found Walt Disney in Los Angeles and asked him to create a new star, hoping the character would rival Felix the Cat. He suggested a rabbit, thus leading to the creation of a new rabbit character named Oswald.
Mintz saw the first Oswald cartoon, entitled Poor Papa. This 1928 animation featured Oswald as a father taking care of a massive amount of rabbit children. The short was poorly received by Laemmle, who pinpointed the bland animation and the maturity of the character's design. As a result, Oswald was redesigned into a younger, sleeker rabbit with a more mischievous side. The cartoons fared well, and the character eventually made his way to stardom.
Tragedy struck when Disney found out that Mintz secretly took the rights of the character, as well as the Disney animators. On the train ride home, Disney conceived the idea of a mouse character, and, therefore, Mickey Mouse was born. This eclipsed Oswald in the process, leaving Walter Lantz to redesign him into a realistic-looking rabbit. Eventually, Oswald would be retired in favor of the next Lantz star, Andy Panda.
Many years later, in 2006, Disney CEO Bob Iger traded Al Michaels from ABC to NBC to return the rights of the character back to the company. Since then, Oswald has been rapidly gaining popularity, not with the public, but with the Disney fans all over the world.
That's all, folks- and don't forget to stay tuned to see the next post!
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Beans the Cat
Welcome! I, the writer present to you a blog that tells about the history of old cartoon characters.
I LOVE old cartoons. Like, from the 30s. Those are the cartoons that help me "chill out." For this article, I'm talking about Beans the Cat, who is, wrongfully, in obscurity- while his sidekick, the shy Porky Pig, made his way to stardom. Beans was an old cartoon character, and the creation of Bob Clampett and Jack King.
It began with Bosko- who was notable for being the first Looney Tunes star. He was created in 1929 by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, hoping their creation would rival Mickey Mouse, the most popular cartoon character at the time. Their humanoid "inkspot" creation did fail to rival Disney's mouse, who was always surging ahead of Bosko in popularity.
After a four-year run with Leon Schlesinger, the producer of Looney Tunes and its sister series, Merrie Melodies, budget disputes with Schlesinger, Harman, and Ising sent the animators- Harman and Ising included- to the Van Beuren Studio, where the former employees worked on a couple of Cubby Bear cartoons before leaving for M.G.M.- with Bosko.
Schlesinger attempted to touch up the studio, hoping his contract with Warner Bros., who released the early cartoons to the public, would still remain with him. He lured in many animators from other studios, among them Tom Palmer from Disney, who created the second star of the Looney Tunes shorts, Buddy. The character himself caused the popularity of the cartoons to sink, thus forcing Schlesinger to fire Palmer, and replace him with Isadore "Friz" Freleng, who had worked on the original Looney Tunes shorts.
When Buddy's career ended for good because of low popularity, Schlesinger asked newly signed employees Jack King, Bob Clampett, and Tex Avery to create new characters. And this was the beginning of Beans the Cat, the third Looney Tunes star who made an impact on the cartoons we know and love today.
Beans made his debut in 1935's I Haven't Got a Hat, part of the Merrie Melodies series. Also the debut of Porky Pig, this short was an enormous success. Beans and Porky were named after the term "Porky and Beans." Buddy faded away from the screen almost immediately, and Beans took his predecessor's place as star. The character only appeared in 9 shorts, the first one being A Cartoonist's Nightmare. Unfortunately for Beans, Porky got most of the attention, and Beans disappeared.
Beans resembled Bosko somewhat, although he was more mischievous than his predecessors. He was also known for making cameos when his days were done. To watch the first Porky/Beans cartoons, copy the link. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2guxlm_lt099-i-haven-t-got-a-hat_fun
That's all folks!
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