Category Archives: classic animation

While cleaning my living space, I uncovered another stack of Famous Studios model sheets from Will Friedwald that I didn’t scan the first time around. IDs and notes follow each model.

The Wee Men (1947)

Little Red School Mouse (1949)

The Fly’s Last Flight (1949).
Drawn by Bill Tytla, who is not the credited director.

Boo-Hoo Baby (1951)

By Leaps and Hounds (1951)

Clown on the Farm (1952). Drawn by Dave Tendlar. An earlier, slightly different version of this model sheet from 1949 appears in Dark House’s Harvey Comics Classics Library Volume 4: Baby Huey, reflecting the earlier bucktoothed version of the Fox.

Double Cross-Country Race (1951)

Bluto, possibly for Child Sockology (1953), the only Famous cartoon with both him and Swee’ Pea.

Bride and Gloom (1954)

Just to put these somewhere and add some solid cartooning to the Internet (it’s not in abundance), here is a slew of model sheets from Famous Studios, ranging from 1943 to 1957. All of these are courtesy of Will Friedwald. Some of these are copies from the collection of Frank Endres, one of animation’s good guys and a mainstay of Fleischer and Famous from the ’30s to the end of the ’50s. A red marking of “FE” was added to the models and to be respectful, I’ve left them intact wherever possible.

These are presented in rough chronological order. Take note of some of the dates and the gap between the cartoon’s production and the actual release date, which could be as long as three years!

The Henpecked Rooster (1944), drawn by Bill Hudson

Sheep Shape (1946), drawn by Dave Tendlar

The Circus Comes to Clown (1947)

Little Audrey, drawn by Bill Tytla

Wigwam Whoopee (1948)

Wigwam Whoopee (1948)

A Wolf in Sheik’s Clothing (1948)

Robin Hoodwinked (1948)

A Balmy Swami (1949)

“Kitty”, drawn by Dave Tendlar

Baby Wants Spinach (1950)

Pilgrim Popeye (1951)

Pilgrim Popeye (1951)

“Kitty Head Chart”, drawn by Dave Tendlar. (Katnip would be named in the 1951-52 season.)

Popeye, Oct. 1950, drawn by John Gentilella

Swimmer Take All (1952)

Popalong Popeye (1952)

Popeye, April 1951 (differs slightly from Oct. 1950)

Spunky Skunky (1952)

By the Old Mill Scream (1953)

Git Along Lil Duckie (1955), drawn by Dave Tendlar

Olive Oyl, Feb. 1952, drawn by Frank Endres

Dizzy Dishes (1955)

Wimpy, likely drawn for Penny Antics (1955)

Spooky

Peekaboo (1957), drawn by Myron Waldman

Finnegan’s Flea (1958)

Chew-Chew Baby (1958)

Just to show that I’ve still been writing about animation for places besides Jerry Beck’s Cartoon Research, right now you can read two of my essays for the National Film Registry: one on Tex Avery’s Magical Maestro here and another on Dave Fleischer’s Technicolor Refreshment Trailer No. 1 (or “Let’s All Go to the Lobby”) here. The Avery piece draws information from Mike Barrier’s essential book and some new research by Keith Scott (and myself), while the Fleischer essay was unexpectedly fun because I managed to track down the composer Jack Tillar to add unique anecdotal information on that camp classic.

I have a few others in the works on Fleischer cartoons for LOC, but the mundanities of everyday life have gotten in the way of fun for now.

I’ve had this on the stack for a while, and since I know you’re dying for updates, here’s a rarity to tide you over.

As you all know, the only color copy of Bob Clampett’s sole cartoon for Republic, It’s a Grand Old Nag, was available in terrible dupes for decades. That was it. Even Clampett himself didn’t have anything better, and that’s what was included on the Beany & Cecil Vol. 2 DVD.

That changed almost two years ago when a 16mm Kodachrome of the cartoon appeared for an astronomical price on eBay. I tried reasoning with the seller, and he agreed to sell it for something reasonable. Then he decided to back out. Then I asked, look, for posterity’s sake, can I rent it from you, make a transfer, and pay you a fee (and all shipping costs)?

The guy said sure. I was very impressed with the quality of the 65 year-old Kodachrome print. That film stock is not well known for its sharpness, but trust me, after the third-generation dupes we’re accustomed to, this is the best we’ll see it until a 35mm print shows up. (The color won’t be much better either. Trucolor was another cheaper two-color process like Cinecolor.)

The improperly dressed animation wizard Steve Stanchfield came to my rescue and did the very nice transfer you see below. It was a big deal. Clampett’s kids, the genial Rob and Ruth, were extremely pleased when I offered them a copy of their dad’s final cartoon in full animation. I sent the print and a copy of the transfer back to the owner and never heard another thing.

That is, until several months later when I found out, quite by accident, that the guy flat out sold the print to someone else, after how he would only rent it to me because he whined about how “this is the closest I’ll get to having a lost film.” (I guess anything has its price.) The buyer, fortunately, was Jerry Beck, a close friend and fellow animation historian, but the story is still a thorn in my side. The guy never operated a film projector in his life and I could’ve easily swapped it out with anything. But that would mean stooping to his level.

Bottom line: the guy who had this rare, fun cartoon was a jerk, but happily it ended up in more than capable hands. And hey, now you can see it for free! Sorry for the watermarks, but the hard work of Mssr. Stanchfield and myself will not be overlooked. We paid for it, for chrissakes!

It’s a Grand Old Nag from Thad K on Vimeo.