John Canemaker on Ollie

Disney authority Jeff Kurtti points out there's a great piece on Ollie Johnston in The Wall Street Journal by the great John Canemaker. I of course have been planning on posting something here about the master animator and truly good person that was Ollie, but John says it better than anyone. The animation historian and analyst is of course the biographer of the Nine Old Men and was a close friend of Ollie as well. You can read John's appreciation of the last of the Nine Old Men here.

Better Late Than Never (Is That A Poor Richard Quotation?)

Why am I posting this image of ol’ Ben? Is it some sly reference to this being just a few days after April 15 and Mr. Franklin’s famous remark about death and taxes? Not exactly. Thanks to my ridiculously busy schedule National Library Week 2008 slid past without a celebratory post here at Tulgey Wood. Even though this is a day late (National Library Week ended yesterday, Saturday April 19) I thought I’d still blog an observance. So here’s a book featuring the founder of the first Public Library in the United States, and no, I don’t mean Amos Mouse. Let this 1953 Little Golden Book with its delightful cover by veteran Disney artist Campbell Grant serve as a reminder that the Public Library is one of the great underused and underappreciated resources of our nation, not to mention part of the foundation of a free, literate and educated society, if only we choose to use and support it. Please don’t wait for National Library Week to roll around again. Celebrate this year (incidentally 2008 marks the National Library Week’s 50th anniversary) by visiting your local library and borrowing a book, DVD or CD, or browsing a newspaper or magazine. As for this wonderful Little Golden Book, who knows? Perhaps you can even find this gem in your Public Library. If you can’t, it will be just about the only thing you won’t find there.

What’s My (Wonderfully Drawn) Line?

One of the many (at least 101) joys of Walt Disney’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians is the sharply designed cast of characters, and that extends to the spoof of the popular TV panel show What’s My Line? enjoyed by the Badun brothers in the film. Due in large part to the skilled and only recently celebrated character designer Tom Oreb, What’s My Crime? (as the Dalmatians parody is entitled) features a wonderfully caricatured moderator, panel and contestant. Also pictured here (as published with the groundbreaking article about Oreb by Amid Amidi in his excellent Animation Blast magazine) is a Tom Oreb model sheet of the What’s My Crime? challenger, Percival Fauncewater, or as he is known to the Baduns, Meathead.

NOT an April Fool’s Joke

As the last time I posted was back on April 1st, I’m sure some of my many millions of readers are wondering if the fact I have not posted since was some kind of sick April Fool’s joke. Nope. I’m just busy with a lot of projects lately, and I hope to share with you news on same soon. I’ll be posting again at least a couple times before the end of the cruelest month, no foolin’. In the meantime enjoy this funny drawing by the great Sparky.

Meet Mr. Fun

Just today (well, yesterday) I was talking to good friend, fellow Disney historian and ace blogger Ed Squair about the folks who both witnessed and were part of Disney history and are also good historians in their own right, and naturally Floyd Norman's name came up right away. Floyd has been working in Disney animation and artistry since the 1960s and he has an amazing of fascinating stories about Walt, films both animated and un-, Michael Eisner (see Floyd's cartoon), and lots more fun from Mr. Fun. You can visit Floyd's fun factory here.