Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Gulliver Animation - King Bombo on the Carriage Step
It's difficult to identify my dad's actual pre-war (WWII) animation. However, two days after my dad passed away, Arnold Gillespie (who not only worked at Fleischer but went on to have a glorious career in special effects), paid me a wonderful telephone call to let me know that, back in the day, this particular piece of animation from Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels just "tickled" him. We can thank Bob Jaques for the clip. It seems like the moment I press the send email button to ask "Do you have...", the darn thing is already in my inbox.
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8 comments:
Wow, that's a really virtuoso scene--lots of great texture and very cohesive. Kind of felt a little like he may have been channelling the great comic heavy Edgar Kennedy.
I like how the whole thing is a spoof of the maudlin "filler" animated features tend to pride themselves on. This animation stays decidedly on the comic side, but if also feels like a real comic actor giving it all he's got. Easier said than done.
Fantastic post. I have not seen GULLIVER in a long time, I will make sure to check it out again soon.
Hey Will, thanks for your (always) insightful comments.
An amazing piece of work ... thank-you!!
Beautiful, man! That's the sstuff, keedo!
Actually, the Arnold Gillespie who worked at Fleischer was a different guy entirely. A. Arnold Gillespie worked at MGM from the 20s all the way to his retirement.
And I meant on special effects. The other Arnold Gillespie worked as an animator at MGM for a while. The last credit I've seen for him was at John Sutherland.
Sorry to make 3 posts. Just to explain.
A. Arnold Gillespie never worked in animation. He worked in MGM's special effects unit for his entire careet.
Arnold Gillespie the animator worked for Fleischer, MGM and John Sutherland.
Jeffrey, thanks for the clarication. I was of course referring to Gillespie the animator -- that's who called me.
You know, when I very young and first saw A. Arnold's credit for the Wizard of Oz, I just made the natural assumption that a kid will make, because my dad would talk about Arnold (the animator) but I never met him personally, that I remember.
I think the MGM ref connection through me off, because it was something I'd believed all my life. This will teach me not to trust the first search hit I get to Wiki.
BTW, you make all the comments you want.
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