Spectorphile

Away For The Summer

2010-07-14T13:37:00.003-04:00

I am currently several thousands of miles away from the Spectorphiles; hence, please don't waste your time looking for anything here until at least the beginning of September...at the earliest. Thanks to all those who continue to patronize this site and drop comments. (All and any comments will continue to be posted --it may take a day or two since I've had to begin moderating them due to obnoxioua entrepeneurs).
- Paul

ARMY DAYS: WWII Signal Corps Sketches

2010-05-14T15:28:00.005-04:00

My dad did not often sign his work. When it comes to sketches like these, signing one leads me to identify others. Else, I wouldn't be able to positively I.D. many others, as his style was changing at that point in time. Not that they're anything above the norm, but they just help with the continuity.

Coogy: BA-ROOM! 4th of July In April

2010-04-27T14:15:00.005-04:00

I had somewhat planned to save this Coogy for the 4th of July (American Independence Day for you non USA-ers) and about as close as I could get to fireworks. However, my Uncle John dropped a comment in my previous post for Coogy, titled TERMINATION, that the title might signify that postings of the strip have come to an end. No such thing! Uncle John, this one goes out to you.

Termination

2010-04-24T12:34:00.001-04:00

Linus The Lionhearted: The Flyin' Lion

2010-04-19T16:11:00.013-04:00

In case you missed the comment a few posts back, Brubaker has mentioned and provided a link for "The Flyin' Lion", which was the pilot that sold the Ed Graham Prods series of Linus The Lionhearted. If you need more background on the show, just punch Linus into the searcher at the top of the page. Here's the comment:

http://www.hitopstv.com/tv.cfm

select "Linus the Lionhearted" and click episode 4.

I'll just mention that although the soundtrack cover above has Graham's New York office stamped on it, all of the writing, animation, etc., was totally produced in Los Angeles (although not necessarilly the soundtrack itself.)

Thanks Bru!

Coogy NY Tribune Promo: PEnnsylvania 6-4000 (In Canada, 808-509)

2010-04-15T13:01:00.005-04:00

Hey Spectorphiles. Here's the sales promo by the New York Herald Tribune for Coogy, from 1951. The written style of the copy was certainly not by my father's hand, but I suspect it might have been written by Harold Straubing, at that time an editor for the Trib, and subsequently he and his wife Helen (including Geisha, the gentlest German Shepard you'd ever want to meet) great lifelong friends of the family.
If you read my previous Coogy post then you'll notice the "Tennis Anyone" from which it's referenced.

Here's the strip that the Trib decided to put on the back of the promo:

I think I might have already posted the original for this, but in case not here it is:

Chronologically, this is a follow-up leading into a series to which unfortunately (Damn you Bekins Moving and Storage) I don't have the remainder:

Coogy: The Bus To Hollywood

2010-04-14T16:58:00.005-04:00

I'm just putting this online because it's a dobie and I already had it scanned (I'm temporarilly enstranged from the Irvchives). Pay attention to the top right panel where Coogy says "Tennis anyone" -- it was included in the NY Tribune's promo to its syndicators...which will be shortly published here. Enjoy.

From October 7, 1951:

Casper, On The Cheap

2010-04-05T16:45:00.003-04:00

The following speaks for itself. Forget about the return address -- we were in Los Angeles and my dad had already been freelancing for Paramount for several years. He was at Hanna-Barbera by the date of this invoice. Geeze, can you imagine this kind of price for boards? Well, then again, it is Casper

Abner The Baseball -- A LIttle Pepper In There Boy

2010-03-29T20:16:00.006-04:00

In October of 2009 I received emails from Turkey. Here are some excerpts:

...in late 80's abner the baseball became very popular in turkey .everybody looks for it but nobody can find.

abner was shown in turkish tv channel TRT , between 85-90's.(in the football matches half times.) turkish children loved it very much.especially "little pepper in there boy" became an idiom.. turkish people use it as "Hadi biraz biberliyelim" it means "let's start" for us.now people aged 25-30 remembers abner...they talk how they can find it, some of them will be very happy to see that cartoon just one time again .because abner is one part of their childhood.

So, I asked Bob Jaques if he had a copy the thing, and it was immediately uploaded. Fatih, in Turkey, wrote me, ...from now on you are God to me. I forwarded the message to Bob, as it was better meant for him, who replied (to me), "I think you are the divine one." While Bob and I were discussing who was going to be the One, Fatih emails me: it s only a joke paul :)
That's too bad, because as the One, I had already made a list of all the butt I was gonna kick.

Here's Abner:

Paramount Cartoon: The Inquisit Visit

2010-03-03T17:28:00.005-05:00

Dave Mackey has launched another of my father's cartoons on youtube. Maybe not the best of them, but I have to say I have not actually had the chance to see it before. Hats off Dave!

The Inquisit Visit - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4CqyecunUU

BTW, Do you have The Ring-A-Ding Kid? No one I know seems to have ever seen it!

Three Paramount Tunes on the Tube

2010-02-21T10:10:00.004-05:00

The ever-industrious Dave Mackey has notified me that he's placed three of my dad's Paramount cartoons on youtube.

As per Dave: You will notice that all of the cartoons have original Paramount title cards. I wasn't sure of the main title for Cool Cat Blues so I went ahead and used the "The Cat" title card from one of the final two cartoons.

Cool Cat Blues - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnzgMmAeb50

Le Petite Parade - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLo4-IBAd1A

Cane and Able - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeE-lgCDCq4

Thanks Dave!

Christmas Coogy: Nice Jewish Cartoonist Does Santa

2009-12-20T13:37:00.004-05:00

I'm snowed-in here in the northeast, still waiting on a guy to come and plow 150 feet of driveway. What's to do? How about we get my Christmas post out of way? Don't kids like to open their presents early? (Trust me, in the manner I was raised there was no such thing as delayed gratification). If you like to frequent Spectorphile and the same kind of blogs I do, then I suspect you are just a kid. I know your type alright. Why must you wait?

From December 23, 1951:

What I really want to know is...where are all the Chanukah strips drawn by Christian cartoonists hiding?
You kids, whatever you may celebrate, if anything, please have a good time. And don't blog and drive.

Stocking Stuffers

2009-12-16T14:03:00.004-05:00

As you might have guessed, the above items are from my dad's last days in the Army Animation Unit (WWII). If you're wondering why there is a "T" on the chevrons, that's because the AAU was actually part of the Army Technical Corps.

The above has to be from the mid-70's, because my dad is sporting those graying sideburns which were so popular among balding middle-aged men from that era. Oddly, I like the photograph.

Yes, there really is a reel in the can. It has three commercials: Nabisco Shredded Wheat, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and Buster Brown Shoes (don't forget his dog Tige -- he's in there too.) Actually, that is my own ugly handwriting at the top of the label -- to remind myself what is inside -- because if you've ever had to unspool something of this length using a pencil, like I did -- you'll never want to do it again.

Comic Book Interlude: The Farmer's Daughter #1

2009-12-12T11:37:00.007-05:00

Here's a real Spector oddity of cheesecake. The Farmer's Daughter ran for four issues, beginning with the February-March 1954 issue. What is it with the four-and-out titles from this era such as Muggy-Do, Boy Cat, Lucky Duck, and now this? You'll notice that the story is copyright Hal Seeger, although my dad drew and wrote all the stories in it (Muggy is also copyright Seeger). Anyway, I am personally taken with the rushed yet controlled abandon of its loosey-goosey style.

Yup, she was only the farmer's daughter's butt. I don't have my Overstreet guide at hand but I do recall there being a mention of a "lingerie panel", or "nudity panel" -- or something to that effect -- in this same issue. Here's a one-pager to which they must have been referring.

Thanks to Glenn Bray for inadvertantly mentioning this title to me, Bob Jaques for locating and sending me scans of issue #'s 1 and 2 from Golden Age Comics (UK) and of course the folks who uploaded them in the first place.

Anyway, that's the way I heard it...

2009-12-02T15:55:00.005-05:00

...and if that ain't the truth let me be struck by lightning.

Here's a story I must have heard a half-dozen times in my life when I was much less than half as old as I am now. The tale never wavered. It goes something like this:

My dad, when he was young(er), used to draw single-panel gag cartoons and send them off to celebrities that he was fond of. Now, some of you might know that his industry sobriquet was "Spec", yet few of you know that in those early days he would often sign his artwork with a pair of spectacles (I myself have yet to see this phenomenon, but I take his word for it). Well, one piece he sent to Gary Cooper...the actor, not the astronaut. Cooper did a goodly number of western cowboy flicks and so my dad drew a gag about a cowpuncher, something about a bull with a black eye, if I recollect correctly. Decades go by, and Cooper eventually passed in 1961. My dad is flipping through some Cooper magazine retrospective and comes across a caption something to the effect of, Most people don't know it but Gary Cooper was a very good artist. So, my dad looks at the drawing, it seems vaguely familiar, and then notices a pair of spectacles in place of Cooper's signature.

By the way, I've yet to come across this drawing. If any Spectorphile does find a copy of where it appeared, I guarantee you a nice original authentic artistic piece of work in trade for your trouble.

Gulliver Animation - King Bombo on the Carriage Step

2009-11-24T12:15:00.004-05:00

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.

Comic Book Interlude: Little Lionel

2009-11-18T12:57:00.003-05:00

We can thank Mr. Bob Jaques for this one. Bob was searching for moonlighting-comic-book-drawing animators and came up with this from a Wacky Duck titled reprint pubbed in 1958 (I.W. Enterprises). My dad had already exited from a decade-long comic book era at that point, and Little Lionel dates back to the post-war 1940s. Still, I like the sort of pre-war old-fashioned flavor of it all: the telephone, the firemen panel, et al.

The Sad Sack

2009-11-12T10:26:00.012-05:00

Harkening back to the old U.S. Army Signal Corps days, here's an old mildewed book I have that Sgt. George Baker, creator of The Sad Sack, personalized (above) to my dad. I don't know if Baker was technically in the animation unit, but then again, when it came to creatives -- no mattter what their particular facility -- every cartoonist (using that term in general) knew each other.

Rather than send you to Wiki's blurb on Sad Sack, let's just let the book do the talking.

Books in wartime, Egad!:

The Introduction: You might want to read the whole thing, but I'll paraphrase that Sad Sack first appeared in Yank magazine in 1942. "The Sack is Army's perfect personification of the Army's little man, the hopeless underdog who has no stripes, no glory, no friends in the orderly room, no escape from the dread terror of red tape and higher ranks. Since he is the Army's little man, none of his problems are of his own making. No matter what he does or leaves undone, trouble will come to him from outside forces. "

The deal, storywise, with Sad Sack, is that no matter how hard he tries, he always gets the crap end of the military pecking-order stick: the end gag is always the same...he's just a sad sack of... The book is flush with pages -- those scanned below are, to my own eyes, representative of what you would find.

Offline

2009-11-03T23:23:00.002-05:00

Spectorphile will be offline for the next several days, as will my email. The Mrs. has ordered new carpeting to be installed 11/4, which means I have to disassemble my antiquated computer setup and stick the Irvchives into that strange place under the stairwell. I'll be up all night with this kind of stuff. See you shortly therafter.

Christmas In October

2009-10-19T10:04:00.003-04:00

When I blogged the Coogy Columbus Day post, I found out that they were already celebrating Thanksgiving in Canada! What the heck is going on here? The absolute nerve! Not to be beaten to the punch again, I'm skipping this coming November's scheduled T-day post and going straight on to Christmas. On December 25th, expect my July 4th post, unless somewhere else someone is celebrating their Independence Day before that.

I have no idea who drew this card. Likely, the conversation went this way:

ARTIST (to Spec): Uh, Spec, what are we going to do about an Xmas card?

SPEC: Good idea -- hadn't thought about it. Would you like to do it?

ARTIST: I'd love to.

And so there ya go.

You're in the army now...

2009-10-14T14:04:00.008-04:00

...You're not behind a plow
You'll never get rich
By digging a ditch...

Hey, you know that old military tune, don't you? Well, here's a bunch of mugs that I doubt ever dug ditches in the Army. More than likely, they never even had to get behind a plow; rather, they were behind lightboards. That would be my own dad, front-right. The identities of the other guys are open to your suggestions.

The above photo had to be taken when many of the Army Signal Corps Animation Unit was moved from Astoria (Queen, NY) into Manhattan. How can we tell? Check the date-stamp at the bottom of the photograph.

Here's an envelope that Vince Fago -- then at Timely -- sent my dad while he moonlighted comics during his Army stint (and he wasn't the only one doing that.) I wonder what was in it.

Funny Frolics #1? That's his penciled handwriting on the cover. I guess he wanted some credit.

My dad was so delighted that eight years later he snuck Vince into the New York Herald Tribune! Check out the name on the green door, middle tier center.

However, life can be tough in the military, especially when you have to draw all day long. I own plenty of drawings from those days, although I'm usually hesitant to attribute them to my dad unless I have some sort of corroborating evidence. As my dad was often hesitant to sign his work, I am always grateful when I can find a single drawing with his signature that leads me to believe that I can, by drawing style, accredit more to him. Now, I'm not saying whether the artwork is good enough or not to be post-worthy, I'm just saying they exist, so why keep them in a box?

Troop dismissed!

Watch This

2009-10-13T15:09:00.003-04:00

COOGY: Columbus Day Special (Black and White and Sunday Color)

2009-10-08T12:34:00.008-04:00

Yes this post is premature, as Columbus Day is celebrated in the States a few days from now, this coming Monday the 12th. Yet, this post came together so quickly that I figure we might as well get a jump on the matter and trump all those other bloggers whom I know will try and do the same thing.

I put Special in the title because not only do I have the originals but also their corresponding published Sunday color strip, and so now, for the first time on Spectorphile, we get to see them side by side. Now, to some that might be redundant but I figure it was more than just a serendipitous event because I actually have only three of the five episodic originals and likewise the same exact ones for the colors. We can not deny the hand of fate, my friends. Plus, rather than teasing you by serializing it and making you return here over the next few days until Monday, I'm giving it to you all at once!

Politically, Columbus Day divies up people, depending upon which point of view one takes. But Spectorohile doesn't deal in politics, we just deal in cartoony stuff. However, we will say that if you are foolish enough to attempt a crosstown drive in Manhattan this Monday during the time the parade strolls down the Avenue, you will be cursing Columbus's arse over the fact that he ever left port in the first place.

October 21, 1951:

November 4, 1951:

November 18, 1951:

L'Amour The Merrier, 1957, (Pt. 2 of 2)

2009-09-30T09:45:00.020-04:00

And now back to our program...

L'Amour The Merrier: Paramount/Famous Noveltoon, 1957: Storyboard (Pt.1 of 2)

2009-09-29T15:56:00.028-04:00

Yes, it's true -- Louise is my sister's name.

div>

Yes, there are a few boards missing, but no one will have a tough time following. Some of you might also have noticed that my dad cut down 3-punch peg to make his own boards. That, and the dabs of color occasionally tossed in, confirms my suspicions that the storyboards I retain are a sort of first draft; as far as I know, few cartoonists were able to get back their final boards.

Part 2 to follow shortly.

Piece of Cache

2009-08-14T14:15:00.008-04:00

Apologies for neglecting the blog throughout this summer. It's been due to my own unreconciled stubborn dilemma about the unearthed cache: I don't know whether to be grateful or an ingrate. At some point in the future I will have to address it online and hopefully get over it, but until then here's a few items that were sent back my way:

My dad as Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Artist unknown, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were a self portrait.

Pola Negri

"Gestures" by Harpo Marx. My dad was a huge Marx Bros fan.

Flippin' The Bird

2009-06-12T10:30:00.004-04:00

No, the title of this post is not a tune from the Complete Savoy Recordings of Charlie Parker (I have it on double-album vinyl, so I can assure you.) However, I do know at least 4.8 Spectorphiles who can tell me which cartoon this is from. (Yes, I know too, but I'd rather you empty your valve spit in the comments section.) This picture used to hang on the wall above my dad's basement hovel animation desk on Long Island. It's larger than my scanner plate, hence apologies for the seam. And, he signed it, something he rarely did, and so was apparently satisfied, even with the professionally antiqued coffee drips.

A few years later in L.A., in one of my newly-adolescent moments, I noticed and mentioned to him that some of the musicians were flippin' the bird, giving the finger...or however you care to express it. This came as a surprise to him, and he said something to the effect of, "Oh God, they ARE!" He'd no idea (let's not get too Freudian about it all). And then he laughed.

(BTW, I realize the blog has lately been slower than usual. I'm currently in life's grip but hope to gear-up shortly)

Lucky Duck in "Mountain Madness"

2009-05-25T09:28:00.007-04:00

As promised, here's another Lucky Duck story that appeared in a Supermouse. Once again, hats off to Bob Jaques for the scans. Splash original courtesy of Glenn Bray. Big thanks to both.

Lucky Us

2009-05-22T09:37:00.002-04:00

Here's two Lucky Duck stories that are not included in the four eponymously titled LD issues (oddly, numbered as 5-8...Muggy-Doo, Boy Cat are 1-4); a 3-pager and a 1-page. Next post will be a longer Lucky Duck story. Let's thank Mr. Bob Jaques, who discovered them all in some Supermouses he purchased and sent scans our way.

You'll notice that this next one is under a Rocky Rabbit heading, rather than LD. The endgag is a pre-owned throwaway, but I know you people only look at the pictures :)

Tools of the Trade

2009-05-08T11:26:00.011-04:00

Soon after my father bit the bullet I scooped up a lot of his tools of the trade. These were real cartoonist items, not the sissyfied digital crapola used today. Above is just one scannerfull of a few handfulls of a very large bag of his pencils and other workingperson animator utensils. Well, my wife thinks I'm borderline OCD because I've lugged them around for over 30 years. I tell her, first, "How can you say that? You've only known me for fifteen of those years. " If that doesn't work I say, "You are missing a tremendous tactile experience by not immersing your own hands in the bag and running through it all." Eventually I just ask her, "What's for dinner?"

Below is my second favorite drawing item from when I was an animator's brat: the double-bladed blue and red pencil. You had to be careful not to poke your eye out. But what real animator would care about that? They'd just pop their eyeball back in and keep on going. These days, your monitor blacks out and you cry out for Mama.

You can tell that my dad used to sharpen his pencils with a single-edged razor -- then he'd eat the razor as a parlor trick and wash it down with the pencil shavings. You guys today, with your drawing tablets and all, how do you sharpen your pressure-sensitive digital pen? Shove it in the USB port, wait a while, and then press the Help button? Bah! Get yourselves a big bag of pencils and feel the real!

My dad would be sharpening his pencils with one hand while his other hand held his timer (below) as he worked over an exposure sheet.

You modern guys and gals; all you got is some plastic box with some high-falootin' software that can't even keep track of the correct date to change back and forth from daylight savings time. Bah! My dad would have eaten your Maya 3D helpware for breakfast, and then spat them right back atcha'.

Below is my very favorite drawing item. Generally known as a china marker, my dad and his real animator brethern called them grease pencils. Yeah, grease. Ya got a problem with that, you digital debutantes? When was the last time you got down and greasy with your work?

I used to be totally fascinated with grease pencils. You expose the point by peeling back the string and uncoiling the outer wrap. As a tyke I used to sit on me pappy's lap and just unwind them for hours. But did he punish me? Hell no! He'd pat me on the head and call me "A good wee lad." (Sometimes my dad forgot he was Jewish and thought he was Scottish...so we'd have to remove the Dewars for a spell. Don't laugh you modern animators -- when was the last time you needed to have your frappacinos taken from you?)

One oldtimer who doesn't get enough hand's-on props is John Oxberry. This guy should be enshrined in several of those mutual-backslapping organizations you modern guys got -- and you can make room for him by shoving out the guy who invented the graphic accelerator card. Ox's animation cameras were ubiquitous to just about every studio in the real animation era. Made of metal, flesh and blood, no one had wait overnight for rendering: you shot it, you got it, you shoot the next. Case closed Go over to the Splog and see this amazing post on him.

Below is Paramount's in-house guide on their use of the Oxberry.

An alternative to the Oxberry was the Richardson-Bowlds. The model RB-300 could stand in a real animation studio as if you'd parked your big ol' humpback Oldsmobile 88 inside, and looking like it could have had the the eponymous starring role in Transformers. You modern folk, I'll bet you got Smartcars and drive them in the slow lane, starring in some flick with Hugh Grant and Mandy Moore. Bah! Just look under the hood, man:

Seymour Kneitel sent my dad the following letter when he screwed up some animation direction. That's probably why I have the Oxberry guide -- Seymour must have sent it to him as a reminder.Kneitel addressing my dad as "Irving" is equivalent to Hilary Clinton calling her husband William. In the industry everyone always addressed my dad as either Spec or Irv. The only time someone ever called my dad Irving was my mother when she was pissed at him. So maybe Seymour, gentleman that he was, was annoyed. Around this same time my dad had resumed his brogue so the scotch had to go back into the cabinet. I reasoned hard with my dad that he really was of Russian ancestry -- so out came the vodka. Hence we got Boris the Matchmaker and his samovar. Whatta ya got now? Kimpossible? Bah!

Comic Book Interlude: Stuffy Derma in "Shipped Ahoy"

2009-05-06T15:05:00.004-04:00

I recently obtained a copy of Muggy-Doo, Boy Cat #2 (September, 1953), within which my father drew and wrote all the stories and the cover. But I'm not posting a Muggy story. Instead, I'm posting one where Stuffy Derma is the main character. Why? Well, when one comes across a character with a name like that -- that's what one does.

Is it just a coincidence that an advertisement like the one below precedes the story?

By the way, for those of you who don't frequent a certain kind of deli, Stuffy Derma is name after the delicacy Stuffed Derma:
Stuffed derma, also known as kishka (Slavic for “gut”), is traditionally a cow’s intestine stuffed with a mixture of grain, fat, and sometimes ground meat and vegetables. Nowadays, kishka is most commonly made with a synthetic casing, and when made at home, some people use chicken skin as a wrapping instead.
Typical filling recipes include flour, matza meal, salt, pepper, chicken or beef fat, grated carrots, and grated onions. It’s eaten plain, with sauce, or on top of the traditional Sabbath afternoon stew (called “cholent”).

COOGY: Avalanche Country

2009-04-30T12:08:00.003-04:00

From February 29, 1953:

I don't know the exact terminology but this is a sort of "proof" that the Herald-Tribune sent my father before the color was added. Unfortunately I don't have the original for comparison, and something tells me that this inked-only version might be nicer than what was published.

Paramount Cartoon: Mike The Masquerader (Modern Madcap, 1959)

2009-04-29T08:13:00.003-04:00

In my previous post I asked if anyone knew the title of the cartoon that the initial model sheet (the elephant) was related to. In that, J Lee and Ken Layton answered the call: Mike The Masquerader. Bob Jaques took it one step further, and not only suggested that I post the cartoon, but then he actually had the nerve to send it to me (and thereby welcome me into the 21st Century, film clips online -- what a concept). Big thanks to all.

I did notice a bit of anachronistic chicanery: the model sheet is signed and dated 1960, yet the animation itself is copyrighted 1959. I went back and looked at the model. Although it's a stat, it appears that my father's signature and date are not. My guess is he received the model back from the studio the following year and signed/dated it then.

Stray Model Sheets I Have Known

2009-04-25T11:59:00.006-04:00

Okay you Paramount junkies, which cartoon is the above stray model sheet from?: 1960, production number N-18-10. Gee, another smoking character by my dad. Looks to be a ratty cigar. I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here.

Below, we have another dobie model sheet drawn on Oct. 3, 1961 (not only a year, but day and month too) by the legendary Iwao Takamoto (at least the initialed signature constitutes a consensus of three people who say it probably is Takamoto's, but add the disclaimer, "Don't quote me on it.") Touche and his sidekick Dum Dum were part of the The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series (1962-63).

I now give you a model sheet from Tubby The Tuba, OK-ed by Sam Singer and brought to you by the New York Institute of Technology. Why would I be in possession of it? Michael Sporn speculates that Johnny Gentilella farmed some work out to my dad (Johnny G. and my dad knew each other from way back, at least to the Paramount/Famous days.) Michael himself worked on this production, and when I read about his utter disgust with it, it makes me fall-on-the-floor laugh. Have you ever been witness to that in person? When someone hates something so much they can go on and on, practically cussing it in all sorts of venomously creative ways? I'm laughing right now! It only endears him to me more. Here is but one post of several where he's commented upon it. I always read between the lines.

Finally, here are two model sheets of Porky and Granny from my dad's singular directorialship when DePatie-Freleng were producing the Warner Bros cartoon characters: this one titled Corn On The Cop. Granny and Porky, an odd pairing for sure.

Years ago, on a cartoon forum, I'd read a comment on a hit-or-miss poll about it. The commenter stated that, to loosely paraphrase, "...the cartoon came out so miserable that Friz must have yanked Spector from the directorial ranks then and there and forbade him to ever direct again."

Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion, so I didn't then necessarily feel the need to comment. But I guess it must still be sticking in my craw these years later. All I would like to say now is, "And you my friend, what wonderful piece of animation have you produced lately?"

Damn! That felt great!

Paramount: Abner The Baseball - Script by Eddie Lawrence

2009-04-23T10:23:00.016-04:00

Here's Eddie Lawrence's complete script for Paramount's Abner The Baseball. You'll be better served by clicking on his name (above) to learn about his career than whatever I can tell you, although I do know of several Spectorphiles who will likely be leaving additional comments about him and Abner.

I'll include Wiki's entry on the cartoon below. Wiki states the cartoon is actually sixteen minutes; certainly it's a two-reeler -- but not a full two reels -- it clocks in at 12:30 (as shown in the Academy's screening list at the end of this post):

The extended-length title was among the earliest, Abner the Baseball, a 16-minute special seen in November 1961, based upon a tale which was among the tracks on The Kingdom of Eddie Lawrence LP. It is a first-person account by an anthropomorphized baseball describing its experience of being hit out of Briggs Stadium by Mickey Mantle in a September 10, 1960 home run against the Detroit Tigers. Bizarre whimsy, as usual, was the order of the day.

By 1961 my father was freelancing cartoons for Paramount. In the cartoon's credits he's listed under animation design. However, in his personal ledger he billed and received for $1,950. I believe that would have been an unusally high amount just for the animation design, even for the abbreviated two-reller. Unfortunately, he didn't itemize his billing.

Addtionally, here's a letter that animator Johnny Gentilella wrote to my father, in which the final paragraph refers to Abner.

Abner was Paramount's submission for an Academy Award, although I don't know if it actually made the final list of nominees.

Coogy: Earth Day Along Route 66

2009-04-20T15:11:00.002-04:00

Earth Day isn't until this Wednesday, April 22, but I thought I'd get a jump on the matter. No difference, since this Coogy is from July 12, 1953, long before the official Day began in 1970. Go get your kicks.

Route 66 holds a romanticized appeal for certain folks. It was the first paved highway, way back when, that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. Via that route it went right through Arizona Coogy territory. My dad, by his own reckoning, drove across the country 13 times. and whether traveling back and forth from either New York or Florida to Los Angeles, eventually ended up on 66; that was all before this strip ran. Don't confuse the historic Route 66 with the modern interstate. These days it's unlikely you'll even find it on a map .

MGM: The Adventures of Mr. Crippen

2009-04-16T12:39:00.006-04:00

No drawings in this post, only writing. Hence, if you are the type who would rather not visualize images of what might have been, look away and all is forgiven.

My recent intentions have been to move away from my dad's MGM years, yet I continue to be compelled to spin freefall down the rabbit hole. Here's my latest semi-obsession: The Adventures of Mr. Crippen.

First of all, what about that title!? Most of you will undoubtedly glom onto the surname Crippen, for although it neither common or uncommon, there can be only one Crippen known to my dad, and that would be the animation industry's inimitable Fred. For the uninitiated, I'll provide a link to his imbd listing, but that hardly provides any real detail of the man's career. Why my dad chose the name, I don't know; but who cares? Perhaps a little inside joke.

In this character overview, my dad cuts a very broad path of Mr. Crippen's preternatural abilities. All but the title page are xeroxed, so I assume this got passed around the MGM offices.

Below is a story based on the above. What strikes me about this is that the idea does not seem to be conceived as a typical MGM half-hour one-shot, but rather as an episodic show. Can you imagine MGM doing a Saturday morning cartoon show at the dawn of the 1970s? What if my previous post, M. Flamingo was intended as such as well? And with the talent at the studio at that time, those of us young enough to remember might have had something substantial to bite on as an alternative to Filmation (which Anonymous commented upon in the previous post.) I can't say that if this were the case there would never have been a Filmation, but my dad might have been spared from writing "Sieze them!" a half-dozen times per episode.

MGM.FLAMINGO

2009-04-14T10:37:00.009-04:00

For several weeks now I've had an MGM folder with the title M. Flamingo And Others sitting next to my scanner. For a while the artwork mystified me. For my father, the drawing line is unique. Alternately, I kept thinking I either wanted to put this online or put it back in the box, because I couldn't quite put my finger on what was going on here.

It finally hit me yesterday and I kicked myself for not coming to the conclusion earlier. The somewhat squiggly and scratchy lines, drawn on MGM stock, do not really lend itself well to animation. But those long lean limbs that taper at the wrists and ankles, along with the pointy feet and the way the hands are (mostly) drawn, finally convinced me. My father, often a cartooning chameleon, is copping the style of a famous cartoonist, playwrite and screenwriter (to name just a few attributes) that he admired greatly.

You may disagree with me, but I've no doubt that in all these drawings my father is riffing somewhat on Jules Feiffer. In the 1960s-70s my father thought Feiffer had the best thing going, particularly as far as a newspaper strip was concerned. In the L.A. Times -- at the time -- the paper didn't even publish the strip in the usual comic strip pages; Feiffer had his own space near the editorial section, if I recollect correctly.

Below, even my father's penmanship seems to mildly take on

Feiffer's own calligraphic quality.

I find no online record that MGM ever made any Feifferesque animation. Coincidentally, Feiffer illustrated Juster's Phantom Tollbooth, which of course you know became an MGM production. My own take on all of these drawings is that, in an admittedly indirect way, they seem to take on Feiffer's spin on the middle-aged man dilemma...although maybe I'm just projecting out here.

Below, a pack of Tareyton cigarettes, probably atop

my father's drawing desk at the time, infiltrate their way into the picture.

In 1971 my dad, using his Academy card, took me to see Feiffer's Carnal Knowledge at the La Reina theater on Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks. (This was before the La Reina was turned into a mini-mall several decades ago.) Boy, did that movie ever do a number on my adolescent libido!

Miscellaneous MGM

2009-04-05T13:01:00.013-04:00

While I still have the MGM Animation/Visual Arts file handy, what do you make of this? It's drawn by my father, some of it on official MGM board paper. To my own knowledge MGM never issued a B.C. animated cartoon, although some of you might know different. Maybe it was a test that B.C.'s creator, Johnny Hart, vetoed. In this era MGM was co-opting the material of others -- Ted Geisel (Seuss), Tashlin (Bear That Wasn't) and Juster (Phantom Tollbooth), to name a few. In any event, to my memory, some of it looks like a straight rip from the actual strip.

Here are the type of drawings dear to my heart. Again at MGM, the inside innuendo stuff that cartoonists pass among themselves. Not knowing exactly what was happening at any particular moment which caused one cartoonist to playfully jab another, it's tough to say who drew what, and for what reason...but who cares. You'll notice a couple of recurring artists depicted.

Paramount - 1962: Crumley Cogwheel (I'll Raise You Ten) Treatment

2009-03-29T14:58:00.006-04:00

Earlier today I was wondering what next to post, when I happened to surf over to Cartoon Brew and saw that Jerry had posted Paramount's Crumley Cogwheel (HERE). Thanks Jerry. So, this one's a no-brainer. I think this is kind of interesting, because it's an early treatment my father did and is somewhat different than the finished cartoon: the working title is "I'll Raise You Ten", the liquid lunch gag ends differently, my father gives a few other gag ideas that didn't make it into the film, and also, he wrote the ending totally different! I wish I had a later version of the treatment (maybe I'll find one) to see if he wrote the changes himself. Enjoy.

The Phantom Tollbooth: MGM (1970): Irv Spector (Uncredited)

2009-03-23T21:05:00.013-04:00

In the personal collection of my father's leftovers, The Phantom Tollbooth, ironically, takes up more volume than practically anything else. Here's the most interesting piece I own: the early meeting minutes of the minds:

It's tough to say why a film falls flat. Sure, it's a simple exercise many of us play, to pick at a film after the fact. But who knows, decades later, why strong veteran talent can't bring a film up to, at the least, average level? Certainly, no one starts out to make a dull flick. My dad is uncredited on Phantom; not sure why, but it happens. Maybe Jones had a crystal ball and was doing my dad a favor. And now I’m undoing that favor. Ain’t it just like a son to revisit the sins of the father?

I got hundreds of pages just like the ones above.

However, here's how my dad found out about the non-credit: My dad, my good schoolfriend Danny (whose favorite book was The Phantom Tollbooth) and myself, went to see a screening of the film, probably at the Screenwriters Guild, where I saw a lot of screenings in the sixties. The lights go out, the opening credits roll, and my father's name is not to be found. We sat through the movie, drove Danny home, and then my father turned red and got real angry...to empahsize, I mean, REAL angry. This was one of maybe a half-dozen times in his life I have ever seen him like that -- where you hold your anger inside for a few hours, then turn lava red, and finally go off like a volcano. He said he would have walked out at the beginning were if not for us kids being there.

Phantom being, I believe, MGM Animation's final release before their demise, I think my father must have been on to another studio by the time of its release, and so had no idea. The minutes are from 1966 but the film wasn't released until 1970. I think it was finished in 1968 and held back.

Here are a few pages of my father's treatment. And I got a lot more just like them. My own feeling about the film is that episodic allegory that is too literal -- therefore defeating the purpose of allegory in the first place...no one requries allegory spelt out for them -- does not make for great film:

I happened to watch Phantom on TCM last Tuesday (I lasted about an hour and then went to bed.) On the above page, you can see my dad used Danny's name -- later changed to "Ralph" by Chuck's request -- because, in my father's words, Chuck thought names like "Ralph" were funnier. I can't argue with that. It's true. My name, "Paulie" was completely omitted from the final script, which I had been already made aware of at the time it happened. No big deal to me. By the way, no one ever called me "Paulie" in my youth, until 25 years later, when I became a Made Man in Little Italy. However, the dialogue about me "taking his drum lesson" was absolutely true at that time.

I'm deliberating whether or not to post pictures here, as all I have are a mess of faded old photocopies...okay then, I hear ya, hold on, I'll scan them. I doubt they're my father's. And, if not Chuck's, then Tony Rivera would be my guess.

So let's forget Phantom. Here's an anecdote even more interesting about another time when my father blew his stack. You gotta love stack blowing -- the true essence of a person: Earlier in the 1960s, Ed Graham (Linus) was over at our apartment. Me? I was still in elementary school at that point. Ed was, chronologically, a grown man. I was chatting in our living room along with the rest of the adults. I told Ed that I was one of the fastest runners in my school. Ed challenged me to a race, right there, on the sidewalks of Magnolia Blvd. I was game. We go downstairs. We race. He beats me. I figured he would too. We go back upstairs. My dad asks who won? I say Ed. Quiet from my dad. Ed and his wife leave about an hour later. My dad blows his stack! My dad yells something to the effect of, "Beating a kid! He always has to be so damn competitive!" Although I'm using damn as a euphemism.

The Bear That Wasn't: MGM (1967): Irv Spector, Additional Story

2009-03-21T11:28:00.014-04:00

As mentioned in a previous post, The Bear That Wasn't is the first of two cartoons that my father had a hand in that I hope to get online (I'm halfway there!) by the time the Chuck Jones evening hits Turner Classic Movies on March 24.

I thought Bear turned out quite nice, although animation and live film director Frank Tashlin -- whose children's book from which this cartoon is adapted -- was less than thrilled. (this last link leads to an interview that Michael Barrier conducted with Tashlin.) Tashlin's complaint was that once the cigarette was put into Bear's mouth, the concept of separation between beast and man was straddled.

Now, my father could often make liberal use of putting a cigarette in the mouth of many of his own creations, but I strongly doubt he had the pull in this cartoon for how the main character would look; I'd have to put that decision upon the director. Tashlin must have felt mighty close to this book. Either way, I'll be looking forward to seeing it again, and I won't be picky. Don't forget the wonderful Maurice Noble's own personal co-directing stamp on this picture.

All of the above are my father's boards, as well as the sketch that leads off the post. I'm not going to guess on the final six below, but obviously they come from two different hands. All sure look awesome!

A Couple Of Wiseguys Who Still Owe My Pop Some Dough

2009-03-19T18:21:00.006-04:00

Below is a draft of a letter my father wrote in reply to his good friend, cartoonist Larry Silverman (Yeah, I call everybody who ever worked in animation a cartoonist - it's an old habit). Larry was questioning the veracity of Wiseguy Graham, who dismantled the studio after the first successful season of The Linus The Lionhearted Show. At that point, Graham's name would appear in the end credits as "Produced and Directed by..."

Here's another real pip. Total B.S. wrapped in even more bureaucratic B.S. Forget about the signature on the bottom by wannabe-Wiseguy Saunders; Animation House was actually owned by Wiseguy Bob Mills. The best thing about this gig was that my dad got out of Los Angeles for a bit, and if you knew the L.A. animation scene in '73, maybe my dad actually won out...uh, on second thought...

I'd write more, but my computer is hung-up calculating the compounded interest...

Coogy: Shakespeare - Son Of Macbeth; Alas Poor Ghost (5 of 5)

2009-03-17T18:37:00.011-04:00

If you are the kind of person who checks dates, then you might have noticed that the above Sunday is actually two weeks after the previous episode; that's because the intervening weekend was Christmas, when all good comic strip creators are expected to produce a seasonal strip to make their audience warm and fuzzy. Here's how my dad solved the discontinuity:

Coogy: Shakespeare - Some Classy Dames Get Catty...Oopsie, I Meant Chatty (4 of 5)

2009-03-17T09:39:00.003-04:00

Coogy: Shakespeare - Coogy Plays To The Audience (3 of 5)

2009-03-16T06:27:00.003-04:00

Coogy: Shakespeare -- Catch the Conscience of a Bear (2 of 5)

2009-03-15T10:02:00.003-04:00

Coogy: William Shakespeare Speaks Through Big Moe (1 of 5)

2009-03-14T08:40:00.006-04:00

Well, the Ides of March are just about upon us, which makes me think of Julius Caesar, which in turn makes me think of William Shakespeare, which again in turn makes me think of a Coogy serial. In truth, these five Sundays have nothing to do with the Ides, or Caesar...and my father certainly had nothing to do with Shakespeare. However, the Bard will make posthumous appearances throughout. They're from 1951, there are five of them, and they'll be posted in the next five consecutive days. Here's the first:

By now, you might have intuited that on some occasions that I post the strip -- which are already shot and imported into my ancient Windows ME computer -- then I'm biding time with you while I ready other posts. That would be true in this case.

As a head's up, these other posts will correspond to the Chuck Jones Olympiad Marathon Event that Turner Classic Movies will air on March 24th, and for which my dad did some damage on two of the productions: one credited, the other, not. You would do right by going over to Mark Mayerson's blog and see the Jones schedule he posted a few months back. That's where I was first alerted to it. Thanks, Mark!

THE RING A DING KID: Have You Seen Me? STILL WAITING!

2009-03-12T11:18:00.002-04:00

What must I do to see this cartoon? Post a big-eyed Walter Keane portrait? (look up Keane on your own time). As far as totally complete Paramount/Famous storyboards, I have one left (not Ringading) -- and I vow not to put that complete storyboard online until someone can show me the actual Ringading Kid cartoon. Get crackin'! I ain't foolin'.

Paramount-Famous Studios: In The Nicotine - Model Sheets

2009-03-08T11:24:00.004-04:00

Three model sheets (please pardon the seams) drawn by my father for the Paramount-Famous Studios cartoon, In The Nicotine. Synchronistically, serendiptitously, or just plain ol' coincidence, Cartoon Brew has posted the cartoon.

No story credit on this cartoon. Animation layout only.

You'll notice that his payment included monies for a title Poison To Poison. I'm not aware of a cartoon by that name, but I'm thinking it was an earlier working title for The Plot Sickens. Anybody have a different take on that? I'm open to it.

Everything's Bigger In Texas

2009-03-07T21:43:00.005-05:00

So? Where's it from? I happen to really enjoy this drawing, although I've no idea if it's a one-off when the muse struck or if it belongs to an actual longer cartoon. By the paper and drawing style it looks like Paramount. Also, in my father's freelance ledger -- listed under Paramount, 1959, but might well have been released in 1960 -- I have a job listed simply as "Rabbit and Turtle".

THE RING A DING KID: Have You Seen Me?
In the near future I'll be posting a very short segment of boards and the story treatment to my father's Famous cartoon from the early sixties, The Ring A Ding Kid. I've never seen it, nor do I know anyone who has. But maybe YOU have seen it. If so, how did it turn out?: Stud or Dud? Even better, if anyone has the cartoon in a form that can be put online, I'd love to link it with the post. Much obliged, pardnuh'.

Famous Studios: The Plot Sickens (1961)

2009-03-04T11:36:00.007-05:00

Over at Cartoon Brew, Jerry has posted one of my dad's very early sixties Famous Studios cartoon, The Plot Sickens. I wish I had some exciting additional items to accompany it, but mostly all I have is this entry from his personal ledger. In it, you can see that he thought of it as a "Hicthcockian(sic) type story." What a cartoon's title would eventually become was usually different than my dad's working title. Here he calls it "The Plot Thickens". Somewhere I have a couple of his billing invoices that he sent to Paramount, pay-as-you-go. I'd never locate them quickly enough to make this post timely, but in them you would see that at one time the title was referred to as "The Plot Quickens". Any which way - thickens, quickens, sickens -- you might want to go over there and take a look.

A Touch More Pink

2009-02-28T17:23:00.011-05:00

Here are two Pink Panther model sheets. Both are Xeroxes. I didn't crop these, they appear here just as I have them. This first one is dated 1964.

Below, this next model sheet is dated 1968. You can see that it would be identical to the one above it, except someone excised the bottom-right pose where PP is smoking a cigarette, rearranged a few of the bottom headshots, and rewrote "Pink Panther" where the original smoking Pink would have been. Maybe the U.S. Surgeon General was cracking the whip in the direction of the FCC (right after their salaries were paid from tobacco taxes).

Striking Poses

A Bit Of The Walk

So now, in this and the previous post, you have some examples of boards, models and walking posture. All you would really need to go off and make your own storyboard is some official DFE board stationary. Hey look! -- here comes some now. I even formatted it for you so that it will print out correctly on 8.5 x 10. Go have fun.

For the time being, Spectorphile is moving on to different items. Pink and other DFE related work will return in the future.

Irv Spector at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises: The Pink Panther: Gong With The Pink - (Partial) Storyboard

2009-02-26T13:48:00.010-05:00

Released in 1971 as Gong With The Pink, you can see that this is a preliminary board with the working title Gong With The Wind. My big regret of course is that I don't nearly have all that much of it. However, the only thing that might be more rare than a Pink Panther itself (beast or gem) is perhaps a storyboard from the show, so why look a gift Panther in the mouth? Perhaps even more rare, it's a storyboard without dialogue -- so let me get out of the way and not ruin it with my own.

(The next two pages contain a facial sterotype gag which might be offensive to some blog viewers. If you feel you could be one of those people then please skip over them. I do not endorse or apologize for it -- I just present it.)

These last two board pages are not numbered. I'm appending them and will leave it to your imagination to fit them within.

Scrapple

2009-02-23T18:03:00.008-05:00

URGLE! It's a LUCKY DUCK One-Pager

2009-02-22T18:34:00.006-05:00

I've seen a couple of single-page Lucky Ducks that are not from an eponymous titled comic book, but this one is new to me. It's from Supermouse #28 -- sent my way courtesy of Bob Jaques. Thanks Bob!
Re the gag -- I did a brief search online to see if perhaps it came from something such as a Marx Bros film, as my dad was not above borrowing from them. I didn't see any, but I did see a "night watchman" - "day's work" referenced as early as 1898, as a U.S. Supreme Court case. Apparently you can make a day's pay for a night's work (knight puns need not apply, thank you.) Pay up, Lucky!

Clampett Letter

2009-02-18T06:21:00.006-05:00

There was a comment made in The Great Foodini and Pinhead post of several days ago where it was speculated that the partial boards I put up may never have gotten as far as the actual animation stage; also, that the Bunins -- long-time puppeteers -- might be have been making an attempt to market their puppets. The astute and natural association was to bring to mind Bob Clampett and Beany and Cecil. With that, it seems as good a reason as any to post a letter that my dad received from Bob in response to inquiring about a job. This letter comes about a year- and-a-half after the Foodini job.

The response was just a tad late, as by the postmark my family was already back together again, in Los Angeles (one month at this point -- this, after living in NY and my dad having been back and forth between the coasts a few times, trying to get himself permanently established). And, of course, it was sent to my dad c/0 Paramount. Likely Paramount sent it back west with other correspondence. But that's the trite information. The meat is below, so I'll just get out of the way and let you read the letter for yourself. Comments and speculation always welcome.

Somewhat OT, but for clarification and the fact that I hate to let a great guy go forgotten, the Rabin that Bob mentions is Jack Rabin, a long-time and extremely close friend of my dad's from pre-WWII days. Jack was a fine artist, and I think might have been at Fleischer, because it's certain they knew each other in Miami. I think he was also one of a group of single Fleischer employees that rented a large house down there, on the edge of some glades, and as my dad told me a couple of times, "Sitting around on the big front porch after work, watching the sun go down, passing around a bottle, and having a really great time." Anyway, Jack got out of the animation racket soon after the war and went into animated film titles and live action effects (maybe the "live action" being how he was acquainted with Bob.) Eventually, I was at his office a couple of times in the late 60s-early-70s in Hollywood. Roger Corman had his own office in the same building. Each time we'd go past Corman's door, Jack would half-whisper to me, "That's Roger Corman's office. He's very successful in film." (or something close to that). I still get a laugh thinking about it now.

Hanna-Barbera: Devlin

2009-02-16T01:21:00.015-05:00

I know what you're thinking. Thoughts along the lines of: What, no ancient storyboards?; How come no President's Day Coogy?; and not least, What's with the 1970's crap?! Personally, I think the 70s were the nadir as far as Hollywood animation goes. The two most common gripes I remember from my dad throughout the 1960's-70's were: 1) seasonal layoffs, and 2) having to write "Seize them!" in every other panel of a Filmation board -- I've no doubt he'd rather have been back at 1930's Mintz, sweeping pencil shavings while peering over the shoulder of an animator, scoping tricks of the trade.

Yet, you can't fault a guy or gal from still trying to do their best work, no matter the circumstances or era. That's why I like these model sheets for H&B's Devlin (1974). Someone -- not my dad -- did a bang-up job on them. Someone with talent took the time to think it out and lay it out and draw it out, regardless of the gig. It's been a long time, and I might be totally off the mark, but I think that someone was a Bruno: John or Joe. The former worked on the show and I believe is still working (so John, if you read this, drop a line), and the latter (by the looks of imdb) might have saved his own soul and gotten out of animation while the gettin' was good. But whomever, this van is rockin' and you can indeed bother knockin' (with your comments) . What I do remember is my dad bringing home some motorcycle drawings that he thought were totally boss, and I thought so too. Why motorcycles? The character Ernie Devlin was based on the famed daredevil stunt-cyclist Evel Kneivel. Ernie and the other Devlins got involved in the world's socio-dramatic ills and tried to help make our planet -- well, The United States, anyway -- a better place for you and me. Kind of like The Mod Squad, but with better wheels.

So go ahead. Take a tour of the Devlin van.

My dad did (surprise) storyboard on this show. According to the episode guide, below must be from episode 3, Save That Lion. As was his style, a trip to the library was in order, on this occasion to check out a book on Clyde Beatty, at one time the world's most famous circus lion tamer.

I'm not positive but by the looks of his drawings below, Beatty would seem to be represented in this particular cartoon.

Here's some color cels from the show to liven up the blog. My thought is that perhaps I could get a fancy embossment stamper made to give them an official look, and if someone out there knows how to ~~forge~~ imitate a fCaHmUoCuKs cJaOrNtEoSonist's signature, we could sell them for lots of dough at some fancy-pants gallery.

This first one with the immigration officers must be from episode 13, The Stowaway. You can make up your own dialogue for the guy with his hand up. I go for "Adios amigo."

What do you make of this final drawing of Devlin characters? My dad, for reasons we will never know, spontaneously has them accompanied by the Pink Panther. Was he making a connection between the lions and PP? Today's educators tell us that making connections is a stroke of...I dunno...something. (Dad, what the hell were you doing?) Pink was a DePatie-Freleng Enterprises production. My dad had already done some work for them. I got some boards. That's my connection, and you can expect one in the future.

Aniforms: The Great Foodini and Pinhead

2009-02-13T18:05:00.006-05:00

The Great Foodini and Pinhead were puppet characters that evolved from The Lucky Pup Show, created by puppeteers Morey and Hope Bunin. (At some point they incorporated as Aniforms, Inc.) Akin to the likes of The Howdy Doody Show and Kukla, Fran and Ollie, the original show aired on CBS and ABC in the early days of television. The show was produced in New York City and ran in a handful of major cities across the United States. The Bunins and Foodini have an interesting history, right on through at least the 1960s, including a collaboration with David Seville, of Chipmunks fame.

(After prowling the internet, the best single site I could find on this subject is HERE, and my information above is very intensively cribbed and extremely concentrated from it. There's much more, including a clip of the show's opening, music, and comics.)

I'm not precisely sure what was happening with Foodini in 1961, but apparently they needed a "traditional" animated cartoon: enter Irv Spector. Personally I find it interesting, although not necessarily surprising, that my dad drew this with one foot planted in the Paramount/Famous style and the other crossing the line into UPA territory. At the time this was made, my father was bouncing between the coasts, freelancing for the former and developing ideas for the latter. This was aside from the commercial and other work he was doing, and at least one freelance job that I know of for Hubley. So, to my amatuer eyes, while Foodini has a decent dose of Paramount, Pinhead's construction is reminiscent of that UPA style -- eyes on one side of the head, form/shape, etc. Anyone out there who remembers this show, please drop a comment. The six board pieces in this post are all I have...

...as well as his billing invoice itemizing story adaptation, storyboard and direction...

...and a page from his personal freelance ledger.

Irv Spector at Ed Graham Prods: INA - Cinderella, Shooting Script

2009-02-10T11:03:00.010-05:00

Here's the revised shooting script for INA (Insurance Company of North America) that my dad did for Ed Graham Prods. This one is based upon Cinderella. If you've been following these on Spectorphile (and I know you have) then you'll naturally recall that there were five of these spots: Graham's idea to rip off -- ...er, I mean paying tribute to without paying royalties to -- Jay Ward's Fractured Fairy Tales, right down to the Edward E. Horton narration.

Cinderella should be a little more visually interesting than the other shooting scripts due to the fact that I've scanned it from my dad's own hand-on-paper, rather than the B&W stats. The final animation was done by the inimitable Dick Thompson. Other than that, my dad did the direction, animation direction/layout and background layout. On the few occasions you come across the scrawl of blue ballpoint pen, that would be Graham, exercising his creative might and unable to control his excitement over finally learning what "truck-in" means.

(click on all to enlarge)

~~Next post I'll put up my remaining tidbits for Cinderella.~~

Those Who Dwell Among The Rocks

2009-02-03T20:53:00.006-05:00

There's a time-honored and not all that uncommon tradition among cartoonists to once in a great while draw human figures among the backgrounds or secondary textures of their work. My personal take on this is that it's a fleeting feeling: the moment is ripe, the whim hits, and bang! it's on the page before they know it. I'm no artist, but I'd venture the urge is irresistable. (Maybe some artists reading this can elaborate on the phenomenon.) My dad was no different. Somewhere I have a storyboard panel where the same thing happens, although I can't say that it makes it way to finished animation form. However, below are two Coogy's where this has occured and there's no reason to think it didn't carry over to published form in the Trib. The two examples I've excerpted are quite easy to spot from the beginning (this is not a puzzle page). If you've been following the Coogys I've posted then it's no secret that my dad had a love for the landscape of the American Southwest. Long before Coogy was conceived, he'd driven across the country about a dozen times (thirteen, I think).

From March 21, 1954:

re the above: In real life, "Bea" is my mother, and my father actually did grow up virtually on the border of "Watts", CA -- and so you can easily deduce who really did live at "1619".

From May 2, 1954:

Comic Book Interlude: Rocky Rabbit - "Out Of My Mine" (From Supermouse #31)

2009-02-02T13:28:00.005-05:00

Rocky Rabbit was Lucky Duck's foil in all four of the Lucky Duck title issues, and it's interesting to me that Rocky got his own story in a Supermouse (#31, June 1954). The final Lucky Duck, #8, was published in 1953, so either this story sat on the publisher's shelf -- both Supermouse and Lucky were Literary Enterprise, Standard Comics -- or my father knocked it out close to a year later.

It's doubtful I would have come upon this story without Scott Shaw reviewing the issue in his old Oddball Comics column at Comic Book Resources. Thanks Scott!

Also, I plan on running into NYC for the NY Comic Con this Saturday, 2/7/09. My plan is to rummage through the used and abused golden age stacks for more of these sort of stories that appeared outside of the usual titles. Any readers of this blog who are also going and feel like hooking up, shoot me an email at the address in my profile.

In The Event You Were Unable To Attend...

2009-01-28T08:39:00.010-05:00

(The Miss Joan Crawford seated next to then Mayor Wagner?

Mommy Dearest indeed!)

Coogy: Mary Mo (Pt.5) - Plus a Switcheroo

2009-01-26T14:14:00.011-05:00

Original from Nov. 15th, 1953.

Same episode as published in the Tribune dated November 15th, 1953. What's different?

(Color scan compliments of All Things Ger)

Yes, that's right. On my originals, the top tier of the final episode was swapped with the top tier of the penulitmate episode. Here's the tier that was originally on this episode, which I cropped from my own orignal Pt. 4, posted previously:
What happened to my beloved originals? The NY Herald Tribune would offer their strips to their syndication papers as either a 2/3rd page or 1/2 page, In other words, the papers would publish either two full strips on a single page of newspaper, or three strips on a single page at two tiers per strip -- either way adding up to six tiers per page. If you look back on the Coogy originals I've blogged, almost all would still make sense if the top tier was lopped off and the final two tier were run by themselves. Often, the top tier was meant to be a little gag by itself. The top tier was removed physically to do this. Hence, when it was time to reattach the top tier, some absentminded drone at the Tribune must have swapped the top tiers from episodes 4 and 5. I always knew something was amiss with these originals in regard to how the 4th declared the "Final Episode" and yet the 5th episode did not, and also how Mark Dextrose's drive on the NY State Thruway was disjointed. However, I've been looking at them for so long I eventually just took it for granted. It wasn't until I looked closely at the color scan that it finally made sense to me what had happened. Okay, so not the biggest mystery to you, but I can now sleep easier.

Coogy: Mary Mo (Pt. 4)

2009-01-25T21:49:00.004-05:00

From November 8. 1953:

(Although the title panel states "The Final Episode", there's one more to follow. That's just like a soap opera, ain't it?)

Coogy: Mary Mo (Pt. 3)

2009-01-24T14:27:00.005-05:00

A soap opera offering hope to those discouraged souls afraid to face life as seen on television.

From November 1st, 1953:

Coogy: Mary Mo (Pt. 2) -- Boy Governess

2009-01-23T17:40:00.004-05:00

From October 25th, 1953:

Irv Spector's Coogy Presents "Mary Mo", A Soap Opera So Sudsy You Can Slip On It

2009-01-22T21:17:00.006-05:00

In 1953 my father employed his Sunday strip Coogy as a parody of Mary Worth, the long running soap opera strip (as if it needs an introduction of its own). I believe this was published not very long after *Harvey Kurtzman's own send-up of the strip and a few years before Al Capp's Mary Worm. For this run I actually have all five strips, which I plan to run daily, so you won't have to wait a month of Sundays. I'm posting the first here a couple of hours this side of Friday (NY time), so expect the second installment Saturday.

From October 18th, 1953:

*re Kurtzman and the rumor that my father turned him down as a contributor to early MAD magazine: This is mentioned in the Overstreet Guide and several places on the web. I do recall my father mentioning Kurtzman's name on occasion, but honestly, all these years later in regard to MAD, I'm not 100% certain if the MAD offer is something my father positively told me or if I'm substituting my own memory for the persistent rumors! Likely, I think it's true. Possibly they were acquainted as early as the WWII years, but certainly they knew each other soon afterward during the comic book years. If any reader of this blog is the contributor who offered this tidbit to Overstreet, I'd love to hear from you. Other Spectorphile readers who have now seen enough Coogy, select comic stories and other work are welcome to gladly chime in with their own opinion -- it's all in fun. You can even say "No Way is this or his other work MAD material!" with no offence taken. Check out these coming Mary Mo Coogys, apply it to his other work and what you think you've gleaned from his personality and style of humor, and if you're game (all 8 of you) let's hear what you think. And if you've read this far, more power to you.

Comic Books Lead To Pornography

2009-01-20T10:45:00.008-05:00

In 1962-63 my father did some work for "men's" magazines with titles such as

and

How did he descend from the sublime heights of cartoon grace into this ungodly debauched disgrace? If you recall, two posts ago I ended my Squeeks comic book post with the mention that his friend Harold, who edited Squeeks for Lev Gleason, would "lead him down the garden path." Well, Harold eventually ended up as an editor for a publishing house that put out these magazines. So my dad picked up some work. All of the published work I have is writing, fortunately or unfortunately -- depending upon you point of view. The illustrations that accompany each article are NOT my dad's -- it's by the magazine's regular artists. Here are the first page(s) of several pieces, with usually ran about four pagers per.

Now, I do have several pieces of his artwork and writing along these same lines in various stages of completion. These were never published -- believe me, I've scoured all the magazines many times over with a fine tooth comb in an attempt to find it...soley in the interest of historical purpose, of course! In these, it appears to me that my father was looking for a slant on men's humor different than the average one-panel risque gags one usually finds. And although they're quite rough I like them, or at least their potential, more so than the above.

The Martooni is probably my favorite

The title for this is The Constipated Serutan,

and describes what happens to middle-aged men in both body and mind.

HR 7927: National Cartoonist Society Goes Before The United States Senate Committee on Post Office and Civil Services

2009-01-17T12:21:00.016-05:00

In 1962 the National Cartoonist Society, NY -- including many of America's top cartoonists such as Rube Goldberg and Milt Caniff -- went in front of the U.S. Senate to protest the proposed raise in postal rates for 2nd and 3rd class mail. Their argument was that "small magazines and newpapers either will be forced out of business or will curtail their budgets for art.", affecting the livlihood of cartoonists, and that these "...are vital to the growth of cartooning. It is here that the nonconformist idea can be published...that the young cartoonist can develop."

But reading this is oh so much more: it's the American way, which you'll realize after you've read Jerry Robinson's testimony. In fact, those above quotes are as dry as it gets. I've posted it all in the original double-spaced easy and breezy manner, not just to fill up blog space. If you read nothing else, check out Rube Goldberg's wonderful 3-page testimony, and Jerry Robinson's 19 pages are quickest, coolest and most informative history of comics in America you'll ever read. I guarantee it. I've broken it all down into headings and sub-sections so you can pick what you want.

Bill Holman introduces Rube Goldberg. Calls him 150 years old!

Rube Goldberg

"What's the difference if comic art shrivels on the vine?
We still have pinball and television"

Milt Caniff

Jerry Robinson, Secretary of the NCS
Introduction

(Skip the introduction if you must,
but you might get hooked starting on page 3)

Benjamin Franklin, Father of Cartooning

Era of Thomas Nast
Beginning of Regular Newspaper Cartoons

Early Comic Strips

Favorites 1930 to Current (1962)

Panel Gag Cartoons

America Grew Up With The Funnies

Serve America Abroad Too

HR 7927 Effect On Free Press

Our Society Serves The Country

Closing - Formal Action of the Cartoonist Society

Aftermath: Postal rates went up anyway, and here we are still.

Comic Book Interlude: Squeeks - TV Jitters

2009-01-15T22:52:00.006-05:00

When it comes to comic books some people will read anything. Don't make me name names, but this post just might be for you. Squeeks the monkey and his foil Tiger Tom are the poor person's Lucky Duck and Rocky Rabbit, which I've posted previously. In fact Squeeks #5 published by Lev Gleason, from which this story hails, is from June 1954, written and drawn in the same era as Lucky. It shows a similar inking line and plot device, except less of each -- meaning a chase just for the sake of chasing, with a lot of scenery destroyed in the process. Nothing wrong with that really, and the pages tend to look better (to me) the larger I scan them. My father also did the covers for this issue and #4. Those human-hand looking feet on Squeeks kinda creep me out...or maybe I'm only jealous because I don't have opposing thumbs on my own feet.

I'm not certain who created Squeeks and Tom. The covers of the first three issues are by Charles Biro and the editor(s) are different. I'll know more when I can get my hands on some copies, hopefully if/when I make it to the NY Comic Con in a few weeks.

Speaking of editors, you might have noticed the name Harold Straubing as editor on this cover. Harold and his family became long-time friends of ours. In an upcoming post we'll revisit, well, a different kind of work my father did for him, almost ten years after this, when Harold led my dad down the garden path toward...

Paramount/Famous Storyboard: Top Cat (2nd half)

2009-01-12T22:56:00.017-05:00

Following is the second half of Top Cat. That's the good news. The less-than-good-news is that about three-quarters through the film there is a song and dance number, "When You're Wearing The Right Kind of Hat", that was obviously yanked from these boards. My best guess is that it was given to the animators and composer to work from and never returned. So, I will never know for certain whether my father wrote the lyrics. And, as the credits on the Harveytoon set are all homogenized, it's hard to know who did what. At the least, they must have worked off his key board poses. I say that because I've now seen this cartoon more times in the past couple of days than I care to mention, and much of the finished product is spot on with the boards. More on this in reference to a journal entry page at the end of this post.

So, last we left off, J.C. Bandwagon had sent off his top execs to find a new star for Blockbuster Pictures, only to have them roll snake eyes and come back empty handed. Bandwagon decides to search himself, but ends up in jail after his overture to a dame is mistaken for sexual harassment. Now, he flies off to...

"Hat" song and dance would have been inserted here, between boards 67 & 85.
This is the reason that so many hats appear in board 85
-- they are at the end of the missing sequence.

Here again with missing boards. Film ends with
the music cued and Top Cat doing a small bit while repeating
the last line of the song.

Below I've scanned a page from the personal freelance ledger my dad kept during this period. At the risk of being tacky I've left his payments uncensored. As you can see, he also did the layout on Top Cat, as well as the subsequently listed "Cat 2", which would have been Cool Cat Blues. Within this latter cartoon he gets a small stipend for story development. In fact the story payments are billed much differently than the lump some for the first Cat. I imagine that since there were several more Cat cartoons they wanted some sort of recurring theme and that my dad, or someone, decided that theme should be music. Hey, what else did they expect for a measly $200? A Russian novel? Hence, Cool Cat Blues and especially after that, Bopin' Hood, retain that motif.

By the way, the first entry in the journal, "Boris", refers to Galaxia, which I know you all went and took a look at as per my instructions in the previous post. I only make that bold remark because I don't have many storyboards at all, and I know a lot of you favor them (the boards, not the snooty remarks). So until next time, as The Cat would suggest, wear the right kind of hat!