Christmas In October

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.

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

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.

Irv Spector at Ed Graham Prods: INA - Red Riding Hood; Scattered Boards and Layouts, Assorted Rough Stuff

Here's the second part of my father's work for the INA (Insurance Company of North America) Red Riding Hood sixty-second commercial spot. All I have are bits and pieces of boards and layouts. However, since I know you read the shooting script in the previous post you'll have no trouble filling in the rest with that keen sense of photographic recall you all possess. Of course the wolf eats Red, Grandma and the insurance agent at the end -- don't you wish you could do that? At least to an insurance agent?

Here's another small section of boards done a bit differently, and then a few sheets of layout. After that it gets mighty thin, possibly clickworthy only for hardcore fans and squirrels.

Irv Spector at Ed Graham Prods: INA -- Red Riding Hood - Shooting Script & Character Designs

Back in November I covered Jack and the Beanstalk, which was the first of five 60-second commercial spots that my father did for Ed Graham Prods. They were described as "Very adult fables" and were narrated by Edward Everett Horton, who of course also did the same for Jay Ward's Fractured Fairy Tales.

My next couple of posts will deal with another of the commericals, Red Riding Hood, which was the fourth spot produced. On all five, my father did the direction, animation layouts and background layouts, and assigned each separate spot to a different animator. For Red, I'm pretty sure Tom Ray was the animator. My dad had known him since their days together in the 1930s at Leon Schlesinger Studios. Tom had originally been selected for the second spot, Cinderella, but fell ill and was replaced by Dick Thompson. However, on the direction of one of the animation layouts (next post) my father mentions him by his first name. It is also my belief that Tom did the character designs for all five spots.

If you enjoy pencil work like I do, these might be worth your while to click on and enlarge.

Below is the shooting script for Red Riding Hood. I don't think they're really intended to be as terribly exciting to look at as storyboards and layouts; more along the lines of simply setting out the story. I mean, where's Grandma?! There'll be more detail in my next post. Nonetheless, I find them fascinating in their own right and the illustration ain't exactly chopped liver. I'm not certain who drew them and so won't make any claims or venture guesses. The originals must have been done in color -- unfortunately my set is b&w stat. That's Ed Graham's blue pen scrawl on the bottom of some.

Of note: Tom Ray is still around and working! You can check out his website here. I don't know if any animation historian or journalist has been out to interview him in the recent past, but if not, what are you waiting for? I wrote Tom a few years back, as our families used to get together in the 1960s. I asked him about the fantastic western street I still remember that he had built himself in his backyard(!), complete with saloon, general store, etc. Can you imagine? He told me it's now in a museum in Culver City.