Influence on cartoons

When I watch films I don't just watch them for fun, I always try to learn from them...Well that's a half lie, because learning from them is also fun!
One of my favorite things to do is "dig in" to cartoon/film history, especially to look into the influence behind my favorites, It's rare, but I'm very pleased when I find it.

John K. has often noted Peter Lorre as one of his favorite actors, The first film I happened to see with him was "The Maltese Falcon", I caught it one night on TCM, and I was hooked from the first minute...That film is totally cut to the chase! They never waste any time! The characters are so strong, and the pace was so tight, it's as if John Huston had me hooked by a fishing rod and pulling me into the TV, I just couldn't sit back in my chair. The scene that most interested me happened in the climax.

When John K. took Steve, kali and I to dinner last summer, we talked about our favorite Film Noir, John's favorite is THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, I mentioned that mine was the MALTESE FALCON...and that I've been meaning to ask him: Near the end of the Film: Peter Lorre snaps at Sydney Greenstreet....and before I could finish my sentence, John completes it: "That's where Ren and Stimpy came from!"

The Maltese Stimpy
Uploaded by toonamir

In his commentary on His favorite cartoon "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery" John notes a hilarious scene in it may as well be influenced by the same wonderful film

Wilmer the piggy
Uploaded by toonamir

I like surfing the internet because I often find material that both inspires me and teaches me, As I was putting together the link list, I found Rosemary Clooney's wonderful performance of the song "Blues in the Night"



This was a great discovery because I often heard references to this song in many of Bob Clampett's Cartoons, Notably the banned and brilliant "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs"

Coal Black: Blues in the Night
Uploaded by toonamir

If you'd like to see the complete cartoon in it's original release quality visit Steve at the ASIFA-Hollywood Archive


There's still a ton of stuff to discover, and Blogs can help us get there, so I hope folks such as Will Finn and Pete Emslie will continue commenting with "Useless Trivia"!

By the way, do you need a clue to find out which American cartoon the Miyazaki Lupin episode is based on? I'll give you a hint: It's a Fleischer cartoon from the 1940s.

Copy isn't a four letter word!

Every once in a twice I break away from school work to do some hardcore cartoon copying.
There's no shame in that, vice versa, if you learn from established greatness, you don't need to re-invent the wheel, We have yet to see it invented better than by the first generation of Hollywood cartoonists.
Following the lines of the ol’ masters helps me to look at my construction skills, see what needs work and what’s already working. Trying to emulate my heroes and choosing my favorite drawings also helps me keep my integrity, in case it has been sitting on the bench following instructions for too long.

It's hard to explain the appeal of Coal Black, simply because there's so much of it!
Leave alone it's politically incorrectnesses, it's one of the most explosive and lively short subjects ever made, I love Snow White, but the immense range of emotion and expression Clampett cramps into a seven minute short was never topped by Disney storytelling, even with complete features.

Mitch Kennedy and I keep talking about the what-if of animation history, can you imagine what would happen if the Clampett unit was handed to Rod Scribner instead of Bob McKimson? and if Fleischer had outlasted Disney?

Over the break from school I would copy one cartoon and one anatomy image every day, here's an unfinished page.