Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Dead Python

Here's a video of two excerpts from the memorial service for Graham Chapman, the deceased member of Monty Python. [CAUTION: Contains language.]

• Posted at 11:46 AM · LINK

Morning P.S.

And I should have mentioned that that neat page on the Oswald the Rabbit cartoons is the work of David Gerstein and Pietro Shakarian. Individually and collectively, David and Pietro have been responsible for digging up much valuable info on classic animation and have selflessly put it up on the web for all. The Classic Felix the Cat Page is one example. The Columbia Crow's Nest is another.

• Posted at 8:35 AM · LINK

The Other Great Cartoon Wabbit

These are posters from the Oswald the Rabbit cartoons. As you may know, Walter Lantz's company inherited the character when Walt Disney, who started the Oswald series, lost the rights to the character in a dispute with his distributor. What you may not know is that after Walt and before Walter, another studio produced more than two dozen cartoons of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. It was the Mintz Studio, composed largely of Disney artists who'd been hired away behind Walt's back. How were the cartoons they made? I don't know. I've never seen one...and neither have a lot of animation buffs. But I have seen a terrific new wing of Jerry Beck's website that documents what is known about this "lost" body of work. This is another one of those Internet projects that make you say, "Boy, I'm glad somebody did this." And who knows? One of these days, I may even get to see one of these cartoons.

• Posted at 1:00 AM · LINK