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Cohen’s Cartoon Corner: Feb 2019 by Karl Cohen
Lee Unkrich takes an Oscar for 'Coco' in 2017. photo courtesy Pixae
Unkrich Retires from Pixar
Lee Unkrich, the Oscar-winning director behind “Toy Story 3” and “Coco”, is leaving Pixar Animation Studios, marking the end of an era.
He joined the Emeryville, California-based studio 25 years ago, when it was making its inaugural feature, “Toy Story”, on which he served as an editor.
He went on to co-direct some of the company’s early outings—“Toy Story 2”, “Monsters, Inc. and “Finding Nemo”—now considered classics before taking the reins solo with the billion dollar-grossing “Toy Story 3”.
"I'm not leaving to make films at another studio,” Lee told Pixar employees. “Instead, I look forward to spending much-needed time with my family and pursuing interests that have long been on the back burner."
Unkrich is leaving on a high note: “Coco” made over $807 million worldwide and won the best animated feature Academy Award at the 2018 Oscar ceremonies. He is said not to have started on any new projects.
San Francisco’s Animated February
For a great annual survey of new animation, check out “Drawn, Painted, and Pixelated” (93 min) at SF Indie Fest on February 10th or 11th, 12:30 pm or 7:15 pm, respectively.
“D, P, and P” features new animation from around the world, with a wide range of styles and content, and titles like “Trump Bites”, “1 Beehive Street”, “Gissando”, “Dahlia”, “God I Need A Girlfriend”, “Kevin Kline Live #3”, “I Can't Bring You Away” and more.
I’ve seen several. Favorites include “Gissando”, an impressive stop-/slow- motion study using real objects by a USC student, Bill Plympton’s “Trump Bites”, which includes his “Trump and Putin: a Love…” You will be surprised, perhaps even shocked.
“I Had Too Much To Think Last Night” is a one-minute crazy journey into the artist’s mind—a tad too much LSD, perhaps?—while “1 Beehive Street” is probably a prize winner from Eastern Europe. About unusual activities in an apartment complex, it delighted me with all of its surprises.
Some of the other films, like “Dahlia” and “Subway Commute”, were probably selected for sheer sexy artwork-appeal, while “God I Need A Girlfriend” shows animation can also be unsettling.
The real red-headed girl from Peanuts revealed. photo courtesy C Schultz
Schulz’s Red Head Girl Solved
A new exhibit at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, “Behind Peanuts: The Little Red-Haired Girl” (January 31-August 4, 2019), explores the real-life story behind Charlie Brown’s unrequited love. In point of fact, it reflects Schulz’s own one-sided romance from 1959 which ended when Carol Johnston Wood rejected his marriage proposal.
Although Wood was mentioned many times in Schulz’s strip, she appeared only once, as a simple silhouette. On Valentine’s Day (February 14), admission to the museum, in Santa Rosa, is free for red-headed people.
Cartoon Art Museum Shows Rare Animation
From the earliest hand-drawn cartoons to today’s blockbuster CGI features, all animation begins with an artist and an idea. “A Treasury of Animation”, the new show at the Cartoon Art Museum (781 Beach Street, SF), features original production art and follows the evolution of animation from the 1920s onward.
Little known is that “Crusader Rabbit”, the first animated series screened on TV, in 1950, was made in Berkeley by J. Ward and Alex Anderson.
Crusader Rabbit was made in Berkeley by J. Ward and Alex Anderson. drawings: courtesy Cartoon Museum
The pioneering series was still in reruns in ‘60s, when many boomers rose at dawn on Saturdays to catch episodes. Each was an adventure with the intrepid rabbit and his friend, Ragland T. Tiger; once they went boating on the Bay but after the fog rolled in, got lost and ended up on a South Sea Island: Nothing Atoll.
A nephew of Mighty Mouse producer Paul Terry, Anderson started working at his uncle's Terrytoons studio in 1938. Having grow up with Jay Ward in Berkeley, they joined to create and pitch cartoons, including “Crusader Rabbit”, “Rocky and Bullwinkle”, and “Dudley Do-Right”, although only the former sold. Ward eventually moved to Los Angeles to sell the other series, while Anderson retired to advertising.
The Wild Weird Watts Towers
No tour of Cali culture is complete without a visit to Watts Towers, a rather tall—90 feet—and mosaic-incrusted series of towers by Sabato Rodia. An Italian immigrant and untrained artist, Rodia built it entirely on his own, between 1925 and 1955, on his property in the Watts neighborhood (1765 E. 107th Street).
The Watts Tower is one of the greatest achievements of 'outsider art.' drawings: courtesy Watts Tower
I first discovered this is a wonderful monument on the cover of “Wide Weird World”, a record album my uncle Kenny gave me around 1957. Within a few years. I got to visit them twice and photograph them, by which point much had been destroyed.
They used to have bowling trophy figures at the top, but kids tossing rocks knocked them off. Rumors off treasure hidden under the ceramics stuck on the walls and towers inspired a lot of digging.
While studying at Berkeley I attended a wonderful slide lecture on The Towers, which were designated national, California and LA historic landmarks in 1990, one of only nine registered folk art sites listed in Los Angeles.
Interestingly, one obsession begets another. The marine biologist Bruno Pernet has become fascinated with the many sea shells Rodia used to adorned his life/master work. According to Pernet, they include many species now extinct in the LA area, which Rodia collected, and provide a biological snap shot of the region, see LA Times article.
Collins’s Last Magic Show
Vince Collins presented his animated psychedelic “last magic show,” in January. Live action films of magic shows never look great, since you know they can be faked. But Vince’s show is so unreal, you know he is going to show you something bizarre. And he does, see here.
Karl Cohen is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached .Posted on Jan 30, 2019 - 01:39 AM