Classic Animation

In 1979 Philip Glass created a memorizing series of short vocal and instrumental pieces for Sesame Street called "Geometry of Circles."







Not Phillip Glass, but I like this banjo pickin' quilt pattern one too.



and of course this one featuring vocals by Grace Slick



Thanks to Jordan for the reminder/trip down memory lane.

Mary Blair in the 1940's

I've wanted to write about Mary Blair for awhile. She is one of my absolute favorites and because I'm such a big admirer, the subject is a little intimidating. I get excited and don't know where to begin. So I'll try starting at the beginning.

In this post, I'll share Mary Blair's beginnings through the mid-40's, following her trip to South America.

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Mary Blair dominated the design of Disney animation studios and branded the look of most of the signature animated films from the late 40's through the early 50's including Cinderella, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. She is also responsible for the "It's a Small World" ride, the mural art in the Tomorrowland Promenade (which has since been covered), and the ninety-foot mural at Disney's Contemporary Resort hotel at Walt Disney World.

Beyond animation, theme parks and architectural decor, she was a brilliant artist and her work in advertising and children's illustration could stand alone.

Mary Blair was born in 1911 and lived most of her life in California. She graduated from the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles in 1933 (other alumni include: Edith Head, Chuck Jones, Bob Mackie. It's now known as CalArts), and in 1934, she married another artist, Lee Everett Blair, brother of animator Preston Blair. They both had shows in private galleries, but the economic climate at the time made a steady job a necessity. In 1938, Mary went on a six week painting tour of Mexico, and Lee was hired to Disney studios as director of the color for Pinocchio. When she returned from Mexico, she worked briefly in the animation department at MGM studios, and in 1940 she joined the creative team at Disney.

In 1941, Walt Disney, his wife, and a handpicked group of artists and writers, including Lee and Mary, went on a the a two-month tour of South America as part of F.D.R.'s Good Neighbor" policy. The visual and cultural lore of Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru, inspired "Saludos Amigos" and "The Three Caballeros," as well as Mary Blair's work for years to come.

Mary Blair was affected by the South American experience more than she ever put into words. In her paintings, she went inside herself to find how it felt, rather than how it looked. To paraphrase Kandinsky, she took ten looks at the canvas, one at the palette, and half a look at nature. Mary Blair's South American art detonated rather than evolved. Suddenly, there it was -- spectacularly rich and special, full of gaiety and color, and a delight to Walt Disney's eye. - from The Art and Flair of Mary Blair by John Canemaker

Saludos Amigos (1943)

The Three Caballeros (1945)

Greeting Cards (1940's)

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Fellow fans - I'm going by memory on a lot of this information, so please correct me if you see mistakes. Also, apologies for my sloppiness in crediting the photos. I've been gathering photos from ebay, animation sites, and flickr for years now, and I'm not sure exactly where I got the majority of them. If you feel I'm using one of your photos - please let me know and I will be sure to credit you.

I do, however, know that the following people have amazing collections:

Dan Goodsell
peko-chan
Also:
Cartoon Modern
Life Magazine Archive

Very Blue Beard

Maybe it's because I'm under the weather, but this is making me feel very very weird.

Very Blue Beard is a 1979 Soviet comic opera animated film loosely based on the fairy tale Bluebeard by Charles Perrault. Directed by Vladimir Samsonov, screenplay by Arkady Arkanov. Cinematography by Vladimir Milovanov. Original music score by Gennady Gladkov. Lyrics by Yuliy Kim. Released by T/O Ekran Runtime - 20 min 17 sec. - Wikipedia

Chapi Chapo

This...

..makes me so happy.
The music alone is enough. I could listen to it all night (esp. the longer version with the tap dancing at the end). But then add the creepiness factor, the color palette and the cursive titles, and the nostalgia factor, and it's all over but the cryin'. Plus, I'm nearly certain that the credits must have been designed by Michel Oliver who wrote a cookbook I got at the Campbell-Neumann sale last month.

So I've watched it about a half a dozen times doing Nancy Drew style handwriting analysis.

Here are a few others that make me nearly just as happy:

Hattytown: Sancho and his 'special friend' Carrots the donkey in a town of oversized hat shaped buildings. Premiered 1968.


Magic Roundabout: Created in France in 1963. Also appeared before the BBC evening news in the late 60's.


Picture Pages: Bill Cosby can do no wrong in my book. Picture Pages originated on Captain Kangaroo, but there's no way his was as good.