Channel Frederator Blog

Recent graduate Brock Gallagher’s film “The Peasant and the Root” is a-ma-zing. Amazing. I know I’m supposed to be all journalismy about it, but seriously, it’s great. Keep reading…

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Brock Gallagher: At Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario Canada.

CF: What has influenced your style the most?

BG: I’d say classic cartoons, like older Hanna Barbera stuff, Jay Ward, classic MGM and Warner Bros shorts. Designers like Ed Benedict and directors like Ward Kimball. My film was my homage to all those guys.

CF: This story is so cool! Where did you get the idea for the film?

BG: Thank you! I was reading about the real legends surrounding the bypassing of a mandrake root’s scream to acquire one, and almost all versions of the myth featured a dog getting sacrificed.

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Mark Mayerson has posted a great news clip he found from a CBC news story from 1961. In the clip, we see Joe Barbera and William Hanna walk the reporter through the stages of production from the initial layout to the final audio mix. One interesting note is that even though the news clip (and the cartoons at the time) were broadcast in black & white, the cartoons were all produced in color. Joe mentions that when everyone gets to see the cartoons in color, it will be really exciting. I would have to agree.

 -Floyd Bishop

Adam Koford over at Drawn! has posted a great link to Alex Toth art. While some of it has been seen elsewhere, there are some great unpublished pieces. It would be great to see artwork of this caliber in a modern television series.

-Floyd Bishop

There have been many Hanna Barbera characters with personalities based on famous actors and personalities. The Flintstones had their Honeymooners influences, Jabber Jaw sounded a lot like Curly from the Three Stooges, and Doggie Daddy (from the series of Augie Doggie cartoons) was no different. While he sounds like Jimmy Durante, his character and his relationship with his son are actually borrowed from two earlier Hanna Barbera characters, Spike and Tyke, who were created while they were at MGM. Spike’s son Tyke first appeared in the 1949 short “Love that Pup”.

The main difference (other than breed of dog) would be the character of the son. Spike’s son Tyke is seemingly much younger than Augie, as Tyke cannot speak, only bark. Perhaps the time difference in first appearances would account for the aging of the son? Tyke was created in 1949. If he continued to age in real time, he would be very close [Read more…]

I caught this commercial today at Jeaux’s personal blog. I’m always drawn to animators from the vintage years of Hanna-Barbera, but I must say I never thought any of them had made it into network commercials. Go Carl!

–Fred

Muttley first showed up in the 1968 series “Wacky Races”, as the sidekick to Dick Dastardly. Both characters were based on characters from the film “The Great Race”.

Dick Dastardly was based on the character Professor Fate, while Muttley was based on Max Meen. Dick Dastardly and Muttley have appeared in later Hanna Barbera series as bumbling villains.

In “Wacky Races”, Muttley wore only a collar, but in “Dastardly & Muttley and their Flying Machines” he wore an aviator’s cap and scarf.

A lot of people confuse Muttley with Mumbly. It’s easy to do, since they are so similar. While their laugh is similar, Mumbly has gray fur, wears a trench coat, and fights crime. He’s almost the other side of Muttley in that regard.

Interestingly enough, when they needed villains for the “Laff-A-Lympics” series, Hanna Barbera used Mumbly as the team leader of the Really Rottens.  He was accompanied by a Dick Dastardly [Read more…]

Channel Frederator, Episode 49

‘Pat’ Ventura has been one of my cherished cartoon companions since I got into the business in 1992. He was on my Hanna-Barbera Cartoons staff writing for Joe Barbera’s Tom & Jerry Kids Show when John Kricfalusi introduced us and suggested I talk to Pat about a revival of Screwball Squirrel. Pat went on to be the first creator I made shorts with and was the person responsible for convincing me that in cartoons “short” meant “7 minutes” (I wanted to make them three minutes!).

After a great re-invention of Tex Avery’s George & Jr, his original Yucky Duck and Sledgehammer O’Possum (which got me in a bunch of trouble), Pat came over with us to Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Soon you’ll be hearing about his Random! Cartoons short.

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