There were other companies with interesting animation collections as well. Creative Film Society was founded by Bob Pike in 1957. The 1975 catalog offered work by Scott Bartlett, Jordan Belson, Oskar Fischinger, Len Lye, Pat O'Neill, James and John Whitney, John Hubley, the Fleischer Studio, Ernest Pintoff, and others. Pike died in 1974. His wife Angie runs the company from her home near Los Angeles.

Two important supporters of independent animation have been the late Charles Samu who imported outstanding animation from Eastern Europe, and Prescott Wright who runs Filmwright in San Francisco. Wright produced and distributed The Tournee of Animation from 1970 - 1986. He also rented individual animated titles, produced a few animated works, and is presently active in animation as a teacher, producer and consultant to the industry. In the 1970s he worked with Sheldon Renan to produce The International Animation Festival, a television series which aired on public television for three seasons.

Another important figure in 16mm distribution was Bernice Coe who founded Coe Film in 1971. Her main activity was to provide television broadcasters with short films. She began by producing packages of shows for cable television. At one time she had the television rights to thousands of films. Before she retired she helped place dozens of animated films by American independent animators on cable television.

There are other types of distributors that made/make animation available including several film co-ops (Canyon Cinema is alive and well in San Francisco) and university film libraries that rent and/or sell films. Berkeley's Extension Media Center continues to acquire works. One of their best selling titles in the 1990s has been Pat Amlin's Popul Vuh, an animated hour long work available on film and tape.

The Decline Of 16mm Film Distribution
The 16mm market for animated films is not dead, but it certainly has shrunk in size to the point that it is close to becoming an endangered species. There are several reasons why distribution of 16mm film has declined.

The first blow to the industry was the termination (about 1969) of government-funded programs that enabled school districts to buy audio visual materials. The funds for visual literacy in the early `60s fueled the rapid rise of independent film. With this subsidy for the arts gone, the industry slowly decayed.

In the 1980s the rise of distribution of films on video tape coupled with the rise of film stock prices had an adverse effect on the industry. For most consumers it no longer made sense to spend a great deal to buy a 16mm print of a work when a video copy was available for less. At first distributors tried to keep video prices high enough so they could continue to earn a profit similar to the income produced through film sales and rentals. Eventually video prices had to be cut to be competitive with companies selling tapes at mass market prices. You can still find rare material for sale on tape in the $50 to $100 range, but do these tapes sell well? The introduction of tape also changed America's viewing habits resulting in the decline of ticket sales at art houses.

Another problem in recent years has been the rising cost of doing business. It costs thousands of dollars to produce and distribute a large heavy sales catalog. Printing and mailing prices have gone up over the years. If a company's income declines, at some point it just doesn't make sense to continue running a business no matter how much the owner of the company loves film.

Karl Cohen is President of ASIFA-San Francisco. His first book, Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators, has recently been published by McFarland Publishers. He also teaches animation history at San Francisco State University.

All images used to illustrate this article are from the ArtToday Archive (http://www.arttoday.com)