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NEAT VIDEOS TO BUY AS GIFTS
BETTY BOOP, THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION is a boxed set of eight tapes containing 115 cartoons with Betty. It contains all of her work except 4 lost films and the first Popeye cartoon which isn't owned by Republic.
Republic put out the set with a great deal of care. The tapes are recorded at SP to give the best quality possible. The tapes are mastered from 35mm and 16mm originals. They did make at least one mistakes when they mastered Romantic Melodies from a redrawn and colorized print, but they didn't cut the few racist gags that were used by the studio and there appears to be no attempt to censor the sexy stuff. If you or a friend love Betty Boop, this set will be a hit.
The tapes retail for $70, but can be purchased at some stores for less. I bought my set at Virgin Megastore for $59.99 plus tax. Individual tapes sell for about $8 each at the store. The set includes notes by Jerry Beck and a video introduction by Richard Fleischer.
DISNEY'S PARTLY UNCENSORED "THREE LITTLE PIGS" is a strange moment in animation history. It will be available until somebody complains and the film is censored again.
When the original film was released it contained an anti-Semitic gag showing the wolf dressed as a Jewish peddler selling brushes. He spoke with an thick eastern-European accent. In the late 1940's the scene was reanimated to remove suggestion the wolf was Jewish. A new soundtrack was added. It isn't known why the studio made the change according to David Smith of the Disney Archives. He suggested it may have been due to a request by the Hays Office.
The newly released tape is called Disney, Three Little Pigs, Favorite Stories. It was made from a beautiful Technicolor original and the original image of the wolf with a large nose wearing a yarmulke and long beard can be seen. The offensive soundtrack has been removed so people seeing the image will simply think it is a goofy looking disguise.
The tape also contains two other stories featuring the pigs and the wolf. It is a great tape. I'd suggest it as a great gift even if it didn't contain a curious image that hasn't been seen for several decades. $12.95 at Virgin.
A TAPE TO AVOID IS CARTOONGATE! AN IRREVERENT CARTOON ANTHOLOGY ABOUT PRESIDENTS PAST There is one great film on the tape, Hell Bent for Election, 1944; plus a campy "I Like Ike" ad that are worth seeing. The rest of the tape is awful. I was curious as the tape included a long student film(?) by Joe Adamson who has written excellent books on Tex Avery and Walter Lantz. I had to fast forward through it after watching a few minutes of it. The Nixon spoof on the tape by Greg Ford was 4th rate and the Popeye for President short (1956) wasn't half as good as the short Olive Oyl for President made 8 years earlier by Famous Studios. Too bad they didn't include the Olive Oyl short or Betty Boop for President (1932).
THE WALLACE AND GROMIT 3-PACK is a boxed set of Wrong Trousers, Grand Day Out and Close Shave by Nick Park. It retails for $29.95 but sells for less at some stores. Individual tapes of Parks shorts are also available.
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH by Henry Selick, assisted by numerous members of our ASIFA chapter. It retails for $22.98
SPIKE AND MIKE'S FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION, VOL. 3 includes several hits from the past including Blindscape, The Monk and the Fish, Screenplay, Streetsweeper, Dirty Birdy, Britannia, and more. 53 min. Facets/Whole Toon sells it for $29.95 (800)331-6197
TOY STORY by John Lasseter and friends. I assume it will be one of the biggest selling tapes of all times. Retails for $26.99. A laser disc release will be out soon.
NEW BOOKS
TEX AVERY, THE MGM YEARS, by John Canemaker is an excellent coffee table book from Turner priced at $34.95. The illustrations are excellent and although the text is brief, Canemaker has put a lot of information in a few pages. According to an excellent review of the book in the new issue of McBoing Boing, the book is a remake of a deluxe French edition on Avery.
SNOW WHITE, THE MAKING OF by Richard Hollis and Brian Sibley looks like a nice book for a Disney fan. It sells for $19.95.
THE SLEAZY CARTOONS OF BILL PLYMPTON was mentioned last month as a great X rated gift for the person who enjoys reading naughty cartoons in Penthouse, Hustler, Rolling Stones, etc. I got an autographed copy when I was in New York and I laughed out loud several times while reading this 92 page collection of his work. (Of course Bill was watching me and wanted to know what was so funny.)
I'm mentioning the book again so I could share with you Bill's ancient portrait of Reagan. It is on the book's back cover.
The price is $15 plus $2 for shipping from Bill Plympton, 107 West 25th Street, #4B, New York, NY 10001. Ask him to autograph your copy (no additional charge). Some of the original artwork that is reproduced in the book is for sale. Ask for details.
CHUCK REDUCKS - DRAWINGS FROM THE FUN SIDE OF LIFE by Chuck Jones (forward by Robin Williams) A brief look at the book suggests it should be a fun addition to somebody's animation library. $26.95 from Warner Brothers.
THE ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE BOOK from Bantam, $49.95. Any book about moose and squirrel is bound to be a fun read, but at $50 this book lacks the visual impact of Canemaker's work on Tex Avery and the text is mostly padding. As a serious J. Ward fan I was disappointed by what the text didn't include. The copy was approved by the family so it includes lots of publicity material that Ward sent out and descriptions of each episode of every story.
What is missing are the serious interviews about the man and studio by Bill Scott or other people who worked with Ward. I saw no mention of Crusader Rabbit who is historically important, and no mention of Alex Anderson who created both Crusader Rabbit and the famous moose and squirrel characters.
The hot water Ward got into with his sponsors is glossed over so well that unless you know what happened ahead of time, you will have no idea there were problems when you read this nice book. Note - there is no index so I am not 100% sure there is no mention of Crusader and Anderson, but considering CR was Ward's first production and the ideas for CR & R&B were Anderson's, one would expect a solid mention of them and a few photos.
There are rumors that an academic text by Keith Scott was rejected by the family in favor of this light weight text. I would rather read Scott's text than buy this book, but Scott's work may never see the light of day.