The Museum Of Modern Art in New York presents a Cartoon Research screening May 17th and 18th. Featured in this exhibition are eleven of the best CinemaScope Hollywood cartoons of the 1950s and '60s. Toot Whistle Plunk & Boom, which won an Oscar, was Walt Disney's rejoinder to the success of United Productions of America (UPA), the upstart bicoastal studio that had introduced stylized graphic animation in counterpoint to the Disney studio's cartoon literalism. UPA produced CinemaScope cartoons of its own, including two gems from 1956, Gerald McBoing Boing on Planet Moo and Magoo Goes West. Industry leader MGM similarly went widescreen with Tom & Jerry cartoons, including the wickedly sardonic Blue Cat Blues (1956) and Scat Cats (1957), as did Fox's own cartoon studio, the grade-Z Terrytoon factory in New Rochelle, which was forced to make Scope cartoons to keep apace with audience demands. When Paul Terry sold Terrytoons to CBS in 1955, and former UPA animator Gene Deitch took over, the studio produced some wonderfully clever and touching films, including Topsy TV (1957), Foofle's Train Ride (1959), and The Juggler of Our Lady (1958), the film that launched the animation career of illustrator-author R.O. Blechman.
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
11 West 53 Street (between Fifth and Sixth Avenues) New York City (212) 708-9400 Friday, May 17, 6:00 Saturday, May 18, 1:00 Admission: Adults $12.00 Students with ID $8.50 Museum members free Film tickets are included in the price of Museum admission and are available in person at the Lobby Information Desk on the day of the screening. For more information, visit www.moma.org
