Here's this week's entry in the Caricaturama Showdown 3000: my caricature of comic actor, Bill Murray. As comedians go, I admire Bill Murray for balancing out his slick commercial comedies with some very interesting arthouse films. Unfortunately, the only Bill Murray film I have in my DVD collection is the combination live action/animation feature, Osmosis Jones. While the bulk of the film is brilliantly animated and a clever satire on the way the human body functions (directed by Tom Sito and Piet Kroon), the live action sequences directed by the Farrelly Brothers are pretty godawful, with poor Bill Murray playing the part of a disgusting slob with a lot of gross-out humour. Not one of his better career moves, I'm afraid.
Back in 1959 Once Upon A Mattress debuted on the Broadway stage. This musical comedy was a retelling of the fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, and was the show that launched the career of Carol Burnett who starred in the lead role of Princess Winnifred. Though I'd been aware of the show's history, I had never actually seen it performed until last night when I saw a production of it at Theatre Sheridan.
While the play itself is, admittedly, a fairly lightweight piece of fluff, it does boast some really fun musical numbers. And although I didn't think it was as strong a show choice as Sheridan's offering back in December, The Drowsy Chaperone, it did feature exuberant performances from the entire youthful cast. The Drowsy Chaperone was probably the finest show I've seen performed yet at Sheridan over several years of attending their productions, so it would have been asking too much for lightning to strike twice in a row. Whereas that show seems to lend itself more to an ensemble cast with many plum roles to go around, Once Upon a Mattress strikes me as more of a star vehicle for the leading lady playing Princess Winnifred.
But what a performance we got from the young lady playing Winnifred in this production! Her name is Kyla Musselman, and I predict she'll go on to great things onstage once she graduates at the end of this college year. Kyla is a little ball of fire with an impossibly cute face, a huge smile and sparkling brown eyes. She seems to have boundless energy that she puts into her singing and dancing, while also possessing a flawless sense of comic timing. There's one song number that requires her to dash back and forth across the stage, alternately picking up a barbell then taking great gulps from a chalice of ale, among several other stunts, expertly hitting her marks without fail all while the rest of the cast is singing this fast paced song. There's also a dance number that progressively picks up pace that the whole cast starts out performing, only to drop out one by one until just Princess Winnifred finishes it up to its breakneck finale. This role demands a multi-talented performer and clearly young Kyla is up to the challenge.
Kyla Musselman also had a supporting role in the aforementioned The Drowsy Chaperone as Kitty, the ditzy chorine in love with theatrical producer, Feldzeig. Although in that show everybody got to shine, Kyla was still a standout with great stage presence and magnetism. Sheridan's music theatre program is highly respected here in Canada, having graduated many fine performers including Sarah Cornell, Michael Therriault, and Janna Polzin, all of whom I have written about before. I believe that Kyla Musselman will also be a name to watch for on the marquee, as she truly possesses star quality. I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one who thinks so, as I found this review of Once Upon a Mattress that would seem to agree that Kyla is one to watch for.
Well, the Academy Awards telecast is going to be starting in just a little while. Frankly, I'm just watching it as I have the last few years, out of habit more than genuine interest. It wasn't always this way. I used to look forward with excitement to the presentation of the Oscars each year, when I actually used to really love the movies. That's going back to when I started watching the annual telecast back in the 70's and continuing through the 80's. But in the last couple decades my interest has been steadily waning, as with each passing year Hollywood convinces me that they aren't really interested in making the kind of movies that I find genuinely entertaining.
I think the last Academy Awards show that I actually enjoyed was the year that the musical, Chicago swept many of the major awards. I was hoping that last year director Rob Marshall would have a similar success with his film, Nine, as it was my favourite movie by far released in 2009. Alas, neither audiences nor film critics shared my enthusiasm, and Nine was pretty much shut out even at the nomination stage. Instead, last year was a battle between the technological marvel, Avatar, and the gritty war pic, The Hurt Locker, neither of which I much cared for. Actually, I didn't even get around to seeing Avatar until its later reissue, and The Hurt Locker (which won) I'd rented just the day before the awards and really hated it!
Yeah, I know I'm completely out of step with contemporary moviegoing tastes, believe me I'm painfully aware of that. As such, I really haven't had a horse in the race for many years now and I don't even enjoy many of the films getting nominated in the major categories. I've seen several of the Best Picture nominees this year, including True Grit, Toy Story 3, Black Swan, The King's Speech, and (as of yesterday) The Social Network. They're all good films, but quite honestly, none of them can hold a candle to the type of Oscar winning films that came out of Hollywood in its glory years in terms of outright entertainment. Films like My Fair Lady, Lawrence of Arabia, and The Godfather, as diverse as they are, remain for me completely memorable and entertaining in their respective ways. In contrast, none of the films nominated this year I would make a point of watching again. Sadly, it's been like that for me for many years now.
I guess if there's a single reason I'm interested in tonight's Academy Awards, it's because of the choice of Anne Hathaway as one of the two co-hosts. She's not only beautiful but has great charisma to boot. I love watching her on screen and in interviews, as she just sparkles with personality. I thought she was terrific when host Hugh Jackman carried her up on stage from the audience to join him in his song tribute at the beginning of the telecast a couple years back. I'm hoping she'll sing and dance for us tonight too! As for the awards themselves....meh.
Back in the early 1960s, there seemed to be a plethora of singing Bobbys: Darin, Rydell, Vinton, Vee, Curtola, etc. etc. Well, when it comes to singing Bobbys, mostly I'm a fan of the great Bobby Darin, and I'll likely be doing a post on him sometime in the near future. But I also favoured Bobby Rydell, who, like Darin, brought a bit of that swinging Sinatra sound to the image of the teen rock and roll idol to create a sound that had a more lasting appeal. A couple weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of seeing Bobby Rydell in concert at Stage West here in Mississauga. I'm happy to report that Mr. Rydell, now 66, is still in very fine singing voice. Actually, I prefer the way his voice has matured as an adult, over the teen idol voice he had back at the start of his career, as it puts him very much in the realm of Sinatra, Vic Damone, Tony Bennett, etc.
Prior to going to see him in concert, I had drawn a caricature of both he and Ann-Margret in their roles in 1963's "Bye Bye Birdie", the musical that created some good-natured fun by spoofing Elvis's being drafted by the U.S. Army. The Elvis type character is fictionalized as the gyrating teen heartthrob,"Conrad Birdie", hence the title of the show. Bobby Rydell played the hapless boyfriend, "Hugo Peabody", being ignored by Ann-Margret's all-American girl,"Kim McAfee", who has been randomly chosen to give Birdie his one last kiss before the army gets him. The movie is a lot of fun and gives both Bobby and Ann-Margret an opportunity to really show off their song and dance skills. I think Ann-Margret is a phenomenal performer who wasn't given enough venues to display her musical talents onscreen. She's also terrific with Elvis himself in "Viva Las Vegas", which she made the following year, both films having been directed by George Sidney. It doesn't surprise me that she went on to great success on the Vegas stage, singing and dancing up a storm after those skills seemed to not be in high demand at the movies anymore.
Though I was hoping to present the framed caricature in person to Bobby Rydell, I'm afraid that turned out not to be possible, but I did manage to get it to him via the show's local promoter, who also got Bobby to autograph an additional print for me as I'd requested. I was told he got a real kick out of it, anyway.
So now, what better way to end off but to post the clip from "Bye Bye Birdie" that I'd based this caricature on. It's my favourite scene in the film, as it shows Ann-Margret at her sexiest as they all sing the swinging "A Lot of Livin' To Do". Enjoy!
The caricature of Harvey Korman and Dick Martin that I'd posted the other day was very kindly acknowledged by the good folks at the Cinema Retro website. Cinema Retro is a site that I check out regularly, as they specialize in covering the films (and some TV shows) of the 60's and 70's - an era that I just love. Hopefully some of you have clicked on the link that I've had on my sidebar for some time, in order to take a look at their site yourselves. In addition to the website, Cinema Retro also publishes a very high quality magazine that I've just recently started subscribing to after having bought a couple issues on the newsstand.
It's glossy pages are chock full of articles covering the likes of Frank Sinatra as "Tony Rome", James Coburn as "Our Man Flint", Hammer horror films, interviews with luscious lovelies like Luciana Paluzzi and Elke Sommer, and of course, ongoing articles on.......Bond........James Bond. Furthermore, it is almost entirely devoid of ads, save for a few at the back that are all related to the magazine's subject matter. It's definitely a 60's film fan's dream publication come true! Since they were nice enough to link to my recent caricature, I would like to dedicate the following caricature of Sean Connery to those good folks. (Sorry it's a post James Bond depiction of Mr. Connery - I think I'll have to do another one of him sometime as 007!) Again, my thanks!
With the passing of Dick Martin the other day and now Harvey Korman, I feel compelled to acknowledge these two great funny men.
"Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" was a huge show back in my youth. I was probably too young at the time to get some of the wink,wink, nudge, nudge humour, but there was still plenty of things I enjoyed, including Arte Johnson's "Verry Interestink" nazi peeking out from behind the fern, the poems "By Henry Gibson", and of course, the introduction of soon-to-be-famous Goldie Hawn, go-go dancing with mod graffiti painted all over her bikini clad body. And then there were the hosts: straight man Dan Rowan with his ever present pipe, and the sly comic playboy, Dick Martin. The show was often topical, with Dan and Dick commenting satirically on recent news events in their monologue, but mostly there was a real scattergun, non sequitur approach to the comedy, with lots of verbal puns and crazy visuals. Definitely a product of the swinging sixties!
Harvey Korman was part of one of the funniest comedy ensembles on TV, as a cast member on "The Carol Burnett Show". I think many would agree that the show hit its stride when Tim Conway joined the cast several years later, acting as a great comic foil for the suave Korman. It was always great fun to see how the poker faced Conway would, through brilliant comic timing and physical comedy, cause Korman to have to stifle the urge to break out laughing. With Harvey Korman being so tall and sophisticated, next to short, dumpy little Tim Conway, the two comedians made for a great study in contrasts. This is something that I try to stress in my teaching of character design to the Sheridan animation students too, as physical contrast can immediately help to communicate personality types to your audience, as well as add visual variety. By the way, speaking of animation, Harvey Korman also had a second career as a cartoon voiceover actor, supplying many voices on such shows as "The Flintstones", including the little green alien with the big head, The Great Gazoo.
Anyway, rather than mourn their loss this week, I would like to celebrate the legacy they left us. Here's to two of TV's great funny men:
Today I'd like to celebrate that master of camp horror, Vincent Price, on the 97th anniversary of his birthday. He's long been a favourite of mine, though ironically my first introduction to him as a kid was seeing him on the TV game show, "Hollywood Squares"! However, I soon thereafter started catching his movies on TV, particularly all of his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations for director Roger Corman. While most of these films were played fairly straight, it was the more comic film, "The Raven" that I liked the best, especially since it costarred veterans, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff. I also like the black humoured, "Theatre of Blood", which I understand was a favourite of Price himself.
Back in 1976 I decided to write a fan letter to Vincent Price, along with sending him a caricature I had drawn of him at that time. I took a chance and sent it care of "Hollywood Squares", as I didn't know where else to send it. Happily it found him, and sometime later I received this postcard back from him thanking me for the sketch. As you can imagine, this 16 year old kid was overjoyed!
A couple years later I was doing cartoons for "The Ottawa Citizen" newspaper, including the occasional celebrity caricature for the entertainment section. One of the writers on staff, Tony Lofaro, was keen to use my work and one day he called me to ask if I was aware that Vincent Price was coming to Ottawa's National Arts Centre to appear in "Diversions and Delights", his one man show portraying Oscar Wilde. I'd actually already purchased a ticket to go see the show, but Tony was offering something better. He knew I was a huge fan of Price and told me that there was a small press gathering to be held at the NAC prior to his performance and that, since Tony himself couldn't make it, would I like to use his press pass and attend myself? Wow! Obviously I took him up on the offer.
The press gathering was indeed a rather intimate affair with not more than about 10 or 12 people in attendance, including Gord Atkinson, a local radio personality who had a syndicated show that celebrated the Golden Age of entertainment. It was held in a large conference room at the National Arts Centre with a big rectangular table that we all sat at. Without much delay, Vincent Price arrived and greeted us all very warmly. After doing an interview for Gord Atkinson, he proceeded to take questions from us all regarding his career. During the whole interview I had been busily sketching a caricature of him as he spoke, which I will scan in later today and add here tomorrow. Afterward, we all got to chat very informally with Price and I presented him with a caricature that I'd painted and framed up beforehand. Also, to my thrill, somebody took a photo of us together and promised to send me a print. Though the quality of the photo is not great, it is still a very treasured momento of a very wonderful day. As you can see, I was a pretty scruffy looking 18 year old teen!
I'll always recall that Vincent Price was a very warm and kind gentleman who took the time to chat with a young fan about his films and made everybody feel very welcome that day. He was a class act and I miss him very much.
PS: Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I even missed my post count hitting the 100,000 mark! Thanks for coming back despite my tardiness - I'll try to post more often! :)
This Wednesday, May 14th 2008 will mark the 10th anniversary of the passing of Frank Sinatra. It's hard to believe that it's already been ten years, as I remember well the morning I heard it on the radio news. Though I knew it was coming due to Frank having been quite ill for some time, there was still a shock in hearing it and it filled me with great sadness to know that Frank was now gone.
Just a couple weeks prior, I'd gotten a call from a local showplace where I'd had tickets to see Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme in concert. I'd been looking forward to seeing them on their scheduled play date of May 15th, but now the theatre was calling to say that they'd had to cancel their appearance. Hearing the news of Frank's passing, I realized then why they'd cancelled - they knew it was coming and wanted to be close to Frank and his family for when the inevitable tragic day arrived. Sure enough, in the days that followed, there were Steve and Eydie seen arriving for the funeral. Having opened for Sinatra in concert for a few years and being close friends of his, I imagine they were devastated.
For all of my lifetime, there had always been Sinatra, and his music had appealed to me even as a young kid. To this day, I have a singular memory of being at the drive-in in the late 60's and hearing Frank Sinatra singing "That's Life" on the car speaker before the movie commenced. I was probably only about 7 or 8 at the time, yet his music was already an influence on me. By the time I was in my teens, I would look forward more to Frank singing "New York, New York" on the radio than anything my peers were into at the time. I reckon I was a strange kid, but I'd always enjoyed the music that my Dad played around the house more than what was popular with kids of the day. Dad was big fan of Bing, though, and never had any of Frank's records, so I guess I sought them out on my own.
In my mid-twenties I got into Sinatra's music big time, especially since I had started taking ballroom dancing lessons and found myself dancing the foxtrot to a lot of Frank's big hits. To this day I'm still an avid social ballroom dancer and there is nobody I like dancing to better than the swinging sounds of Sinatra. "Fly Me to the Moon" with its Quincy Jones arrangements and with Frank backed up by The Count Basie Orchestra, just can't be beat!
This month in honour of the 10th anniversary of Frank Sinatra's passing, Turner Classic Movies is running many of his films every Sunday and Wednesday nights, as well as several of his TV music specials from the 60's. I've got my DVD recorder working overtime to get as many of these films as I can, some of which I've never seen before. Of course I already have many of his films on DVD that have been available thus far, but it's great to see some titles that Turner is running are also going to start being released on DVD in the next little while. Just like Frank's music, I also tend to prefer his movies from the early 50's onward, especially as he was hitting his stride in both media during the late 50's/ 60's era. My favourite films are not necessarily all out musicals, but still those with a musical bent, like "Pal Joey", "The Joker is Wild", and a guilty pleasure, "Robin and the 7 Hoods", despite what the critics said about it!
Anyway, I hope some of you fellow Sinatra fans are also enjoying the films on TCM, as well as continuing to listen to the great legacy of popular music that he has left us. Yes, Frank Sinatra will be a subject often discussed in The Cartoon Cave...
I arrived home this evening to read the very sad news that legendary Disney animator, Ollie Johnston, has passed away at the age of 95. While it is always sad when such major figures from The Golden Age of Animation pass on, Ollie's death is particularly heartbreaking for me, as I had been lucky enough to have known him, as well as his longtime friend and colleague, Frank Thomas. Though both were wonderful fellows, Ollie always will occupy a special place in my heart for several reasons.
Back when I was 7 years old, Disney's "The Jungle Book" premiered in theatres. As I have written in a previous blog entry, it was this film that was the catalyst in starting me down the path to wanting to be a cartoonist and, hopefully, working for Disney someday. In particular, it was the character of Baloo the bear that I was so fond of, and the warmth and charm of the animation that so skillfully brought him to life. It wasn't until some years later when I started reading textbooks on Disney film history that I began to learn the names of the great animators who were responsible for these wonderful Disney characters. I learned that it was Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston who shared credit for Baloo, with my favourite scenes being handled primarily by Ollie. I felt that Ollie was especially adept at giving a certain warm, cuddly feeling to all of the characters he worked with, including Baloo. There was something about the way the eyes of his characters seemed to sparkle with inner life.
In 1980, I was able to visit the Disney Studio for the first time, arranged through my friend Russell Schroeder, who was then a top character artist at Walt Disney World in Florida. Russell was kind enough to put in a good word for me with Disney archivist, Dave Smith, at the Burbank Studio, and Dave agreed to host my visit there. As soon as I cleared security and was directed through the main gate of the studio, the first person I saw crossing the lot in front of me was Frank Thomas. I wasn't shy about going up to say hi to him, and Frank generously invited me to drop by the office that he and Ollie were using to compile artwork that would be photographed for inclusion in their upcoming book, "Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life". Needless to say, after going off to meet with Dave Smith, I later took Frank up on his offer to visit with he and Ollie.
It was a memorable visit with Frank and Ollie, surrounded by lots of original Disney cels and backgrounds that they were considering for images in their book. They were so gracious towards me, answering all my many questions, (especially about "The Jungle Book") and happily providing info on the artwork they had all around them. The following year, they ended up traveling to my hometown of Ottawa for the Ottawa Animation Festival. They remembered me and it was nice to renew acquaintance. I also provided them each with caricatures I had painted up for them and they appreciated my efforts.
In 1983 I was again visiting the Disney Studio, and Dave Smith was nice enough to have contacted Frank and Ollie before I'd arrived to inquire whether they would be at the Studio that week. Though there were no plans to, Ollie said he'd be happy to come in and visit with me while I was in town. This was a wonderful surprise for me, and Dave left his office for Ollie and I to chat for awhile together. It was during this visit especially that I just was knocked out by Ollie's warmth and generosity in making a special trip to the Studio just to say hi to a young fan. In the years that followed, I corresponded with Ollie and got to see both he and Frank when they were on a book signing tour that brought them to Toronto about a year after I had started my own Disney career in 1984. They expressed their happiness for me in having finally gotten into Disney to fulfill my childhood dream.
In 1989, I had the offer to go down to work at Walt Disney World in Florida, provided that they could get me a work permit through U.S. Immigration. Tom Tripodi, who managed the art department, said it would really help their case if I could get several letters of recommendation from anybody notable within the Disney or related animation industry. I wrote to Ollie Johnston, asking if he would be able to put in a good word for me and, the next thing I knew, I received a copy from Ollie of the letter of reference he had provided to Tom. I remember being so overcome with joy and gratitude for Ollie's sweet generosity in his appraisal of my work. Ultimately, I got the job, and I really felt that it was Ollie's letter that had helped bring it about. I've posted that letter below, as well as a previous letter that shows how generous and inspiring Ollie was in his correspondence with me.
While working at Disney, I got to see Frank and Ollie on several occasions, the last time was about 1993, when they were visiting in Florida and Ollie phoned to see if I could meet he and Frank for dinner at Disney's Beach Resort. They mentioned how they both had hit 80 that year, yet they were still in very good health. Though I never did meet with them in person again after that, both Frank and Ollie had been keeping in touch with me for over 15 years through personally designed Christmas cards that we all were producing each year. I may scan in some of those in the days to come to share with you, as both of these wonderful gentlemen were still drawing delightful cartoon likenesses of themselves with their wives on most of their cards. Though a bit shakier with age, their drawings still sparkled with as much life as ever. These cards will continue to bring me great joy in the years to come as I think back fondly on my favourite two of Disney's "Nine Old Men".
Today is the birthday of my favourite actor of all time, James Garner. So I thought I'd draw up a new caricature of him to mark the occasion. Fortunately, I have plenty of great video reference to work from, but I really felt compelled to depict him in his most famous role of Jim Rockford on "The Rockford Files". I'm so happy that the entire series has been coming out on DVD and I've been enjoying the five seasons released thus far.
"The Rockford Files" was one of the shining examples of the type of cop shows that were quite prevalent back in the 70's. Shows like "Kojak", "Cannon", "Mannix", and many others were built around the charisma of their central stars rather than the nastiness of the crimes as in so many of today's series. "The Rockford Files" and Peter Falk's "Columbo" were my particular favourites of that popular 70's genre. James Garner had first found success on TV in the role of "Maverick" and, after then going on to prove himself as a leading man in the movies of the 60's, he was lured back to TV to create the role of Jim Rockford, who really was in many ways the continuation of the same lovable con man, Bret Maverick, only this time as a private detective. Not too long ago, I read where writer and series creator, Stephen J. Cannell, had also been inspired by the character of "Travis McGee" in the series of detective novels by John D. MacDonald. Since I'm a big fan of those stories, I guess that's why I also find Jim Rockford so appealing.
James Garner had created an onscreen persona of himself as the "reluctant hero" - the guy who would do his best to avoid trouble, but would ultimately come through when he found himself and others in the thick of it. He'd perfected the character in the wartime film, "The Americanization of Emily" opposite Julie Andrews, where in a very key scene in the film he makes no bones about being a coward rather than a hero, as he contends that cowards live longer while heroes get themselves killed in the folly of war. He went on to play the same type of character in another of my favourite films, "Support Your Local Sheriff", before continuing it as the private detective Jim Rockford, who didn't like to carry a gun unless absolutely necessary and didn't even have a permit to own one anyway.
Back in 1982 when I was just 22, I was in LA visiting my friend, director Bryan Stoller, who, before I'd flown out there, had told me he was going to try and get us both onto the set of "Bret Maverick", Garner's then current TV series, as he knew I was a big fan of Garner's. On the chance that Bryan would be successful, I drew up a caricature of Jim Garner in that role and painted up two originals - one to give him as a gift and the other for him to autograph for me. Sure enough, Bryan got us in there through his Warner Brothers connections and I was able to meet Jim Garner in person! I'm happy to report that Jim was as charming and amiable in real life as he'd appeared onscreen. He was tall and ruggedly handsome even in his mid-50's, and looked every bit like a larger-than-life movie star. The whole cast and crew were very nice to us, and even invited us back to watch the next day when they would be shooting the exterior scenes out on Warners' western street set. To the left is that artwork that he'd signed for me. Though James Garner is getting on and old stunt wounds have taken their toll on his knees, he will always remain my favourite leading actor. They just don't make them like that anymore. Happy Birthday Jimbo!
PS: Here's some happy nostalgia for my fellow boomers!...
Oftentimes I will sketch personalities from TV with the intention of refining and inking them up later, maybe even doing them in full colour. Here are a couple of recently rediscovered caricatures still in their embryonic rough pencil stage. I was combing through a file drawer full of rough sketches and came across these that I'd sketched a couple years ago, so I thought I'd post them up here just for the heck of it.
The one of Jon Stewart I believe I had sketched from when he hosted the Academy Awards the first time. I was planning to try drawing him again a couple times from "The Daily Show" before committing him to final inking, just to be sure I had the likeness to my satisfaction. That's actually something I often do, waiting for a few days at least before taking a look at a caricature anew with a fresh eye, just in case it then strikes me as falling short of being a good likeness. If I hurry to finish it up immediately after sketching it, I have sometimes been horrified to see that it just isn't the person I thought I had drawn when I look at it later!
In his book, "The World of Hirschfeld", legendary showbiz caricaturist Al Hirschfeld describes this very same dilemma back when he'd been commissioned in 1967 to do a caricature of TV star Garry Moore for a network ad campaign. After tossing off a sketch of Garry Moore, one of Hirschfeld's neighbours, Mildred Jones, who was visiting with his wife Dolly passed his drawing table and exclaimed, "That's him all right - I'd know him anywhere. Buster Keaton!" Flabbergasted, Hirschfeld ran to his wife to ask her who it was. Without hesitation, she replied, "Buster Keaton". It took him many more furious attempts at sketching Garry Moore before Hirschfeld got a positive identification from wife Dolly, whom he claimed was his most honest critic.
This caricature of Uma Thurman has been languishing in my file drawer for two years as well, although I'm pretty sure it's her, as I had run it by several of my students at Sheridan that year when I was covering the art of caricature, and they all recognized it as lovely Uma. This is one that I really must finish up in colour someday.
Sorry that's it's been awhile since my last blog entry. My excuse is a combination of being otherwise occupied with job-related stuff, along with lacking the inspiration of knowing what to post. Anyway, the latter problem was cured when I read this article on Jeremy Richey's blog, "Moon in the Gutter", about Kim Novak. As it turns out, Jeremy also lists Kim Novak among his alltime favourite actresses, as do I. So after reading his tribute the other day, I decided to watch the film "Bell, Book and Candle" again last night, so I could sketch a caricature of her. After I inked it up today and coloured it on Photoshop, I went back to Jeremy's blog again, only to find out that he's actually showcased this very film role as a follow-up to what he wrote the other day! Here is the link to his fine article on this film.
Jeremy Richey is a far more articulate film commentator than I, so there's not much point in my adding much to it. All I know is that Kim Novak is absolutely sultry and alluring in her role as Gillian, the gentle witch in the story. Since having first seen the film when I was a kid, I can appreciate it even more today for what I perceive as being a sly satire on America's fear and distrust of the communist movement, as typified by the "beatnik" characters who make up the coven of witches in late 1950's New York. Also, since we're at about the halfway point between Halloween and Christmas, this film seems to straddle that interim period quite nicely, being about witches during the Christmas season in Manhattan.
I've long admired Kim Novak's good looks, as, like her contemporary, Marilyn Monroe, she's quite representative of that more curvy, voluptuous type that was definitely in vogue back in the 50's. It's hard for me to pick an absolute favourite of her roles, but "Bell, Book and Candle" is probably it, though of course she is also renowned for her role in Hitchcock's "Vertigo". Also, being the huge Frank Sinatra fan that I am, I have a soft spot for Kim's role in "Pal Joey" too. This was their second film together, having costarred previously in "The Man With the Golden Arm". Here is an original autographed photo from my collection of Sinatra memorabilia, which is a treasured piece as you can imagine.
By the way, here's an interesting bit of trivia relating to "Bell, Book and Candle". Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney who is still active in the Company today, is apparently also a big fan of both the movie and the play on which it was based. So much so, that he named his yacht, "Pyewacket", after the Siamese cat that appears alongside Kim Novak as the "familiar" to her witch. (Hey, if I were Pyewacket, I'd probably want to be as familiar with Kim Novak as I could get!)
So in closing, I would like to dedicate this post to Roy Disney, as well as to Jeremy Richey, whose "Moon in the Gutter" blog has become one of my regular daily reads!
Yes, today is the birthday of former Monty Python member, John Cleese. Just like I had said about Bob Newhart in a previous post, John Cleese is also one of a handful of performers who can break me up just by my looking at them. With his long frame, high forehead and immense, jutting chin, Mr. Cleese is a walking caricature. Or should I say, a "Silly-walking" caricature. When I was looking for the ideal source material on which to base my caricature, I watched several classic Python routines before finally settling on his famous "Ministry of Silly Walks". (Though his portrayal of the hapless customer in the "Dead Parrot Sketch" was awfully tempting too.)
Of course, Cleese has had some success in his years after Python, most notably in his own series, "Fawlty Towers". However, aside from his Monty Python films, his movie career has been spotty. His biggest starring role is undoubtedly in the excellent "A Fish Called Wanda" (which he also wrote), but another film I really liked him in is the lesser known "Clockwise". In this very British film, Cleese plays the no-nonsense headmaster of a boys' school who prides himself on his strict adherence to punctuality. Every aspect of his life is planned out to the second and he can't abide those who can't do things on time. He's delighted to find that he's been named "Headmaster of the Year", but when he sets out on his journey out of town to give his acceptance speech, one small delay leads to a constant string of other things going wrong until his life seems to be a complete disaster. Cleese's character is similar in some ways to his Basil Fawlty in his intolerance of others' foibles, though as he loses more and more hope in getting to the conference on time he seems to grow more calmly resigned to his fate, whereas Basil would probably still be yelling and lying all the way in sheer desperation. Anyway, it is certainly a film I highly recommend that shows off what John Cleese does so well.
Here now is the "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch from the Monty Python show that I had used as reference for my caricature of John Cleese:
Today the Walt Disney Company named several more longtime Disney personnel as "Disney Legends". One of this year's inductees is "Mr. Fun" himself - writer/cartoonist, Floyd Norman. Though I can't really claim to know him well myself, I do think back fondly on the one time back in about 1981 when I met Floyd briefly. He was working in Disney's comic strip department writing the Mickey Mouse daily strips at the time, and I recall him showing me how he'd rough out the ideas visually before passing them onto the artist assigned to draw up the finished strip. The department was headed up by the dry-witted Carson Van Osten, who was quite the cartoonist himself, and I also remember meeting the phenomenal Daan Jippes too, who went on to being a highly sought after animation character designer later on. It sure looked like it was a fun place to work back then!
No, mostly I know Floyd as many of us do: as the ever genial presence on various animation related website discussion boards. For many of us, Floyd is a refreshing link back to the glory years of the Walt era at Disney, as he always extolls the creative sensibilities and genius of "The Old Maestro", as he calls him. His reminiscenses of the films he worked on and the artists he worked alongside of have made for a lot of great reading for those of us who wish we'd been there at the time. Floyd has written many online articles that have been featured on Jim Hill Media that may be found right here! I particularly enjoyed the multi-part article he wrote on his memories of working on "The Jungle Book". I'm hoping that Floyd will gather up all of this material into a book someday. Of course, Floyd is already the author/cartoonist of the book, "Faster! Cheaper!", which is a collection of his one-panel gag cartoons commenting wryly on his long history working at Disney.
One side of Floyd that has to be mentioned is his great generous spirit towards young artists. I know that Randeep Katari, one of my Sheridan students from a couple years ago, considers Floyd a personal artistic hero and mentor for having graciously given of his time answering questions and providing helpful tips over the last few years in their correspondence. Randeep got to finally meet Floyd when he visited LA a couple summers ago and I remember how exciting that was for him. I believe it's important for young artists to have heroes that they can learn from, and it's guys like Floyd that can be proud of the way their generosity has helped to inspire many others who want to keep the art of animation vibrant in the years to come. In my opinion, that generous spirit is what constitutes a true "Disney Legend". Here's to you, "Mr. Fun"!
It seems that with the 40th Anniversary 2-disc DVD release of Walt Disney's "The Jungle Book" this past week, a lot of animation related bloggers are posting up their memories and thoughts on this animated classic. Check out Disney animator, Will Finn's post here. Since "The Jungle Book" remains my alltime favourite film of any kind since its debut in 1967, I reckon I need to add my reminiscences here too.
When "The Jungle Book" premiered on the big screen way back then, I was just a seven year old kid. I'd already been cartooning since I was about four, mostly from watching the likes of Popeye and Bugs Bunny cartoons on TV, but I'd seen several older Disney features in their periodic rereleases and had definitely developed a taste for Disney animation. But now I was getting to see Disney's latest release as it was appearing onscreen for audiences for the first time! I suspect that for many of us animated cartoon fans who came along at the tail end of the Baby Boom, "The Jungle Book" was the film that really did it for us. I know I was certainly at that impressionable age where this film was like a catalyst that started me toward wanting to be a cartoonist as my life's goal. Yes, I was focused on my future career at the tender age of seven, as frivolous and risky as it may seem, and nothing or nobody was going to take me back to a more practical job in the Man Village!
I think I'll write more on how I came to work as a cartoonist (and ultimately for Disney) in a future article, but today I want to discuss something others are writing about on their blogs that is certainly for me a big part of the film's appeal, namely the voice talents that were used in "The Jungle Book"...
The pages reproduced above are from a publication called "Persistence of Vision", which was started by my friend Paul F. Anderson back about 15 years ago. In the few years it was published, there was no better, more exhaustive journal on Disney history than this one, and I hope that Paul realizes just how many people owe him a big debt of thanks for his efforts in producing such a series of wonderful issues.
Anyway, this was an article I had written and illustrated for POV, detailing the way Disney's animators would often caricature the essential physical elements and mannerisms of the personalities who gave voice to the characters. Whereas it is quite an obvious ploy to use in a human character like, say, The Mad Hatter, basing his looks on that of comedian, Ed Wynn, it takes some clever doing to translate an actor's physical characteristics into that of an animal. I don't wish to repeat myself here, so please read the article to get a better idea of what I'm talking about. Hopefully, you can see from my caricatures how the Disney artists were similarly interpreting the actors' features into animal form.
Michael Sporn has written a very good article on his take regarding Disney using celebrity voices for the characters in "The Jungle Book". I certainly don't share his opinion of the film as a whole, but I certainly understand his criticisms of the voice talents. However, I'd like to share my own thoughts on why I believe that the situation was not quite the same in that film as it is in the rampant, celebrity-driven animated features of today.
Considering that "The Jungle Book" came out in 1967, I think it's fair to suggest that practically none of the principal voice actors employed were anywhere near their height of popularity when they recorded the soundtrack to the film. Phil Harris had been a popular radio personality on both his own show with wife Alice Faye, as well as previously playing the boozy, breezy buddy on Jack Benny's radio show. By the time "The Jungle Book" came his way, he'd been reduced to the occasional guest appearance on a variety or talk show and would have been virtually unknown to kids of the time. Likewise, Louis Prima was not a household name with kids either, having had his hit recording career about 10 years earlier, and even his Vegas show, which would have been geared more towards their parents, was also in its waning years by 1967. George Sanders was many years past his physical prime as a dashing leading man onscreen as either noble hero or nefarious cad, and was currently turning up as a character actor in mostly B pictures by then. Only Sebastian Cabot would have been a familiar voice to kids of that era, as he had just found fame on TV's "Family Affair" as the portly valet, Mr. French.
(Here's a taste of the wild antics of Louis Prima that led to the equally manic King Louie!)
These days, actors are hired for voicing animated characters based mostly on their recognition with contemporary audiences. So it is you get A list actors like Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer all doing lead roles in Dreamworks "Sinbad", and Mel Gibson and Kevin Kline turning up as heroes in recent Disney features. Unfortunately, despite their considerable acting skills and marquee value, none of these actors, at least in my opinion, brought anything much to the roles in terms of vocal "personality". In other words, for all they brought to the performance, the studios could have saved themselves a lot of money and hired virtual unknowns who could give a reading at least as good as, if not better than the big name stars. Frankly, I much prefered the warm, delightful vocal performance of Jodi Benson in "The Little Mermaid", despite the fact she was a virtual unknown outside of her work on the Broadway stage.
I'd argue that all of the vocal talents used in "The Jungle Book" were hired more for the strength of their distinctive and charismatic vocal quality far more so than for marquee recognition. As a kid back then, I related to Baloo the bear because of the warm, rumbling voice of Phil Harris. To this seven year old kid, Harris brought a vocal quality and mannerisms to the role that resulted in pure cartoon magic when coupled with the equally appealing visuals provided by animators, Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas. I didn't know who most of the voices belonged to at that time, but all of these characters were brought to life for me in a way that made "The Jungle Book" my favourite film back then and continues to be to this day!
Here's a caricature I did many years ago of George Burns. What a delightful personality he was. Not too long ago, a series of his TV specials from the 70's/early 80's was released on a 4 disc DVD set. It's great to be able to watch that kind of entertainment again and I wish that more variety shows would start finding a home on DVD. My personal wishlist includes the variety shows of Dean Martin, Carol Burnett, Andy Williams and The Smothers Brothers. It's too bad we'll never see their likes again. Going back to ol' George, here he is singing "I Wish I Was Eighteen Again", which launched a successful, if short-lived career as a country singer. Yep, this sweet, simple little song was a major hit on the charts in its day:
This is Lana, another one of our regular models at VAB. Lana has the pixieish quality that I just love to draw. Her sparkling blue eyes slant upwards slightly giving her that cute impish look, and when she smiles she has one deep dimple on her right side. Lana is probably the one model I am almost always able to successfully capture the likeness of in most of my sketches because of her distinct features.
Here is a very traditional portrait I drew during a longer 30 minute session. I'm quite pleased with the likeness in this one.
This is a looser treatment, as it was sketched in a 10 minute pose. Again, I think the likeness is pretty good here and the drawing feels spontaneous and fresh.
Though I like the upper torso in this back view, I'm not sure about the attachment of her legs. Something feels odd about it. Since I'm more comfortable with line, I think I tend to get a little heavyhanded when attempting tonal studies. Still, it is just a 10 minute sketch...
Just like Heather, Lana also has musical theatre training and a dance background. So she also gives us poses that show great rhythm and graceful form. Some of her quick gesture poses can get pretty acrobatic too, as you can see by that top one in the middle. I believe that a really good model has to have some artistic sensibilities in order to assume poses that create visual interest for those sketching her. An arch to the back, a twist to the torso, and a rhythmic arrangement of arms and legs are some of the elements that I think constitute an inspiring quick pose. As musical performers used to being onstage, both Lana and Heather understand this and are very self aware of how their poses will read to the audience. Of course, more sedate poses are quite acceptable for the longer studies, as it's hard for the model to hold a complex pose for too long.
Here are several drawings in my caricatured approach. In this first one I added the microphone to the drawing because Lana is also a very accomplished singer. I may have made her a bit too leggy in this pic though!
Both of these final two drawings are the type I usually like to do in my caricature style. I find a medium close-up very satisfying to draw, as I can get some body language while also concentrating on getting a likeness of the model's face. Lana has such well-defined and appealing facial features that I can't help but want to capture as close a likeness as I can achieve. This last one in particular is a favourite of mine. I really think I caught something special in her expression and eye direction. This is one I'm tempted to frame up some day. Anyway, these are just a few of my sketches of Lana, and I'll be putting up more periodically.
Yes, today is Brigitte Bardot's birthday, so I've been working on this caricature to celebrate the occasion. It depicts her as she posed rather saucily for the opening sequence of her 1968 TV special. This special as well as two earlier ones from 1961 and 1963 can be found on this DVD. In fact, here is the sequence that I used to sketch from that somebody has also posted on YouTube:
These TV specials were a collection of fun musical vignettes that showcased Brigitte Bardot's talents as a French pop singer. I probably know her better in this capacity than I know her as a film star, admittedly having only seen a handful of her films. The early 60's was a great time for French pop music, as there were also cute singers like Francoise Hardy and France Gall on the music scene back then, both of whose CDs I listen to in addition to Brigitte's. In fact, I highly recommend checking out Katie Rice's blog to see her sketches of those singers. Katie is such a talented young cartoonist and I love to see the way she approaches caricature. I'm hoping she'll also try her hand at drawing Brigitte!
Like I said, I haven't seen many of Brigitte Bardot's films. I have seen her big breakout role in "And God Created Woman", where she plays a gorgeous, saucy young ne'er-do-well who seems cursed to inspire mad desire in every man she encounters in St. Tropez. I also enjoyed her in "Viva Maria", which has an almost cartoonish flair for slapstick visual humour. However, I think my favourite Bardot film is one that I caught at Toronto's Cinematheque several years ago, called "The Truth", in which she plays a young woman on trial for the murder of her lover. It's quite compelling and Brigitte gives a magnificent performance. Alas, I must admit I've never seen "Contempt". Anyway, I really think I need to see more of her work so that I can fully appreciate her as an actress in addition to my fondness for her as a pop singer.
So in closing, may I say, Bon Anniversaire Brigitte!
Here's a couple of sketches I just did in this evening's life drawing session. Once again our model was pretty little Heather, and these were the final two poses lasting 30 minutes and 20 minutes respectively:
Again, I opted for the slightly caricatured approach, as my three 10 minute more traditional sketches right before these were somewhat disappointing, seeming too stiff for my liking. Once I allow my cartoonist instincts to take hold, I tend to loosen up and produce more appealing results.
By the way, these are just to whet your appetite for the pics of another model I'll be showcasing a few days from now!
Here are some more sketches of Heather, one of our regular life models at Visual Arts Brampton. These are from various sessions over the last couple of years.
Probably because of my interest in caricature and always wanting to obtain a likeness, oftentimes I will concentrate more on drawing the face than I really should in a session. Here's a traditional portrait I drew of Heather during a 30 minute pose.
This is a 10 minute study, so it's a lot less refined. Note the guidelines on her face in order to place the features fairly accurately. (This is something I stress a lot in my Character Design class to my students too!)
Again, I probably spent too much time on her face getting the likeness in this one, when in fact I should have perhaps checked the proportions on her body more closely before finishing. In hindsight, her head seems slightly too big relative to her body. I still like the drawing though.
At some point during the evening, I just can't help but revert back to my cartoonist inclinations and take a more caricatured approach to drawing the model. I love making a cute pose even cuter, looking for ways to idealize the form in order to get as much visual appeal as I can.
This drawing is one of my favourites of Heather. She had a different hairstyle that evening and the added texture and waviness was fun to draw. The lighting was quite dramatic, so I tried putting in some cool blue shadows along with the warm reds. This one may be destined to hang on my den wall sometime soon!
Again, both the dramatic lighting and Heather's pose inspired me to try something unique with this drawing. It suggested a look of cowering in fear, so I adapted her expression to play up the melodrama. The resulting image puts me in mind of the type of illustration you used to see on the covers of dimestore crime novels. I'm tempted to try doing a painted version of this sketch someday, where I can really simulate one of those old pulp fiction covers!
"The Rockford Files" was one of the shining examples of the type of cop shows that were quite prevalent back in the 70's. Shows like "Kojak", "Cannon", "Mannix", and many others were built around the charisma of their central stars rather than the nastiness of the crimes as in so many of today's series. "The Rockford Files" and Peter Falk's "Columbo" were my particular favourites of that popular 70's genre. James Garner had first found success on TV in the role of "Maverick" and, after then going on to prove himself as a leading man in the movies of the 60's, he was lured back to TV to create the role of Jim Rockford, who really was in many ways the continuation of the same lovable con man, Bret Maverick, only this time as a private detective. Not too long ago, I read where writer and series creator, Stephen J. Cannell, had also been inspired by the character of "Travis McGee" in the series of detective novels by John D. MacDonald. Since I'm a big fan of those stories, I guess that's why I also find Jim Rockford so appealing.
In his book, "The World of Hirschfeld", legendary showbiz caricaturist Al Hirschfeld describes this very same dilemma back when he'd been commissioned in 1967 to do a caricature of TV star Garry Moore for a network ad campaign. After tossing off a sketch of Garry Moore, one of Hirschfeld's neighbours, Mildred Jones, who was visiting with his wife Dolly passed his drawing table and exclaimed, "That's him all right - I'd know him anywhere. Buster Keaton!" Flabbergasted, Hirschfeld ran to his wife to ask her who it was. Without hesitation, she replied, "Buster Keaton". It took him many more furious attempts at sketching Garry Moore before Hirschfeld got a positive identification from wife Dolly, whom he claimed was his most honest critic.
