By Jake Friedman

The recent March 4th release of 101 Dalmatians: Platinum Edition will join the ever-growing list of classic Disney films to get the royal treatment. Expect complete digital restoration in picture and sound for this 1961 gem, no to mention a new making-of documentary, deleted songs, and a discussion of the famed villainess, Cruella De Vil.

Apparently, Walt was initially less than satisfied with the final product. It was Disney’s first feature to use the experimental Xerox process, copying the animators’ pencil marks directly onto cells. Sure, this made it possible to render all 6,469,952 spots on the dogs, but the pencil scratch marks were in conflict with the painterly storybook aesthetics that Walt strived for. Walt reportedly didn’t acknowledge the film’s artistic merits to production designer Ken Anderson until weeks before his death.

Nonetheless, the film is widely praised by animation buffs and film critics alike as one of the brightest jewels of the Disney library, with Marc Davis’s rendition of Cruella reaching legendary status. “It is perfection,” says “Anita” voice Lisa Davis (no relation to Marc), “It has good people and bad people, and nobody’s really fighting. It’s simple, but it has heart, and you find yourself totally involved in it.”

Within the bonus features of the DVD, Davis, along with others, shares many memories of working on the film. “Before I even started on the picture, they brought me into a little bungalow on the lot and allowed me to play Dalmatian puppies all day,” says Davis. “When you were working for Disney, you were definitely working for the Rolls Royce of the studios. I was doing a lot of television at the time and they would send a limousine for me and pick me up and take me to Disney for each recording session. It was lovely.”

Interestingly, Davis was originally contacted years before Dalmatians was even a proposal. “I was brought to America by Walt Disney to do the original version of Alice in Wonderland, as a live Alice with the characters animated around me. I came over from England, very, very excited. He had seen me in a movie that I had done for Sir David Lean, and he had me here for several weeks while I did wardrobe tests and voice tests. But he changed his mind, because he realized it would be too great an expense at the time. So he sent me back to England and I left a very, very disappointed 12-year old.”

Davis did a few B movies, including The Queen from Outer Space, where her experience working with Zsa Zsa Gabor inspired her to perfect an imitation of the star. Finally, Walt contacted her once more. “When Mr. Disney first thought of Cruella de Vil, thinking of her character loving fur and luxury, he thought of a Zsa Zsa Gabor-type voice, and actually called me in to read the part for Cruella. I was twenty-one years old and totally wrong for Cruella. I wound up sitting up in a room above the studio with the great Walt Disney, and he was actually reading Anita, and I was struggling to read Cruella. As I heard the character of Anita being read, I knew it was me. So I plucked up my courage and asked, ‘excuse me sir, would it be all right if I read Anita, because I feel so much more like Anita than I do Cruella.’ And he let me read Anita, and he became Cruella – a very good one, I might add. And that’s how I became Anita.”

Davis also contributes to a separate special feature titled “Sincerely Yours, Walt Disney,” in which she reads letters as Dalmatians author Dodie Smith which were written during the pre-production and making of the film. “The letters are delightful,” says Davis, “and you can see how excited both she and Walt Disney are about making this film.”

Today, Davis has her theories as to the film’s lasting success. “I think today,” she says, “we live in a world that’s so tough and hard, and when you watch something that’s so captivating and pulls you in and touches the heart, it shows you how wonderful it can all be.”

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By Jake Friedman

Dean Yeagle has been animating and designing for decades, from licensed characters to his own creations. His work can be seen from Bugs Bunny to Playboy magazine, and his sketchbooks, including that of the sexy character dubbed “Mandy,” are a trove of quality draftsmanship. He was also assigned the unique task to revitalize a 65-year-old Disney property in the World War II-era comic book, “Return of the Gremlins,” for Dark Horse Comics. Look for it on the shelves.

Recently I had the chance to talk to Dean about his rise to success, the Gremlins project, and his sexy pin-ups.

Let’s start with your background. What was your first job?

I started working in Philadelephia – that’s where I’m from. It was a tiny company called “Animation Arts Incorporated” and it had some very good people working there. They were able to teach me some stuff that I might not have been able to learn going cold into a place like Disney, being pegged into one job or another. I got to do a little bit of everything.

Then I had to go into the service during Viet Nam; I was in the navy. After that my wife and I moved to New York. For the first seven years I worked at Zander’s Animation Parlour as a designer and animator and eventually a director. Jack Zander was a great animator of the old Tom & Jerry cartoons; he recently celebrated his 99th birthday. Afterwards I opened my own company called “Caged Beagle Productions” with Nancy Beiman and Daryl Cagle. Nancy is a great animator who worked for Disney and is now teaching in Rochester New York. Daryl is editor of the MSNBC editorial cartoon site now. And as of 2006 I’m living in Southern California.

(Read the article)

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http://www.isffhollywood.org
Phone:
Submissions Due: August 31
Festival Date: November 14 - 18

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http://www.nwfilm.org/festivals/nwfvf.php
Email: info@nwfilm.org
Submissions Due: August 17
Festival Date: November 9 - 17

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http://www.filmfesthamburg.de
Phone: +49 40-399 19 00 0
Submissions Due: August 07
Festival Date: September 27 - October 04

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http://www.viennale.at
Email: office@viennale.at
Submissions Due: August 1 (synopsis; do not send film)
Festival Date: October 19 - 31

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Artists Band Together to Fight Restrictions on Street Photography
http://www.picturenewyork.org

“Picture New York” Formed In Response to Mayor’s Plans to Limit Cameras

YouTube “Video Public Comments” to be Submitted to Mayor’s Office

NEW YORK CITY: Picture New York WITHOUT pictures of New York. In one of the most photographed cities in the world, photographers and filmmakers, both professional and amateur, would be shut down by proposed regulations making it illegal for them to film or tape in NYC without a permit and a million dollars of insurance.

An overnight, massive grassroots fight against these proposed regulations has sprung up under the name ‘Picture New York.’ Fighting back with YouTube videos, petitions, handwritten letters, a website, Flickr space and a rally and press conference this Friday in Union Square, this ad-hoc group of working artists, photographers and filmmakers vow to stop the regulations going into effect as scheduled in September from the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting (MOFTB).

Albert Maysles, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, and Amy Arbus are among the celebrated artists who have already signed on to demand the MOFTB extend the period of public comment, currently ending August 3, and eliminate the proposed regulations.

Jem Cohen, the critically-acclaimed filmmaker whose alarmed e-mail prompted an initial meeting of concerned filmmakers, says, “Because street photography is, by its very nature, inextricably born out of free and random movement through the city, street photographers cannot know exactly where and when they intend to work, or for how long. One cannot regulate an art form or activity by negating its very premise. The proposed rules, in refusing to recognize the spontaneity which is at the core of street photography, are untenable for that reason alone.” (Read the article)

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On July 11, StoryMakers Studio brings several of the biggest names in the cartoon world to the Grauman’s Chinese Theatres Complex in Hollywood: celebrated author, film critic and cartoon buff Leonard Maltin, six-time Emmy® Award winning cartoon producer Phil Roman, and voice actors June Foray (“Woody Woodpecker,” “Rocky and Bullwinkle,” Disney’s “Mulan”), Maurice LaMarche (“Futurama, “Animaniacs,” “Pinky and the Brain”) and Billy West (“The New Woody Woodpecker Show,” “Ren & Stimpy,” “Futurama”).

“We wouldn’t be surprised if these voice artists spent part of the evening talking as the characters they’re so well known for,” said Ronn Campbell, StoryMakers Studio’s executive producer.

“Here’s the best thing. You can enjoy this event whether you’re in Los Angeles or NOT,” Campbell adds. “In fact, we already have people from Europe and Asia reserving their viewing passes at
http://www.StoryMakersStudio.com/woodywoodpecker”

In addition, everyone who signs up to watch the Woody Woodpecker event has a choice of eBooks that are of interest to anyone who currently works in animation; wants to work in animation; or is simply an animation fan.

“When the word got out that we were doing this event, animation professionals and fans from all over the world started contacting us, asking for a way they could enjoy our Woody Woodpecker event,” said series host and confessed cartoon fan Gordon Meyer. “We’re delighted that we can make this available to them.”

Details of the event including how cartoon fans can enjoy StoryMakers Studio’s Salute to Woody Woodpecker and Walter Lantz, can be found at:

http://www.storymakersstudio.com/woodywoodpecker/

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