Archive for the ‘bill nolan’ Category

Thursday, July 14th, 2022

Gag Drawings: Scooper Conlon’s Scrapbook

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Cartoon by animator, Bill Nolan

Today, we had a visit from John Denos, who is a collector of portrait photography and Hollywood memorabilia. He had a treasure with him… a scrapbook of gag drawings that belonged to publicist, "Scooper" Conlon. Conlon’s career spanned the history of the golden age of Hollywood, from the early silent era all the way through the fifties. He had many friends in the business, including many famous animators. John is looking for information on the artists behind these great cartoons. If you have any pertinent details, please leave a comment below.

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Cartoon by Lantz animator, Bill Nolan in his retirement years

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Gag by unknown cartoonist (Bill Nolan?)

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Cartoon by Lantz director, Dick Lundy from the late 1930s

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Cartoon by MGM animator, Irv Spence dealing with Conlon’s work on "Gunga Din" (1939)

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Another by Irv Spence

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Gag by Warner Bros animator, George Grandpre, soon after he left John Sutherland Productions, and before starting his long run at Warner Bros

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Gag by unknown Disney animator

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Caricatures of the cast of "Gunga Din&quot with Conlon by MGM animator, Carl Urbano

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Gags by unknown magazine cartoonist

Scooper Conlon Scrapbook
Scooper Conlon Scrapbook
Scooper Conlon Scrapbook

Gags by Warner Bros story man, Warren Foster

Thanks to John Denos for sharing these with us!

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

Animated CartoonsAnimated Cartoons

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Animation.

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Tuesday, July 13th, 2021

REFPACK040: Two Oswald Cartoons By Lantz

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REFPACK 040
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June-July 2021

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SD VIDEO:
Walter Lantz Oswald

Walter Lantz’s Oswald
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"In Alaska" (1930) / "The Candy House" (1934)

Most cartoon fans are aware of Disney’s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but not many are familiar with Walter Lantz’s version of the character. At the Disney Studio, Ub Iwerks was the animator supervising the Oswald Cartoons. In New York Bill Nolan was performing the same duties on the Krazy Kat and Felix the Cat cartoons. Both animators were instrumental in refining the technique of rubber hose animation, even though they had never met. Iwerks was aware of Nolan’s work would go to the theater to see the latest Felix and Krazy Kat films when they were released. Likewise, Nolan made a point of seeing Iwerks’ Oswald and Alice in Cartoonland cartoons. A friendly transcontinental rivalry developed.

Margaret Winkler and Charles Mintz pulled the rug out from under Walt Disney, signing a distribution deal with Universal for a new series of Oswald cartoons, and hiring Walter Lantz to replace Disney. And as fate would have it, Carl Laemmle pulled the rug out from under Winkler and Mintz putting Lantz in charge of the Universal Cartoon Studio. Lantz chose Bill Nolan to supervise the series, and Nolan found himself directing the character Ub Iwerks created.

Walter Lantz Oswald


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Walter Lantz Oswald

Nolan was a master of rubber hose animation. One of the earliest Oswald cartoons at Universal, In Alaska, shows how much further he took the character than Iwerks ever had. His animation is loose, rubbery and sometimes surreal; but most of all, it is laugh-out-loud hilarious. As you still frame through this cartoon, check out the funny drawings. Even the incidental characters are amazing to look at.

Lantz and Nolan were partners at first, but Lantz had aspirations to become an independent producer with his own studio. Lantz and Nolan parted company in 1935 and Walter Lantz Productions was established to supply cartoons independently to Universal as a distributor. Lantz negotiated ownership of the characters, including Oswald and proceeded to shift the personality of the character to a blander disposition, more resembling Mickey Mouse.

Walter Lantz Oswald


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Walter Lantz Oswald

The Candy House is a transitional cartoon at the end of Nolan’s tenure at the studio. The difference between this cartoon and In Alaska is stark. The focus has shifted from funny drawings and movement to elaborate backgrounds and fairy tale themes. Once Nolan was gone, the Lantz cartoons struggled to find their own style for a while. Oswald was getting a little too tired to be the cartoon star of the studio, so they set to work developing new characters, like Pooch the Pup, a monkey trio named Meanie Miney and Moe, Baby Faced Mouse and Li’l Eight Ball; but none of them caught on. The Walter Lantz Studio finally found its legs when they started producing color cartoons, and the introduction of Andy Panda and Woody Woodpecker eclipsed Oswald, relegating him to the role of a side character.

Walter Lantz Oswald

Rubber hose animation doesn’t deserve its reputation of being primitive and old fashioned. It’s a valid style of animation that focuses on simple shapes and rhythmic movement, rather that realism and complexity. This simplicity allowed the animators to focus less on how the character looked and more on how they moved. Today, we associate rubber hose with the 1930s, but there’s no reason that modern ideas couldn’t be put across with simple shapes and rhythmic movement. The efficiency and freedom the style allows makes it a good model for internet animation.

REFPACK040: Oswald In Alaska
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MP4 Video File / SD / 05:44 / 108 MB Download

REFPACK040: The Candy House
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MP4 Video File / SD / 08:30 / 78 MB Download


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Sunday, November 1st, 2015

Inbetweens: Bill Nolan at Walter Lantz

image
Cartoonist William “Bill” Nolan animated many Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons for the Walter Lantz studio. Here is one titled, “Permanent Wave” (1929).


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=edVvr3cDU1M

The late Micheal Sporn did a write up on the distortion techniques used in this short (and other Lantz/Nolan cartoons) that can be found on his blog…

SPLOG: Smears, Distortions, Abstractions and Emotions

Bill Nolan Oswald

-Nicholas John Pozega

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