Eric Frazier is back and at it again

I usually tend to pick "general" topics of interest to post, because it's usually you guys that are posting the most narrowed choices, specifying particular films, events, and so on. SO I think it fitting to send this "general" post.

-----

What drew you to animation? What was it that you either saw, heard, or felt that welled up inside you and make you sau that next morning,...hey,...("I wanna work for Disney"), etc? If you care to be detailed, please do so, that's just more inspiration for me. PRO ANIMATORS PLEASE REPSOND (when you get a chance away from pushing those pencils)

God bless to you all. ANIMATION NATION has never looked better than it does right now.

Anyhow, it featured a very strange looking paper mache'/clay creature beating the hell out of a bunch of plastic army men identical to my own. How cool was that? To play with your toys and then be able to watch them move own their own afterwards.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dave Brewster:
Backstage groupies ......... well, that was a big lie, wasn't it.

---

In grade 6, We had a class where we did comic strips. That turned my attention from reading novels in class to drawing doodles in class. In college, my interst in animation and 'furry' art gave focus and direction to my doodles, and encouraged me to improve my art skills. That happened at the expense of my Biology classes though.

-- TOM TERRIFIC (Terrytoons)
-- RUFF 'N' REDDY (H-B)
-- ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS (Jay Ward)
-- POPEYE (Fleisher Studios)
-- HUCKLEBERRY HOUND (H-B)
-- THE FLINTSTONES (H-B)
-- YOGI BEAR (H-B)
-- QUICK DRAW McGRAW (H-B)
-- THE ALVIN SHOW (Format)
-- FRANKENSTEIN JR. AND THE IMPOSSIBLES
-- WINDWAGON SMITH (Disney)
-- A WORLD IS BORN (Disney; that was the "educational" short version -- with narration added -- of the "Rite Of Spring" sequence from FANTASIA.)
-- GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE (Jay Ward)

Also, I was totally infatuated with dinosaurs and all things prehistoric, so when THE FLINTSTONES first aired on September 22, 1960, it was like a bolt of lightning burst from the TV screen to my brain! No wonder, over forty years later, that "modern stone-age family" is paying my mortgage!

This retooled educational short was often shown in elementary school, which was my first exposure to the sequence, since I'd never seen FANTASIA. I loved this cartoon SO much and found it SO emotionally involving that by the end shot of the dusty, doomed dinosaurs trudging off toward the horizon, I'd invariably have tears running down my cheeks (a reaction to both the sadness of the dinosaurs' fate and the incredible talent displayed in the animation itself. In fact, I STILL get emotionally choked up when I see a piece of entertainment that actually "gets it right".)

Of course, that was always exactly when the classroom monitor would snap on the lights, and I'd have to find some new and creative way to hide or disguise the fact that I was crying! I was "busted" by my classmates more than once, too; no wonder I was branded a cartoon (and dinosaur) geek by an early age!

And thankfully, I'm STILL a geek, through and through. (And a fifty-year-old geek, at that!)

When I was six I remember watching my older brother draw a picture of a bumble bee. I thought to myself, "That's not right." I then proceeded to do my own version ... my mother loved it.

That same year, I was dissatisfied with the quality of story writing being honoured in the hallways of our school. I decided I could write a far superior narrative. I sat down and banged out a enchanting story about a bear. The next week my story was prominently displayed in the hallway.

Thanks for taking the time to write.
I can certainly see where you are coming from.
I recall a time of having to do the exact same thing-a report on a famous person. I chose Mr. Disney as well, for no apparent reason. (or did I).....only later would I understand why.

Thanks for taking the time to post, bronnie. great story.

Was anyone EVER so appropriately named? If he hadn't gotten into animation, Harry could have been a porno star or a James Bond villain.

Well I do recall being 7 years old, and at that age I use to draw on the corners of my school text books to create 'flip book' animation. I use to draw one big ball (with and angry face) chasing around a little ball (which always had a smiling face) through a Yellowstone-type landscape: this was my version of the Roadrunner cartoons, which I loved so much at that time.

Other TOONS that would later also pull me in:

the Tex Avery films
Walt Disney's 'Fantasia' and 'Pinoccio'
the H & B cartoons of the sixties
Watership Down
Bruno Bonzetto animated film shorts
Castle Of Cagliostro

You took the words right out of my mouth.

If this topic is winding down, you have certainly concluded it with a wonderful conclusion.

Thanks, as always, Dave

The Little Mermaid was the movie that drew me into the world of animation. I had always been facinated by cartoons but something about that movie made me realize that someone has to make these films and I could be that someone. I was 9 years old when I saw that movie and I made my mom wait to watch the credits. Ever since then I always stayed until the end of the credits. My friends used to think I was nuts (well that's to be debated) but now they just humor me and don't even bother to try to leave before that last credit rolls.