Jun 29 2022
Inspired after seeing this at Soviet Visuals and Folklore Film Fest‘s #SovietFilmWednesday, this was the first Soviet film I shared a little over two years ago, and it is still one of my favorites. What can I say, I love rain and cats, and the illustrations are beautiful. A Rainy Story is about a cat who wanders …
Jun 22 2022
The Scarlet Flower (Аленький цветочек, Alenkiy tsvetochek) is a popular Russian folktale based on Sergey Aksakov’s rendition of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. Similar to the traditional tale, it begins when a merchant father, Stepan Yemelyanovich, asks his three daughters what gifts they would like from his travels. The oldest daughter, Gordeya, wishes for …
May 28 2022
Happy birthday, Small World! 🎈 The colorful “It’s a Small World” attraction first opened in Disneyland on this day, May 28, 1966, following its successful showing at the New York’s ’64-’65 World’s Fair UNICEF salute at the Pepsi-Cola pavilion. In the opening ceremony, children from around the world in traditional costumes joined Walt Disney. Water that …
May 19 2022
On May 19, 1960 this cheery Disney film was released to the public. It is the story of an orphaned girl raised by missionaries who arrives in a town fraught with feuds, and transforms the community with her positive attitude. Pollyanna’s shining quality is that she can always find the good in something. Yes, it …
May 11 2022
This wonderfully illustrated 1968 Russian animation is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. It begins with a Copenhagen tour guide’s introduction to Andersen’s story, which is not quite the same as the Disney version. As is usually the case, the older tale is much darker. Much of the imagery in this animation is also dark, yet …
Apr 13 2022
Today we have another wonderful Yuri Norstein film, Hedgehog in the Fog. Norstein is best known for this animation, as well as his Tale of Tales. Hedgehog in the Fog was directed by Norstein, written by Sergei Kozlov, with music by Mikhail Meyerovich. It was produced by Soyuzmultfilm in 1975. It is the story of a hedgehog and a bear cub who …
Mar 30 2022
Thank You (Spasibo, Спасибо) is a hand-drawn 1973 animation directed by Vladimir Tarasov, who is best known for his Soviet science fiction films Contact (1978), Contract (1985), and The Pass (1988). In Thank You, a group of polite children take a field trip to learn about airplanes. Click the “cc” icon for subtitles.
Mar 30 2022
Known as one of Disney’s “Nine Old Men” of core animators, artist and Imagineer Marc Davis was born on this day March 30, 1913 in Bakersfield, CA. With vivacious character illustrations, Davis inserted his humor in several Disney park attractions and designed many of Disney’s most beloved characters, including Snow White, Bambi, Thumper, Flower, Mr. Toad, …
Feb 27 2022
Disney imagineer and animator Rolly Crump was born on February 27, 1930 in Alhambra, California. Inspired at the young age of three by the Disney Silly Symphony short, Three Little Pigs, Crump began drawing in 1933. He started working with Disney in 1952, doing “inbetweening” or “tweening” to provide the illusion of smooth movements between film frames. …
Jan 06 2022
On January 6, 1973, the educational children’s animated Schoolhouse Rock! series premiered on ABC with the episode “My Hero, Zero,” dedicated to the enigmatic number and the powers of ten, and featuring the song “My Hero, Zero.” However, “My Hero, Zero” was actually the second show to air, since the pilot first aired in 1971 …